A great find in Thailand!

We had a delightful time at a place called Gecko Villa, which is about 20 minutes out of Udon Thani. Udon Thani itself is quite a modern Thai trading town, and did not really seem that attractive. However, once we had left the city we felt we had really found the true Siam from the past. We did not want to stay in a hotel and found the website on the recommendation of friends. We were picked up by the owners at UTH airport off our Nok Air flight (which again had been recommended) and driven to the property. We discovered we had rented ourselves an entire country house for our holiday, right in the middle of the Thai countryside and surrounded by rice paddies and woodlands. We really enjoyed having the privacy of our own pool and house, and the food that was prepard for us daily was delightful (and learning how to make it from the owner, a former cook, really pleased my wife!). Perhaps the best thing was being able to explore the nearby rural villages and experience the genuine Thai lifestyle away from major tourist centres. Downsides? Well, I guess it's normal but in these villages very few people sepak English, so we had to make do with sign language and many smiles - although that was an expeirence in itself: the people there were really very, very welcoming. The bedrooms were large and airconditioned, and the master bedroom had a great garden shower. The living and dining room was huge, and had satellite tv, sound system etc, and films to watch. The pool was very relaxing and the kitchen spectacular - although as the meals were all cooked for us we only really used it for blending our own mango smoothies from the fruit we had been encouraged to pick in the gardens. The owners took us to local festivals and parties which were fun, and we also enjoyed our trips to a waterfall nearby (can't remember the name!) and to Nong Han lake which was stunning early in the morning, with acres and acres of pink - red lotus flowers. The museum at Ban Chiang was interesting, as was shopping for locally made silk. www.geckovilla.com

Trip's date: No available
Submitted date: July 19, (2007)