Chumphon Palm Resort

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Chumphon Palm Resort
Last Wednesday we left Hua Hin after 5 days and took the 5-hour bus ride to Chumphon (CHOOM pon), Thailand. We picked Chumpon because it is a sizeable city (pop. approx. 50,000) about half way between Hua Hin and Phuket. We want to spend March 1-4 in Phuket and fly directly from there to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon), Viet Nam. We toyed with taking a bus back to Bangkok and then fly to Krabi for a few days before Phuket. Nah … let’s try something a little off the beaten track.

I tried finding a hotel for us in Chumphon and found only two entries on Agoda, our preferred online booking agent in Asia. With a Google search we found several others that had possibilities and fit within our budget parameters (real cheap).

I should have been suspicious when they told us to call when we go into Chumphon and they would pick us up for the ride to the resort. When I suggested we could just take a cab, Nigel, the manager, said “Oh, no that will cost about 500 Baht” ($15) So I dutifully wrote down the phone number from the website and when we arrived about 1:30 PM, it’s hotter than blazes and we tried a phone from the bus office but it was the wrong number. Apparently, I’d copied it down wrong. There’s no such thing as a phone directory, much less a yellow pages in this part of the country, so an hour later, after the lady at the desk did her best “phone a friend” imitation, we were connected with the resort and they would be there to pick us up in about a half hour.

As it turns out it IS a half-hour drive to the resort and we would never have found it, nor been able to tell a taxi how to get there. The grounds are lovely, it’s on the ocean (Gulf of Siam) and it has a nice pool and pleasant open air place for meals.

We had our choice of accommodations: Dormitory (very backpacker) 300 Baht, 1-bedroom Chalet (sounds like it should be in the snow, right?) 1,000 Baht or 2-bedroom Chalet 1,400 Baht ($43). We splurged on the 2-bedroom super duper deluxe ultra thingy. Big spenders that we are!

The resort has many activities to keep guests occupied. There’s a gym where they train Thai youngsters in the art of Muay Thai (Thai Boxing). There’s a small fleet of sailboats for guests use. There are motorbikes for rent. They have a PADI diving school and sponsor diving excursions for tourists all over the area. They also have Thai cooking classes and have Thai massage. Who would need to go anywhere else?

Oh yeah, on Saturday night there’s a big community benefit music festival on the beach 4 kilometers (2 ½ miles) away. There were multiple rock bands and a 250 Baht ($7.50) cover charge to benefit the community. I’d guess fewer than 500 people made to the beach with close to than many ringing the outside where they didn’t have to pay the cover charge but could still hear the music. 250 Baht would be a pretty stiff price for most of the locals.

We’ve decided we’ll stay here for five days and then move on to Phuket (POO ket) on Monday, 1 March.

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Photos

Our chariot
mode of transport to/from and near the resort -- notice the activities advertised

Chumphon Palm Resort
looks pretty nice, huh?

Our Bungalow
fitting digs for a couple of big spenders like us, yes?

Comments

[L7]

Bungalow
Love the digs!! I think I want to move there. You boys know how to do a trip.