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

	---> MORE Living It Up: _________________________________ 9 W Boutique Studio de Chai Hotel Jang Muang Boutique House Ban Jed Yod Sheik Istana Hotel Baan U Sabai Boutique House Touch Star Resort The Rim Resort Puri Piman Apartment Koko Palm Inn RatiLanna Riverside Spa Resort Le Meridien Chiang Rai Resort Wangburapa Grand Hotel Shewe Wana Top Garden Boutique The Xym Boutique Apartment Huen Panicha - A place to feel at home D.D. Park The Montri Hotel Coco Guesthouse – Lovely Little Place Phowadol Resort and Spa – Northern Splendor De Lanna - Contemporary in-style The Ping Nakara - Scenes of the Past Airport Greenery Nawarat Chiang Mai Rawee Waree Resort & Spa Siripanna Anoma Boutique House Montis Resort Villa San Pee Seua Imm Hotel Vdara Kaomai Lanna Resort Sirilanna Baan Hanibah Sawasdee Chiangmai House The Castle Ruen Raya Kantary Hills At Pingnakorn Na Thapae Ayatana Hamlet & Spa Shangri-La Hotel, Chiang Mai Gerard Habitat - Beautiful Rooms with a Bamboo Finish U Chiang Mai - Unique, Understated Luxury Charcoa House - Bed and Breakfast & Restaurant RarinJinda Wellness Spa Resort The Chedi Hotel - A Class Apart River Ping Palace - From noble home to relaxing resort Tadkham Village - A Home from Home In The Shade Of The Banyan White Chalet Bed 'n Breakfast One Step from Heaven What becomes a city best? Lanna Mantra Relais Hotel: The Magic in the Mountains It's delightful, It's delirious, It's D2

LIVING IT UP:
In The Shade Of The Banyan

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.”

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”.

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.

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