ROOM we stayed in room 2101, first room on ground floor. very nicely furnished and cleaned everyday as soon as we went to breakfast, so the room was always spotless and re-made by the time we got back from breakfast. loved the shower! you don't put toilet paper down the loo in thailand, it goes in a basket, that is changed every day. the bath has a glass panel, so you can sit in the bath and look in to the main room. bath water slow to drain out. bed was very hard and as the room was right by reception, you could hear noise form around 5am, but i was already awake. the noise didn't wake my husband. lovely balcony with trendy wooden loungers.
GARDEN it was about a 30m walk along the garden pathway to the restaurant and pool area, passing the lovely jasmine flowers with their heavenly scent. you also passed the garden villas.
POOL the rectangular pool is about 18m long, with a small corner tiled to make a shallower section for children. I would swim laps at around 7am, with the sun just rising in the sky, then go to breakfast. the sunbeds are in two's with each pair having a sun umbrella. I expected the guests to be coming out early, placing towels on sunbeds early, but not the case!
FOOD breakfast is included in the price. each day there is the cooked breakfast selection, cereals, fruit etc... and each day a different selection of pastries and a different cooked item, e.g banana samosas. the chef would also cook omlettes to order. there is a large menu from which you can order from lunch, right through to the evening. such as green curry, spicy duck salad, pad thai, but also steaks, pizza/pasta. we stuck to the thai food. the food was really tasty. dishes around £2.50-£6.00 each. drinks can be as expensive as the food, but we found this to be the same in the Lamai bars too. although local beer is cheap, around £1.60 a bottle.
BEACH the beach is right by the restaurant and pool. there are showers to wash of the sand, toilets for hotel guests and the beach/pool bar. the staff work incredibly hard. they have all the loungers and umbrellas out in the day and around 5pm start transforming the area into the beach restaurant. they dig holes for the lanterns and decorate the tables and seats. some hotels stop the beach sellers from selling right amongst the guests, but this hotel doesn't. some of the sellers are really persistant, like the foot scrub ladies. there was a man and lady who had their pineapple/mango/sweetcorn stall to the side of the sunloungers. they were lovely and worked tirelessly all day. it isn't the softest sand, but the smoothness/roughness of the beach changes all along. i would recommend a cheap pair of flip flops as the sand gets really hot, plus your feet can get sore sometimes on a long walk long the beach.
SPA hotel guests get a voucher for 10% discount for a treatment. i had a thai massage. the women are so strong and get you body into all sorts of positions! highly recommended! the spa is in a glass building a the beach, so you can look out to the sea while having your treatment.
THE SEA the sea was quite calm on our first day, but the winds affect the sea and it got rougher for the rest of our trip. this brought more fun and we enjoyed wave jumping and body surfing. it was fun to watch people literally loose their swim costumes as the rough waves pounded them.
CLIENTELE the resort had a very high proportion of germans and the hotel, while we were there had a lot of scandinavians and a few russians.
HOTEL STAFF we cannot speak highly enough of the staff, from the front desk to the gardeners, everyone was so polite and helpful. we were especially grateful to Eddie and Nouang who came to rescue us in Naeman, when the scooter we had rented from the hotel broke down. (scooter hire is £5 a day. yes a day, and that means if you hire it at 9am, you don' have to give it back till 9am the following day, so you can use it to make the most of the nightlife!)
the Lamai streetlife is fun, with plenty to look at and shops/bars to go in. i will write about them in a different report.
having looked long and hard on the internet for a hotel in Lamai, and taking a sneaky peek into a few of them while we were there, we know we made the best decision in chooosing the Jasmine resort. we jsut cant wait to go back again!
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