All posts tagged: Boutique Resort

bvilla @ Seminyak, Bali

bvilla was a surprise find when I went to Bali in 2009 with Miss L. We were originally staying in another resort, and went to the spa at bvilla+spa, and we loved it so much, we ended up cancelling our resort and moving to bvilla! The manager of bvilla was very friendly and decided to show us around the estate and opened up a 2-room villa to show us. bvilla is really built for the modern. They have villas ranging from one to five-bedrooms, with decor that is very modern with a slight Balinese touch.  It is also very conveniently located at Seminyak, near to many restaurants, cafes, shops and art galleries. Like I mentioned, we were so convinced we went back to our resort to cancel the last night stay to move our last night in Bali to experience bvilla stay for ourselves in the 1 bedroom villa at bvilla+seaside. bvilla has 3 different properties –  bvilla+spa, bvilla+pool, and bvilla+seaside, and since we already seen bvilla+spa, we decided to try the seaside one! The most amazing experience …

Aleenta, Phang Nga - beach

Aleenta @ Phang Nga (Phuket)

This is another post dated entry on a resort we like very much, but we only stayed for a short one day. Sister resort of Aleenta @ Huahin we stayed at recently, Aleenta @ Phang Nga (Phuket) was my first and beautiful encounter with Aleenta. In Phuket, Aleenta @ Phang Nga is definitely my top favourites alongside Sala Phuket. As we only stayed a day previously, we didn’t get to take many pictures but I believe these few are beautiful enough to paint a fair picture of Aleenta @ Phang Nga and why we would definitely love to be back! As Aleenta describes the room, “Breathe in the ocean splendor… These lofts with ocean view are expansive in height and depth with an Infinity pool extending from your private sundeck… Exciting design and individually unique…”. Truly, the modern duplex with the high ceilings give a magnificent view of both the infinity pool and the sea. We definitely hope to be back, and take better shots this time around! — Aleenta Phuket – Phang Nga Resort and …

Sala Phuket

I went to Sala Phuket a while ago, but Sala Phuket remains one of my favourite boutique resorts in the region so I decided to do a post-dated feature. I have also stayed in Marriott and Twin Palms in Phuket but looking back, the memories of Sala Phuket still beats the rest for me. Not my best set of photos either (wasn’t thinking of having a blog previously) but I will let the pictures do the talking! In the Garden Pool Villa, the bedroom overlooked an outdoor veranda, gardens and a private swimming pool, which I felt was really private as it was a walled up garden, and the people living on top did not have windows to look down. Sala Phuket also has an award winning Beach Restaurant. My food shots were really bad so I won’t share them as they won’t do justice to the food, but you will definitely get to try if you stayed in Sala as they offer free breakfast. I loved how the poolview at breakfast immediately relaxes the mind and …

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. 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. 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! 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 …

Sala Khaoyai (I)

Easily summarized, Sala Khaoyai is one of the best boutique resort experience we ever had! This is our second Sala experience, after Sala Phuket (another amazing experience for another entry), and I am so glad we chose Sala. (Small Tip and Advice is to book early and go on weekdays (Sun/Mon counts) as we got 50% off the rates. P’Chatbodin (Orn), the chief service staff in Sala Khaoyai, is incredibly friendly and helpful. He takes huge ownership to be a great host and is definitely very proud of Khaoyai and Sala Resorts; he is so willing to share all the information about the area and the resort when I told him I am going to feature Sala Khaoyai in my writings. So I learn the Sala hotel chain belongs to the owner of the Central Group. Yup, that big shopping chain in Thailand! The owner first conceptualized Sala Khaoyai as a summer home that he retreats to relax. Eventually, he had so many requests he decided to open a resort, but he kept it to seven rooms …

The Side of Thailand More People Should See

Having worked and lived in Bangkok for a short period of time from 2009-2010, I had the privilege of exploring some of the interesting sites around Bangkok such as Ampawa and Ayutthaya. Among them, Khao Yai left the deepest impression because of the 13 degreesC night (yup, you read it right – it does get so cool especially from Nov-Jan at night), which is very rare cool weather in this part of the world near the equator. I also recalled European looking architecture with vineyards so Khaoyai is a short getaway to feel far from our Asian roots. So when we had a chance 3 weeks ago to plan a short trip over the long weekend, I decided to re-visit Khaoyai and also introduce N to this beautiful province of Thailand. Khaoyai is a beautiful mountaineous province, 2.5 hours drive from Bangkok, and is a popular short weekend getaway spot among Bangkok city folks to switch gears over a slow weekend. For me, I hardly repeat my eating and travel spots as I want to …