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Review of Haad Salad Accommodation 2017

January 24th, 2017 | Posted by admin in Resorts - (Comments Off on Review of Haad Salad Accommodation 2017)

Haad Salad sunset

There are plenty of accommodation options for Haad Salad. Over the last few years the north west beach has built up a reputation as one of the best beaches in Koh Phangan. Moreover, its proximity to Srithanu and the New Age revival happening in this area has further increased visitor numbers to Haad Salad. Srithanu might have yoga but Haad Salad has a pristine beach. Below are a few notes about changes to Haad Salad resorts in terms of Trip Advisor reviews.

The Winners

Cookies Salad Resort are doing the basics of clean accommodation and friendly staff very well. They have jumped 10 places up the rankings on Trip Advisor from 30th best hotel to 20th best hotel on Koh Phangan.

Green Papaya Resort has the most expensive rooms in Haad Salad. Despite having a website that my computer reads as an attack page, the hotel goes up 3 places from 31st to 28th best hotel on the island.

The biggest winner in the battle of the Trip Advisor ratings is Haad Salad Villa that climbs from 7th to 1st in the speciality lodging category. Well done!

Salad Beach Resort clearly had a good year. They rise from 45th to 29th best hotel in Koh Phangan. It’s a tough Trip Advisor category and they are doing the right things to impress.

Similarly, Salad Buri Resort and Spa are on an upward trajectory. The hotel moved from 47th to 32nd in the TA rankings.

Smile Beach Resort doesn’t get many Trip Advisor reviews. It has nearly as many excellent as terrible reviews. However, it rises from 86 to 80 in the B&B list for Koh Phangan. It still has $10 rooms.

Salad Hut is showing the other traditional bungalow outfits how to do it. They climb from 11th to 5th best lodging spot on the island.

The Losers

Double Duke Bungalows opened in 2013. Often new bungalow resorts with new bungalows and new facilities score well on Trip Advisor. Not Double Duke – it falls from 56th best B&B to 79th best B&B on the island.

Asia Bungalows used to be the 13th best speciality lodging on the island. Standards have dropped and the numbers reversed. Now Asia Bungalows is the 31st best lodging on the island.

Haadlad Prestige Resort and Spa is a good mid-range accommodation option in Haad Salad with pool and air-con rooms. The resort is slightly separated from other businesses in the area and it feels like you have a private beach. A few poor reviews on Trip Advisor has seen this place drop from 54th best hotel to 61st. The staff could do better.

Phangan Natural Resort are typical of a certain type of Koh Phangan business – things are not going quite according to plan for this jungle retreat – they have dropped from 58th to 67th in the Koh Phangan B&B category. The economy rooms are not cheap enough to warrant the climb up from the beach. They have responded to the slump by putting a hold on bookings through room search engines. You don’t pay commissions but you don’t get the same volume of interest.

Salad Grand Bungalow with its traditional wooden bungalows and name change is slipping down the charts. The bungalow set up went from 216 to 250 in the speciality lodges category.

It is the same story for Sea Salad Resort – cheap rooms, few reviews and a falling ranking – it dropped in 2016/2017 from 130 in the speciality lodging category to 201. Not great.

Conclusion

While Trip Advisor rankings are far from perfect because of such things as false reviews and demographic behaviours we can see through this comparison between 2016 and 2017 rankings which of the resorts in Haad Salad are making an extra effort to make guests happy. This and price are surely the key determinates when it comes to many people’s accommodation choices.

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Pyramid Yoga Centre

August 9th, 2016 | Posted by admin in Yoga - (Comments Off on Pyramid Yoga Centre)

pyramidyoga

Pyramid Yoga Centre is an impressive yoga place set back in the hills behind Haad Yao and Haad Salad. If you take the most inland road Haad Yao to Haad Salad and then take a left at the Peppercorn Restaurant you will soon hap upon the Pyramid Yoga Centre. It is a peaceful jungle location, far from the madding crowd, and a nice spot to do some yoga.

If you are heading to Pyramid Yoga Centre then take it slowly when you do the left turn. The signage is not very good, and most people miss the place the first time they go. Once you find the track and drive to the end, you have a short walk up a hill to the centre.

The main yoga hall has a large thatched roof in a pyramid shape. The sides are open which affords a great view of green jungle as you do your yoga. Just a short walk down the hill is the Tree Tops Restaurant that serves tea, filtered water, raw food and health food.

There is a focus on chakras and healing. I see on their website that in August they have a cancer remission retreat. This is yoga for the young and keen to learn, but also for the old and those keen to live longer. They offer a range of yoga styles including Hatha, Kundalini and Pranayama. There is also yoga teacher training courses, fasting and detox programs and traditional Chinese medicine.

The website is one of those slightly irritating dual location productions. There is a lack of information about both the Philippines Pyramid Centre and the Koh Phangan one. They do announce in bg letters in the header:

“OUR MISSION – To share and proliferate the traditional teachings of the Science of Yoga. In so doing, the Scientific aspect of the chakras is presented in the light of Quantum Physics, showing that modern research has come full circle and back to the energy wheels of the Ancients.”

The further you read the sentence, the more confused you tend to become. Whereas quantum physics does display many remarkable parallels with Buddhism and Hinduism as books since the Tao of Physics have explored, the assertion that ‘modern research’ has returned to the ‘wheels of the Ancients’ is harder to prove.

The head teachers are obviously very experienced and have guided many students to a better understanding of themselves. Pyramid Centre in Haad Salad has numerous recommendations. The story of David and his partner Marina is an impressive one. David travelled the world on a ‘yogic journey’ before returning to Canada to set up the first Pyramid Centre in Victoria in 1996. They set up the Koh Phangan branch in 2002. The Chakra Yoga Center in Palawan, Philippines began in 2008.

Telephone: +66(0)77 374130
Address: 58/34, moo 8, Koh Phangan, Surat Thani 84280, Thailand
Website: http://www.pyramidyoga.com/

Drop in Classes

Monday to Friday:

7.30 am to 9 am – Sunrise Hatha Yoga
3.30 pm to 5pm – Restorative Yoga
5.30 pm to 7 pm – Sunset Yoga

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