Sala Khaoyai (II)

Have already said a lot in my first instalment on Sala Khaoyai, this instalment will be about the Deluxe Balcony Room which we stayed for Night 2 and 3, as well as the fantastic food at Sala Khaoyai Restaurant.

Sala Khaoyai on the hilltop

Room on Level 1 is the Deluxe Balcony Room

Cool alternative to the usual “please make up room” or “please DND” hangtag

The deluxe balcony room is much more modern than the villa. I love the black interior and sunk-in bathtub. This would be a nice design for a bachelor(ette) pad; just put in a PC for gaming and it would be a perfect pad already.

Interiors of the Deluxe Balcony Room

Sunken Bathtub

Nice open concept

Open bath area

Mirrors that make the room seem more spacious

All the different Salas.. makes me want to try them all!

Sala has a good restaurant. They serve good porridge and sandwiches at breakfast, and good Thai and western food through the day. Tip: Try the peanut butter banana smoothie as a dessert, chilling out at the sundeck….heavenly!

Sala’s restaurant

Sala Breakfast – Eggs Benedict

Sala Breakfast – Sunny Side Up Big Breakfast

Sala Breakfast – Scrambled Eggs with Bacon and Sausages

Sala Breakfast – Khao Tom (Boiled Rice Porridge)

View while eating!

We also tried their North Thailand cuisine special set menu. It was an interesting experience as we have never been to North of Thailand and there are subtle differences versus the usual Thai food we are used to. For example, they serve papaya salad with crabs, and generally, all the dishes are much more spicy than average Thai food. Not for the faint hearted.

Love how the traditionally steamed sticky rice (Khao niao) is served. Sticky rice is eaten as a staple food both in the Northeast as in the North of Thailand.

North Thailand Tom Yum, named Tom Saep, – at least 20% more spicy than the ones in Bangkok

Spicy Minced Pork (Larb khua mu), a stir-fried larb made with pork

Papaya Salad, Som Tam Pu (Thai: ส้มตำปู), served with salted black crabs, specialty Salad of North Thailand

My favourite of all the dishes – marinated, grilled chicken ((Kai yang)

Very spicy dry beef which I can’t remember the name of =p

Platter of much needed fruits to cleanse the palate

Gorgeous Infinity Pool view from the restaurant

Mountaineous layers

Personally, the warmth and hospitality of the resort service crew makes a huge difference in the stay experience. And P’Chatbodin (Orn), the chief service staff in Sala Khaoyai, really made a difference in making me feel welcomed. As mentioned in my first instalment of Sala Khaoyai, he is informative and helpful, and he even shared his insights of why he moved from Huahin to Khaoyai. Apparently, in Thailand, there is a saying of “the frog in the coconut” which is equivalent to the idiom “the frog in the well”. Not wanting to be that frog, he has moved several hotel locations across Thailand to live in a different environment, and to learn experiences from customers from different nationalities. I learnt a lot from him while chatting in the cool Khaoyai weather.