The mega hotels of Thailand are known throughout the world for their spacious accommodation and impeccable service. The mighty chains like Hilton, Sheraton and Marriott manage thousands of rooms in this kingdom of silk and smiles. Almost everyday a new vast hotel or resort is opened in the capital Bangkok or the tourist hot spots like Pattaya and Phuket. Each one boasts more space for the traveler. A wellness center is being tacked onto many of the new operations promising easy ways to revitalize. High tech conveniences are being added for the businessman and every leisure activity is being attached to capture the tourist traveler.

Not gaining as much attention is the quieter entry into the market of the small boutique resorts that are popping up everywhere providing the same impeccable service but with a quiet and relaxed ambience more in keeping with the true way of life in Thailand.

I have visited four of these smaller resorts that provide good value for money and all are away from congestion and the high rise environment that sadly shadows so many areas. Each of the four has a website and you can e-mail special requirements directly with the resort and you can be assured of getting the best possible prices and personalized service.

First stop is in the north of the county in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city, noted for its history, great countryside and fertile terrain which produces superb vegetables and most of the country’s flowers.
Here I stayed at Baan Deva Montra Boutique Resort and Spa, a perfect retreat for country living in the foothills of Chiang Mai's Suthep Mountain. The resort is very small, quiet, pleasantly affordable, comfortable and friendly. If you feel cut off from the world it’s only a thirty minute ride into the center of the city and slightly less from the city’s airport. Do not expect to find incredible luxury at the prices they charge but do expect spacious, clean villas with staff whose smiles will brighten the gloomiest of days.

The resort has 14 villas with small pools and 11 garden cottages. In off peak times you can have a villa for 1,000 Baht ($30). At peak times the rates climb to over 3,500 Baht ($105) a night for a pool villa but that includes a good breakfast – everything cooked to order, not those buffet spreads that dominate in most hotels today - and transfers to and from the airport. The villas are well spaced out in massive grounds that are well maintained, full of fruit trees and ideal for country walks. If you are more adventurous there are bicycles to tour the surrounding countryside. The restaurant provides a good variety of European dishes at low prices. Room service is swift and dinner in the poolside sala provides an ideal end to a day in the country. The villas are all set in tropical gardens and walls provide total privacy. Nice touch in the pool villas is an outdoor bathtub ideal for a relaxing bathe in the balmy night air. Fresh flowers were placed in the room each day and added that extra special touch.
I was greatly impressed with the speed that the room was cleaned each day. During the time I was enjoying breakfast overlooking the gardens, the cleaning crew – who I never saw – descended on my villa and everything was spick and span by the time I returned.
Families with children can offer their young one an exciting nighttime camping experience. The resort staff will gladly convert the sala into a place to spend the night with the aid of mosquito netting and bedding. If you have to keep in touch with the outside world, wireless Internet is available in the resort lobby and each villa has cable television.

The Baan Sookjai Spa at the resort offers a complete range of treatments. Two intrigued me. The first is the Ayurvedic oil massage for skin detox. The age-old treatment of Ayurvedic massage, works to massage special herbal oils, deep into the skin tissue, breaking up and forcing out toxins. This, they claim, leaves the body relaxed and invigorated. The second one was the five element aromatherapy. This aromatherapy uses the Five Elements Astrology chart to discover out your weak and strong elements and apply suitable oils specifically to your weak elements so that your skin will heal.
Spa prices are a fraction of the cost of similar treatments in the upmarket resorts. The five element treatment, as an example costs $60 and resort residents normally get an additional discount.

Two Chiang Mai attractions are close to the resort and are well worth visiting. Chiang Mai Night Safari houses hundreds of different animals and is just minutes away. Adjoining that is Ratchaphruek 2006, the Royal Flora Horticultural Exposition for the King which provides a fantastic display of flowers and plants from Thailand and over 30 other countries.

Baan Deva Montra in Thai translates to the village under the spell of angels. And that says it all. The address of the resort is 9 M. 11, T. Namphrae A. Hang Dong, Chiang Mai. Telephone: 53432 972-3. www.baandevamontra.com.

Resort number two is still in the north but to the east alongside the Mekong River. Closest city is Ubon Ratchathani, locally referred to as simply Ubon.
The Tohsang Khongjiam Resort is a hidden away gem set in over 14 acres of exciting grounds overlooking the Mekong River with views of neighboring Laos. I looked at the selection of excellent rooms but splurged on a spacious bungalow which was wonderfully furnished, had its own private garden with water features and magnificent views of the river and the hills of Laos beyond.

For this I paid 3,500 Baht a night ($105) and that included an enormous breakfast buffet, nicely presented at the side of the pool, which had a wide variety of dishes to satisfy the hungriest Westerner or Asian. There are a total of 40 rooms, eight suites, and seven bungalows. There are rooms available, with river views, from 2,000 Baht and there are packages available on their website with even more attractive prices.
The large swimming pool swimming was wonderful although the water temperature was a little cooler than those I had used further south in Thailand. A good restaurant with reasonable prices and young, cheerful staff make this a place you want to visit again.
Somehow I imagined the Mekong to be mightier than it was. This great river that flows from China through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Viet Nam was slow and low. Locals said that the Chinese were to blame because of dams they built at the start of the river, a charge that China denies pointing out that every country along the river takes water in increasing amounts for irrigation projects. It was obvious how fertile the areas close to the river were. Away from the river, and its tributaries and canals, much of the land was barren and dry. Despite the irrigation projects that turned much of the northeast from a near-desert into productive, useable agricultural land you never see the deep greens that color so many other parts of Thailand.

This is not the easiest place to get to. If you buy a package which includes transfers from Ubon airport, then it is not your problem. If you are driving from Ubon take Highway 217 from Warin Chamrap to Phibun Mangsahan where you’ll see the sign for the Tohsang resort. Take Highway 222 east to Khong Chiam.

To get to the resort go to the end of Highway 222 and turn right into Khong Chiam. After you pass through the village you’ll cross the Mun River on an impressive new bridge. Take the first left turn at the foot of the bridge and drive 2.4 kilometers and the resort is on your left.

The village of Khong Chiam is worth a visit with its attractive waterfront, public park and assorted roadside stalls. A place you can enjoy a quiet stroll even if you are the only person who speaks English.

The Border Market: There’s a daily street market at Chong Mek, the border town with Laos. The stalls and shops are open from 8am until 5pm. With unbelievably low prices on everything from clothes to cases. Even though the prices are low – nice quality cotton tops and shirts starting at 50 Baht – you are still expected to bargain. Big plus is you don’t get pestered the same way you do at the tourist markets. I didn’t see any other foreigners yet I felt totally safe wandering around the stalls.

Without your own transport you are trapped at the resort – and that is certainly no hardship - but there are numerous tours that you can take. Here are a couple of examples: A half day trip to Patem National Park, Soy Sawan Waterfall, Kangtana National Park and the Pak Mun Dam costs 3,200 Baht for two people and includes transportation costs admission charges to the park, the services of a guide and drinking water. A full day tour, including all of the previous stops plus a visit to the Thai-Laos border market at Chong Mek costs 4,300 Baht for two people and includes a lunch box. There’s also a full day cultural tour including the Khmer palaces – Prasat Sri-Kornraphum, Wat Sa Kampang Lek, Wat Sa Kampang Yai – in the Khmer ruins district in Surin Province and the Ubon National Museum. This tour cost 5,600 Baht for two including a lunch and admissions. You can also take a cruise down the river for 500 Baht ($15) a person and if you time it right you can be one of the last people in Thailand to see the sunset. Because this is the most easterly point in Thailand it is the first to see the sun rise and also the last to see the sun set. The cruise on a long tailed boat takes you to the village of Woenbuk, past Kangtana National Park and the bi-colored river.

This is the first place I have stayed in Thailand where we I did not need air conditioning. It was cool enough to sleep well and in the morning there was the slightest bite of cool sipping coffee on the terrace. Below on the river bank a small herd of cattle, their cow bells softly clanking, trudged by as a light mist on the Laotian hills burned away in the morning sun.

The resort has a spa, a little disappointing, and a restaurant serving a good selection of western dishes as well as an extensive Thai menu. Prices are not low but are good value. The resort offers a transfer service to Ubon airport or railway station, 1,250 Baht one-way per person ($38) and also trips to the border market at Chong Mek for 900 Baht round-trip ($27). Contact information: Address: 68 Moo 7, Baan Huay-Mak-Tai. Telephone: 04535 1174, fax 04535 1162. www.tohsang.com. The website is shared by a sister hotel located in the city of Ubon. As nice as that is, the beauty of the riverside resort is certainly the nicer place to stay.

Our third little gem is more upmarket than the first two and is on the very touristy island of Phuket, in the south of Thailand. The TwinPalms, (their way of spelling it without word spacing) is an elegant, modern boutique hotel with just 76 luxury rooms and suites surrounded by palm trees and cleverly arranged around large swimming pools.
Don’t be put off by the Phuket location. Twin Palms is close to Surin Beach, on the island’s east coast and is probably the most affluent area on the island.

Fifteen of the rooms have direct entry to the lagoon pool and all the rooms have special mattresses which can be turned to provide firm support for Asian guests to a softer level for Europeans. This is something I have not seen elsewhere. The resort came into full operation in 2005 and has an excellent spa with nine treatment rooms plus a larger room ideal families or groups, gym, wellness center, well stocked library and has free internet access in every room, something the Marriott charges 650 Baht a day for. The beach is 175 meters away and the hotel has a shuttle operating in high season. There is a reserved area on the beach for hotel guests and there’s no extra charge for sun beds on a very pleasant beach. The hotel’s Alba Wellness Center combines western and eastern therapies under the supervision of a resident Swedish physician. The center is aligned with the Bangkok Phuket Hospital to deliver a range of medical treatments including physiotherapy treatments, health check-ups and other light healthcare services. Airy welcoming lobby surrounded by water shows off its modern Thai design.

Prices vary greatly depending on season and size of the room. You can pay as little per night as 5,800 Baht ($175) or as much as 63,000 Baht ($1,900) for the two bedroom penthouse in peak season. The website has special packages and also attractive rates for long stay during the low season.

The resort’s excellent Oriental Spoon Restaurant and Oyster Bar is very much an up-market eatery and its high prices are reflected in the top quality dishes and splendid service. Sunday brunch is again, expensive, but superb. If you’re staying at the hotel and are looking for a cheaper meal there are several good spots within walking distance. A cooling touch is the underground parking for guests so you don’t swelter each time you return to your rental car. Contact information: 106/46 Moo 3, Surin Beach. Telephone 07631 6555, fax 07631 6599. www.twinpalms-phuket.com

The Sarojin Resort in Khao Lak, on the mainland noth of Phuket Island, deserves the word exquisite. The newly opened piece of paradise is already winning awards thanks to the great efforts of the owners who have checked and double checked that everything works like it is supposed to work. This is the most expensive of our four boutique resorts but this place is something very sepcial. You sense the luxury and elegance when you enter the portals to the lobby. There are 10 acres of landscaped gardens leading down to an expansive white sand beach. The 56 guest residences (they don’t call them rooms here) are surrounded by walkways, manicured lawns, infinity pools, lotus ponds and scrumptious gourmet restaurants. The 56 residences are in seven low rise buildings and are spacious each one very private with an assortment of attractions. There are private gardens, sundecks with couples baths, rainfall showers, plunge pools and spa pools. Each residence is privately entered by crossing a stream in the grounds and through a private garden terrace. Inside, the residences combine contemporary décor with traditional Thai furnishings.

The Sarojin offers guests facilities you’d expect to find in one of those mega resorts. There is a state of the art fitness centre, several infinity swimming pools, Jacuzzi, a croquet lawn, mountain biking, and a selection of water sports including catamarans, sea kayaks and windsurfing. Guests can also take advantage of a library, Thai cookery classes and market visits. The Pathways Spa offers a selection of traditional massages and spa treatments. There is a selection of restaurants at the Sarojin which serve the finest gourmet cosine. Ficus offers international cuisine whilst The Edge specializes in seafood and fresh al fresco cuisine. Guests can also choose to dine within the privacy of their residence as well as source the finest wines from the resort's own wine cellar.

This is expensive; rooms begin at 12,500 Baht ($380) and reach as high as 33,650 Baht ($1,015) for the top residence in peak season. However the resort’s website does offer some attractive packages which give you a little more for your money. Once you’ve stayed here it is easy to understand why the prices are high – and why the resort is winning awards. Contact details: Address: 60 Moo2, Kukkak, Takuapa. Telephone: 076 427900, fax 076427906. www.sarojin.com