Alila Cha-Am Resort, Thailand : Day #3

Without a doubt, the one of the highlights of our resort stay at Alila Cha-Am is the Alila Spa. Having booked an appointment for the afternoon, we lazed the morning away at our private pool area with a little sun-tanning session.

News by the pool side! The biggest news while we were at Thailand was the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, and her name appeared on the headlines for the few days we were at Alila Cha-Am.

Look at the lovely sky! Nice and handy shelter under the umbrella. Despite the cloudy skies on some days, our worries of bad weather were in vain after all.

Looks like our special guest was enjoying the pool villa as well.

Lunch was a simpler affair – we didn’t want to eat too much prior to our spa session. Headed to Clouds Loft for a little open-air dining since the weather was so lovely.

Yet another of Alila’s cocktail – a sour one!

The delicious bread sticks we have come to expect for our meals.

Ordered a custom risotto with asparagus, chicken, mushroom and prawn for myself.

A massive seafood sandwich that Shan couldn’t finish, obviously.

Spa Alila comes with a variety of treatments available. As we sat down to confirm the treatments we wanted, we were given wet towels and ginger tea -urgh- to freshen up.

Brightly lit interior with lounge area for waiting. Pretty.

Mind-boggling array of products lined up in the wall for purchase!

Slippers provided for us to wear within Alila Spa premises.

A long narrow passage leads to the interior of the spa, providing complete privacy.

Passed by the enormous hydrotherapy pool on the way to our couple spa room.

Pretty cosy/poor lighting inside the couple “room” (it was actually dim, warm lights and nothing like the picture below) so I didn’t get to snap much pictures. As you can see, the two beds are laid side by side.

The “room” also has a shower, a private bath and a cabinet for our valuables/clothings.

At the spa reception, we were given a choice of what fragrance we would like to have, which they have prepared by the time we stepped into the room. A relaxing blend of soothing music played in the background.

Spa Alila was having a promotion, so both Shan and myself signed up for the Spa Buffet – which consisted of a combination of treatments we could mix-and-match for about 3,600 baht (about SGD$150) each.

1. We started with a mocha full body scrub, followed by a shower.
2. Then, it was a rhythmic 50-minutes body massage, followed by a wrap for 15-minutes.
3. While the wrap did its work, we did a hair ‘hydrator’ treatment & neck/shoulder massage, followed by a shower.
4. Then, we indulged ourselves in a herbal bath for 20 minutes, followed by a shower.
5. Finally, we ended off with another round of body massage.

Just thinking of the experience brought back wonderful memories. It was definitely the best spa experience we’ve had so far! The entire experience was done very professionally with adequate privacy ensured.

After we’re done, it was a nice touch to provide a refreshing dessert – green tea sorbet. Maybe a ploy to get us to fill up good remarks in the feedback form! Not that they needed it – we had nothing but good comments!

If you are a beach-loving person, my advice is to stay away from Alila Cha-Am. Sadly, this is one of the main shortcomings of Alila Cha-Am. From far,the beach looks fine but take a closer look and you’ll realize that the erosion is pretty bad.

To make matters worst, jellyfish is a common feature of waters around here during certain months of the year.
Ouch.

Although not suitable for a beach-loving individual, Alila Cha-Am is a top choice to me when it comes to choosing a peaceful retreat – a place to simply relax and unwind.

Dinner + Poor Lighting = Bad Pictures. It is really hard to imagine that the below are oven-roasted chicken and beer-batter fish and chips. They tasted great though, especially the fish and chips that were presented in a very different manner. For our last dinner at Alila, we added another round of orders for some of our favourite food – duck breast and baby squids.

If you’re not out at the main lobby or Clouds Loft, you would have missed this daily “fire dance” at 9pm. We were seated at the lounge seats facing the lobby, over the body of water on the roof-top. You can see the guests illuminated by the massive fireball as it rises up in the air!

Sneak Preview for Day #4 of our Alila adventure? Cooking class! That’s Siam Kaewcheerat, the executive chef of Alila Cha-Am in the kitchen with us!

Alila : Surprisingly Different