Published with permission from LuxuryWeb Magazine
Keemala is an award-winning, uniquely designed luxury resort that draws inspiration from its natural surroundings to create a sustainable, serene, and utterly unique experience in Thailand.
Situated on a tropical jungle hillside, Keemala offers four styles of accommodations: clay pool cottages, tent villas, tree houses, and bird’s-nest villas. The design of these spaces harmonizes with the site’s distinctive topography, emphasizing concepts of “life,” “village,” and “sustainability” to provide a peaceful environment enhanced by modern design.
The resort utilizes the existing landscape to maintain its natural tropical rainforest state as much as possible. Its layout is designed as a “valley village” that ensures privacy with exceptional zoning for each unit. The interior design blends characteristics that represent the concept’s relationships and unity.
In addition to the local tropical rainforest flora, the resort cultivates food plants such as fruits, vegetables, and local herbs in an organic natural scheme. The produce from these gardens, particularly the herbs from the chef’s garden near the entrance, is widely used in the hotel’s kitchen. The resort also benefits from the chicken and duck coops, salad planters, and mushroom shed.
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The General Manager welcomed us warmly and ensured all our needs were met.
The suites are built in small groups of 2 to 4 units, based on four basic design ideas. Each suite is created on three levels, with the bedroom at a lower level and the indoor/outdoor bathroom at a higher level. Every suite features an exterior bubbling pool, a private terrace, air conditioning, King or Hollywood twin beds, and free Wi-Fi throughout the property.
Currently, Keemala offers:
- 16 Clay Pool Cottages (Pa-Ta-Pea Clan): These suites feature interiors made of clay and soil, with wooden furniture and other natural materials. Unique spiral patterns are imprinted throughout, telling a tale of art and culture with a strong bond to earth and nature.
- 7 Tree Pool Houses (We-Ha Clan): These suites reflect the desire to live in high places, with hanging furniture set in unique patterns.
- 7 Tent Pool Villas (Khon-Jorn Clan): Inspired by wanderers and travelers, these suites feature canvas designs that reflect ease of mobility and nomadic instincts, each with a pool and outdoor lounging space.
- 8 Bird’s Nest Pool Villas (Rung-Nok Clan): These luxurious villas boast multi-colored, beautifully appointed interiors.
My suite was in a Clay Pool Cottage complex, with two suites sharing a walkway a few steps down from the main road, surrounded by rainforest vegetation. Electric golf carts continuously roam the resort, offering rides to guests, or you can call reception to send a cart for a specific time.
The communal areas, including the lobby, pool, two restaurants, conference space, and the Mala spa, offer magnificent views of the lush forest and the sounds of nature. Throughout the resort, there are plenty of outdoor spaces with natural features, including the chef’s garden, waterfalls, and a rope bridge.
The two restaurants are led by a native of Phuket, offering classic Thai dishes with Indian and Malay influences, alongside European, mostly French-inspired, options. Many vegetables are sourced directly from the property’s gardens, including a mushroom farm that supplies cultured oyster mushrooms. The presence of two water buffaloes, chickens, and ducks contribute to the resort’s “village farm” concept.
Thai cooking is highly aromatic, dominated by ingredients such as lemongrass, kaffir lime juice and leaves, scallions, garlic, bird’s eye chili, various mushrooms, fish sauce, tamarind sauce, coriander, cardamom, and galangal. Jasmine rice is commonly served with dishes and is flavored by diners with sauces from the curries, which include six curry paste varieties. Coconut milk and cream are essential, as many soups and curries use coconut milk as a main ingredient.
The chef invited us to a Thai cooking class, where we learned to make dishes including Tom Kha Gai soup, a large shrimp and chicken dish, a fish dish, and sticky rice with coconut cream as a dessert. We then enjoyed the delicious results of our training.
And a great time was had by all.
Keemala
Keemala Phuket
10/88 Moo 6, Nakasud Road, Kamala,
Kathu District, Phuket, Thailand, 83150
66 (0) 76 358 777
keemala.com
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