Looking for a tropical, back to nature retreat, where bare foot informality co-exists with ocean side lawns and clicking cicadas? We found the perfect spot at the SALA Phuket on Mai Khao Beach
By Laure Sivelle
Living in Singapore as we do, Phuket is a convenient and quick escape from the hectic city life. With around ten flights a day it’s as easy as catching a bus. Journey time is an hour and a half, and when you choose a resort in the northern part of Phuket, close to the airport, you can be in your private pool within 3 hours of leaving the Lion City.
The SALA Hospitality group is a home-grown company operating eight luxury boutique resorts across Thailand. They are all unique, none of the cookie-cutter predictability you often get with chain hotel groups. What binds the SALA group properties is chic modern architecture and a laid-back service culture.
On arriving, Friday evening time at the resort, tranquility immediately hits you as staff escort you across superbly lit stepping stones over shallow ponds to an open reception area, accompanied by a corus of clicking cicadas.
This is a villa resort, consisting of just under eighty units, and we were assigned #49, a SALA Pool Villa . Perfectly oriented to embrace indoor-outdoor living, the only wall employed in the design is the 2.5 metre perimeter wall around the garden, which affords complete privacy. The bathroom and living spaces have no walls; they are roofed but with only giant sliding beige drapes available to provide screening. The centrepiece of the garden is a 6 x 1.5 metre swimming pool, with a decadent outdoor stone bathtub at one end, placed below a twinkling chandelier.
The bedroom structure has a back wall, the rest of the air conditioned space is contained within giant sliding French windows. Housekeeping had added an extra bed for our 10-year old daughter, and our king had a soft over-mattress layer for supreme comfort and fluffy pillows you can get lost in. Behind the bed was a storage headboard and a narrow walkway, with sliding partitions which revealed a cleverly designed wardrobe and kitchenette, including one of those Nespresso coffee machines.
We didn’t realise at the time of booking that on one day per month the resort offers a Saturday Brunch , which happened to be on our 2nd day. After a family vote we unanimously decided to attend and glad we did. There was a food and cocktail set price of around 2,000 THB, with kids under 12 free. Adults could purchase a free-flow alcoholic beverage supplement, or for light drinkers you could just order from the bar. The Head Chef circled the guests, which is always nice to see, offering extra morsels, over and above a nice selection of à la carte items; today it was crunchy Beef Marmalade Bruschettas .
Two mini-buffets were brought to our table for sharing: one an Italian cold cuts selection and the other a fresh seafood platter. In addition we ordered from the à la carte selection the Angus Tenderloin , a Beef Massaman and a Duck Breast Eggs Benedict . The food was of a very high quality, the only criticism that could be leveled was there was too much of it!
The rest of the day involved swimming and strolling along deserted Mai Khao Beach followed by relaxing on the lawn under swaying casuarina trees to watch the gathering Andaman Sea sunset.
After a hearty late breakfast on Sunday we booked a spa treatment at 12:30. Minimalist in design, the serene entrance to the spa, through to the treatment room itself, the sense of calm and tranquility was all encompassing. I am not well versed on the ins and outs of spa treatments, so hostess Khun Tangmo recommended I go for the SALA Signature, which featured a variety of massage techniques: Thai, Hawaiian, Swedish and Balinese; my masseuse Khun Ice proved to be an expert in all four.
To occupy our daughter during our 90 minutes of heaven, Activity Manager Khun Beer entertained her with origami, candle making and work on the resort farm to feed the chickens and goats.
Our SALA sojourn came to an end way too soon, with transfers back to the airport at 5pm. Having discovered this gem of an escape we all agreed that we’ll be back sooner than later.
