So exclusive, they even have their own time zone, one hour from the official Vietnamese one! Not to worry, though, it is just their gimmick.
Why we got there
My agent who takes care of all my contract work received a voucher for a birthday gift and she gave it to me.
How we got there
We were picked up at the Sheraton hotel and rode north out of Nha Trang in a new Mercedes Benz minibus. The view of the various small bays to our right was beautiful and we enjoyed the ride.
After a while we reached a small village and just where the village ended was the landing pier of the speed boat that took us to the resort itself. The boat ride took approximately 25 minutes.
The price per person for the entire transportation was US$ 35. The minibus carried 4 guests in total, so I assume the day was not a complete loss to the resort. The trip back is another 35 each. The boat capacity looked to be about a dozen passengers with luggage, so in the busy season the boat alone should rake in more than enough to run a small village.
Arrival
We were received by some 5-6 employees dressed in white uniforms. They were waiting for us on the pier. Our butler was a young Japanese woman who drove us to the most important landmarks of the resort in an electric cart. We ended up at our assigned beach villa. Outside the villa were two bicycles for us to use at our discretion. Being avid walkers and fond of exercise my wife and I never touched them.
Our butler showed us everything in the house and left us to take in the scenery.
The villa
The villa sits on approx. 200 square metres of land and is a two story construction.
The decor is supposed, I think, to mirror the decor of a 18th century Vietnamese house. Everything looks ancient but the resort is less than seven years old and the looks is a sign of great workmanship. Everything is made from natural materials like bamboo, hardwood, rope. Where normally tiles would be used, painted and sand blasted concrete was used instead. It was clear that hand tools and craftmanship had been used during construction. Where metal was necessary its use was disguised. Even light switches were hidden in wooden boxes. Lamps and ceiling fans seem to grow out of the thick beams, not a power cord to be seen anywhere. Door handles made from coconut and some of the furniture lend a feeling of one being an extra in a Flintstones movie at times. But the overall impression is one of thorough indoor and outdoor architecture with 100% attention paid to detail. I especially liked the massive floor planks everywhere, walking barefoot on them feels so nice.
The ground floor has an incredible bathroom, or bath area, I should say.
Under the roof is a wooden bathtub and twin vanity basins. There is an outdoor shower. The area is walled in by bamboo fences, so one's privacy is never in danger. The whole area outdoor shower area is about 60 square meters.
Leaving the bath area one enters the air conditioned bedroom. The bedroom has a king size bed and a smaller bed for children. There is a flat screen TV and two doors that both open unto the terrace with a private pool of approx 20 square meters. Two deck chairs are provided. Should the pool feel a bit small, the ocean is 10 meters away, so there is no excuse for not getting wet.
Returning through the bedroom there is a staircase leading to the first floor which is a deck of perhaps 70 square meters. The roof is thatch and the sides are open. There is a sofa and a desk and a dining table as well as a refrigerator and a bar. The banister is all bamboo and there are no windows. If necessary, the bamboo curtains can be lowered to provide even more privacy or cover against strong winds. The view from up here over the beach and the bay is very, very nice.
The entire area is covered with palm trees, bushes and other vegetation. One can sense being neighbour to other people, but it still feels like one is alone.
The wifi signal did not reach our villa, so they set up a router for us. Even though they are computer savvy (their public computers are running Mint Linux!! And not the usual bootleg Windows that 83% of computers in Vietnam are equipped with) the signal is not encrypted. I would have liked strong encryption, but I guess that would have been too difficult for them to administer.
The restaurant
Built in the same style as the villas the restaurant is huge. The wine list is impressive. Since there is nowhere else to go for a meal, this is clearly a moneymaker. A 70 cl. bottle of water is 95,000VND, and a Heineken beer (about .6 l.) sets you back 135,000VND. We weren't overly impressed by the food the first night, my fish was dry and a bit too chewy.
A three course dinner without wine will cost you about VND750,000-1.5 million for one person.
Breakfast was as one would expect from a five star accommodation. The buffet only suffered fro the typical Vietnamese lack of real bread. Toast bread was available, though.
Trekking
Apparently there are two treks, for one of them you need a guide. The one we chose was the one without guide. The path leads through jungle up the mountain side and ends at the main restaurant. It took us 45 minutes of climbing and it felt very nice. It is a combination of walking and hiking trails. There were a couple of dicey spots, and back in my days of smoking two packs a day I would have found the trail hard. Now, as I am approaching 60 and in great shape, I did break a sweat, and I estimate I burned about 300 cals, so it was definitely more fun than 30 minutes on the cross trainer in the gym. Not to mention the spectacular view from the mountain over the bay.
Speaking of the gym, there is a small one, it has about eight machines, including a cross trainer, a tread mill and some weight stuff. Everything looks a tad dated but will do the job.
Neatness
The resort is clean and everything reeks of eco friendliness. Garbage bags are numerous and made from burlap. There are always two, the one reserved for plastic.
The staff speaks English and is well trained. I've never heard so many cheerful xinh chao's before.