First Impressions

A "typical" room at the Rabbit Resort

Rabbit Resort is something of an anomaly in Pattaya. In a town where almost all the hotels are high-rise could-be-anywhere structures, Rabbit Resort is one of the very few places that makes a real attempt at Thai style, and the only one on the beach. The resort consists of just 45 rooms, housed in two-story Thai-styled pavilions holding no more than two rooms each. The rooms come in several different plans, and most can comfortably sleep three without extra beds. Most rooms have some cooking facilities.

My own accommodation was on the second floor, which felt a bit more private. There were two double beds, plus a Thai-style ’sofa’ suitable for a child to sleep on, and a small cafe table with two chairs. There was a large flat-screen television showing several channels, although the English-language channels were pretty much limited to news. A small alcove off the entrance had a large desk with mini-refrigerator underneath and a micro-wave oven. A walk-through closet led from the alcove to the bathroom. The bathroom had a large vanity as well as a large shower area, but there was no tub.

Owing to an electrical problem, I had to move to the downstairs room on the second night. The room was similar, but with a larger kitchen area that had a full-size refrigerator and cooking stove. Oddly, the bathroom was separated into two parts, on opposite sides of the room. The toilet and sink were in a small room on one side, while the shower was in its own room on the other.

The pavilions are arranged in rows within a tropical garden. They’re quite close together, but by turning the plans this way and that, they’ve managed to give each room some measure of privacy. Even though it’s a rather small resort, there are two pools at Rabbit Resort. One is for families, while the other is restricted to adults only. The resort also has its own section of beach chairs on Dongtan beach in front of the resort.

Given the small size of the resort, the breakfast laid on in the beach-front restaurant was quite good, with a variety of Western and Asian favorites. The restaurant does a fairly good business at night, owing to its beach-side location. It also has wireless Internet available free to guests and customers.

I haven’t been to Pattaya in quite some time, so I decided it was overdue. The trouble was, having decided to go there, I had to figure out how I would travel. It’s an easy trip by car, which I’ve made several times, but I just wasn’t in the mood to drive by myself on this occasion. There are many car services that can take you from Bangkok to the East Coast, so I decided to give one of them a try. After reviewing the options, I decided to give Image Limousine a try.

The driver arrived slightly early for the appointed pick-up, having found my little hidden part of Bangkok with a minimum of difficulty. The car was a large Japanese sedan with a roomy back seat. A Mercedes Benz sedan or van can be arranged, for an added price. Waiting for me in the car was an ice-cold bottle of water, some throat lozenges, the day’s Bangkok Post and a few other magazines to keep me entertained on the trip.

The driver made his way down the motorway at a steady 100 km per hour. That’s well under the maximum limit of 120, but based on my own experience, I know that you don’t want to take that road at 120 for the whole trip, unless you opt for the Benz car. The car delivered me to my hotel in Jomtien right around two hours after leaving my place in Bangkok.

Image Limousine is based in Pattaya, but they serve all destinations in Bangkok, the East Coast as well as Hua Hin and the vicinity.

The Seminyak area of Bali is one of the best places to stay for those that want to be close to a beach, don’t want to be in the middle of the party scene of Kuta, but still want some nice shops and restaurants to poke around in the evening. The trouble is, for those of us on a bit of a budget, there are very few places that don’t cost more than $100 a night. Last year I checked out one option, Resor Seminyak. Now I’m staying at Putu Bali Villas.

The garden path to Putu Bali Villas

The Putu Bali Villas were quite a surprise. I had selected this place based largely on the price and the location. Many of the accommodations along the north end of Seminyak tend to be a bit pricey, but Putu Bali seemed to be quite a reasonable price. Putu Bali offers a total of 15 villas, arranged in a long narrow lot on Jalan Petitenget about 10 minutes’ walk from the beach.

The room was a bit of an unfolding surprise. Even though marketed as a ‘villa’ I didn’t expect much for the price. Firstly, the villas really are stand-alone structures. A roomy porch fronts each villa, providing a pleasant space to sit outside - which many guests took advantage of. Inside my room was a king bed which proved quite comfortable. The bed took up much of the room, although it wasn’t cramped. A flat-screen TV was mounted high on the wall over the desk, facing the bed. There was also a DVD player in the room, as well as wi-fi access.

A pair of French doors to one side of the entrance leads to an semi-outdoor area where you’ll find a small kitchenette, compete with a full size refrigerator, gas stove, kitchen sink, and most of the utensils necessary for self-catering. Next to the kitchen is a bathroom sink set in a generously sized counter. Then there’s the bathtub - one of the biggest I’ve ever seen in a standard hotel room. It was big enough for at least two people to recline in comfortably. Next to the tub is a rain shower.

The villas are arranged along a garden path behind the lobby building. There’s a good-sized pool in the middle. Breakfast is served in an open-air coffee shop on top of the lobby. The breakfast selection was quite small, but given the size of the property, it was quite reasonable. The pool has a small bar, and there’s also a spa. View the Putu Bali Villas detail page for pricing and reservations.

The island of Koh Chang has been on my "to-do" list for a long time. Thailand’s second largest island is east of Bangkok, near the Cambodian border, and is being developed rapidly - some say too rapidly. So, when I read that Thailand’s Dusit hotel group had opened a new property on the island, and was offering some fantastic deals, I decided it was time to take a look. A discount fare on Bangkok Airways sealed the deal.

My Friday afternoon flight was about two-thirds full, confirming that the low season has definitely arrived. It seemed we were about to set down in a pineapple plantation when the runway finally came into view. Trat airport is another one of the ’boutique’ airline Bangkok Airways’ boutique airports. From the airport, you catch a van which will take you to the ferry, and then on to the hotel.

The Dusit Princess Resort, which just officially opened on 17 March 2008, is near the south end of the west coast, and the end of a long string of beaches with names like “White Sand” and “Lonely”. The resort occupies most of the small stretch of beach at “Bai Lan”. The resort is laid out with an open air lobby surrounded by buildings housing many different kinds of guest rooms. I went for the “pool villa” which featured its own small pool and outdoor jacuzzi. The room was large and airy, with high ceilings, a king size bed, and flat screen television with DVD player. The bathroom has a large walk-in shower and two sinks, as well as a door to the outdoor bathing area.

I really liked the room, even though there were a few build quality issues, most of which are natural in a new hotel. The things that are likely to cause a problem for some guests are the air conditioning, which struggled to cool the room in the heat of the afternoon, and the lighting, which is soft and subtle. The bed lamps are inadequate for reading, and there is no room light at all.

Outside the room are two pools, a coffee shop and bar. The beach-side pool is free-form and the wooden deck surrounding it has several small jacuzzi built into it. The beach here is far from Koh Chang’s best. The sand becomes rough stone just at the low tide level. The water is quite calm, as there is almost no surf.

There is almost no commercial development along the beach road around the hotel, although that will probably change soon. To see more of the island, I took a songtaew up to White Sand beach. As the name implies, White Sand beach is indeed a long, wide stretch of white sand, lined with hotels, resorts and bungalows. The main road along the coast is lined with the usual mix of cheap clothing shops and restaurants that is all too common to the haphazard development of Thai beaches. There are obvious signs of more building everywhere, even though much of what has been built is only half utilized. The town seems very sleepy, Koh Chang is one of the few places where some places close in the low season.

The Princess is a good place to stay if you want to be well away from the crowds in the high season. Even without the special promotion, the pool villa is still a good value at the regular rate you can get on most of the discount sites. You can view its price and availability here.

More photos of the resort can be seen in our photo gallery.

I wake up to a glorious day in Phnom Penh this morning. The sky is clear blue and there’s a stiff breeze snapping the flags of the nations along the quayside to full attention. I walk down to the FCC for a light breakfast. It’s the perfect spot for a meal on a day like today. Sitting in the open third floor dining room, looking out at the river, where some long boats are practicing for races later today, I almost wish I was spending the weekend here instead of heading down south.

But by the time the car comes to pick me up, the breeze has died down and it’s beginning to get hot, so I’m glad to be escaping to the seaside. The drive down to Kep takes about two and a half hours. The two lane road is relatively good, although there are several one-lane bridges to slow things down. There are not really any sights to see along the way, although the landscape of rice fields and country houses is rather pretty.

 
We arrive in Kep in the early afternoon. In French colonial times, Kep was the premier seaside resort, but was abandoned in the 1970s when the Khmer Rouge began their bloody rule. My home for my stay here is the Champey Inn, a collection of 16 bungalows scattered around a swimming pool facing the sea. The rooms feature a rather spartan design, with painted concrete floors, simple wood furniture and stark white walls. The Champey Inn sits on the slopes of a point within sight of a collection of ramshackle restaurants sells the area’s famous crab. The rest of the point is lined with the shells of abandoned villas.

While Kep is coming back to life as a tourist destination, it’s still well enough off the map. While there are a few hotels and guest houses in the area such as the Champey Inn, there’s little else to divert the tourists – no nightclubs, no mini-marts, and even very few restaurants aside from those at the hotels. That is starting to change, so if you’re interested in seeing an ‘unspoiled’ place, you better go now.

See the Kep photo gallery for a lot more pictures from around the area.