Cover Story

Dan Ahwa discovers a tranquil and terrific Phuket oasis

Agood-looking 20-something couple shimmy past my partner and me on the dance floor. With her dark curtain of hair, she’s a doppelganger for a young Ali McGraw, wearing a crop top and flared crochet pants; he reminiscent of Alain Delon in Plein Soleil in faded swim shorts and a Batik scarf wrapped around his shoulders. They’re both barefoot; tanned languorous limbs dancing to the guest DJ playing a mix of trip hop and dance music, drinking colourful mojitos infused with lemongrass.

On a balmy night at Sri Panwa Luxury Resort, Phuket’s hippest playground for the young and young at heart, guests are mingling at its Baba Poolclub dance floor, the indoor/outdoor flow inviting a heady scent of frangipani.

Perched atop Cape Panwa, the resort is a hideaway spanning 16ha of lush jungle overlooking glistening Andaman waters, home to several hundred species of flora and fauna and attracting an equally diverse array of upwardly mobile guests who ascend here to switch off and escape — entrepreneurs, CEOs and families with young children.

Our glamorous dance partners reflect the demography the resort panders to, a couple who prefer bespoke cocktails over the riff-raff in Patong, waking up next day saluting the sunrise at yoga on a rooftop, green juice on standby.

A silver platter supporting shots of Patron tequila and sharply cut lime quarters is offered by the resort’s charismatic brothers, 35-year-old hotel director Vorasit “Wan” Issara and younger brother Platu Ditawat Issara, who also works in the family’s successful real estate business. The brothers’ highly respected real estate tycoon parents are seated nearby, without fanfare, enjoying their own aperitifs from efficient waitstaff. I immediately feel like a guest at a friend’s holiday home (albeit one with several infinity pools).

Here is a luxury resort with very little pretence, just how Khun Wan (as staff refer to him)