Choosing Our Adventure

When booking this part of the trip, we didn’t really know what to expect as far as what things were like down in the extreme south of Thailand. But after three hectic days in Bangkok, anything seemed like it would be a relief.

We had gone back and forth on when to position the beach and ocean part of our trip, finally deciding on placing it at the end of the trip. Thank goodness for that decision.

At the time of booking, we could tell that the Pimalai Resort was pretty nice, but we had no idea the extent of the “niceness.” As their welcome letter states, the name Pimalai is a derivation of the ancient Indian language, Sanskrit, and translates appropriately as “A little patch of Heaven.”

Every little detail is taken care of by this place. From our airport pickup and transport to the resort, to the Lai reception … simply perfect. Even free bottled water on pick up!

Speaking of the transport. We were picked up at the Krabi airport and driven via van about an hour south to their private dock, where we then took a private boat about 45 minutes to the beach at the resort.

Once ashore we were greeted with a Lai greeting, a cold towel to cool down with and the most delicious sweet water I’ve ever tasted. No idea what was in it, but damn was it good!

After a brief, personal check-in, we were escorted to our room. This room is gorgeous, top to bottom. Complimentary everything, a day bed, and our own private deck. I’ve never stayed in a place this nice, and it was made all the better since we were not expecting this level of perfect. Our room was only about $150/night which is actually less than what we paid for our crappy airport hotel in Chicago at the beginning of this trip.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying delicious food, tasty drinks and a to-die-for infinity pool overlooking the entire bay.

Infinity pool at Pimalai Resort

About an hour before sunset we decided to head down to the beach for a stroll before hitting up the 2-for-1 happy hour at the resorts beach bar. Not much can top sipping Negroni’s while sitting in MoonPods on the edge of the Andaman Sea watching the sun set. I’ve never seen the sky change colors so quickly. Truly breathtaking.

We followed up the drinks and stunning sunset with dinner at the beach side restaurant which included a grilled whole sea bass and garlic fried prawns.

With the sun rising this morning, we took our time getting up and enjoyed some quiet time on our patio while we started to think about what to do for the day. We had been talking for a couple of days prior about doing a little hike into the jungle to see a waterfall and swim in its waters. However, we were finding the allure of our stunning resort surroundings intoxicating. We postponed the decision and headed to breakfast.

Breakfast views

At breakfast we tried several fruits we’d never had before including Chinese pear and rose apple, and the most delicious pineapple I’ve ever tasted. During the meal, we discussed our various options for the day, eventually opting to keep things low key. I had pulled something in my lower back a couple days back in Bangkok, and it was still giving me a bit of worry, so the idea of hiking gave me just enough pause that we opted against it.

Instead, we decided to head down to the beach where we grabbed a nice beach side daybed and headed for a swim in the Andaman Sea. I’m not much of a pool/water/swimming person, but I have to say, this was the best water I’ve even swam in. It was so warm, and the waves were a perfect size that it rocked you gently while not being too aggressive.

Swimming in the Andaman Sea

After a few hours of swimming and relaxing, we took a leisurely stroll down the beach to a place called Same Same but Different and enjoyed a nice lunch of Pad Thai with Shrimp, and grilled prawns in tamarind sauce.

Eventually we made our way back to the resort, and while Christine headed back to the room, I took another swim in the ocean. We met up again back at the infinity pool for another perfect swim, before heading up to the roof top bar to imbibe in happy hour and another spectacular sunset.

Sunset views from the rooftop bar

As the sun faded and the stars appeared, we made our way back to the room and ordered dinner for delivery onto our patio. A perfect ending to a pretty perfect day.

We’ll have a bit of free time tomorrow morning before catching the boat and van back to the airport, on the way back to Chiang Mai, our last full day in Thailand.

This trip has been quite the rollercoaster ride on all levels, but as always I’m a bit sad to see it coming to an end.

Khob khun krab, Thailand … you’ve been the most wonderful host. Your land, your temples, and your people are all so beautiful. Khob khun krab indeed.