Ao Sane Bungalow

We didn’t stay here but stopped for a smoothie after finishing the black point view hike and we were extremely disappointed!!! The staff were useless and so rude. Asked for a banana and coconut smoothie ON GOOGLE TRANSLATE so it was in Thai, got given a coconut water blended with ice so not what we asked for. But they didn’t understand any English so we didn’t bother trying to change the drink. Then got the bill and were charged 120baht EACH… when coconuts on the street are around 50 baht :/ so already hugely overcharged. The bungalows looked really shabby and all the staff just seemed really miserable and unwelcoming. We were sorry we stopped here for a drink. Don’t rip people off and don’t be so ignorant to foreigners when you work in hospitality!

We have been staying here every year for over 10 years and still can't wait to get back every year. The restaurant and bungalows are right on the beach and therefore you get a cooling sea breeze most of the time. We have eaten 3 meals a day for weeks on end every year at their restaurant and have never ever experienced food sickness. We know that their supplies are picked up at the local market daily. We are happy to stay in the bungalows because we know what we get, cold water (this year we had hot water installed in our bungalow which was nice), fan (sea breeze makes a difference) (there are quite a few bungalows available with both air conditioning and hot water)and mosquito net. Perfect! I work 11 months of the year in air conditioning so I look forward to getting away from it. I also look forward to no television and putting the computer away then picking up a book or snorkelling and swimming in the lovely water, or just sitting on the veranda enjoying the ocean view in the breeze. The wifi is not an issue as you can purchase a tourist sim cheaply from family marts locally, these can be topped up when necessary. Come to this place to relax, it's comfortable basic accommodation, good food but be patient during the peak months as it gets very busy in their restaurant, because the food is good. You're on holidays right? Relax and go with the flow. Give this place a look, you might just find its what you are looking for.

….BUT SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE So said KINKY FRIEDMAN,the world’s only Jewish singing cowboy/private eye about one of his more baffling cases. I reckon the old Kingster might be a bit perplexed about the scene at AO SANE too. - PICTURE ONE - a rather nice compact beach (actually 3 beaches) with a budget bungalow resort which attracts a half dozen or so new guests each day. Like many budget resorts in idyllic locations there are also permanent residents. The beach is nice enough to also attract dozens of day-trippers. THE PROBLEM – management allows permanent guests to keep their dogs at their bungalows. All Thai dogs have ingrained in their DNA to vigorously protect owners’ homes against newcomers. THIS RESORT GETS QUITE A LOT OF NEWCOMERS. One particular dog was a slow learner – on the second day I was still a newcomer and had it yapping and growling around me whenever I passed its “house” between beach 1 and 2 (fortunately, most day-trippers confine themselves to beach 1). When I harassed it back I was abused by the owner. I don’t stay at places where I am harassed by dogs and verbally assaulted by their owners so I checked out next day. Management seemed unperturbed about why I was departing early. - PICTURE TWO – same same: a budget bungalow resort on a nice beach. THE PROBLEM – the associated restaurant was NOT BUDGET in its pricing. I’d judge it at 50% over genuine budget beach bungalow restaurants. This is easier to explain – like many similar bungalow restaurants on nice beaches the place is priced to the day-tripper crowd, many of whom are staying in pretty flash resorts where food/drink prices are much higher. Food quality was okay, service patchy (it gets pretty busy). There was no WIFI. A REMEDY IS NEARBY – about 10 minutes’ walk back along the headland access road (pretty steep for 2 minutes coming out of AO SANE) is ON THE ROCKS RESORT. This is a genuine lower-midrange resort with good value rooms (I stayed there 3 years ago) but Its restaurant across the road with great elevated views of NAI HARN BAY, is very close to genuine budget bungalow pricing. Note there are 3 other more expensive restaurants in this little complex – ON THE ROCKS is closest to the road and shop. That shop has a good variety of products at prices not much higher than a PHUKET CITY 7/11s. Note too if you keep walking another 10 minutes on the same road to just past the northern end of NAI HARN’s sizable and rather nice beach you will come to a bunch of street food vendors with even cheaper stuff. There’s also quite a few AO SANE priced restaurants along here. Not such a bargain is a new place, MAHASSAMUTR-SUNSET BAR, only a few minutes out of AO SANE with similar but no better views than ON THE ROCKS, whose prices seemed WESTERN STANDARD to me. Yet when I passed by it was packed. Go figure. THE SET-UP. AO SANE is situated on the northern headland of NAI HARN BAY, which is in the far south-west of large PHUKET ISLAND – 50km from the AIRPORT, 18km from PHUKET CITY, 22km from PATONG, 13KM from KARON and 10km from KATA. Take the headland drive THRU the rather flash YACHT CLUB THAILANDE at the south end of the beach and walk another 10-15 minutes (600m) along the undulating road. The driveway to AO SANE is at the bottom of a rather steep downgrade. Day-trippers note that parking is not allowed down near the resort and is at a premium at the top. There are 3 small beaches here but many visitors miss the second and third. The MAIN BEACH is about 120m wide with plenty of clean sand at high tide and good water access. The SECOND BEACH is past a small section of rocks – it’s only abt 25m wide, has enough depth, but access to the water is a bit tricky at low tide. The THIRD BEACH is reached by a path thru the bungalows above the rocks after about 100m. It’s around 50m wide, plenty deep and has good water access. The OCEAN is pretty nice off these beaches. Quite a few rocks and some coral is just offshore with lotsa fishies. A popular place to snorkel. The water is clean – way better than at the BIG 3 beaches. The RESTAURANT is an open sided rather rustic establishment backing half of the FIRST BEACH – it has nice views out over the bay from front tables. There is an associated DIVE OUTFIT adjoining and visitors can hire BEACH MATS and UMBRELLAS at 100baht a day. THE BUNGALOWS start just past the restaurant and string along several hundred meters of coast to just short of BEACH 3. They are about 2 deep meaning you have a good chance of getting an ocean view place. Note that the backing steep headland gives good shelter from wet season’s prevailing WESTERLY WINDS – this would be a great location in that season’s not too infrequent sunny days/spells. THE BUNGALOWS These are proper backpacker style places. Even the top priced (1000baht) airconditioned places would not rate as flashpacker – they are no bigger, a bit better furnished and made of brick and render. BTW, the seaside location does not IMHO require aircon unless you have a bungalow not shaded from the sun. The cheaper wooden bungalows (500 and 600baht) are easily big enough for 2 people and their gear. I picked a 500 job over the also-offered 600 on account it was shaded by trees for more of the day. Both were beachfront – mine behind the quiet second beach. It was clean, had a comfy bed with a nice fitted mozzie net, a quiet fan – actually the whole area is quiet at night as long as no strangers are passing by – enough shelves etc for storage and four plastic chairs. The bathroom wasn’t too squeezy, had a cold water shower and a squat toilet. Overall I thought the bungalows very fairly priced – 2 similar spots later in my tour were more expensive. NEARBY NAI HARN BEACH is only 15 minutes walk and worth the visit. A smaller gem is YANUI BEACH just visible across the bay and a top day-tripper destination. This is 4km away on the undulating coast road towards CAPE PROMTHEP (the southern-most point on the island), a good hour’s walk but only 10 minutes or so on a hire moto. RAWAI BEACH is 5km. Not much of a beach but known for its range of good value SEAFOOD RESTAURANTS. You can also get long-tail boats out to lovely CORAL ISLAND (a top day-trip spot) from here. PUBLIC SONGTHAEWS (open-sided small buses) run from NAI HARN thru RAWAI on the way to PHUKET CITY. There are a couple of ELEPHANT TREKKING places in the opposite direction (whithin 3km) along the coast road towards KATA . GETTING TO AO SANE I came in on a motorcycle taxi from PHUKET CITY for 150b – should have taken abt 35mins but the dude didn’t know the way!! I thought he knew a problem I didn't - eventually I had to direct him. I went back to PHUKET CITY’s OLD BUS STATION on the public songthaew (leaves from just past the street food vendors at south NAI HARN)– 40 baht 50+ mins. I believe its eventual destination is THE FRESH FOOD MARKETS. The long trip from the airport is going to cost you an arm and a leg because PHUKET’S TAXI MAFIA all want to retire to those big villas high on the slopes behind SURIN BEACH on the proceeds of your fare. I’d guess well over 1000BAHT and well over an hour most times of the day (Phuket traffic is brutal 18 hours per day). BUDGET TRAVELERS can come down from the airport to the OLD BUS STATION (BUS STATION #1) from the airport on the AIRPORT BUS (100baht/60-90 mins depending on traffic) and then pick up the NAI HARN SONGTHAEW. Travelers arriving on long distance buses will arrive at Phuket City’s NEW BUS STATION (#2). There is a frequent 15baht/20 mins shuttle bus across to the OLD BUS STATION plus plenty of motorcycle taxis – I’m thinking 50 baht would be fair. If you are COMING IN BY FERRY from the island, most arrive at piers near PHUKET CITY. A motorcycle taxi to the OLD BUS TERMINAL or FRESH FOOD MARKET should cost abt 50baht. But first I’d check if the ferry didn’t have FREE or CHEAP minibus transfers to NAI HARN. MY RATINGS Without the dog and expensive food issues I’d give the beach/bugalows combination a 4.5 STAR rating – as it was I have to rate it 2 STARS. But that is speaking as a BUDGET TRAVELER RESORT USER. If I was a A MID-RANGE DAY-TRIPPER I would consider it worth 4.5 stars – provided I kept to the main beach area away from Fido, as 90% of visitors do.