White Lotus star Jason Isaacs: “Locals would say to us, ‘How did you find this place?’”

Interview: Helen Whitaker

Thailand is an amazing country. There’s a lot to see and it’s massively varied. You can find somewhere that’s purely commercial and neon or you can go places where all the noise and the traffic and buildings disappear and you’re in spectacular nature. You can be meditative or you can be hyper stimulated and never go to bed. You can also punch the living daylights out of someone at a Muay Thai academy – it depends on what you’re looking for.

I was in Thailand from February until August last year filming the new series of The White Lotus. We shot in Koh Samui and Phuket, and then production moved to Bangkok for the last couple of months. There was lots of time off because there are so many story strands, so I took the opportunity to travel as much as possible. My wife, Emma, was with me for most of the time, and my kids for some of the time.

My favourite part was when we went to the jungle. Khao Sok National Park has a great history. When Thailand’s government had cut down most of its forests, Khao Sok only survived because of a seven-year anti-government occupation by a group of Thai students from the mid-1970s. Thanks to them, it’s still a vast area to explore. You can do both land-based safaris, and you can go out and live, as we did, in floating bungalows on this gorgeous freshwater lake.

One of the great things about working on a film or television series is you have local crew. After a while, you become one unit and you get to talk to people and see how they live, so pretty much everything we did out there was from personal recommendations. This is how I was introduced to a fabulous company that operates out of Phuket called 5 Star Marine, which – among other positive community endeavours – rescues girls from the sex trade and slavery. During Covid, when there were an awful lot of people starving, the owner Sean got together with some businessmen and served nine million meals. He now has an extensive charity network, helping communities send children to school.

I loved exploring the islands with Sean and his crew. There are the touristy places that you can jump to from Bangkok, such as Phuket, Phi Phi Islands or James Bond Island, but Sean’s staff knew places that the tourists didn’t go to. When Emma and I wanted a romantic retreat, we were pointed towards Koh Kradan (opening image). It’s a small island where there’s almost nothing there other than simple hotels and a beautiful beach for snorkelling.

My favourite meal in Bangkok ended up being at Chakrabongse Villas. It was this spectacular palace along the banks of the river, opposite the Temple of the Dawn. It’s got an incredible view along the river and the meal was just fantastic. It’s a set menu (no à la carte), and, while I’ve seen many a chef’s face around the world fall when I say, “I’m a vegan, can you do anything for me?”, they made me an incredible vegan multi-course dinner.

When it comes to food, people in Bangkok will tell you which restaurant to go to and which mall. You think, “Why would I visit a mall for food?” but just wait till you get there. These malls are like massive indoor cities, and they very often have street food markets that rival the floating markets and night markets outside. Iconsiam, a giant mall in the city, is even divided into seven dining zones, with one focused on all the various regions of Thai cuisine.

One of the things we all loved the most were the street markets, and the ones in Chinatown in Bangkok is such an adventure. My daughters had researched what stalls to go to on social media, so I was going, “This looks great”, and they’d say, “No, no, no, Dad”, and we’d fight 200 yards through the crowd and sit down somewhere else. Then someone local would say, “How did you find this place? It’s the best seafood in Thailand.” I’d say, “Oh OK” – and I’d give my daughters some credit.

I found there’s an overall culture of gentle and kindness in Thailand. Thai culture doesn’t allow for people to confront each other strongly, even over the kind of incidents that would lead to total road rage back in England – the traffic in Bangkok is unimaginable and yet you won’t see anyone shouting.

Since there is quite so much traffic, the best way to travel around Bangkok is by boat. There are different ways to do it: one is to go up and down the river on the boats that operate like buses, and other is to take a private longboat, which isn’t expensive, because nothing is expensive here. We did a fascinating boat tour, which showed off the expensive restaurants and fancy hotels and the glamorous nature of the riverside but then took us through the back streets. It’s extraordinary to see how close tremendous luxury sits to tremendous poverty. I think it’s important for every tourist, if you go somewhere, to get a real flavour of where you are. I found that really eye-opening.

Bangkok’s airport is also a fabulous jumping-off point to many of the neighbouring countries. We went to Cambodia and Bhutan, taking the opportunity to travel around a bit. Each of these places had a different flavour and ended up providing a much fuller picture of this part of the world, with its different approach to life and expectations. I think a lot of the other cast went off to wellness retreats and loved them. The pervading Buddhism, particularly, leaves you with a bracing perspective on our pace of life in the West.

In White Lotus, the show’s creator Mike White pieces together the scene – he wants the spa from one hotel, the bar from another hotel, the beach from this place, the restaurant from over here and the villas from over there, so you end up moving around a fair bit during filming to create this one resort on screen. As an actor, you often only get to see the tourist bits, but I can’t do that anymore, especially not after this experience. Now, I want to get a sense of what a place is really like – the good, the bad and the ugly.

The White Lotus season three is out now on HBO

Where to stay

Take a bite out of The White Lotus life at two of its most luxurious filming locations…

Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui

In keeping with the two previous instalments of The White Lotus, a Four Seasons hotel masquerades as the fictional White Lotus resort in season three of Mike White’s social satire – this time, Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui. Overlooking the Gulf of Siam, the barefoot-bliss retreat is the perfect five-star setting for the new a series of plot twists and complex characters. The teak and terrazzo Bill Bensley-designed villas all come with private porches and sea view pools, while guests spend their days drifting between the pristine beach, serene Secret Garden spa and the coconut palm-fringed infinity pool – on repeat. As dusk falls, slow-cooked Thai curries and Koh Thai Sours are the order of the day.

High Life says…
The new Secret Night Ritual treatment combines Tibetan singing bowls and a lava shell massage by the sea, followed by a coconut and – yes, lotus petal – bath in the privacy of your own villa.

Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas

Also getting screen time in the third season of the hit HBO show is Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas. This uber-breezy, uber-luxury resort, sandwiched between the island’s longest beach and sprawling national park, is built to resemble a traditional southern Thai village. Torch-lit wooden bridges lead to the pool villas, many with their own salas overlooking a lily-padded lagoon. Follow meandering pathways to the Andaman Sea, the spa – a sanctuary for holistic treatments and juice cleanses – the pool and the restaurants, where dining comes every which way from yam and gaeng to Himalayan salt brick-cooked steaks. Whether sunrise yoga, middle-of-the-day swimming or sunset cocktail drinking, it’s paradise.

High Life says…
Wend your way around an ancient banyan tree up to the Tree House to indulge in perfectly precise omakase, while the jungle birds provide the soundtrack.

Take off to Thailand