The issue about being so profit oriented, in addition to the offputting capital raising book, is really driven home when you get to your room for the first time. This is mostly an Asian thing, but almost every hotel here gives you free things, at the least a big plate of fruit, which costs about ten cents here. There's usually flowers, often a bottle of wine, almost always breakfast included. Here, nothing, and the room echoes with the absence of stuff. And because you're supposedly stuck at the Laguna, all the food, spa etc is ridiculously overpriced, and this is coming from someone who wouldn't think twice before drinking a $7 diet coke from the minibar. The Banyan Tree chain is known for its spa service, but even the spa is offputting as you have to book days in advance and there are two receptionists and a large waiting area as people are shepherded in and out of their appointments. Anyway, I know this sounds petty but it's the little things that matter at the high price end of the market, and they fail on almost all counts. Now, having said this, I do remember on this trip rather liking the hotel. We went back two or three more times and liked it less and less each time, so to be entirely accurate my ratings should probably be higher for this initial visit. Banyan Tree (5) Room-8, Facilities - 6, Service-3, Wow-3 (the pool, but remember it comes at the expense of any view) The photos are of the beach area closest to the Laguna, which is pretty and usually empty. Also the restaurant there is privately owned and serves really great seafood, mostly to locals and the few tourists who escape the grip of the Laguna. I can't remember the name right now, but it pops up in future trips, so stay tuned.

These photos show the main plus, which is the villas and their individual pools. At the time of this trip, Banyan Tree and Amanpuri occupied the top rung of Phuket hotels. Amanpuri is head and shoulders above Banyan Tree in most respects, but the individual pools are a nice differentiating factor for the Banyan Tree. The villas are broadly comparable, with both in need of a bit of updating but pretty similar in style and size. One downside of the pool is to maintain privacy you're walled off so there's no view at all, whereas the Amanpuri had ocean views. (Of course there'd be no views even if there were no wall, because the Laguna Complex is just a big flat piece of land). As for location, it depends what you want to do. The Banyan Tree is near the airport, and the idea behind the Laguna is that you'll never leave the complex, so in some ways this is more convenient. Also, it's got a golf course on the property, although there's a better one (at least according to Somchai), nearby which I think is called Blue Canyon. It's a really long drive to anywhere else on the island though, so if you're spending any time at the other beaches, Amanpuri wins again.

The hotel has its own boat, which we took out for a day around Pang Nga Bay. The island of Phuket is hilly but not interestingly so, and most of it is covered with roads and shopping malls. But its coastline is still pretty in many places, and nearby Pang Nga Bay is quite a showstopper. All these rocky protrusions give the place an otherworldly feel to it, and makes for a great day out on a boat. There are several Muslim communities that live on the sea, with their villages on stilts protruding from the island. I'm going to end the Phuket discussion with the picture of Somchai in the ocean, who is either enjoying himself or about to drown and signaling for help.

Some more photos of Amanpuri. As mentioned above, I think we were the only people using the pool the whole time, and its a pretty cool pool too. There's a small beach down below the hotel, but it's not very interesting and there are much nicer ones elsewhere on the island. Also, since I'm beginning to sound like I work for Aman, I'd also point out that there restaurant isn't very interesting and the menu somewhat uninspired. But that's about all the criticism I can muster.

After that pretty negative introduction, you may be surprised that we returned in a couple weeks for our second anniversary. So obviously we had a great time during our first trip, we just didn't spend much time in Patong, and you shouldn't either. One easy way to avoid that is to stay at one of the many far flung hotels. We stayed at the Amanpuri, the grande dame of Phuket hotels. It's reasonably close to Patong geographically, but a world apart in other ways. And the ride from Patong to the hotel is about a half hour, on very windy hilly streets in the back of a pickup truck, Phuket's version of a taxi. That will naturally curb any desire you might have to overindulge, or you'll regret it at some point on your ride home.

Amanpuri was I believe the first Aman, which is far and away our favorite hotel chain, as you'll find out over time. It's also the first of the superluxe hotels in Phuket, although it now has some competition for that market from Banyan Tree and Trisara. In my opinion Amanpuri still winds hands down, but since we've stayed at all the others, I'll save my knocks against them for future entries. Amanpuri is about 20 villas, all scattered among the jungle overlooking the ocean. There's a communal pool and restaurant, but in general the point of an Aman is to stay away from other people, so you rarely bump into anyone. That's why it's the favored destination for celebrities, and why you'll usually be sharing the hotel with at least one famous person, but you'll also never see them.

The Aman villa is definitely spacious and impeccably decorated, but it's very understated bordering on plain. They don't compete on glitz, but on providing as much privacy as you want, and fantastic service. As a chain, they've perfected the art of service. Lots of high end hotels have armies of staff who mill about with silly jobs like bath concierge. But here staff is largely invisible until you might want something and then it appears. They're also very relaxed and friendly, not stiff and formal or too subservient, just nice, the way you want it to be on a beach holiday.