I stayed just one night at the Marisa Resort and must make some comments about this place.

The Room:
My partner and I stayed in the Baan Klang Nam which, as its name suggests, is a little wood cabin in the middle of several ponds. It happens to be relatively near the open-walled restaurant and the pool. It was cute but small and had only mosquito screens on the windows (no glass). The cabin had its own nice little over-water pavilion (more lighting would have been handy in the evening). The cabin itself lacked places to hang clothes and the lighting was inadequate (the bedside light was a cheap desk lamp in yellow which was completely out of keeping with the surroundings and looked like a hastily added afterthought). The bed was comfortable and the whole room was clean. No air conditioning and just a cheap plastic table fan which, again, spoiled the rustic look.

The bathroom roof had only one light and the lack of light was not helped by the couple of perspex roof panels being covered with leaves (surely it's not too much to brush them off considering the roof was very low and it would not have required a ladder to do). The shower was gas powered and gave excellent hot water. However, water from the shower splashed the only surface for leaving stuff in the bathroom - a shower curtain would have been a good idea. Also, the floor tiles became extremely slippery when wet (doubly dangerous considering the bathroom was on 2 levels with a steep tiled step in between). As usual, the floor drain was too small to cope with the water flow so, after showering, you ended up standing in water while at the sink!

The Resort:
It was nicely landscaped with a river flowing through and cleverly constructed waterfalls to give a pleasant sound of water rushing. There were some paths through the trees for you to follow and lots of ponds and a garden area where there seemed to be vegetables growing (maybe for use in the kitchens?). There was a spa which we didn't try but it looked a bit expensive compared to other places in Thailand. There was also a pool which bizarrely was constructed right in the middle of a muddy pond. We didn't have time to go for a swim but walked past the pool every time we went out from our room. The pool looked quite nice but again the cheap plastic soap/shampoo dispensers (empty) at the shower looked cheap and the pool pump was quite noisy (and very close to the pool).

The room was quite expensive and we were initially quoted THB 1,700 but the staff quickly started offering lower rates. Finally we agreed on THB 1,200 which was slightly more reasonable for such a small room without air conditioning. We were also told that a big house was charged at THB 10,100 and although I think it had about 5 bedrooms it seemed to be very steeply priced for such a resort.

Breakfast was the usual disappointing Thai attempt at Western food - eggs, a bit of bacon, ham and salad, with nasty toast bread. This is all fine but considering the price of the resort, I would have expected a lot more effort to be put into making the first meal of the day more appetizing. The only nice thing was the passion fruit juice.

The food in the evening was very average - Massaman curry did not taste at all as it should have (my partner is Thai and comes from the south - he's eaten much more Massaman down there and in Malaysia so I trusted his judgement in this). The rest of the food was OK but there were so many mosquitos that, even when my partner asked about mosquito coils, the waitress told him that they had none (this resort needs to get some urgently) and then took ages to get some repellent, going off to help fuss over the big group of Thai people nearby first.

Now for my biggest complaint ...

The restaurant itself was lovely, being set by the river just next to a waterfall which made a lovely sound. HOWEVER, there was a large party of Thai people obviously up from Bangkok and at about 7pm they started singing really really loud (and badly!) karaoke. It was so loud that it gave me earache and I had trouble hearing my partner across the table! The karaoke equipment was obviously not just there for the evening and the resort owner was obviously enjoying it as he was singing some numbers too. The other farang guests looked initially shocked at the volume when they arrived at the restaurant but, since there was nowhere else to eat, it was a case of making the best of things. In the few minutes of peace between the songs, it was lovely to hear the sound of nature again. Now, I know that karaoke is popular in Thailand and that the Thai guests obviously enjoyed it but why did they have to have the volume up so high and in an open place where other guests were sitting?

I asked the waitress when it would stop and she said 11pm!!! Yes, 4 hours of this ... and our room was just across a pond and without even glass in the windows to muffle the noise!

So, be warned when staying at Thai oriented resorts, particularly on public holiday weekends when the city people flock to the countryside!

Considering the high rates at this resort and the owner's lack of consideration for all his guests, I would suggest that, if you are in the Chiang Dao, Wieng Haeng, Doi Angkang area that you stay elsewhere. I recommend the Chiang Dao Nest, the new Wieng Haeng Resort and the government-run cabins inside the gardens at Doi Angkang. Better value and altogether a nicer experience.