As usual, we booked one night at a random resort, then started shopping for a place we can call home. As it turned out, just a few doors down the beach from where we landed was a hidden paradise called Dolphin Bungalows. Owned by an Australian woman and her Thai husband, Dolphin was unlike anything else we’ve seen. As soon as you enter the grounds, you’re surrounded by lush tropical greenery. All their cabanas were surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens in a jungle theme complete with ponds. We managed to snag one of their roomier cabanas for $30 a night. This felt like home, so we decided to settle down and hang out for a while.
Dolphin sure made it hard for us to leave their grounds. Each table in their outdoor bar/restaurant area is housed in its own open-air pagoda-like cove with comfy cushions and an inviting entry way. Their menu was also very different than the same-same copycat menus of typical resort restaurants. For example, we’ve never seen a morning glory hash brown dish before anywhere – and it was delicious ("morning glory" is the local name for water spinach which some restaurants will list as “hollow vegetable”). There are more than enough tables for everyone and the guests typically just hang out in one of their coves as if the whole restaurant area was a communal living room.
Right outside our resort entrance was a big beautiful beach and maybe a dozen other beach resorts, each with its own restaurant. On the beach were longboat taxis ready to take us anywhere. Up the road is a small village with tiny roadside eateries so there was a wide range of eating options to choose from. All-in-all, I think this is as close to paradise as we’ll get.
(See more pictures of Koh Phangan)
No comments:
Post a Comment