Ku Ta Da

We came upon Kokulo by accident two days ago while walking around the Hat Bang Niang area of Khao Lak. Due to a local ordinance passed almost a year ago, beachside hotels and restaurants were barred from offering deck chairs, chaise lounges, sun beds or any other version of furniture on the beach – as is the custom in almost every other Thai beach destination. Being someone who doesn't prefer to sit on the sand and who appreciates Thailand's "organized beaches" (as beaches outfitted with chairs are often called in Europe), this ordinance was a real threat to my beach enjoyment.

Luckily, in Thailand as in many places, where there's a law, there's a way around it. Beachfront properties can rent out their sun beds (the upscale branding for lounge chairs) up to their property line. So, if they have some excess bandwidth, they usually are happy to take non-guests' money – often at exorbitant prices. We paid 1000 Baht ($33 USD) per sun bed on our first beach day in part because we had the kids with us and there was only so far we were wiling to walk.

Then as Emily and I passed down a side street, a billboard for the Kokulo Beach Club caught my eye – and I realized we may have found the solution to our organized beach dilemma. For 500 Baht a day, the very stylish Kokulo Beach Club located at the La Vela Resort gives you a sunbed, a free drink, use of three swimming pools – including one along the beach, fantastic restroom facilities, showers, beach swings and of course hopes you'll patronize their excellent, but overpriced restaurant. We did.

Upon visiting Kokulo to check it out and make a reservation for today, Emily and I realized we had found the Thai version of Ku De Ta, our favorite restaurant and beach club in Bali. Only Kokulo – likely having modeled itself after Ku De Ta – went bigger on everything. More seating, more swimming, more events. And not surprisingly, it was doing very well on the second-to-last day of the year.

"I love Ku Ta Da!" Ailyn exclaimed as she jumped from a ledge of the swimming pool.

Sennen had recently begun talking about Ku De Ta from two years ago(!) and he immediately made the connection without help. Rather than learn the name of the new place, he just called it Ku De Ta, which lead to Ailyn's version – which may be the most appropriate name for the place.

The miracle of Ku Ta Da is that it provided an idea swimming and beach environment for a family to have a very nice day. No other beach establishment that had available seats fit the bill quite as well. And much like with the actual Ku De Ta, the kids preferred time in the swimming pool to the ocean. Somehow with the beach feel and view, the calm and manageable water of the pool becomes preferable. And that's fine.

So other than each of the adults leaving the grounds for a little while to get massages at the more reasonably prices establishments down the road, we spent our entire day through sunset at Ku Ta Da including having some great wood fired pizzas for lunch. 

There's not much of depth to tell aside from the day was an idea Southern Thai beach day and our kids' recently developed adventurous spirit continued as they each grabbed onto a rope swing and swung like Tarzan across the sunset.