Japamala Resort by Samadhi

Very good remote resort and beautiful setting. The staff (Saw, Mike and Shishir) were incredible and made the whole experience wonderful. Overall a good experience if you want to take a break away from the city.

Check which rooms you book. Rooms 1,2 and 3 are not very private and are visible from the common areas. This can be fixed by the hotel quite easily with curtains and fencing etc. No wellness activity for what is actually a wellness hotel - yoga classes or group hikes would be good addition. They have spa massage which was average. Restaurants need to have more variety - we stayed for a whole week there so by the end of the week we had eaten everything on the menu.

Small, private resort by the beach with decent snorkling. Bigger fish due to protected area. They arrange snorkling and diving tours at competitive prices, providing snorkling equipment, fruit, water. We tried a trip to Renggis Island, very many fish, recommended. Massage was professional. Competitive pricing. We stayed 6 nights in a Seacliff Chalett with balcony and sea view. Clean, checked several times a day, incl. drinking water. Comfortable bed, working aircondition and fan (needed), separate wash room, bathroom with access to balcony, balcony with private feel and great view. Visits by birds, squirrels and monkeys, which were friendly - dominant male needed a show of power at day one and since then we agreed to mutual respect. 3 restaurants were open: Malay with western options especially for breakfast. Italian, and finally a grill restaurant for evenings and sundown drinks on the jetty. Great breakfast, many options, free juices and lassies, fruits, incl. nice details such as homemade yoghurt and toasting your bread over coal. Tried the Italian restaurant once, all dishes were superb. Grill restaurant offered fresh fish but also classic grill menu with burgers, and angus steak, spid, etc. and sunset cocktails. Diet: All staff very observant re. glutenfree for one person. You can walk to Genting, a bit tricky due to lack of maintenance of pathways/bridges, and easier continuing on to Paya. Took taxiboat back - got booking help from the restaurant right by the jetty. Also, worth walking a short but steep path up to a view site, just above the resort. Professional operation by Kenny and team. Very friendly staff, always ready to help, personal touch. Many small details increased the personal touch - I won’t mention them to allow you to have the full experience.

Malay restaurant would benefit from more music variation for breakfast ;-) Note that taxiboat is needed to move away from the resort, price competitive if booked by resort, but requires a bit of planning. Reuse of building materials gave a slight “worn” experience but appreciated tradeoff considering the environmental focus of the resort.

Peacefulness

Nil

The location and the fantastic staff

The monkey that made faces at me 😆