Posh Panviman

November 16^th, 2024

Originally Naomi had booked us in at the Craft Hotel in Chiang Mai for 3 nights, but since Day 2 of the Lantern Festival was today (which we weren’t attending), she thought it would be a good idea to get out of the busy city for one night.  She was a bit miffed as the original price at the Craft for 3 nights, turned out to be the same price that she was charged for 2 nights.  She contacted Booking.com about it and they said that they were sorry and would try to rectify it with Craft, but in the end nothing happened.  Naomi had a been a bit anxious about what the Craft Hotel would be like but the two main staff members that we interacted with, Kate and Pom, were awesome so we enjoyed our stay there. 

We both thought that the little porcelain doll on the bench on the patio at the Craft Hotel was freaky.

This is the hotel's turtle, which we didn't see until we were leaving.  Don't worry, this isn't his permanent home.

I saw this while walking back from the nearby 7-11...I love the woman doing construction with the hardhat over her sun hat.

We thought that we would just book a Grab (Asia’s version of Uber) but that proved to be difficult.  With so many tourists in town, none of the drivers wanted to head an hour out of town, with an almost certainty that they would have no clients to return with.  I had a few drivers accept the ride in the app, only to cancel 5-10 minutes later.  Another driver offered to take us, but for 2000 baht ($80 – versus the $25 that the app was saying it would cost).  We declined, but then couldn’t get another driver to accept our ride in the app.  In the end, Kate helped us out and arranged a red taxi truck to take us there for 1200 baht.  We just had to accept that we would be paying a premium for this ride due to the festival.

Relaxing on our truck taxi.

An hour later, we arrived at our 5-star accommodation that was situated up the nearby small mountains, northeast of the city.  We were greeted by a staff member in a golf course who loaded our luggage and then took us up a steep, curving road to the resort’s lobby.  What a gorgeous place!

The golf cart ride up the hillside:

We checked in and were driven up to our luxurious room that had a stunning view.  The plan was to just chill out and relax…although I always have catching up to do on my blog (it’s my “job” when I travel).

The main lobby:

Cool chess table in the lobby:

The building with our room.

Fancy schmancy!

The all important "bed test":

What a view!

Yes, we approve.

We spent the latter part of the afternoon by the pool before heading out for a mediocre dinner that evening.  That was our only complaint about the place…the food could have been better, but otherwise, it was fabulous.

The grounds were lovely.

There were a few pools.

Looking up to the main lobby and restaurant building from the pool area.

Naomi working on her newly found fun...Sudoku.

A meditation cave, just down from the main pool.

This was also below the pool area.

They created some really nice, tranquil spaces at this resort.

Dinnertime:

In the morning, we were off to a small town called Pai.