Best hotel I've stayed at in Thailand!

i recently stayed at ruen kaew resort for 2 nights (in early june 2012). the resort is located in sung men, half way between denchai and phrae city. the hotel manager, khun nu, picked me up from the denchai railway station for a small fee.

my hotel room was very clean and comfortable, and unbelievably affordable (even by thai standards, let alone western ones). my room had twin beds, and overlooked a pond, the other side of which was a pen for lambs and beyond that, lush green fields without any other properties within the horizon. i had the chance to feed the lambs which was lovely.

i had a very relaxing and happy time staying at the resort, which only has about 10 rooms. for a single female traveller, it is importantly also safe. a perfect getaway from the busyness and stress of bangkok (if you are living there)!

at the charming little reception area, there are three gorgeous kittens who are very friendly. khun music looks after the reception area, and offers nice cups of jasmine green tea and biscuits, and is very nice to share your stories of the day's travels or sightseeing with. both k. nu and k. music speak some english, which is very helpful for foreigners.

the resort is not a 5 star hotel, but in my opinion, it exceeds the 5 star tag because of k. nu in particular. on the day i was due to leave, i got his help in contacting thailand railways to confirm that my train was running as planned. it was not, but k. nu found out that there was an earlier train leaving (within 15 minutes from the time of the phone call). he brought me safely to denchai station (it is about 15 kilometres away from the resort) and exchanged/got a refund on my original train ticket for the new one, which was at the platform ready to depart!

my expectations were completely exceeded. i have no hesitation in recommending ruen kaew resort, and only wish it was closer to bangkok, so it could be my regular getaway place!