Camping in heaven

I had an exciting stay at Barefeet Heaven Hill Naturist Resort on my nakation.

Unlike other naturist resorts in Thailand, it is located at a small hill top in Baan Chao Mai within the area of Hat Chao Mai Marine National Park in Trang Province. The park was proclaimed a national park in 1982.

I carried a set of camping gear with me after knowing that I could put up my tent there. No other reason than that Barefeet had offered me a special treatment. I believe I was the first naturist to set up a tent at the resort compound.

Initially, I did not understand why the resort was built in this area since the park has been stated as a national park where it is not supposed to have any development with resorts and hotels. The story comes in its historical way.  The owners of the resort had been owning the land for 5 generations before it was announced officially as a marine national park. It is clear that no other development of the national park after the declaration.

It could be an exhilarating news for nature lovers that the area is preserved for its origin. It is more amazing that Barefeet has turned it into a naturist paradise.

I had counted my days of my 3-month vacation and realize that I had only less than 10 off days. Coincidentally, I was informed that I could get a ride with a Malaysian couple, Cho and Tee who would travel there by car. They purposely passed a night in Sungai Petani from Kuala Lumpur to take me there the next morning and took us about 4.30 hours to reach the destination.

I had a good view from both sides of my camping site. One part was a river with spectacular rock formations. The other was stunning limestone cliff that was so close to me. In fact, the whole surrounding was a wide and open fabulous view with no block in any corners.

There was a BBQ pit at the garden and a swimming pool where one could swim next to the cliff. Was it a thrilling experience that I had never dreamt of?

There are 8 airy rooms include 1 family, 2 twins and 5 double rooms. It has a laid-back atmosphere for a leisure afternoon with a cup of coffee at the open restaurant while listening to English oldie songs. Gregers, the host, often sits with guests with his social chat is a warm and hospitable welcome during morning breakfast.

In the evening, we walked to the unofficial nude beach. Had Yao beach is a long stretch of scenic sandy bed. The nude beach is beyond a variety of spectacular limestone mountains going into the sea. From the nude beach to the fishing village, the beach os wide and open and lined with pine trees.

It was not a popular beach, even though it was a weekend. We met only one naked guy and a few tourists. It would have been filled up with tourists in any similar attractive location. Is it a naturist paradise where nobody around or with only a few tolerable tourists? Definitely, it is.

Not far away from Had Yao beach is the more popular Pak Meng beach with a crescent shaped beach about 7 km. long. It is such a long beach stretched out with lots of small beach restaurants food stalls under the pine trees at the seaside. From Barefeet Heaven Hill, it is 27 km away and takes about 30 minutes to reach there. If you have not seen such a long stretch of beach, come and visit it where you can see the surrounding islands and enjoy the environment with a glass of cold beer in hand.

Another attraction is Kantang Hot Spring Forest Park which is at a distance of 19 km from the resort. There are 3 different ponds with different temperature - 48 Celsius, 43 Celsius and 32 Celsius. We booked a private hot tub that could accommodate 5 people. I would recommend this as a relaxing enjoyment on a rainy day - soaking away in the tub.

Barefeet is a wonderful place not only for naturists but also nature lovers, birding activity and meditation retreat for its nature preservation and tranquility as well as its laid-back and peaceful atmosphere in the surrounding areas.