Jun 142011
 

This hotel is located 22 kilometers north of the town of Chiang Khong, on the banks of the Mekong River.

The hotel grounds straddle the two lane road that parallels the river. The grounds consist of a number of bungalows, a main building that serves as an open-air restaurant and office, a large building right on the river that is designed as a conference room, and a maintenance/staff housing building that is a bit isolated from the rest.  On the river side if the property, an organic garden has been incorporated into the grounds.

There are three bungalows on the river-side of the property, on the Mekong, with great views of the river. What I counted as eleven other bungalows are located on the opposite side of the road, with three on a finger of water and eight on a hill. These eleven bungalows are connected by gravelled paths, and wooden walkways that are elevated over rice paddies. There are also a couple of ponds on this side of the road.  All the bungalows are positioned in a way that offers privacy.

Everything about this place is well-made and well-maintained. It is just plain nice and comfortable. The catch phrase for the joint says something about “simply immaculate,” and the hotel lives up to the claim.

We stayed in one of the riverside bungalows.  It was crazy nice.   The attached bathroom was an outdoor affair, with a roof over the sink and toilet area, and the shower open to the sky. Sometimes this outdoor idea doesn’t come off so well, but in this case it did.  The bed was comfortable (not one of the rock-hard things that are the norm in Thailand). There was a large wooden deck with built in day bed. There was a sliding glass door the size of one wall, offering a great view of the river. There was a refrigerator.  And this was the only place we stayed in Thailand that didn’t cause Jen to have some level of allergic reaction.

The rooms come with breakfast, and the breakfast was fantastic. It would have easily been a $10 US meal at even a reasonably-priced restaurant.

The restaurant operates until 6:00pm, and uses produce from the on-site garden to create some pretty good food.  Pricing is about 50% higher than comparable fare at an in-town restaurant, but it’s not the total price gouge you get at some hotels.

Added to this is a pleasant staff and free use of bicycles.

So, what are the downsides to this place?

Well, you pay for all this goodness. It’s the most expensive placed we stayed in a month of traveling in Thailand. We paid $67 US per night, during the off-season, after an additional 10% discount was given with a little haggling.

In addition to the cost, the hotel is located in the middle of a rural area that offers no alternative services within a reasonable distance. There’s a village of sorts about a half mile in one direction, with nothing in the way of even a roadside food stall. There’s a crossroads village six miles in the other direction that has at least one roadside food stall and a couple roadside shops, but without a motorbike you have to use a bicycle to get there on a hilly roadway – not insurmountable, as we did it; but not something most folks will want to do.  This remoteness in a rural setting is part of the draw of the hotel, of course; but it means complete reliance on the hotel.  It also means no interaction with other Thais.

Another downside is the distance you have to hike to get to the eleven bungalows on the side of the property opposite the river.  Its no small distance, particularly if you head up the two hundred or so concrete steps leading to the eight bungalows on the hill. Not many people would appreciate doing this hike multiple times a day, in the heat.

Finally, the Internet service is exceedingly…painfully…slow.  It was like the days of dial-up modems.  This is not necessarily a big deal for everyone, but since we came here to do some writing and photo processing and web posting, it was a real pain in the ass.

So, all is not perfect at Rai Saeng Arun…but it’s close.

 Posted by at 7:24 pm