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

One big decision for many guests at Six Senses Yao Noi is whether to ever leave their villa. When you are staying in a completely secluded villa with your own infinity pool and lounge area, overlooking one of the most beautiful ocean vistas in the world, why leave? The couples we met who were on romantic getaways seemed almost never to appear. Occasionally they would show up at a restaurant and explain that there seemed to be little reason for them to leave their secluded Garden of Eden overlooking the ocean.

We did not have that problem. One advantage to traveling with pride and joy is that he is up bright and early every day - raring to go. The first thing APL and I would do would be to jump in our infinity pool. What a treat - to walk 15 feet from our bed to the pool. APL, of course, loved it. If you think it sounds great to swim in a private infinity pool, overlooking spectacular islands jutting out of the sea in Thailand... you are correct.

After a dip in our infinity pool, we would generally head to breakfast. Breakfast at Six Senses would be superb for any resort, anywhere on earth. I kept having to remind myself that we were on a remote island that we reached via a 40 minute speedboat ride. When you take that whole remote and inaccessible reality into account, the quality of the food is remarkable. Breakfast is presented in a series of buffet stations. I was particularly fond of the fresh fruit and fruit-juice station, where whatever juice I could think of, was immediately made available. Andy Rosenstock had hooked me on watermelon juice in Bhutan and I enjoyed quite a few of those.

After filling a bowl with fresh fruit, I would generally head for the Thai breakfast section. This is going to sound odd, but the best Thai food we had in Thailand - and we were in Thailand for over 2 weeks - was at the Thai section of breakfast at Six Senses Yao Noi. In addition to the fruit and Thai food stations, there was a robust western station, Chinese offerings, and fresh breads and jams. Breakfast was simply amazing.


The Hilltop Reserve

APL was always eager to head to the Hilltop Reserve for swimming after breakfast. The Reserve is truly a unique experience. As I mentioned in another post, I did not once enter the pool area of the Reserve without my heart skipping a beat - it is that beautiful. I am not going to describe it again; there are pictures in this post and on the Six Senses website. It's more beautiful than what any picture can capture.

Of course beauty is not sufficient to make it perfect. What made it perfect was the following formula: Exquisite beauty + excellent food + a great infinity pool with a solid water slide + wonderful service + plenty of comfortable lounging options + Wifi. And, as a bonus, a breakthrough for APL.

The Lamb Burger

I am not going to claim that the lamb burger, in itself, is reason to travel to Yao Noi. But the lamb burger is unbelievable. If you do make it to the resort, head up to the Hilltop Reserve around lunchtime, set yourself up on a mattress overlooking the infinity pool and islands jutting out of the ocean, and order a lamb burger. If you are not blown away by the experience, and you are not a vegetarian, please seek professional help.

APL's Breakthrough

APL has had a love-hate relationship with water for a long time. For 3 consecutive days in Yao Noi, the awesome Hilltop Reserve water-slide was a non-starter with him. On the afternoon of the 3rd day, we managed to convince APL to try the slide. He absolutely loved it. 

In fact, papa had to eventually call it a day. After going down the water-slide dozens of times with APL, papa needed a break.

Following the afternoon of sliding on Day 3, we headed down the hill to our villa for... more swimming! Honestly, it was so hot that we just wanted to be in water all the time. And since APL is not into even an ocean that is as calm as a small lake at 6 AM (glass, basically), we stuck to the pools.

Our villa pool was great: plenty of space, a gorgeous view, and complete and utter privacy.

Privacy

Oh, precious privacy. I do love privacy. Astonishingly, notwithstanding the fact that each villa has an outdoor pool, outdoor dining area, outdoor lounge area - and semi-outdoor bath and shower areas - the entire villa is completely secluded. If you chose to, you could spend your time inside and outside - sans vêtements. I know of no one that would ever consider such a thing, but if that's what you enjoy, you could sunbathe, swim, dine, and blog without even wearing a bathing suit.

View from our villa

Even if you have no inclination to disrobe, the privacy is magical. 

Ecology

Six Senses brings ecological awareness to an entirely new level. Each villa is equipped with a number of informational texts - including one called The Little Green Book. The Little Green Book includes the resort's sustainability policy, their policies in terms of energy, water, and nature conservation, and their commitment to using pesticide and chemical-free products of all kinds. They concentrate on organic, locally grown, and sustainable - but they go well beyond that. Their goal is to become self sufficient in all areas, to reduce their environmental footprint to as close to zero as possible, to source products and jobs locally, and to donate generously to social projects. 

For example, the Six Senses Resorts in Thailand are engaged in a large reforestation project, which involves planting 220,000 trees annually in northern Thailand. This is aimed at mitigating 180,000 tons of carbon, creating wildlife corridors, preventing erosion, and restoring biodiversity. They are also creating a wildlife clinic that will treat rescued wild animals and will provide a quarantine area for illegally traded wildlife from neighboring countries -with a view to releasing those animals back into the wild.

Six Senses has a very impressive commitment to environment and ecology. That commitment is wholly integrated into the guest experience - from the design and construction of the villas, to the clothing worn by the staff, to the food grown on the premises. Everything is done deliberately to provide the highest quality experience with a minimal environmental footprint. Their palpable success in doing so is impressive.

Indulgence

Being part of Six Senses' commitment to the environment is effortless for guests. In fact, it is quite a feat that Six Senses has created a resort experience that is so environmentally positive while being so indulgent to guests.

One of APL's favorite indulgences was home-made, parlor ice-cream. Guests can head to the Six Senses Ice Cream Parlor during the day to indulge in wonderful ice creams and sorbet. And we did. Who are these Six Senses geniuses?

Indulgence goes way beyond ice cream. For example, if at any time you do not feel like walking anywhere in the resort, a golf cart will be summoned to take you to your destination. And, when it's time to leave, the resort offers to clean your clothes and pack your bags.

And what would indulgence be without a visit to the spa? Karin and I enjoyed a couples massage in the beautiful spa. When we arrived, we were served lemongrass tea. We were then led to a serene room with 2 massage beds. Our bodies spent the following 50 minutes in heaven.

I must also mention our Guest Experience Manager (GEM), Pam, in the Indulgence section. Perhaps the word "butler" was deemed to have some kind of negative social connotation. But GEM is the new butler. Our GEM was fabulous. She was always on call to assist us. And often she would magically appear just as we needed her. Pam made our experience seamless.

Six Senses for Children

One thing we noticed about traveling with APL in Thailand was that he was constantly being engaged by Thai people. He was smiled at and talked to - and he was also very often touched on the face, in a very affectionate way. Wherever you travel, there are always some people who like to engage children - but it was ubiquitous in Thailand. This was certainly the case in Yao Noi. The staff was fabulous with APL. The pools were great for him. The menus always had plenty of options for a little one. And there was no shortage of great activities for him. The resort also offers very reasonable babysitting - and the babysitters we used were great. Six Senses has really provided well for people traveling with children - and for children.

I have more to share about our Yao Noi experience, including pictures and video we shot during our longboat ride to visit the the islands facing the Six Senses resort.


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