The Khlong Wan Resort @New Year!

In a recent post, I featured the wonderful, provincial coastal town of Khlong Wan in Prachup Kiri Khan province and its laid-back atmosphere that took its visitors back in time to a more peaceful, simple way of life. Part of that was a photo of a small resort by the sea and its colourfully painted shacks but homestays and simple resorts weren’t the only accommodation in town!

Driving along the coastal road into town, my anticipation of our accommodation for the next three nights wasn’t exactly causing much excitement. Passing a multitude of ramshackle and slightly rundown-looking hotels and resorts made me wonder about the state of our hotel. With days off being so scarce, I wanted comfort, good food and a clean pool. I’d no intention of going sightseeing. I was looking forward to recharging my batteries doing precisely nothing and with the wife in charge of bookings it wasn’t looking good. We are limited with our choice of hotels, these days, to establishments that accept cats of which there are few. We go nowhere without Milo. He's a member of the family, after-all.

Just when you think 'thank god it's over for another year', you find a place that just can't let it go. Some may say 'over-the-top', but whatever your thoughts, you have to give them a 10/10 for effort!

I needn’t have worried. The Khlong Wan Resort was modern and clean and walking into the reception area, it was quite obvious they loved Christmas! All it needed was a Santa in a grotto and to be honest, on the first of January, I prefer to see the ‘joys’ of Christmas firmly in the past tense but no matter, I could see the swimming pool, glistening and winking at me beyond the reception area and my mood lifted.

With all the twinkling fairy lights, the practical side of me felt happy I wasn’t paying their electric bill before remembering we were paying eighty quid a room but it was worth it.

The reception area led out to the pool that sat between two parallel blocks of two-storey buildings that housed the rooms and ended with a restaurant and garden by the end of the pool, close to the sea. It was very well laid out.

The ground-floor rooms had swings and terraces with direct pool access and were a combination of two-bedroom family suites and standard doubles. They were accessed by a corridor that led from front to back at the rear of the blocks. Upstairs were slightly larger doubles that all had a staircase up to a private roof terrace. Being three couples, we had a combination of rooms and due to the hotel being busy being the new year, we had to change on the final night to a family room. The in-laws were in one room and the wife and I were in the other. Luckily, the father-in-law wanted to try sleeping in a bunk bed so they got the smaller kids' room!

For the first two nights, the wife and I had an upstairs room which as it would transpire, was definitely the best. The room was clean and stylishly furnished in neutral shades and with minimal decoration. It was large and had all the amenities.

The New Year card and chocolates were a lovely touch. The peanuts, and even soft drinks were complimentary and refilled daily.

Marshall Bluetooth speaker, kettle, fridge, capsule coffee maker and with a general nautical theme running throughout. Very tasteful and comfortable.

As is quite common in Asian hotels, there is a window between the room and the bathroom. Perhaps to give the bathroom more light and a feeling of openness. Perhaps for other slightly dodgy reasons!

Like the rest of the room. The bathroom was clean and well laid out with a fabulous rainforest shower head on top of a multitude of spray heads and adjustments.

Milo making himself at home with his own bathroom within a bathroom!

Working out how to turn on the tap for a drink!

Out onto the balcony that overlooked the pool we had a table and chairs. Notice the rope that's wrapped around the drain pipes. A nice touch. I also mentioned a staircase to the roof terrace...

That led up to...

the private roof terrace. Private as in each upstairs room had one. Not so private as in; no one could see you getting up to a game of hunt the sausage up here!

Milo particularly liked the soft and luxurious bedding and the well-laundered bathrobes.

Looking down from the balcony onto the pool and downstairs rooms.

Looking the other way out to sea with the small hotel garden and restaurant.

More Christmas trees and the tables are all set for dinner. Reservations only and the table for 6 you can see would be ours.

The restaurant was extremely nice with an extensive seafood menu but catering mostly to Thais. The hotel doesn't appear on Booking.com or Expedia but is on several local sites although we found the place on Google and ran them directly. The gardens and restaurant were festively decorated and lit up and the food was well received by the family. They even had a 'turn' on later in the evening.

The restaurant had a fantastic ambience and being located next to the sea, a light, refreshing breeze that gently cooled the diners as they munched their way through plates of spicy seafood. Prices were reasonable and the service was attentive and quick without us ever feeling that we were being rushed.

Like the dinner menu, the breakfast service was mainly geared up towards a Thai clientele but there were many choices of both hot and cold dishes including cereals and fruit. Eggs were freshly cooked in the style you preferred but if you were looking for an amazing selection of cheeses, breads and cold meats, you'd find yourself disappointed. The coffee was from a machine and it was excellent.

As I mentioned earlier, due to the hotel being full over the new year, we had to change rooms. Both the in-laws and my wife and I were transferred down to a ground-floor family room by the pool. To be fair, the hotel staff did everything for us whilst we were at breakfast and the whole transfer was seamless. Leaving one room to go to breakfast and after finishing, returning to the new one.

The family room had two bedrooms and a living area and the decor followed the theme of the rooms on the upper floor, simple and clean with high quality furnishings.

Milo is looking a little shocked and not sure why he's just ended up somewhere else that looks awfully like the last place. As for the towels, I'm not sure what they were supposed to be but even I could screw towels into a ball, throw them on the end of the bed and call it towel-art!

The main bedroom had a large window looking into the living area that gave a view through to the pool to make up for the fact it was an inside room and both rooms had a large TV.

The other bedroom had a set of very sturdy bunk beds and was a little smaller with no TV but still had aircon and a place to hang clothes.

The big advantage of the smaller bedroom is that it also had direct access to the pool through its own set of patio doors. The mattress is on the floor as after seeing the ladder to the top bunk, the Father-in-law decided it might be a step too far after a night on the whiskey!

My only niggle about the room was that the walls were a little bare and would have benefited from some art on the walls to make it feel a little more homely.

Although there was only one bathroom to share, it was large and had a double sink.

The bathroom also had some sort of 'magic mirror' that made half of the brother-in-law disappear! Neither of us had any idea how to work it! If anyone has any better idea for photographing a mirror that is better than me sticking a phone around the door, please let me know in the comments!

The terrace at the front of the room had direct access to the pool and had a couple of chairs and a wonderful swinging seat that was almost the size of a double bed.

Again, the use of natural ropes to hide the downpipes was a nice detail.

When darkness fell, the pool lights were left on late into the evening with no restrictions given on times you could swim.

The pool shower was great. Half an upended rowing boat and extra Christmas lights!

IF THE SIGHT OF SEMI-NAKED SCOTSMEN OFFENDS YOU. PLEASE LOOK AWAY NOW

Upon request, the hotel would serve you breakfast on a floating tray which you could eat in the pool. Why? God knows, but you have to try everything once, don't you? Well, the brother-in-law does at least!

I told you the breakfast was 'Thai-style'. Even breakfasts need to be brightly coloured and covered in unidentifiable sauces from a squeezy bottle.

The Verdict
We had a fabulous stay and I'd recommend this place to anyone. The service was impeccable yet discreet, no one was bothering you endlessly but upon request, the staff were quick to carry out your every request. The beach wasn't up to much and the ocean view may be considered to be marred by the breakwaters by some, but this wasn't a problem for me.

Another slight concern was the family room we had was next to the staircase to the upper floor and was and we had some noise and banging from both the staircase and the room above us. Not too much, but enough to be a mild annoyance.

The wifi was fast and free. There was free parking, a pool table and two gym machines. Enough for a small, chilled-out boutique hotel.

The only site I could find the hotel on was agoda.com. I'm not too sure if Agoda is popular outside Asia but it's huge in Thailand. The room rates for a random night in June came out at ฿3300 (£75 GBP, $97 USD) and the family room was ฿8200 (£187 GBP, $242 USD). Mid-range kind of prices but well worth it.

Final picture, and I can't imagine what the old folks were about to get up to. Doesn't bear thinking about!

Thank you for reading and I hope everyone is having a very happy and productive week. The hotel has now been pinned to the ever-excellent @worldmappin and @commentrewarder is activated!

Martin

@nathen007