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by kiwilee
London, New Zealand
June 16, 2002
This is a group of a dozen bungalows run by Mickey and her family, who are quite possibly the nicest Thai's in Thailand. They are set right on the beach at Ban Tai, about a 15 minute ride from Thong Sala.
The rooms themselves are your typical island fare. Bathrooms with shower, toilet and basin. Fans in every room, 24 hour power, and a hammock on the porch.
What really makes this place is the owners. They cook the best food I ate in Thailand. It was all really fresh and the servings were giant, even by my Kiwi standards. Also, if you ask Mickey nicely enough, then she'll teach you how to cook the food, so you can fry your noodles and eat them too.
The whole family will chat and teach you strange Thai words, then dance around to whatever CD you give them. They even brought out the fire sticks on Full Moon evening for us to have a play while there was a power cut. A taxi was arranged to Thong Sala when we were leaving. Arriving there, we were met by a travel agent that Mickey had phoned to tell of our plans to travel to Krabi, and promplty gave us our tickets at well under what anyone else had seemed to pay. Who said customer service doesn't exist in Thailand.
For 250 baht a nite (low season), I was well impressed. I'm sure we could have got this down lower, but I was happy to pay this for their hospitality. To get to Had Rin, just flag down a songthaew from outside the 7-11 (great for midnite snacks!) and it will take about 15 minutes and 50 baht. A small price to pay for living it up like this.
A testament to how well Emerald Ocean was run was the couple of people who had been staying there for almost a month, too happy to leave.
From journal Life on Ko Pha Ngan