How do you persuade luxury-seeking holidaymakers to return to a place that just five years ago was the scene of mass destruction and loss of life?
That is the challenge facing the newly-launched five-star JW Marriott Khao Lak Hotel and Spa on Tha
iland's stunning Andaman coast.
The beach paradise of Khao Lak, north of Phuket, was devastated by the St Stephen's Day tsunami of 2004. The death toll in the Khao Lak area was more than 3,000. At the hotel which previously occupied the JW Marriott site, 100 staff and 60 guests lost their lives.
The route into the resort, just over an hour's drive from Phuket airport, passes by a police gun-ship which was guarding the Thai king's grandson as he holidayed with his family. The 21-year-old prince drowned and the sea threw the boat a couple of kilometres inland where it rests today, a memorial to the tourists and locals who drowned in the tragedy.
Travelling into Khao Lak itself is like driving through a tropical building site. Several resorts in the area have been rebuilt and tourists are coming back, slowly but surely, to this beautiful oceanside holiday paradise.
Thailand has always been a land of contrasts, between big booming Bangkok and the slow pace of life on the southern islands or the northern mountains, between the utter luxury of guests being ferried in SUVs to and from their high-class hotels and smiling locals flying by on rickety-looking motorbikes.
The JW Marriott resort itself, located down a bumpy grass track, is a cocooned little world of luxury where guests can lose themselves for a week or longer, only venturing out for a spot of white-water rafting, elephant trekking or on a snorkelling-and-swimming speedboat excursion to the Similan Islands national park.
The 'Tsunami Evacuation Route' signs visible on the approach to the hotel aren't something you get at your average holiday destination. But there's nothing like being saluted to by uniformed security guards, then met with a basket of scented cold towels and a chilled local brew, to chase away the worries.
I hit the backpacker trail in Thailand seven years ago, for a month of staying in cheap dives in the Khao San Road and nights in Bangkok bars, roughing it in the jungle up north and sipping happy hour cocktails in a cheap beach shack. This return trip was... somewhat different.
Zeynel Atmacan, the German-Turkish hotel owner has rebuilt a stunning 298-room enclave, offering employment to many who lost loved ones and nearly their own lives and livelihoods in the tsunami. And the result is simply breathtaking.
The low-rise resort is built right on the beach in a beautiful style that features Thai-style architecture from lobby to guest rooms. As JW Marriott, the upscale branch of the Marriott hotel group, has taken over the management of the resort, guests are also guaranteed high-class luxury as well as all the mod-cons for the connected traveller who can't bear to be parted from the outside world.
A 3-km long pool – the longest in South-East Asia - winds its way around the two-storey resort and forms a lagoon in its middle. Guests in the rooms at ground level can slip off their sun-decks straight in for a splash. Better still, you can swim straight up to the pool bar, before throwing yourself and your cocktail on a submerged sundeck and gazing at the glowing sunset across the resort's private beach.
The resort boasts five restaurants, including authentic Thai and Japanese eateries, three bars – two of them poolside – sports and business conferencing facilities.
The Quan spa is a haven within a haven – just when you thought you couldn't get any more relaxed and chilled out, you come across this little temple of bliss, with its full menu of spa treatments. The traditional Thai massage, known for its deep kneading and stories of masseuses dancing around on your back, sounded a bit tough. Chickening out, I can vouch for the 'Aroma Bliss' massage which sent me into a beatific state for the rest of the morning.
Thai hospitality and friendliness is top class, and I was met with the famous Thai smile and 'Sawasdee' greeting at every opportunity by everyone from resort management to the builders sorting out some last minute work outside the rooms.
There's little danger of malaria, but the local misquitoes seemed to have a vampiric attraction to Irish blood. As my Celtic skin fell victim to the little beggars, locals in turn fascinated and entertained by the resulting pustules couldn't have been more helpful in fetching preventatives and rememdies. Tiger Balm, how I've missed you in the seven intervening years.
However, you might get cabin fever even in paradise, so a day trip to the Similan Islands National Park is a not-to-be missed experience.
A short, glorious speedboat ride in the sun away from Khao Lak, this uninhabited string of islands is a mecca for diving enthusiasts.
Snorkellers too can get more than their fill of its abundant marine life and beautiful coral reefs, which were untouched by the tsunami.
While the resort will do doubt snare the wedding-and-honeymooner market, our large party showed how much fun you can have with a big group in a top-class resort, even getting some envious glances from mooney-eyed honeymoon couples.
Midnight pool party? Dancing on the bar? Inventing a cocktail? Mass hangover breakfast at the all-you-can-eat and then some buffet? Go right ahead and watch you don't fall into the water after that fifteenth mojito was the sporting attitude of the fun-loving Thai staff.
So what's the damage for a paradise week like this? Surprisingly, not as much as you might think. As with all Asian destinations, the main cost for Irish travellers will be the air fare to get there. Until the end of February, the resort is offering a special rate of 5,300 Thai Baht per night (around n110) for two people.
Escape
Zeynel Atmacan, the businessman who owns the resort, talked of his own family's lucky escape from the tsunami. Chatting over breakfast on the resort's Waterfront terrace, he recalled how they decided to go to Germany for the holidays as the Thai hotel was busy for the Christmas season.
He received an early morning phone call about the disaster and flew straight back to Thailand to examine the damage.
In Europe, the site of such as tragedy would feature a massive monument to the lost. But Mr Atmacan says that the Thai people remember their loss on a day to day basis.
Last St Stephen's Day commemoration ceremonies were held in Khao Lak, including at the police patrol boat and the local cemetery.
Superstition and religion is strong in this part of the world. Luxury resorts such as the JW Marriott will be a hard sell to Thais, who believe that it is still haunted with the ghosts of the deceased. The whole resort was blessed in a ceremony in accordance with local religious customs before it opened.
A tsunami warning system has been established by the United Nations in the Indian Ocean region to give countries affected by the 2004 disaster notice of impending tidal waves.
Get there
Reservations can be made through the Marriott's Reservations Office on: +66 2656 7707, or email: bookmarriott@marriotthotels.com.
The resort is offering a special rate of THB 5,300 (around n110) per night for two. Stays of four nights or longer will be upgraded to pool access rooms. The offer is valid until February 28.
Trailfinders offers flights from Dublin to Phuket via London and Bangkok from n729.
