1. Istana Phuket - Brief
Istana Phuket is a collection of 19 individually designed luxury villas in Phuket, Thailand on a 27.5 acre site located on the exclusive northwest corner of the island overlooking pristine Naithon Beach.
Villa plot sizes range from 1,589 to 3,527 square metres (17,100 to 37,960 square feet). Villa living space ranges from 971 to 1,960 square metres (10,450 to 21,100 square feet) and are positioned on the plot to integrate harmoniously with its unique topography, allowing for unrivalled Andaman Sea views and total privacy.
Nine of the opulent 4 to 6 bedroom estates – created by Gary Fell of GFAB Architects – have sold and the remaining ten are for sale starting at $3.25 Million USD or 2.3 Million EURO.
Istana Phuket is designed and built to deliver a total “Feeling of Opulence” (FOO) through exclusivity, ultimate quality, contemporary design and environmental harmony. The development is already featured in real estate industry publications as one of Asia’s top luxury villa projects.
The recent summer issue of Robb Report’s Vacation Homes featured Istana Phuket and Asia’s leading real estate industry publication Property Report just named the project one of Thailand’s “Top Ten Luxury Property” in their July 2009 issue.
2. FOO for Thought - Brief
“FOO for thought” is not a typesetting mistake, but rather an attempt to find a phrase that captures the very essence of these nineteen stunning villas, each created to its own unique design.
FOO literally stands for Feeling of Opulence and that is exactly the guiding principle applied in creating every facet of this fabulous lifestyle development. For every aspect of Istana the question continually asked was: Does it deliver FOO…the Feeling of Opulence?
Only if the answer was “yes” has it then become a part of this extraordinary endeavour. The word “Istana” is a Sanskrit term meaning “palace” and that is what the developer, Prism Estates, set out to build for each and every owner.
Prism has applied the power of FOO to bring forth just nineteen exclusive residential palaces, where each owner can enjoy an opulent and palatial lifestyle. Discover the power of FOO.
3. Philosophy of FOO - Brief
Delivering a Feeling of Opulence starts with an unrivalled location:
Just nineteen individually designed villas will rise upon a stunning 27.5 acre site overlooking pristine Naithon Beach on the north-west corner of Phuket Island. Each plot is 3,200 square metres (35,000 square feet) and each villa is designed to integrate harmoniously with its individual topography allowing unrivalled views across the Andaman Sea, while also ensuring that most important facet of FOO…total privacy.
The selection of the architect gave the developer much FOO for thought. Gary Fell, world renowned principal of GFAB Architects, who is leaving his dramatic architectural signature upon resort and villa projects around south-east Asia, was the starting inspiration. He’s designed the iconic Samujana in Koh Samui and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Siam Reap, Cambodia as well as numerous private villas on Bali.
Gary Fell immediately understood the FOO Philosophy with his ideas for building Istana. He envisioned the villas cascade down the sloping site, at times anchored into the hill, and at other times springing from it with audacious cantilevers. Each villa is designed to merge with the rain forest environment, becoming part of the site itself. Mature trees and native vegetation are preserved wherever possible and integrated into the architecture itself. Vegetation and bodies of water are used to bring natural cooling to the abundant outside living areas. The resulting design is timeless, rooted quite literally in the physical site.
In his own eloquent words Gary Fell says, “With Istana I plan to create villas that are sensitive to their surrounding environment. While each will have wonderful sea views, there is abundant space to give a strong tropical jungle feeling to the interior of each property. The villas encourage outdoor living in harmony with the natural setting. I prefer to use local building materials, often found at the site, in order to lend authenticity to the character of the homes. The designs respect the environment, but are strong, beautiful pieces of architecture whose character will hold value and interest in the future.”
The Istana philosophy then is quite simple: to deliver a total Feeling of Opulence in a fabulous location through exclusivity, ultimate quality, contemporary design and environmental harmony.
4. Architecture and Design – Concept and Designer
Prism Developments thought long and hard about the sort of unique, high achieving individual who is likely to become a future owner of an Istana villa.
How would you want to live your life in Phuket’s tropical climes?
What expectations would you have for your privileged lifestyle and that of your family and guests?
They asked themselves what features and amenities should be incorporate into the architecture and design of each villa to ensure that future owners were indeed surrounded by a Feeling of Opulence in every facet of their Istana experience.
Here are some of the exceptional innovations incorporated into the Istana villas to deliver a Feeling of Opulence:
- Low density planning with spectacular uninterrupted views of beach, ocean and forested hillsides
- Landscaping integrated to the topography of each individual villa guaranteeing abundant space and privacy
- Natural, “green” land borders and discreet villa citing so that each villa is wrapped in environmental serenity
- Villa planning so that subtle glimpses of the trees and pools of other Istana villas is all that is ever seen
- Passive and environmentally friendly cooling techniques, with abundant reflecting pools, garden terraces and breeze-inducing pavilions. All these features facilitate outdoor tropical living and reduce energy needs
- The preservation of local trees and vegetation and the use of the finest building materials throughout
- Spacious designs for each villa that allows guests, children and staff to occupy discreetly separate areas of each complex, ensuring privacy and harmonious living throughout
Here’s how our architect Gary Fell describes his approach:
“The design makes maximum use of passive techniques of cooling – the roofs are transformed into a series of garden terraces and reflecting pools, both helping to cool the spaces below them and reduce energy needs. The houses, whilst resolutely contemporary, share characteristics with their more traditional forebears, both from palace and vernacular traditions - a series of pavilions are surrounded by reflecting ponds that lend serenity and assist air movement through the property. Walls are lent a massive quality with stone finishing (the colour selected to blend with the dense vegetation) whilst a series of screens provide privacy and shade. Such screens are derived from timber treatments found in traditional Siamese houses – ornament here is not a case of “gluing on” a series “traditional” details or motifs to create a simulacra of a Thai House, rather it is an organic synthesis of technique and form to create something with its own integrity – that alludes to the cultures that inspired it without insulting or debasing it by quotation that is out of context.
www.gfabarchitects.com
5. Interior Design – Concept and Suppliers
When in came to interior design, plus the selection of furnishings and fittings, Prism Development continued with its obsession with understanding the needs and desires of our future owners and the ultimate quality they would expect.
If the architecture and design was Mind FOO, then this creation of seductively intimate interiors was FOO for the Soul.
Here are some of the fabulous interior innovations incorporated:
- Sixteen-seat dinner tables and home cinemas
- Italian Poliform kitchens and wardrobes
- Lutron Hone Information Systems to give you total control of the interior environment and allow you to summon your staff from anywhere in the villa
- Huge back kitchen areas that can cater for social parties with up to a hundred guests
- Home gymnasiums
- Fully fitted Antonio Lupi Bathrooms
- Finely wrought stone and timber floors, Italian cabinetry and joinery,
- Polished terrazzo wall surfaces
- Exquisite art works and the best of contemporary furniture
- Southern Italian Travertine marble finishing
- Separate au pair and staff quarters
- Walk-in wine cellars in some of the villas
Once again Gary Fell is eloquent in describing his vision for the Istana interiors:
“Finely-wrought materials pervade the design and conspire with scale and layout to create a feeling of opulence. Fine stone and timber floors, Italian cabinetry and joinery, polished terrazzo wall surfaces and exquisite art pieces and the best of contemporary furniture have been selected to convey an idea of timelessness and opulence to the design.”
www.lutron.com
www.antoniolupi.com
www.viabizzuno.com
www.poliform.com
6. Istana Partners – Company Profiles
Prism Estates - Developer
Prism Estates, the Hong Kong based developer of Istana, have been involved in real estate projects around the globe ranging from resort properties in Spain, Bali and other parts of Thailand, to land subdivisions in Western Australia and commercial building projects in London.
Using systems implemented over many years of experience, Prism Estates brings to Istana a level of professionalism and structure rarely seen in the lifestyle real estate market in Thailand.
Prism Estates has brought together an elite team of professionals for its first foray into the Phuket market. The goal being to make an impact by isolating a need in the very top end of the market for higher standards in terms of quality of design and finish, management and service level and also a lack of cohesion between these groups.
By doing this Prism Estates hopes to design a project that will be used as a benchmark for years to come.
Gfab – Architectural Design
Gfab was started in 1999 by Gary Fell. Gary originally came to Bali as project architect on Four Seasons Sayan. Over the last 9 years the practice has developed from a small team of young architects into an internationally renowned office comprising 31 architects and 3 administration staff.
At present Gfab is engaged in projects throughout Asia with particular emphasis on Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia. Much of their work comprises of hotels, luxury villa developments, condominiums and bespoke private houses.
Through experience they are able to work closely with developers and operators to produce projects which are practical elegant. Throughout they attempt to explore relationships between the site and the proposal that are sensitive to the environment.
They strongly believe that a building should be intimately linked to its site (aesthetically and materially) and be as energy efficient as possible.
Whilst they are keen to draw upon the past freely as described above, we are resolutely opposed to historical “quotation” – by this we mean the application of stylistic motifs and elements associated with “local” vernaculars. We believe a building can engage with its cultural and topographic conditions – that is to “”belong” exclusively to its locale, without recourse to imposing “style” as a surface treatment for us, this is the antithesis of authentic artistic production.
ww.gfabarchitects.com
Elite Havens + BHM – Property Management
For rentals and property management Prism Estates has engaged the Elite Havens Group to operate Istana Phuket. Since it was established in 1998 the name Elite Havens has been synonymous with luxury managed villas in Bali, widely perceived to be the originator and defining source of serviced villas in Asia. As of the end of 2008 the Elite Havens Group are handling the operations and marketing for over 50 villas, representing over 200 bedrooms within the Indonesian islands of Bali and Lombok, through its subsidiary management company, BHM. In addition, a further 70 villas that are independently managed in Indonesia use Elite Havens for rental representation.
BHM specializes in the operational management and marketing of luxury villas and strives to operate private villas on a par with their high-end (5-star and above) hotel counterparts.
For operational management clients, BHM assumes responsibility for every aspect of the villa and the estate’s logistical and commercial operations including staffing and training, security, physical maintenance, the overseeing and production of detailed financial accounts among a range of other responsibilities.
The operational philosophy behind the Istana estate is to provide hotel level service within villa environments. The stunning and unique architecture of each house, has been balanced with
a degree of standardisation within the service facilities of each villa and the central facilities to provide a platform for the Istana to demonstrate the famous Thai hospitality and service standards in a novel and custom built physical environment that will be as attractive to its guests as well as its owners. Top end food and beverage services combined with efficient and professional staff facilitating all of its guests’ desires will define the Istana Phuket’s experience.
Elite Havens, which has been intimately involved in the design of the Istana Villas, to ensure that they are ideal vacation or residential homes for their owners have ensured they will have a high degree of appeal for the commercial rental market, should owners be interested in having their villas in the rental pool.
They will be working hand-in-hand with BHM to represent and distribute the villas through its own retail brand an existing network of sub-agents, numbering in the hundreds and spanning the globe that specialise in representing multiple-room luxury accommodation. This network, and its resulting high exposure to potential renters, ensures the villas will have representation in over 20 countries and the highest possible occupancy.
The creation and promotion of Istana Phuket as a brand, which serves to enhance rental performance and asset value, will also be a mandate of Elite Havens and BHM. They, and their existing properties, have been covered in such shows as CNBC and in well known publications that include the New York Times, Condé Naste Traveler, the Asian Wall Street Journal, the International Herald Tribune, DestinAsian, Tatler, Luxury Properties, the Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and Town & Country, among many others.
Over the years Elite Havens has continued to expand and dominate in its core competencies while adding additional related disciplines to become the largest integrated property firm on the island of Bali.
While all the organizations within the group operate with a great deal of autonomy, the convergence of skills and experience combined with an overview of all facets of the marketplace, allows the Elite Havens and BHM to provide clients with the best Bali has to offer.
www.EliteHavens.com
www.BHMVillas.com
A2Zen – Light and Design
Istana has engaged one of Asia’s most innovative interior design companies, A2Zen, to work with GFAB and ourselves to ensure that every aspect of your villa meets the ultimate Feeling of Opulence criteria that we’ve set ourselves. The highly qualified team of Italian designers and architects that support A2Zen consultancy constantly probe the boundaries of innovation and originality to ensure that every project is creatively unique. They seek a perfect fusion between the modern lines of Italian design and a tropical Asian lifestyle, through a perfect synergy of inner and outer space.
Each of A2Zen’s support team specializes in a particular area of interior design. From space planning, to furniture layout and sourcing; from material and accessory selection, to lighting and ergonomics, their strength is an obsessive attention to detail that is characteristic of Italian fashion and design worldwide. The combination of sheer opulence and contemporary lifestyle concepts that A2Zen have applied to GFAB’s astounding architecture at Istana ensures that each of the nineteen villas reflects a unique balance of luxury, comfort and exclusivity.
www.a2zen.net
Bar Solutions - Bars and Cocktails
Each Istana villa will have a bespoke cocktail station and bar, catering for up to 150 guests, complete with handcrafted bar equipment and a unique signature cocktail list. We engaged the renowned bar solutions, one of the world’s premier bar consultancy companies, to work with
GFAB and ourselves to design a unique bar station that is discretely hidden from view, but can be set up at the flick of a switch. Bar Solutions has built an enviable reputation and won a host of international awards for their ground breaking bar designs across Asia, Australasia, Europe and the ‘States.
Company founder Grant Collins and partner Steve Collinson are generally regarded as the most accomplished, creative and innovative bar consultants in the Asia region.
Grant Collins is the founder of the Sydney based bar solutions, Grant is currently consultant to Australia’s hottest bar, Zeta at the Sydney Hilton, which was nominated as “One of the World’s Best Bars 2006” by Condé Naste Traveler. He started his career in the US, moving to his native London by way of the hip Zender Bar, which earned him the prestigious “UK Bar Manager of the Year, 2000”.
Grant then took over the newly opened Water Bar at W Hotel in Woolloomooloo in Sydney and within five months was awarded “Bar of the Year, 2000” by the Sydney Mourning Herald.
His passion for creating new cocktails led him to receive no less than 18 awards on behalf of the Water Bar. His talents were spotted by the Starwood Hotel Group who deployed them in setting up the Westin’s Lounge bar in Kuala Lumpur and the W Hotel bar in Seoul.
Based on this growing wealth of experience, Grant then opened bar solutions consultancy which pioneered the award winning SM23 bar in New Jersey; Match in Boston; the hip new Lotus Bar in Hong Kong, which opened to rave reviews; and new bars and bar list for the iconic Ku De Ta in Bali. He also works with Moet-Hennessey in marketing their luxury liquor range. Grant is a regular guest speaker at industry events and expos as far a field as London, Sydney and Melbourne. As a regular contributor to Bars and Clubs and Bartender magazines and the Sydney Morning Herald, his media and professional profile position him as Australia’s premier liquor industry consultant.
He is currently filming the second season of the luxury lifestyle show, “Mixing with the Best”. He hosts the show in 20 different countries profiling the world’s most luxurious bars, clubs, villas, resorts and hotels.
Steve Collinson started his career in the early 90’s in Asia, Australia and Hong Kong. Returning to London, he teamed up with Grant to work on Bank Restaurant Group projects. They opened Bank in the Aldwych and Birmingham and Zander which won multiple awards including the coveted “Evening Standard Bar of the Year 2000”.
He worked with MyHotels Group as their group bars manager and also ran his own highly successful bar Hush in London’s Mayfair. In 2004, Steve relocated to Bali where he was involved in running what was to become Asia’s most famous bar/club/ restaurants, Ku De Ta. He moved into full time consulting in 2006 and is currently working on the opening of a hip 140 seat bar/ bistro in Jakarta’s financial district.
www.barsolutions.com.au
Kicken @ The Hidden Host – Kitchen Design
Istana have engaged the services of one of Australia’s brightest young chefs, Rob Staedler, to advise on all things food. Rob has worked very hard with GFAB to ensure that not only the eating of a meal in such environs encapsulates FOO but the very creation of it too. Rob has designed each kitchen individually to ensure they are configured perfectly to allow for great culinary creations with the least fuss.
Culinary Director and Executive Chef – Rob Staedler
Involved in Melbourne’s vibrant restaurant and hotel food scene since the age of 12, Robert served his apprenticeship at the fashionable Como Hotel in Toorak working under the creatively renowned Executive Chef Craig Hicks.
Robert went on to become the Executive Chef at Bali’s Ku De Ta, transforming it into one of Condé Naste Traveler’s Top Ten Best Restaurants in the World. In doing so, he created over 3,000 signature dishes, building an enviable reputation in the world of gourmet food.
His style is non-conformist and post-modern, aiming to both captivates and surprises the palette by enticing people to experiment and enjoy new food experiences. Rob is now the brains behind Kitchen@the Hidden Host which specialises in private event management and catering for luxury homes and restaurants all over Asia.
Indigo Real Estate – Sales + Marketing
Established in 2002, Indigo Real Estate enjoys a solid reputation as one of Asia’s leading luxury property specialists featuring Asia’s hottest luxury beachfront homes, property and private islands.
www.indigoRE.com
7. Phuket and the Andaman Region - Background
What of the natural and regional elements in which Istana is situated? Do they live up to our claim for a Feeling of Opulence?
Istana is prominently located on a hillside overlooking stunning Naithon Beach, on the north-west coast of Phuket. The estate is only a 10 minute drive from Phuket International Airport to the north and 40 minutes from the thriving shopping, dining and nightlife scene of Patong, to the south. Nearby are the internationally renowned Trisara, Three Dolphins and Laguna Phuket resorts.
Phuket is a world-class resort destination for the international tourist and expatriate set and the north-west coast of the island represents some of the most sought-after real estate in Asia. Because of the hilly nature of the terrain there has been relatively little development as developers have favoured other parts of the island that offered easier land plots upon which to build. Fortunately for Istana, this offered the perfect opportunity to create a niche development, one centred on exceptionally high quality, huge plots and architectural cohesion with the natural environment.
Within a few kilometres of Istana are several of Phuket’s finest beaches, all without the crowds of the better known tourist beaches in the south of the island. Within minutes, the huge Laguna area can be reached for a selection of day spas, shopping and dining, all catering to a discerning clientele.
Today’s Phuket is one of the premier destinations for the discerning holiday traveler. With a property market that is thriving, especially in the exclusive, high-end sector, it continues to draw discriminating investors seeking extraordinary opportunities. Real estate prices on this Andaman Sea island are still relatively low when compared with comparable tropical destinations. Savvy international investors have recognised the tremendous potential that Phuket offers, and it has become one of the world’s best choices for those seeking an international lifestyle second to none.
Phuket is an island with world-class, white sandy beaches lapped by the turquoise blue waters of the Andaman Sea. Enjoying some of the best tropical weather in the world, it possesses many amenities that make it alluring to the wealthy investor looking for a holiday home, the expatriate looking for the perfect retirement villa, or for sophisticated travelers seeking the perfect luxury spot to get away from it all.
By day, Phuket offers great beaches, fantastic golfing, sailing, diving and maritime sports; adventure pursuits such as elephant trekking and safaris; top-notch shopping and plenty of cultural highlights to explore.
In the evening, the island comes alive with some of the best nightlife in south-east Asia, mostly centred upon the world-renowned coastal enclave of Patong. Visitors to Phuket are spoilt for choice, with its internationally famous dining and nightclubs located all around the island, offering every imaginable kind of cuisine and night time entertainment.
We are confident that Istana’s location offers everything you could possibly desire to enjoy life with a true FEELING OF OPULENCE.
Maritime Adventures
To say that Phuket and the surrounding Andaman region is a sailing paradise is something of an under statement. The region is consistently rated as one of the world’s greatest sailing playgrounds with superb natural wonders to explore, plus first class maritime infrastructure and all with a cost structure that’s a fraction of that in the other global maritime centres.
There are literally hundreds of islands dotted around the sheltered, calm Phang Nga Bay, throughout the Andaman Sea, and to the north, in the Similan and Surin Marine National Parks. Further north, off the coast of Myanmar, there are almost three thousand largely unexplored islands in the Mergui Archipelago and to the west the Andaman Islands off the Indian coast.
The sailing around Phuket is relaxing with year round good breezes and warm tropical waters, making it easy and fun to go exploring by yacht or cruiser. Phuket has three main marinas at present, with a huge expansion in maritime services planned for development over the next few years.
The Yacht Haven is just a few minutes drive from Istana and offers deep water moorings and services for even the largest super yachts which are becoming based around Phuket in increasing numbers during the calmer winter months. Yacht and cruiser charter is readily available, with every size and shape of craft available, either on a bare boat, or fully crewed basis and at exceptionally reasonable rates.
Phuket is home to four terrific regatta weeks…the largest is the annual King’s Cup which is raced over six days in December, and then just before Christmas there’s also the Super Yacht Invitational, with some of the world’s most luxurious craft and their super-wealthy owners in attendance. In February, there’s the fun sailing and partying event of the Phang Nga Bay Regatta and finally the Island Race Week Regatta during the often very windy south-west monsoon season in late July.
In addition to sailing, Phuket offers fabulous big game fishing with marlin and sail fish being regular visitors to the deep blue waters off the continental shelf to the south-west of the island. Every November the Phuket Game Fishing Week draws enthusiastic participants form all over the world. Sea kayaking was pioneered by the renowned environmentalist John Gray into the astounding limestone caves and lagoons of the islands in Phang Nga Bay and is another maritime adventure unique to the region and definitely not to be missed.
Dining and Nightlife
Phuket’s dining and nightlife scene has become absolutely legendary in the past few years. The island offers an incredible range of choice from uber-fashionable and sophisticated restaurants and nightclubs, to outdoor beer bars, discos and go-go parties, to beachside shacks where you can eat fresh seafood with sand between your toes, to all night reggae parties. You can find a genuine English or Irish pub, complete with excellent beers and of course Guinness, or alternatively sports bars with huge screen TV’s showing international live sports, while you kick back, drink in hand, and savour the night sounds and sights of our tropical island.
Thai food has of course become established as one of the great world cuisines and Phuket and environs offers everything from famous pioneering restaurants like Silk, Ban Rim Pa, Rockfish, Mom
Tri’s Boathouse and international celebrity chef, Keith Floyd’s restaurant, right though to superb street food outlets and markets that stay open late and cost next to nothing to enjoy.
However just about every international cuisine imaginable is on offer in Phuket at restaurants that can meet every expectation for sophistication and every pocket for price. The produce is fresh and abundant with local seafood and fruits a signature of many fine establishments. The wine cellars are exceptional with many restaurants holding regular wine dinners, where visiting owners and growers present their varietals accompanied by fabulous food.
You can dine in stunning and exotic settings….under swaying palms along the beach, or overlooking marinas with million dollar yachts lazing at their moorings, or high on hillsides or headlands, or at some of the most luxurious resorts and hotels in the world.
The music scene is vibrant and eclectic with everything from disco, to trance, to live rock, to Thai traditional dance and puppetry. The annual Blues Festival brings in world class talent and the burgeoning film and
theatre festivals continue to surprise. During world class sailing regattas like the December King’s Cup, February Phang Nga Bay Regatta and July Island Race Week series, Phuket becomes home to thousands of sailors, media types and pure party animals who attend the extravagant beachside bashes, thrown each evening of the events.
But Phuket needs very little excuse to party, as it’s an important part of Thai culture termed “sanuk” or “fun” and this island and its surroundings are never slow to oblige those wanting to let it all hang out.
Spas, Health and Wellness
The Andaman region offers the perfect environment for a healthy lifestyle, with abundant opportunities for outdoor pursuits, in the growth of spas, and every type of health and wellness facility imaginable.
All the major resorts and hotels offer superb spa facilities, gymnasia and health clubs and the cultural influences of superbly trained Thai therapists, masseuses and instructors brings an added, intensely personal dimension to the attractiveness of these offerings.
Some of the therapies on offer are superbly indulgent. The Hilton Group, for example, recently started a four handed massage treatment in which two superbly-trained therapists pampered every sinew of your torso. Not to be outdone, Trisara Resort, which is situated close to our Istana villas, then started offering six handed massage treatments!
You can find everything from hot yoga to Pilates; from triathlon training to mountain biking clubs; from detoxification retreats to Nia Movement therapy. The region has also become famous for its marathons, extreme endurance races and triathlons and you will see brightly clad “athletes” from eight to eighty training for these events all over the island, day and night.
The hospital, medical and dental sectors offer state of the art facilities, with internationally trained staff, but at a third the cost for identical procedures as in the developed world. No wonder the region has become a Mecca for medical and dental tourism.
Private Aviation
Phuket is geographically situated in the centre of southern Asia and the International airport offers a huge array of frequent flights on the world’s major carriers to all Asian and regional major gateways. In addition, up to forty private jets arrive each week during the high season, as the international elite increasingly fl y in and out of the island on a regular basis.
The Thailand Elite privilege membership programme in currently investigating an expansion of the parking and airport facilities dedicated to private planes, as private aviation around Phuket is bound to continue growing. Phuket also boasts a commercial sea plane service from the international airport to points all over the Andaman Sea region. “Destination Air” offers daily scheduled flights, or “tailor made” trips, to such attractive locales as Phi Phi Island, Koh Lanta, Krabi, Trang and Khao Lak. A new helicopter service starts in early 2009 by Heliservices, with two Eurocopters, an EC130
and an EC135. This is an important addition fast tracking guests to the islands, making golf trips unique and further triangulating Phuket, Phi Phi and Krabi.
Golfing in Paradise
Golfing is a perfect pastime in the warm, tropical climate of Phuket and the island offers an abundance of mouthwatering choices when it comes to greens, fairways and links. Thailand has embraced golf with an incredible passion over the past twenty years and as a result has established itself as the leading golfing nation in Asia.
The natural friendliness and service mindedness of the Thais make golfing in Phuket exceptionally enjoyable and the prices are among the lowest in Asia. The female caddies are charming, full of fun and smiles, and often very knowledgeable. The club and bar facilities are second to none, with terrific restaurants, lounges and even swimming pools and many clubs offer full spa and massage facilities, an ideal way to relax after your round of golf.
The Blue Canyon course is just minutes from Istana, overlooking Nai Yang Beach and features stunning scenery with challenging holes surrounded by sea, lagoons and vaulting palm trees. It hosted the 1994 and 1998 Johnnie Walker Classics and the 1996 Honda Invitational.
Equally near to Istana is the Banyan Tree’s eighteen hole, par 71, course laid out amongst meandering lagoons and water traps, set against a backdrop of green tropical hills. Here you have all the facilities of the iconic Banyan Tree Resort at your fingertips both on and off the links. The exotic tropical location means that in addition to the usual birdies, eagles and albatrosses, the occasional cobra or elephant might feature amongst the fauna on your scorecard!
The Loch Palm course at Kathu in the middle of Phuket Island is an eighteen-hole, par 72, challenge that is built around Crystal Lake, the largest golf lake in Thailand. Towering palms line the fairways, nestled below a panoramic bring of misty hills. Serenity and tranquility are the watchwords here, often a necessary anodyne as you wrestle with the dastardly links.
Mission Hills is a Jack Nicklaus-designed course set along the sea in the northeast corner of Phuket, featuring white sand beach bunkers and sea isle grass fairways in stunning emerald colours. The club house, spas and pool are particularly alluring and you can even play a nine-hole night course here. All in all, golfing around Phuket offers a charm and variety that cannot be rivaled and many residents and frequent visitors build their entire Phuket existence around golfing.
Diving Adventures
There can be few more ecstatic experiences in life than encountering a whale shark while out scuba diving in stunning underwater topography. Alternatively, ascending after a night dive among multicolored coral bomboras, into a full moon tropical night, with soft lightening fl ashes inside the gathering clouds, is an experience you will never forget.
Such experiences as these and many more are at your doorstep in the Andaman region, which is globally recognized as one of the world’s top ten scuba and snorkel diving areas. The diving industry itself is highly developed and professional, with international guides, world class dive boats for both day trips and extended live-a-board expeditions and a cost structure that is the envy of divers everywhere.
Phuket offers a huge range of day trips to islands like Koh Phi Phi and Koh Ratcha, as well as live-aboard excursions to the Surin and Similan island groups, both of which are marine national parks, situated about one hundred kilometres to the north-west. Further a field the Mergui Archipelago off the coast of Burma has almost three thousand unexplored islands which offer virgin diving and exploration.
The tropical weather means that year round warm water diving is the norm, with a mean average year temperature of 28 degrees Centigrade (86 degrees Fahrenheit). Bio-diversity is extremely broad, with stunning hard and soft coral growth, abundant fish populations and large predatory pelagics such as shark, rays, sail fish and marlin seen on almost every trip. So explosive and rich is the underwater environment, that snorkeling is almost as good as scuba, with every opportunity to see most species in shallow water, with just a single lungful of air to keep you going!
Shopping in Phuket
Phuket is a shopaholic’s paradise offering a huge variety of buying opportunities from bustling open-air night markets and street stalls, right through to the most sophisticated art galleries, antique, arts and crafts outlets to be found anywhere in Asia.
Traditional Thai handicrafts run the gamut from silk weaving, to cotton, batik and leather fabrics, to silver and gold jewelry gems and pearls. From wood carving to Benjarong and ceramics, from stone sculpting and mother of pearl work, to laquerware, bronze and pewter artifacts.
There are fabulous areas specializing in these traditional crafts, such as the Soul of Asia boutiques, the Surin Plaza at Surin Beach, the galleries and shops at the east coast’s Royal Phuket Marina and the endless warren of quaint Sino-Chinese shop houses scattered around the lanes and alleyways of old Phuket Town. Phuket also has huge modern shopping centres such as Central Festival, Tesco, Lotus, Big C and Index Living Mall in the centre of the island and the recently opened Jungceylon Centre in Patong.
These shopping destinations boast not only large department stores and fashionable boutiques, but also a huge selection of bars, restaurants, cinemas, galleries, food courts and even such things as gyms and yoga centres, so that a whole day can be happily spent browsing around. This being Thailand, you will also find such diversions as fashion shows, dance performances, concerts and art displays going on in many of these locations on a regular basis.
Phuket’s open air fresh markets are well worth attending on a regular basis. The prices are unbelievably inexpensive and these markets move around the island from location to location on different days. Fresh fruits, vegetables, fish and meats are on offer as well as all sorts of ready to eat enticements. Clothing, toys, household items and furniture are also featured. A carnival atmosphere prevails and the locals are friendly and treat market day as yet another opportunity to eat, socialise and have “sanuk” or fun.
The island has a very broad choice of furniture and home appliance shops, as so many people are moving to the Andaman to set up new homes, or holiday villas. The garden centres are a delight and burst with exotic tropical plants and flowers. You can even stock up for a tropical aquarium, or find new pets for your new home. Phuket
has it all.
The Great Outdoors
Istana is surrounded by some of the most alarmingly beautiful and fecund natural environments on earth. Obviously beach and ocean life, both upon and beneath the waves, are an ever-present facet of island life. But within a short distance, Phuket also offers the astounding
limestone karsts topography of Phang Nga Bay, with literally hundreds of islands that you can explore by yacht, cruiser or kayak. Here you can go sea canoeing and overnight camping with world famous environmentalist John Gray and his sea kayaking organisation. The kayaks go into sea caves when the tide is low and emerge within central “hongs” or lagoons with towering cliff walls all around. Seeing such fauna as Crab-Eating Macaques, Hornbills, Cave Pythons and Brahminy Kites are all a part of the trip.
On Phuket Island you can enjoy the Khao Phra national park complete with hiking trails through virgin rain forest to the Tonsai Waterfalls, or a visit to the gibbon rehabilitation centre.
To the south, you can go island hopping to the Koh Yao, or the Ratcha Islands, or to the Koh Phi Phi islands, named as one of the ten most beautiful island groups in the world and the setting for the Leonardo DiCaprio film “The Beach”. All offer wonderful opportunities for outdoor pursuits, plus vibrant nightlife, fabulous beachside restaurants and every type of accommodation from beach huts, to world class resorts and spas. To the south on the mainland you can visit Krabi province, with its world famous Ralai Beach, climbing cliffs, and the caves, beaches and offshore islands of Trang Province further south towards the Malaysian border.
Three hours north of Phuket you’ll discover Khao Sok National Park, which together with its contiguous wildlife sanctuaries, form a 3,000 square kilometre expanse of the oldest rainforest in the world. This region has an abundance of incredible hiking trails, huge valleys, lakes, rivers and caves that the outdoor enthusiast could spend months exploring. The area is home to wild tiger, elephant, leopards and possibly rhino, plus an abundance of birds and reptiles, all of which can be seen on forest hikes.
The possibilities for being healthy out of doors enjoying some of the world’s most glorious ecosystems are right at the doorstep of the Istana villas.
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Sales Inquiries: Contact Mr. Tom Travers at Indigo Real Estate or. Outside Thailand: +66 (87 034 2090. Inside Thailand: 087 034 2090. Email: tom@indigore.com
Media Inquiries, Contact: Mr. Duane Lennie: Outside Thailand: +66 86 948 6836 Inside Thailand 086 948 6836. Email: duane@indigore.com |
