From the hill.

There are sixty-odd dishes on the RICE menu. Three of them carry a chef-pick mark, and there is a reason for each.

Tom Yum Goong (฿290) is the spicy prawn soup most guests already know — but the kitchen builds it the long way: galangal, lemongrass, lime leaf, roasted chilli paste, and river prawns. Not the milky tourist version. Tod Man Pla (฿230) is the southern Thai fish cake — pounded fish blended with red curry paste, hand-shaped, fried until the edges blister, served with sweet chilli. Som Tam Gai Yang (฿230) is green papaya pounded to order at the table, served alongside grilled chicken.

All three are spicy. The kitchen will pull the heat back if you ask, but the chef-pick mark assumes you want the dish the way it is meant to be eaten.

The pool runs from the upper terrace down to the spa pavilion in four cascading tiers. Most guests treat it as a single pool — it is not. Each tier is sized and oriented differently, and the kitchen, spa, and pool team have settled on a working division.

The top tier catches the morning sun first. This is where the floating breakfast is served (08:00–10:30, by reservation) — a rattan tray on the water with tropical fruit, pastries, coffee, and fresh coconut. The mid tiers sit below the line of the upper terrace and stay shaded longer; better for laps, better in the heat. The lowest tier opens straight onto the pool-access rooms — six of those rooms have terraces six steps from the water.

No tier is reserved. If you want the floating breakfast on the top tier, ask reception the evening before; otherwise pick the tier that suits the time of day.

The hotel sits on the hill above Patong, just off Meun-Ngern Road. Bangla Road — the main night-market strip — is roughly fifteen minutes on foot, almost entirely downhill. The walk down is pleasant in the early evening: lit shopfronts, food carts, residential lanes that thin out toward the beach.

The walk back up is a different story. It is steep enough that even guests who walked down without thinking about it usually take a tuk-tuk back. We mention this on check-in.

Every direct booking includes one complimentary round-trip car to Bangla — reception books the car, we pay the driver, you tell us when. One trip, both directions, your call. If you want more than one trip in your stay, reception will book a car at the going local rate (฿300 each way) without a markup. Booked through OTAs you don't get this perk; book direct on baanyindee.com to lock it in.

Pool Access (six rooms, 55–65 m²) opens straight onto the lowest pool tier. Two loungers on the terrace, six steps to the surface, king or twin bed inside. It is the most-booked category on the property because the layout is clean: one room, direct water access, the rest of the resort a short walk away.

Pool Suite (six rooms, 55–75 m²) comes in two layouts. The terrace variant sits on the water at 55 m² — similar to Pool Access in feel, slightly larger living area. The upper variant is 75 m² with a separate living area and a panoramic view over the pool, the hill, and the bay at once. It does not touch the water but trades that for the elevation.

The shorthand: pick Pool Access if you want to be in the water by 09:00 every morning. Pick the Pool Suite (upper) if you want the bay view and a separate living area for two or three. Both come with a complimentary bottle of local wine on arrival and private check-in at the Sala pavilion.

Tom Yum Goong (฿290) is the prawn version. Tom Yum Andaman (฿320) is the same broth loaded with mixed Andaman seafood — squid, prawn, mussel, and fish in one bowl. The ฿30 gap covers the additional protein, not a different recipe.

The broth is the same: galangal, lemongrass, lime leaf, roasted chilli paste, fish sauce, lime juice. The mixed seafood version reads differently because the squid releases a slightly sweeter note into the broth and the mussel adds a small mineral note from the shell. If you have only ever ordered tom yum with prawn, the Andaman version is worth the upgrade for the variety alone.

Both are on the spicy side. If you are eating the Tom Yum Andaman with rice as a main course, order it with Khao Suay (steamed jasmine rice, ฿60) — the standard pairing.

Standard checkout is 12:00 noon. Late checkout is one of the five guaranteed perks for guests who book direct. The wording on our offers page is "Late checkout, when we can" — that phrasing is deliberate, and worth explaining.

If the room you are in is not booked the night you check out, the reception team can offer it to you for the afternoon. We confirm at check-in (so you know the answer for the start of your stay) and message you again the evening before checkout. If the room is booked back-to-back, late checkout is not possible without affecting the next guest's preparation time. We will offer day-use of the pool and the lobby in that case — bag storage too.

We do not charge for late checkout when we grant it; the perk is the perk. If you need to be out by 16:00 specifically and want certainty, ask reception on check-in and we will confirm or block the room from rebooking.