For a treat to ourselves as we neared the end of the long first semester, we thought we would splash out a little more than usual on a weekend away. Since we've been back in Thailand our budget for accommodation seems to have gone up and up. It's so easy to find ways to justify to yourself why it's worth spending 200, 400, or even 1000 baht more (£3-£15). on a good night's sleep. Long gone are the days of staying in the grotty dorms or leaky roofed huts of Valerie's or Rock Garden.
For our trip away we never actually intended on going to Cha-am, I had been taken there by some students a few years ago and found the resorts all super sized with a bad beach and hundreds of screaming kids. We had planned on going to Koh Samed where you're always guaranteed a beautiful beach if not relative peace. Finding that the nicer affordable accommodation on Samed was full, Nick looked around and found a special offer on a new resort in Cha-am. Usually way out of our price range, it was on a special offer, tempting us to stay somewhere we would never normally go.
Sadly, it is very rare that we go to a place and have not got at least one thought on how it could have been better. I'm sure that anyone who travels a lot is the same way. When you pay bottom dollar you never expect that much, so you can't grumble or be disappointed, but when you start paying a little bit more for slightly nicer places, you start to come to expect the basics to be there...a fan that doesn't sound like a jet propeller, a shower that water actually comes out of and if you've really spent your money, a light you can turn off from the bed (bedside lamps are an absolute novelty out here).
The Alila in Cha-am, was possibly the first place I've ever stayed where I couldn't really criticise anything. The room was amazing, ultra modern and stark but with every gizmo you could want to make your stay special, from an Apple TV and music system to a rain-shower in the middle of the bathroom. The resort had 3 samll restaurants, 2 pools, and seperate private villas. There were private cabanas on the beach and poolside seating areas in there own hedged alcoves. You just have to pick where you want to be and some one will come and spread towels on the beds, give you fresh fruit, iced water and a chilled water body spray. With so much space and privacy, you always felt like you had the place to yourself, and not a child in sight. In the mornings there were free yoga sessions by the pool and they even provided yoga mats in every room. Not that we were that energetic.
The only time we actually attempted to leave the resort and see some of Cha-am (more through guilt of laziness rather than a desire to explore), we found that the tide had come in and the beach had completely disappeared. Perfect excuse for an even earlier than usual evening cocktail!
What with great food, service and setting, the only negative experience of the whole weekend was being stopped by the police in the taxi on the way there. Having been pulled over at a random checkpoint, the policeman there in typical Thai police style, saw it was a pair of white 'falangs' and demanded we pay him 100 baht. After refusing to give any kind of explanation he took the 100 baht note and put it straight in his back pocket. They train police well in this country.
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