A-List issue, we wanted a place that was dramatic enough
to prompt the question, “Wow, where’s that?” We wanted
something that shows superlative design and luxury in a
setting as familiar as Asia is to us. So that even when you hear
the answer, it makes you ask incredulously, “Really?”
Sometimes a clichéd destination will reinvent itself and
surprise us. Phuket is a perfect example. A new crop of resorts
like Keemala, with their exceptional focus on design and
luxury, are setting the destination apart from its hackneyed
image. We discovered a yoga cave secretly tucked behind a
waterfall, exotic bird’s nest-like villas and treehouses each with
a plunge pool that gives you a view over the rainforest canopy.
We saw Keemala, and we knew immediately that we had found
one of Asia’s most dramatic luxury properties.
Over the last few years, Phuket had become known as a great
value-for-money holiday for budget honeymooners, beach-
loving families, or large groups of sales managers brandishing
bottles of beer while they’re in town on team-building or
incentive-lead off -sites. Luxury travellers don’t mind spending
an evening or two down in neighbourhoods like Patong or
Karon, but for most part they’d rather enjoy more refi ned
settings. Phuket’s older luxury properties were also beginning to
look a little less appealing to the jaded jet-set. Enter a new slew
of developments like Keemala. Making the northern parts of
Phuket decidedly more chic and exciting. Opened in December
2015, Keemala was one of the most highly-anticipated hotel
openings. The resort’s PR team had been tantalising travel
journalists and industry members with morsels of renderings
since mid 2015 that promised a ‘never-before-seen’ resort
design and experience. Nestled on a slope amidst rainforests
and just fi ve minutes from Kamala beach, this member of the
Small Luxury Hotels of the World doesn’t disappoint at all.
On our very fi rst morning at the property, we stood setting up
the shot at a vantage point, and we could see all the four diff erent
types of villas rise along the hill before us. As the sky began to
lighten, guests seemed to emerge from their villas out onto their
private pool area. Even from this distance, it was clear that they
were overwhelmed by their settings. They just couldn’t stop
taking selfi es and pictures of their villas. At a little above US$1,000WHEN WE WERE LOCATION
SCOUTING FOR OUR
COVER SHOOT
FOR THE ASIA
7472 TRAVEL TRAVEL ++ LEISURE / L E I S U R E / M AY 2 0 1 7MAY 2017