dusitD2 Khao Yai – A Review
If you’re looking to get away from the madding crowd for a little bit of R&R amid verdant nature, then I really cannot recommend the dusitD2 Khao Yai strongly enough. Khao Yai (Big Mountain) is the only place in Thailand that produces wine and the hotel, spread over 16 rai (a little over six acres) of lush green, is snuggled between Thai vineyards and a national park, with the mountains looming benignly above it all. After the pollution haze of Bangkok, it was a relief to breathe in the much cleaner air of Khao Yai.
In the forecourt of the hotel is a fountain that’s switched on in the night and has changing colours, which is quite dreamlike against the inky blackness of the night. The lobby is surprisingly spacious and airy, with a huge candelabra style ceiling light. It’s totally open on the front, while behind the Reception desk, narrow French doors overlook the garden. There is a small pastry cabinet and coffee on offer to one side of the Reception desk, with bar stool style seating.
The dusit D2 Khao Yai has 79-rooms, categorised as follows: Deluxe (35.8sqm); Deluxe Plus (35.8sqm); D’ Corner Suite (71.6sqm) and Duplex Suite (68.8sqm). The adjoining Phuphatara property which has villas for sale, is owned by the same person who owns the hotel, however, one villa is available for the hotel to offer to guests at 10,000THB per night.
I stayed in a Deluxe Plus room, which was plainly furnished although very spacious and gave on to distant views of the mountains and the national park. The writing “desk” is slightly tacky as it’s a long, utilitarian shelf, such as the Ibis employs. One of the USP’s of the room and a playful signature of the d2 brand, is that the bathtub is romantically placed within the bedroom, rather than the bathroom. There is a shower cubicle with the usual as well as rain shower. Fortunately, the lavatory comes with a jet spray.
All the rooms have balconies and come equipped with flat screen television, electronic safe, umbrellas, minibar, two complimentary bottles of drinking water and tea/coffee maker. (Strangely, despite the Deluxe Plus category offering complimentary minibar goodies, my minibar was as bare as Mother Hubbard’s cupboard, although I did point this out!) There is free wifi across the dusitD2.
F&B outlets are mainly restricted to the Musi Grill, the all-day dining restaurant serving international and Thai local dishes. There are 75-covers indoors and another few tables spread outside, including, rather innovatively, two circular seating spaces within the swimming pool itself! All told, it runs to a 100-covers. There is a small pool bar too, while the Cocoon, set amid the branches of a tree and overlooking the canal, offers a unique and romantic tree house style dining for a couple. Apart from this, there is a mini delicatessen called the Gourmet de Khao Yai and a small, air conditioned lounge flanking the lobby and overlooking both the lawns as well as the swimming pool that serves coffee and drinks. It has limited, intimate seating with a couple of rocking chairs as well and is more like a waiting area for guests while their rooms are being readied. However, it’s a very restful space and one can quite easily curl up with a book and spend a couple of hours here.
Recreational facilities include an infinity style outdoor swimming pool in the shadows of the looming mountains above, with some sunbeds within the pool itself. It overlooks a large expanse of verdant lawn that has three cabana style sunbeds, plus a small children’s play area. The hotel also has quite a decent sized gym for a small property tucked away in the hills, with a separate yoga room. Massages are available, either in the one twin room beside the gym or else, in your own room. This service is outsourced and therefore, needs to be pre-booked.
Big boulders are placed strategically around the property, making for ideal photo opportunities. As the hotel is quite spread out, golf carts are used for guests to access parts of the hotel more comfortably. Other recreational activities include kayaking, Thai cooking classes, rock climbing and bicycles that can be borrowed for free. Children – and adults alike – are sure to be delighted by the pets at the hotel! There is a rabbit hutch with cute bunnies waiting to be fed by children. Beside the hutch are a pair of silkie fowl that have a most unusual, wooly kind of plumage; I’ve never seen something like this before! A little further away is an enclosure where a couple of alpaca graze sleepily in the warm sunshine; one of them has been trained to turn her head and bestow a kiss on a willing cheek! Children are allowed to feed the animals at feeding time – under supervision by a hotel staff and one has to pay for the food.
In terms of convention facilities, the dusitD2 can offer a cosy meeting space for 15-pax theatre style called The Book, or the Phuphatara that can accommodate 100-pax theatre style. It should be noted that the outdoor patio that can be used either as pre-function or banquet space is quite large, adjacent to the swimming pool and overlooking the canal.
Khao Yai is extremely popular with the Thais themselves and so I noted with pleased surprise that the smiling Front Office team spoke quite decent English. This team is very courteous and ever helpful. The F&B team sometimes appear a bit lost, however, the manager, Khun Phed, is a real treasure (pun unintentional, although her name does mean ‘diamond.’) She speaks good English, is resourceful and is everywhere seemingly at the same time, taking orders as also clearing plates with alacrity. The hotel is really fortunate to have her; now perhaps she can get the rest of the team to pull up their socks too. Be warned that the chef is somewhat trigger-happy with the chillies! Housekeeping staff are slightly indolent and could do a better job with clean-ups, although pest control, as always with the Dusit Group, is of a high quality. Engineering was mainly satisfactory, except that for some strange reason, the AC seems connected to the master switch, which means if you switch off the lights from the master control on the bedside table, the air conditioning switches off too! Happily though, the rooms also have ceiling fans, making it for a pleasant night’s sleep in all.
There are surprisingly quite a few things to keep yourself occupied with in Khao Yai. For one, the national park here was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2005 and has some scenic hiking trails and waterfalls. As mentioned earlier, Khao Yai has some fantastic vineyards, the most notable being PB Valley that organizes day tours and also has a restaurant serving lip smacking fare. And of course, there’s always the local market to pay a visit to. Quite frankly, I chose to go nowhere, spending my time in utter quietude.
All major airlines fly into Bangkok and many low cost ones. Khao Yai can be reached within three hours from Bangkok. A one way taxi ride costs approximately THB 3,000 while a one-way minivan ride costs THB 160 and bus fares are similar. The bus and van will both drop you at Pakchong; Khao Yai is a further 45-minutes away, so you either have to request the hotel to organise a taxi or take the local songtaews there at THB 30 for the ride. Trains also ply between Bangkok and Khao Yai, however, the service is much slower and the train station is further off than the van stop in Pakchong.
dusitD2 Khao Yai
Tel: +66 44003000
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.dusit.com
