But that eerie beauty hid a toxic secret. Due to tin mining activities and pollution, the bald land was leached of any kind of organic materials and the pretty cobalt blue water was the result of acid that had been dumped into the water.

Completely unaware of the pollution, the trio bought the piece of land because they 'found out it was very cheap'.

'When you're young and ignorant, you say that looks interesting. I didn't know the term 'due diligence',' says the ex-journalist of the now-defunct monthly business magazine Far Eastern Economic Review.

Diligence came only after the deal was finalised, an irony that he remembers today as 'a bit dumb'.

He found out that the piece of land he bought had been deemed by the United Nations Development Programme report in Phuket as the 'most polluted bay in Phuket' and that it was 'absolutely useless for development and recommended Patong Bay for development'. Patong Bay is Phuket's most popular tourist beach.

'Everyone stayed away from Bang Tao Bay except for this bright guy,' he says with a laugh, gesturing towards himself. 'We found out that we had landed ourselves in pretty hot soup.'

Undeterred, he set to work rehabilitating the 405ha land and cleaning out the water that was so acidic that the pumps of the water treatment plant corroded to nothing within four to five months and had to be replaced.

After investing much money, he managed to save the bad land and decided to develop it. He borrowed money from banks and approached other hotel and resort operators who 'never wanted to touch us'. Thankfully, his late father Ho Rih Hwa, a businessman and ex-diplomat, contributed US$1 million to the resort project.

The younger Ho also managed to convince the Dusit Thani group, a Bangkok-based hotel and resort company, and other brands to help develop and manage properties in what would become Laguna Phuket, Asia's first integrated resort in 1987.

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