Six Senses Yao Noi Part 2: Arrival in Beautiful Yao Noi and an Incoming Tsunami

Following one of the most beautiful speedboat rides I can remember, we arrived at Six Senses Yao Noi. We were greeted by a number of staff members, including the General Manager of the resort, Manish Puri. If you are old enough to remember the show, "Fantasy Island", this arrival had that kind of feel to it. It is in one of the most beautiful places I have seen.


We were greeted at the dock by our Guest Experience Manager, Pam. Pam joined us in our golf cart and we were whisked to our pool villa. Walking into the villa is striking: Extraordinary privacy, a huge amount of space, and tremendous eco-luxury. By "eco" I mean ecological - as in green. Everything in the resort has been thought out to be integrated with nature.

Pam showed us around our villa and then left us to settle in. Soon thereafter, we were picked up for a tour of the resort. We were about 20 minutes into the tour when a tsunami warning was radioed to our host. An earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale had hit off the coast of Indonesia. Given the Aceh tragedy a few years ago, the entire region instantly flew into evacuation mode.

Our host immediately drove us to the highest point of the resort, which is a palatial $15,000/night villa called Hilltop Reserve. The Hilltop Reserve is now open to all guests of the resort. As the resort guests were all brought up there, we watched the news and looked out over one of the most beautiful sights I have ever had the privilege of seeing.

The view from the pool and deck of the Hilltop Reserve is what you see in the pictures on this page. As we waited for the "wave" to arrive, a storm developed in front of us and slowly made its way directly toward us. It was a spectacular scene. I recommend you click on some of these pictures to get an idea of the grandeur of what we were witnessing.

The color of the sky and sea completely changed in a matter of minutes. Ten minutes later we were in a torrential downpour.

Thankfully no tsunami formed. We ended up spending a few hours in the mountain-top villa, chatted with some of the other guests, and then were permitted to make our way down to dinner at one of the restaurants in the resort. It was quite a welcome for us.

The view I am sharing with you here is one that we encountered daily as we would enter the Hilltop Reserve. The pictures do not do this setting justice; not once did I climb the steps to the Hilltop Reserve infinity pool without being awe-struck by what I was witnessing. Keep in mind that we had just come from an ocean-front villa at Trisara in Phuket, and that we live in San Diego - and are constantly by the ocean. The view over the limestone islands opposite Yai Noi is something out of a fable. It is a vista that cannot be properly shared through words and pictures; as with any moving experience, it is not yours until you live it.

Links to our Six Senses Yao Noi experience:

Six Senses Yao Noi Part 1: Spectacular Speedboat Ride from Phuket

Six Senses Yao Noi Part 2: Arrival in Beautiful Yao Noi and an Incoming Tsunami

Six Senses Yao Noi Part 3:  Beauty, Indulgence, Privacy, and a ~Zero Carbon Footprint

Six Senses Yao Noi Part 4: Spectacular Longboat Excursion to the Islands, Songkran - the Thai New Year, and a what makes Six Senses so Unique