Chiang Mai · Nine rooms
Rai
Above a valley that fills with cloud most mornings between June and October.
The place
An old teak house, a kitchen, and nine rooms that were never meant to be a hotel.
Moved here in pieces in 1974 and put back together facing the wrong way, which is why the long verandah looks north into weather instead of south into sun. We have not corrected it. It is the reason to come.
You leave the car at the bottom and walk the last two hundred metres. No pool, no spa, no air conditioning, and the road in is unsealed for four kilometres. We say so before you book, and a number of people do not book.
The house
Eighteen metres long, standing two metres off the ground on stone footings.
Teak planks, a deep overhang for the rain, and nine bays of shutters that nobody has ever closed all at once.
Inside
Take the roof off and it is nine rooms in a row.
Partitions that stop short of the rafters, a bed in each bay, and one stone bath at the far end.
Choose one
- Point at a room to find it in the house.
Staying
Two nights minimum. Three in August.
Mae Rim, Chiang Mai · Open May to February
Rates are per room per night with breakfast, and dinner is 1,200 THB a head. We open in May and close in February.
Rai is a concept brand and takes no bookings. Front Row Studio