Blue Heaven

Joyous turquoise ocean and white sand makes the perfect setting for the Racha, a small eco-luxe hotel on a tiny island South of Phuket in Thailand. Instead of a giant building, less intrusive small villas dot the grounds.

The resort is entirely constructed of whitewashed concrete, set off with heavy teak accents framing doorways and some of the windows.

But on some of the villas, window openings are simply carved out of the whitewashed concrete cubes with no wood framing at all, just bamboo shutters. Eco-chic simplicity.

The pared-down design flows seamlessly inside to make peaceful sleeping rooms in the serene villas.

The same whitewashed concrete has been shaped up from the whitewashed concrete floor to create the platforms for the beds in the clutter-free cool interiors.

The bathroom too is shaped from the same whitewashed concrete shapes. All very zen.

The Racha works with the Reef Ball Foundation to restore and preserve the sea’s natural environment.

To minimize land disturbance, the villas were scattered about the site, rather than build one monolithic hotel.

Each of the villas has been carefully located on site in such a way as not to disturb a single tree.

Thailand’s Racha is pretty remote. A little piece of heaven.