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S.P. Publishing Group Co., Ltd.
11/1 Soi 3 Bamrungburi Rd., T. Prasingh,
A. Muang., Chiang Mai 50200
Tel. 053 - 814 455-6 Fax. 053 - 814 457
E-mail: guidelin@loxinfo.co.th
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LIVING IT UP: In The Shade
Of The Banyan Text: Geoffrey Photos: Karin
Low-rise elegance
A recently opened boutique hotel, a family enterprise, has a lot going for it. Rimping Village hotel is located in a tranquil residential suburb in Tambon Wat Ket by Mae Ping River. This district spreads right along the river, near Nawarat Bridge. Rimping Village hotel is set back from the riverbank road, which is just a short stroll away. Rimping Village hotel's location is truly secluded and peaceful.
“Our approach is to make the guests feel as though they’re friends of our family here on a visit. In fact, we hope they’ll feel it’s like a home away from home. At the same time, we also aim to share something of our local culture with them. So we wanted the hotel to fit right in with the surroundings — it’s a two-storey building as you see. And we chose to have a low wall along the front so our building complements the nearby family homes. We’re not an out-of-scale, intrusive, presence. We belong here.”
Spacious beauty
Their architect, Chiangmai local Anuporn Intapan, clearly empathised with his brief. There is a huge old banyan tree (Ficus benghalis) in the compound, depicted on their logo, and he has designed the lay-out of the buildings and garden around it. It provides extensive shade for the open air dining area beside the spacious, largely open-sided restaurant. (The menu offers a wide selection of both Thai and international cuisines at reasonable prices.) The 24-room hotel and the reception and admin wing have been built in a gracious, unfussy, contemporary Lanna mode that subtly reflects the styles of some of the older buildings in the tambol, dating back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
This type of architecture is often described as “colonial era” design — a time when the Thais were open to the influence of international norms of domestic architecture, with due adaptations for the tropical climate, that had evolved in the tropical colonial “possessions”.
Refresh!
Rimping Village offers all the amenities of a luxury hotel and appeals to the kind of independent travellers who appreciate such comfort but are not in a hurry, so don’t want to stay at one that deals with a huge turn-over of guests on a daily basis.
One feature Wan pointed out was that their pool has a salt water filtration system, rather than chlorinated, for swimming in. She also mentioned they can arrange tours for guests on request and that they even have bikes for hire for those who enjoy this exercise.
Simple comfort
So far, Wan says, they’ve had a steady stream of short-stay guests — mostly couples and families — staying for up to a week or so, who’ve been delighted with their experience. It seems they felt Rimping
Village was spot on.
Contact Rimping Village at 13/1 Soi2, Chiang Mai-Lamphun Rd., T. Wat Ket, A. Muang, Chiang Mai Tel. (053) 243 915-6.
Text: Geoffrey Photos: Karin
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