Monday, December 31, 2012

Plunge Bar (poolside bar), Le Meridien Khao Lak, SW Thailand


 Got some light meal from this bar.  Service and food quality are at average of a typical beach resort.






The Sarojin resort, Khao Lak, SW Thailand






 Read about this resort many times as it's one of the hot listed choice in the travel magazines.  The resort is about 2km south of Le Meridien and just next to Kantary.  Again, don't trust Google map.  There are a number of resorts mis-located on Google map.  Better get the actual address and find out by the Moo district no. to get the more appropriate location.  In the Google map, Beyond resort is mis-located south of The Sarojin; whereas it should be 0.5km north of Le Meridien - over 3km distance error.  Having said that, Google map is good for me to get the landscape reading.
Back to this resort, it is situated quite back behind a small stream of some stagnant water (photo 7).  The villas don't have any sea view at all but just some green around.  The resort has a floating plank pier (photo 1) during off monsoon season (Nov. to Mar.) for yacht sailing out to the Andaman Sea.








Kantary resort Khao Lak, SW Thailand


The resort is about 2km south of Le Meridien.  Quite a family resort with villas on the beachfront and rows on the left wing of the resort.  The middle is the suite complex.   The price range for a villa/suite is about US$150-180 net during peak season.








Sunday, December 30, 2012

Beyond Resort, Khao Lak, SW Thailand



 This resort is about 0.5km north of Le Meridien Khao Lak.  All the rooms are in villa types with several beachfront pool villas (the last photo) (always full).  It's quite interesting that this resort is also quite in Balinese style.









Premier room, Le Meridien Khao Lak, SW Thailand




 Booked a higher grade room for a more secluded environment.  The bathroom looks like the one of Sheraton Hua Hin but the bedroom like JW Marriott Khao Lak.  The bed is somewhat not so comfortable and surprised Starwood didn't use its acclaimed "heavenly" bed on all of its hotel outlets.  The better part is the water pressure of the bath room, but strange that the air-con. would be auto-turned off, a bit like Vie Hotel BKK.





Saturday, December 29, 2012

Le Meridien Khao Lak, SW Thailand







Finally tried this renowned resort in Khao Lak.  Personally I prefer JW Marriott Khao Lak, at this level of big resort.  The staff were not professionally trained though they tried so hard in finding my booking.  FYI, I needed to tell them how to find my booking and where to find the prepayment.  The only step that I didn't do is the credit card swipe.  The whole check-in process took about 15 min. - broke the record on my travel.
The resort is classified into several sections.  On the left wing is the family with a family pool with slides and some children playground.  On the right wing is the Spa Pool section for more privacy.  In the middle is the main pool with a beach front restaurant on the right and the pool bar on the left.  Then on the beachfront, there is a section for pool villas.  Overall, the gardening is pretty well maintained and the deco. in a bit Balinese style.