It seemed as if an invisible DJ had cranked up the birdsong as I stepped into the heat. The tamed jungle was heady with scent. Citrus and hints of vanilla hung in the air from flowers of yellow and cream frangipani, fiery bird of paradise and white orchid.
Passing through tall thickets of foliage, and past the lotus pond, within five minutes I had reached an empty, white sand beach. It was 7.36am and already 29°C.
Around my feet were constellation-like patterns created by tiny crabs. A rainbow broke to my west and the waves soaked up all other sound.
Ficus restaurant at The Sarojin serves breakfast, lunch and dinner (Photo: Philip Koschel)It was the sort of five-star paradise for which you might expect to pay prices worthy of The White Lotus. Yet in low season (May–September), rates at The Sarojin start at £155 per night – almost a third of the cost in its high season.
In the south-west of Thailand, the resort is a 90-minute drive north from Phuket airport and part of Khao Lak, a low-key, uncrowded coastal area on the Andaman Sea.
The weather fell into a predictable pattern: early sunrise, with dry mornings and downpours between 3pm and 4pm.
I enjoyed the rhythm. A bamboo raft tour through Khao Lak-Lam Ru National Park was followed by a long lunch and cocktails under the canopy of The Edge restaurant at The Sarojin. A walk through a fragrant market of Takuapa Old Town could be rewarded with time by the daybed-lined pool and Thai wine tasting.
The Sarojin’s pool has generously sized day beds (Photo: Supplied)The real luxury, however, was the attentive hospitality. Khun Kade, the resident operations manager, had award-worthy photos of birds on his phone, all taken in the resort. In one, a garden sunbird – splendid in feathers of yellow, olive green, and iridescent emerald and royal blue – was scooping flesh from a banana with its half-moon beak. Seeing my enthusiasm for these pictures, Khun Kade booked me a hotel garden tour.
On arrival, Khun Aoi, guest relations supervisor, showed me to my room. Later, we bumped into each other around the garden and got chatting about Khao Lak’s relatively affordable living costs compared with Phuket. She cured me of my ignorance about Thai nicknames – (Aoi means “sugarcane”) and “only her school teachers” had ever used her full name. At the end of my stay, she found me to say goodbye.
The Sarojin Jacuzzi Pool Suite terrace is the most sumptuous room category (Photo: Supplied)Such kindness was replicated at Amari Bangkok, where I began my trip. I arrived refreshed from a Thai Airways flight on which, stretched out across an empty row, I savoured my best night’s sleep on a plane (and Thai meals).
After a 30-minute transfer, I pulled up at the gleaming sanctuary in the capital’s Pratunam neighbourhood, a shopping hub.
Rooms at Amari, across the road from a night market, start at around £91 per night. A summer stay at a similarly rated hotel in a European hot spot such as Dubrovnik would be at least £300.
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Zipping through the traffic in the hotel’s shiny, burnt orange EV tuk-tuk, my chauffeur and I passed a group of performers in tracksuits standing next to a collection of costume lion heads of the type you might expect at Chinese New Year. Couples on scooters darted among the lanes and we raced a petrol-powered taxi tuk-tuk en route to the Jim Thompson House Museum.
The American architect and businessman built his home from traditional Thai houses, and lived in it for eight years before his disappearance in 1967.
Such mystery was beguiling. The city dialled up its seduction during a long-tail boat trip on the Khlong Bangkok Noi canal in the Thonburi district – once the country’s capital.
It set off near the tower of Wat Arun (a focal point for sundowners at bars along the Chao Phraya River). I glided past a two-boat floating market, a mansion from which a metal slide looped into the garden, and monitor lizards lounging in the sun, waving at people sitting at waterside shacks and cafés.
Long-tail boat trips get punters up close to canalside districts (Photo: Getty)Daily exertions were rewarded with dinner at the Amari. Among its dining options are speciality restaurants – Prego (Italian), ChomSindh (Thai) and NILA (south Indian, with a Goan-Portuguese influence) – and a buffet. NILA’s cocktail-pairing menu was the most theatrical.
To start, grilled broccoli flavoured with kasundi mustard was served with a highball glass of “sambar agave”, a concoction of honey, Assam tea, sambar (spiced buttermilk), lime and honey cardamom cordial, soda and chamomile foam. The crescendo was banana leaves being set alight to reveal garlicky mushrooms.
More indulgence was available at the spa, where, while served dainty cups of tea with views of the outdoor pool, guests are given a diagram to highlight which muscles are screeching for attention.
Amari Bangkok’s pool comes with views of the city’s skyscrappers (Photo: Supplied)The spas robes were given an airing in the evacuation area when an earthquake with an epicentre in Mandalay, Myanmar, reached Bangkok on 28 March (the hotel was safe).
More severe disaster shaped The Sarojin in 2004. It was being built when the tsunami reached Khao Lak. Victims are commemorated at Ban Nam Khem Tsunami Memorial Park.
To help shore up the coastline, The Sarojin plants one mangrove tree for each booking. It’s one experience newly-weds, or those celebrating another milestone, can sample. In the high season, up to 40 per cent of guests are returnees – the hotel, owned by a British-born couple, is popular with visitors from the UK.
For something extra-special, The Sarojin offers private dining options. They include dinner by a waterfall, surrounded with hundreds of candles, ideal for toasting a love affair. Mine was with the country – a dalliance that will endure for a lifetime.
Those who need matchmaking with a holiday destination this summer will struggle to find a better-value date than Thailand.
Getting there
The writer was a guest of Thai Airways, Amari Bangkok and The Sarojin. Fly direct from London to Bangkok with Thai Airways. Economy return fares start at £798, thaiairways.com
Staying there
Amari Bangkok has deluxe rooms from £91, room-only. Club Premier Room with Club Siraa benefits from £163, with breakfast, amari.comThe Sarojin has garden residence rooms for two, including breakfast with sparkling wine, from £155 (May–Sept), sarojin.com
More information
tourismthailand.org/homeVisitors must complete a digital arrival card,tdac.immigration.go.th/arrival-card/
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