Indigo Pearl, Thalang

My boyfriend and I stayed here in June 2004 and I'm only getting around to writing this now. I think I have been too depressed since we returned home to even be able to think about what an amazing time we had at the Pearl Village! This place was amazing and we were waited on hand and foot the whole time we were there! I highly recommend going off season like we did because the resort was not very crowded at all and there were days when we had the beautiful pool all to ourselves! Although we met a couple there who were on their 12th visit to the Pearl Village and they said that the service was always amazing, even during high season. And the weather was great for us, about 36 degrees every day and only rained twice at night and once for about 10 minutes one afternoon! When you arrive you get a nice welcome drink and then about 15 minutes after we went to our room we had a knock at the door and they brought us a basket of fruit as well. And every night they turned the bed down and laid gorgeous orchid flowers on our pillows! Then on my boyfriend's birthday they left a nice 'Happy Birthday' cake in our room as a surprise! (they check your passports when you check in to see if you will be celebrating your birthday while staying at the resort!). Anyway, the restaurants in the resort were great and the caesar salad is the best ever and they make it and the dressing by hand in front of you at your table! The prices are really good too although the little restaurants just outside the resort as you walk out to the beach (a 2 minute walk from the resort pool) are way cheaper and have brilliant food too! There's a great little place just to your right as you walk out the back of the resort to the beach - an open air seafodd type place - go there and the whole full 3 course meal for 2 won't even be more than 6-8 euro! What is also great is that the resort is right by the beach but is also self contained so it has guards that make sure only guests are allowed in. There is also a local resort elephant named Tombai who is lovely so don't get scared if you turn a corner in the resort and see him there in his little area! We almost passed out in shock when we saw him first! Also the resort has a doctor who comes there every day and aslthough his english isn't great it's a useful service they provide for free - you only pay for any medicine you need. My boyfriend got very severely sunburned one day and had to get antibiotics so it was a relief to have it there. So don't underestimate the power of the sun especially on the beach! Even in the off season it is till hot! Try the cool bike tour with Peter, Pearl Village's local sports guide. He even took us by to his friend's house so we met a local family and got to relax and have some water and grapes in their home! And if you get a taxi into Phuket town or to Patong it will cost about 13 euro for them to take you and sit and wait for you for about 5-6 hours while you shop, go eat, go drink, whatever. They just park and wait until you're ready to go home! Very weird at first and we felt a bit odd like we were exploiting them but they are glad to have the work and are happy to wait for you -- that's just what they do. We brought our favourite driver M&Ms and a few little treats along the way! Anyway as you can see, we loved this resort and would highly recommend it to anyone! Feel free to email me at lollyflashpants@hotmail.com if you have any queries about going here! Good luck! Tip:If you walk out the back of the resort and go onto the beach, take a left and walk for about 5 minutes or so and depending on the tide you may see a beautiful, serene little cove on your left just before a new development of apartments. We just lazed around swimming in here on our own...so peaceful!!!!!!