PLEASE NOTE: WE HAVE BEEN INFORMED THAT CHARLIE'S HUT SAMUI HAS CLOSED
Fine
white sand, warm turquoise waters, swaying palms and
sales propositions at every corner. Have your piece
of paradise on an easy payment plan. The real estate
business in Samui is flourishing, with foreign agents
leading the pack with glossy ads for project with
idyllic names like Serendipity Beach and Nirvana Hills.
All aimed at the thousands of foreign nationals that
will visit Samui each year and contemplate a second
home during their annual vacation. Other businesses
also do well. Upscale spas charge 100 dollars to place
warm stones on your stomach while you lie naked on
your back and inhale oil fragrances as soulless new
age music plays in the background.
On
the commercial scale, Samui is not less commercial
than Pattaya and Phuket, but only different in its
approach and clientele. The main difference between
Pattaya and Samui is that Samui attracts a younger
crowd and has a greater focus on water sports and
other adventure activities. Phuket on the other hand
has seemed to develop in a different direction from
Samui. Samui is less expensive than Phuket and it
is still possible to find huts on the beach. Phuket
seems to have more Germans and Scandinavians while
Samui has more Brits and Americans. Samui has no high-rise
buildings, whereas Phuket is full of huge modern structures
breaking up the natural lines of the island. Samui's
natural beauty seems less imposed upon than Phuket.
I think the California granola munching crowds would
prefer Samui while Phuket is more catered to old school
Europeans.
Our
place of abode in Ko Samui was Charlie's Hut on Chawaeng
beach - the beach with the most people, resorts, bars
and stores. We looked around at some other places,
but many of the upmarket places were hotels with rooms
like cells in a honeycomb and we wanted the earthy
experience of a bungalow. I remember a friend, saying,
in protest against apartment living, "When I
step out of my front door, I want my feet to touch
mother earth." Other resorts, though bungalows,
were concrete boxes and there's only so much fine
linen and wood paneling can do to improve a concrete
box. There is something special about a bamboo and
thatch hut on a beach that can't be duplicated. There
is a feeling that you are melding organically with
your surroundings and somehow absorbing the sun, surf
and sea.
Charlie's
Huts is a wonder in both design efficiency and market
savvy. The bungalows are constructed from bamboo,
thatch and wood. They are compact, water-tight and
attractive. Little touches to the design show artistic
craftsmanship and the creative use of natural materials:
the step up to the porch of each bungalow is a split
coconut log. Or for another example, concrete squares
form a walkway in the complex. Concrete blocks are
all too common in Thailand and epitomize the crass
architecture that we were trying to avoid. But in
Charlie's Hut, they found a solution: each concrete
step bears the imprint of an individual leaf from
the surrounding fauna, so each one concrete step is
unique and beautiful in its own right.
