What can I say about Sala Phuket, besides it is simply one of the best places I have ever stayed at. I would not even consider my self a guest (well, a proper, paying guest) since I have spent more time in the Kitchen than out on the beach, by the pool, in a day bed, in the restaurant, or even in my personal villa with a swimming pool. Sala Phuket is an unbelievable place to stay from the Management who I can now call my friends, to the people greeting you on arrival, to the villas which I can’t say enough about (pictures can’t begin to show how great these things are), even down to the green green hand cut grass that grows in lines between the cement bricks strategically placed creating architectural beauty. The attention to detail is breathtaking.
I arrived here with a backpack on my back (filled with dirty cloths from island hopping the past 2 weeks), the bag went behind the desk and Chef Jan came out to meet me. I had met him just 2 years back on my first trip to Thailand, after buying some chef cloths from him online (a small business he created), and just keeping in touch with him through my travels, Jan took me in a greeted me at the front desk with open arms.
What followed was something I had only dreamed about. A month of living with a local, an English speaking local, a chef none the less, and a great one at that. Sala Phuket is a premier resort, the menu that Jan is working with blends Thai and western cooking techniques, his staff is amazing, and the learning possibilities were all here laid out right before my eyes.
For me, it has not just been about the food, although I love it, and I have been eating out of control, it is also the life style. Getting a chance to settle back down, taking a second to breath in life, to experience more than living out of my backpack, getting a chance to check out a town for more than a week. Getting into the fabric of a Thai restaurant and Thai life is something not too many travelers get to experience, hell it has been my first chance to breath in another culture and life for this long in such local conditions. Driving a car again, riding a scooter around the back roads of Thalang, going to markets with some of the kitchen staff and seeing where they eat and live, hanging out in their homes for a couple of nights, talking cooking with the head Thai Chef in the kitchen, learning a bit of the language, and sharing in their lives, these are all experiences that I never would have had with out knowing Jan and the staff at Sala. "Thank you" does not even do justice to the opportunity i was given. 
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