I can’t say my heart soared when two friends proposed a road-trip this summer. Since Leonardo Dicaprio ‘discovered’ Thailand in The Beach (2000), it has become a prerequisite for hoards of Western travellers on the hunt for food, fun, and spirituality. My first visit was in 1995 and it is safe to say the well-trodden beaches and towns have changed a lot in that time.
Once again, I was flying in to Phuket International. Though this time, it was from Singapore and I would recommend this journey, both for its exceptionally low price and short duration. Of course, you have to get to Singapore first, which is a downside, but we were fortuitously in the vicinity of Changi International at the time.
We weren’t sticking around though, almost as soon as we landed we arranged a car rental. Though a lot of their more sexy cars can’t leave Phuket, Andaman Car Rentals are reliable, cheap, and will drop your hire car off anywhere you desire – with a tank full of gas. They can be difficult to reach via email off-season (approx May-November), but promptly respond over the phone.
We rented a Toyota Hilux Vigo, with the durability to get us to the middle of Khao Sok International Park and a spacious trunk enough for the luggage of three 20-something women (you could comfortably sleep in the back, were it not for the pot-holes).
We were heading inland to Our Jungle House, a good three hour drive from Phuket and even the whiff of the nearest heaving beach. If you are prepared to redefine your notions of what is on offer in Thailand then there is something here for you.
An eco-resort, Jungle House is not so much a hotel as a community. Little wooden lodges on stilts are sprinkled over dense jungle, with just a tarpaulin roof separating you from the brilliant stars. Our bathroom was raided on the first night by macaques, seeming to appreciate our toiletries and hair brushes, returning them used on the second day.
The food is all freshly prepared and delicious, and the fruit, as you can imagine, is exceptional. Though it is far enough removed from the tourist trail for you to enjoy true tranquility, there are a few other intrepid souls who prop up the Lodge House bar most evenings. And I must mention the river, which you can go tubing on.
The greatest thing about Jungle House though, is the trips they organise. We visited Khao Lak and the Saichol Resort, by traditional long boat. Saichol is about as far removed from my Western idea of a ‘resort’ as possible and amounts to some lovely wooden cabins, perched on oil drums, and bobbing on a azure blue lake, surrounded on all sides by verdant green cliffs. Kayaking, snorkelling and cave diving were the order of the day here.
Maybe it was the time of year, maybe it was the location – but it has been a good long while since Thailand last managed to enchant me so.
Andaman Car Rent +66 81 892 5046
Our Jungle House +66 81 417 0546
Saichol Resort +66 81 891 6052