India Trip Report - Amanbagh

We arrived at Amanbagh after a 3 hour car ride from Aman-i-Khas and found that the property positively screamed Ed Tuttle (architect), which was a very good thing. The sandstone and pink marble resort was built in the style of the popular haveli mansions. The lush, scenic area was once the favorite hunting ground of the maharaja of Alwar and the surrounding Aravalli hills are regarded as the oldest mountain range in the world. We were there in the heart of the dry season and could only imagine how beautiful it would be after the monsoon. After being greeted by the GM and one of the personal managers with a traditional string-tying ceremony, we were bestowed with the aristocratic titles of Sahib and Sahiba, and we were shown to our pool pavilion. The first thing they did was explain the little “problem” of the monkeys. We were to keep our doors closed and locked as they were very adept at opening the appropriate cabinets and pulling out the cookie jars. Sure enough, on day four of our stay, Mr. Ericka heard a loud whack on the door to our patio. He looked out and was greeted by the bright red face of a rhesus macaque pressed against the glass. We surmised that the monkeys travel from room to room, whacking on patio doors until one pops open.

Our pool pavilion was very spacious and continued the theme of pale pink marble. It had an entry courtyard, foyer, bedroom/living room, an expansive lawn and marble patio with a covered Japanese-style dining table and green marble-tiled pool. But most impressive of all, was the domed-ceiling bathroom with a bathtub and pedestal sinks each carved out of one solid piece of green marble.

On our first day at the resort, we reported to the spa for an Indian Mantra Mugdha and Shirodhara treatment. These massages involved gentle, long strokes and literally buckets of oil, some of which was poured over our “third eye”. I admit to falling asleep and waking up wondering if I should escort myself to the tandoor oven. Later that day, we took the “cow dust tour”, driving through local villages and greeting the especially friendly children along the way. The kids loved to hang onto the back of the moving jeep. Toward the end of the tour, we stopped at one of the village homes for chai, and the ladies pulled me aside and proceeded to adorn me in a lovely Indian skirt and headscarf, an ornamental dot, some of their jewelry and lipstick (I wasn’t wearing makeup because it was over ninety degrees). Our excellent, Amanbagh-provided guide acted as naturalist and translator for this and all of our excursions.

The next day, we drove to Bhangarh, an ancient ghost town known for its historical ruins. We had a private yoga session outside one of the Bhangarh temples (have you ever tried holding a balancing posture while on ancient cobblestones?) and breakfast outside another before touring the ruined palace. Legend has it that centuries ago, an ancient curse drove everyone out of this area. On our ride back to the resort, we came across a band of gypsies. They were herding sheep, and had the smallest lambs wrapped up and slung over the backs of mini-donkeys, their sweet faces peeking out to see where they were going. If I ate a little lamb before, I’ll never eat it now. Too cute.

On another excursion, we hiked through the hills to Somsagar Lake for a private meditation. It was a great way to see the birds and other wildlife up close. When our guide pointed out leopard tracks, we were reminded of why we prefer to vacation in the countryside instead of cities.

But it was our last night at Amanbagh that was definitely our favorite. We were driven to a 16th century chatri (domed, covered area) where the maharajas used to take meals during hunting expeditions. In advance of our arrival, the resort had decorated the chatri with glittery drapes, 100(!) candles, marigold and rose petal flower displays (more like artwork, really) and they even “arranged” a full moon for us. There was an Indian flute player there, a chef, a waiter and our usual guide to engage us with stories of the surrounding hills. We sat cross-legged and watched distant villages light their eve-before-Holi bonfires. We’ve enjoyed many Aman special dinners in the past, but this one was definitely the most magical. The setting was simply spectacular. The following morning, as we were leaving the resort, Amanbagh did a great job of making sure we avoided the worst of the Holi traffic. Holi is a popular Hindu spring festival of ancient origin where people celebrate the triumph of “good” over “bad”. People spend the day throwing colored powder and water at each other. Unfortunately, because we had to leave so early, we missed out on the resort’s celebration of the event, in which all guests, staff and families in kurta pajamas had a spirited, stain-filled version of Holi all their own. They followed the event with a barbeque/street food lunch under the trees of the front lawn. We managed to catch a glimpse of Holi through the windshield of our vehicle and have never seen so many pink and purple faced people in our lives. We expected to see a lot of activity from the kids, but were amused to find some of the most animated of the players were seniors. We wished we could have played, but the Taj Mahal was waiting. A final note on Amanbagh... So much of what we experienced was wonderful. But the service wasn’t quite as flawless as Aman-i-Khas. If Aman-i-Khas was proactive, Amanbagh was a little reactive. It’s a slightly larger property (30-40?), and we were assigned a personal manager, but we ended up hardly ever seeing her. All the personal managers worked together to ensure our comfort but we missed having that one-on-one relationship. Also, there was one occasion when we asked a question and had two different personal managers give us two different answers. Again, nothing earth-shattering, just confusing. We managed to walk in on housekeeping once or twice, which is unusual for an Aman. Most importantly, we had some difficulty implementing the contract that the Aman office out of Singapore created for us. It began a month before our arrival when I was emailing Amanbagh to set up activities and continued until the second day of our stay, when we were able to explain the confusion to Robyn, one of the GMs. She had things fixed immediately (that’s an understatement, she went far beyond the terms of the contract to ensure our happiness) and the staff nailed our final bill, which given the different packages we had, was an achievement. So, all in all, we were extremely pleased with our stay.