Sweet

When I decided to spend a few days on retreat here in Thailand, I looked for a location that was unspoiled by the huge resorts with multi-story hotels, swimming pools and nightlife that have grown up in previously lovely spots all over Thailand. I spent hours and hours online looking at various options, and finally found this place.  Looking through their website, I knew I'd found my spot: Koh Kood, still unspoiled by tourists and big business, as best as I can tell.  Nothing to do here except relax and do quiet things: walk on the beach, get a massage, rent a scooter and see the island (which I do not intend to do, since I'm not a fan of motorcycles), swim in the ocean, snorkel.  I can't imagine any place quite so suited to what I love to do for a relaxing vacation.

At the website, they noted that this resort only has 15 lodging sites: villas and "sweets." I reserved a "sweet," since I only needed a place with one bed.

When you approach Sweet S-2, where I'm staying, you walk on one-of-a-kind stepping stones, each impressed with various leaf patterns.

You don't want to look up because it's intriguing to see what's on the next stepping stone.

This is the kind of attention to detail that you see everywhere at this resort. Every little corner, every stone, every building, every lamp, every furniture grouping is deliberately chosen, in perfect arrangement to bring peace and beauty to the senses. Seriously, I've never been in a place so beautiful.

Just beside the stairs to my front deck is a little reservoir with a lid and a coconut shell for washing the sand off the feet. It comes in very handy when I'm coming in from a walk on the beach.

And right beside the stairs is this bush. Having looked it up, it looks like the name for it is "croton." I remember a row of these planted along our walkway when we lived on Phuket Island, here in Thailand. Just seeing these leaves makes me feel like I'm home again.

Out on the front deck are two bean-bag recliners. The idea is that you open the sliding doors from the bedroom, and your living room is on the deck. And what a view! I could sit all day and look through the coconut tree forest at the blue, blue ocean beyond. Every hour of the day it looks different.

Looking in from the deck, there's a bed right in the middle with a fan over it, a couple of shelves, and two wardrobes. The bed is comfy and the sheets are high quality soft linens, sparkling white. Again, these people have given attention to every detail.

A basket of Thai oranges and a couple of bananas was waiting to greet me. Where's the other banana? Um. well, I got to it before the camera did.

Walking through the doors behind the bed, we find ourselves in my open-air bathroom.  There's a tub on the left and a shower on the right. The toilet and sink are around the right and left corners, respectively, on a raised platform.

Yep, there's the shower. You stand on the stepping stones beneath it and the water comes down on you like rain. No hot water from the shower, but you don't want it hot in this climate. And it's so refreshing!

The plantings around the tub are lovely. I haven't used the tub yet, but I will before I leave. There's a nice high wall around the open-air bathroom, but I keep imagining faces popping up above it to look in at me. I suppose it's a post-traumatic thing from when I was a kid and we were in India. I popped over a small wall to squat and go to the bathroom, and when I looked up, several kids were watching me over the wall. I remember great distress over that incident. I was probably all of 8 or 9 at the time.

By the way, do you see some terra cotta things on the shelves along the wall behind the tub, hiding in the vines?  Here they are!

I love these two little happy figurines! You just want to smile, looking at those laughing faces.

So that's a tour of my digs, my "sweet" at this resort. There's lots more to show you from the rest of this place, but for now, this will do.