Lotus-eating at the Golden Cupids

So here we are again, ensconced for the next 3 months in our private Shangri-la, the Golden Cupids in Chiang Mai (www.goldencupids.com; this gives you a virtual tour)

The Golden Cupids defies type-casting. It has its own unique style and ambience. It is not so much a hotel as a permanent country house party. We see many of the same people every year. There are no surnames. It is run entirely by ladies – Peppe, the adrenaline-fuelled owner, hostess, maitresse de cuisine and mentor at her cooking classes, tour-guide, chauffeuse, and fixer. She is also a fine judge of character –she always addresses me as ‘Charming’. Then Jan, manager, receptionist, gardener, accountant, programme-planner. She lent us her welding mask to observe the eclipse of the sun, so goodness knows what else she gets up to – safe cracking, maybe? And the small but beautifully formed Moon, who is chef, gardener, driver, dress-maker, artist and masseuse (see picture).

Multi-skilling? You ain’t seen nothing yet!

Then there are Tuum, Peppe’s daughter and Head Chef ( with husband Toon who has a day job as a top cop – don’t mess with him!, Took , Lala and Ben.

Tung the handyman and Si the gardener are the only men around.

The rooms are huge with every mod-con including free Wi-Fi (please note, Holiday Inn, Novotel and other rip-off artists). The service is warm and impeccable. The food is marvellous, the surroundings tranquil.

It is #5 in the Trip Advisor list of over 300 hotels in Chiang Mai, way above all but one of the super-luxe hotels but with a rather different room-rate. It is one of the two best 3-star hotels.

This is a birdwatchers paradise. I can sit on my balcony where a tamarind tree touches it. The tree is heaving with bulbuls, mynas, thrushes, olive-backed sunbirds, magpie robins, and the rest almost within touching distance. We also have a resident pair of Burmese striped squirrels that resemble chipmunks. At the Water Garden Restaurant not only do we get some of the best Thai food anywhere but we also have a daily visitor to the fishpond only feet away, a Chinese water heron. So far we have identified 51 species and several others not identified. The paddy fields abound with several species of egret, herons, swallows, swifts and waders. We have the noisy drongo and the equally noisy coucal that looks a bit like a pheasant. And that damned telephone bird that has you reaching for your mobile. The other day we watched three mynas playing leap-frog along the swimming pool wall!

The Cupids is pretty full at this time. I am the only male. The other guests are all pretty Japanese girls.

Eat your hearts out, fellas!

And it’s actually cheaper than living at home – no heating costs, no fuel costs, no big shopping bills, no electricity bills, beer at a £ a throw, cigs a bit more for 20,  whisky at about 12 quid for a 1.5 litre bottle in Tesco.

What’s not to like?