Thai Hospitality At It's Best, by Richard Lewis

I'm on the beach in white sands near to our resort hotel. The sun is shining, the waves sound lovely with a faint reggae in the background. Today I did yoga in the early morning looking at the beautiful sea below, had a very Thai breakfast of fruit and steamed fish and have come to the Seaside town to have some me time. I went for a fitting of the custom made cashmere wool suit I'm having made by Mr. Hem (yes that's his real name). The suit is fantastic and costing £100 is breathtakingly cheap which in Europe would be only a once in a lifetime treat. An indication of how amazingly nice the Thai people are is that after measuring me up the other night he gave me a lift back to the resort on the back of his moped, whilst telling me all about his wife who is expecting a baby any minute. I told him to go home and stop giving lifts to customers. He only laughed.

At our hotel the luxury goes on and on with gorgeous food, beach, spa, gym, massages, swimming pool, kayaking, etc etc. But the most important thing is the people. Not only do we get the intelligent, supportive and caring community we've come to expect from a Skyros holiday. But also a deep and life changing image work course from Dina, courses in music, creativity and photography, plus we are also experiencing a level of service which goes beyond the usual holiday experience. It seems to me that the resort staff who work at Ayapura genuinely like their customers and really care if we are having a good time. I think Mr Owen, the restaurant manager, may secretly be the Buddha in disguise. He learnt the whole groups' names in a day, remembers what we all like to drink, and more importantly gently shares his interest in having a healthy diet and mind. He lent me a book on Buddhism, took us to the temple to meet the monks, and when I ask for coffee he brought me a chlorophyll drink first to counteract the negative effects. None of this is part of his job, he just engages with us on a human level and in a special way.

The rest of the staff are the same. Happy, helpful, kind, funny and seemingly not resentful that we are having such a good time. This kind of interaction is more rare in UK hotels. We have ridden on elephants, a speedboat, been in the jungle, observed a Thai karaoke (although too chicken to join in!) and still had time to get to know each other, debate with each other, and make long lasting friends over dinner and drinks in the evenings.

This is truly a special kind of holiday and I feel lucky to have been part of it.

Richard Lewis