Perfect Amansara

Amansara was very responsive, both via Astrid the GM and through her various deputies. We had our detailed itinerary planned out way in advance of our stay, which was nice to be able to see a day to day view of what the plans were…

We were met inside the arrivals hall by the fast track service. He handled our visa on arrival ($20 per person) and took care of our lack of photograph ($10 per person). After obtaining our luggage and breezing through customs he handed us over to the two waiting Amansara representatives who then escorted us to the 1967 Mercedes limo. It’s a beautiful car I must admit but if you were hoping for seat belts then you are out of luck. Don’t worry; we learned it’s a recurring theme in Cambodia… We were greeted with of course a cold towel, scented with whatever delicious smell that Amansara uses. Spoiler alert: Amansara has very very strong cold towel game. Never have I ever had so many… in fact we actually refused a couple times given that we had just received them within a reasonable interval. Anyone it was about a 20-25 minute ride to the hotel, and the AC in the car did keep but but I imagine it would be more troublesome during the heat of the day. There was of course the expected snacks and cold water in the car. We passed Angkor Wat on our way to Amansara and soon enough we arrived at Amansara…. Drogon, who I believe is the assistant GM, met us after our limo (hey it’s not often I get to say that) pulled up. We were welcomed with an amazing lime drink, which was cool and refreshing (hot tip: if the drink/dessert says lime, order it… if it says kaffir lime, order two).. He handed us off to an assistant who took us on a quick tour of the property, and then onto our room… we were also welcomed to our room with some delicious fresh spring rolls.  After a quick discussion of the room, she took our passports to complete the check-in formality.

Amansara is a very small property at 24 rooms. There are 3 suites and 9 courtyard suites and they comprise the original property, with the pool suites added on later. All the rooms are laid out the same, with the bed when you entry and a little sitting area followed by a step down to a bath/sink area. We had a pool suite, partly because I had this semi romantic/misguided vision of swimming in our pool after a hot sweaty day of templing… I personally loved the room; I think it’s just a timeless property. One flaw I would say is that there needs to be a light over the luggage area… or maybe I’m just getting old. However, the combination of the dark wood and no direct light makes it hard to see…The room (like most Amans) is not suited for more than two people, preferably two people who are quite intimate with each other. The tub is in plain sight and there’s not any separation at all.. I know people do bring kids; I don’t think that the room is great for kids… The pool is 6x5 m, not too big or too small but a nice private pool. It was nice to have, we did use it, but I don’t think it’s worth the extra cost… I don’t want to think of the per use cost that we ended up at (and I think we used it daily..) Included in the room were a couple of cotton scarves to wear that I think were complimentary (at least we brought ours home) and a couple of silk sarongs, which were noted to be not complimentary (and to which we paid the $85 to bring home…)

Amansara is a very very small property; probably the smallest Aman there is (maybe Le Melezin is smaller)... It’s a formal royal guesthouse and I love the 60s style architecture.. It is, very well located in Siem Reap as it’s possible to step outside the gate and walk around town (or catch a remork to further off places).. It is immaculately kept. Absolutely gorgeous. I found it incredibly peaceful. We did swim in the main pool once, and it’s a wonderful pool but it doesn’t seem to get a ton of use (whether that’s a function of everyone just being so busy or something else I don’t know)... the lap pool I would imagine gets even less use. I loved the dining room space (where there were always yummy baked good to have!)... Loved the set out spirits and the awesome martini cart (but I never got around to getting anything form it)Nights were just magical as they lit tons of candles.

Mornings started with first breakfast delivered to the room prior to the days excursions- fruit, pastry basket, and coffee.. Definitely a nice way to start the morning. After the morning’s excursion, second breakfast occurred. There’s a selction of Khmer/Western dishes for breakfast, as well as Nasi Goreng. My wife and I are huge Nasi Goreng fans and we ended up eating it almost every morning… it was very well done, though not quite as good as Amankila. I will say on one morning I had an eggs benedict which took too long, mainy due to having to make the Hollandaise sauce (which they apologized for). For lunch they feature an all day menu of a mix of again Western/Khmer food. Dinner is either a Khmer set menu versus a Western menu, which featured a choice of an entree, main and then dessert. In addition, the all day menu is available. Highlights from the food included a yummy beef curry, Nasi Goreng, and kaffir lime donuts. The rate included either lunch or dinner each day and so we ate at least one meal off property each day. It’s kind of a double edged sword with the included meals… with Siem Reap so close it was convenient to go into town and grab something to eat.. My first visit to Siem Reap was in 2003; I must say that there were quite an array of options these days… however, it was also nice just to have the option to stay in and eat… so we did both. We had a solid Italian meal at Al Forno, and got quick meals at the mall across the street (which was waaaay overpriced for Siem Reap, but super convenient).

This is the meat of Amansara. The whole reason that one goes to Siem Reap really… Amansara works on the “safari schedule,” which means early morning and afternoon exursions, leaving the heat of the day to things like being out of the heat of the day.  At Amansara you are assigned the same guide each day.. While I had a number of recommendations for a guide, I just decided to roll the dice and go with whoever they assigned me. I forget his name (Brohm?), he was excellent, which is good because you spend a lot lot of time with him…. We arrived in the morning after a loooooooong flgiht from the USA, but hit the ground runnimg with an excursion that afternoon. All excursions depart from the same gate, with the type of transportation varying depending on the day. My favorite was probably the vintage jeep with the remork (tuk tuk) the least primarily because of wind issues. All vehicles are of course equipped with plenty of water and plenty of cold towels. There was no shortage of cold towels. Not to delve into the individual excursions themselves but suffice to say that there are a lot lot of temples to see in the Angkor area. I thik we averaged 3-4 per day. The schedule is setup to try to avoid most of the crowds and I must say that one of the highlights was visiting Angkor Wat early in the morning.. There was a point where we were one of the only people around for about 10 minutes. I had been to Angkor Wat in the past but there was a little extra Aman cool aid that made it private and magical… Honeslty though it’s very very easy to get templed out over the course of the excursions….. The full day trip to the remote temples was probably the longest day and as our last excursion while stunning, it was probably right at my limit for temples… of course when Aman packs you a picnic lunch, they do it right! They set up a table at one of the local resaurants with a table cloth and all of the accoutrements… very nice I must say.  The Khmer House breakfast was a nice stop… they have a traditional house (with a good bathroom) where you can have a noddle breakfast (eggs are also available). My wife ordered eggs but someone ended up with a noodle dish… my wife, being waaaay to nice for me, didn’t want to say anything.. However the serve did catch the mistake and insisted on also bringing some eggs… having done the water blessing at Amandari, my wife and I were eager to do the same at Amansara… one nice thing about Amandari is that the blessing is done at the temple on sight, however, this is done at a temple remote to Amansara (About 20 minutes away).. Amansara has constructed a nice changing room on site and when they say take all your clothes off, they mean take all your clothes off…. While at Amandari it was a water sprinkling, at Amansara is a water drenching… so we got very wet.. But it was refreshed and I felt like perhaps my sins had been cleansed… at least for the time being… The itinerary had one afternoon of boutique shopping that in the end seemed to be fairly poorly organized… we just got taken to a bunch of shops that semed like the traditional places tourists get taken to that have overpriced items. Finally we asked to be taken to specific places that we had researched, which they were more than happy to do… the places that they had picked, while I’m sure were of high quality, also had this very “I want to see you a rug quality” to it.. finally, we also opted for the Tonle Sap sunset cruise. This is a extra activitiy and @ $480 I don’t think it’s as terribly overpriced as it could be… I’ve been on the Tonle Sap before, but in one of the boats that you see crusing up and down the river.. More of a transportaion device then a cruise… I didn’t find it particularily romantic or anything, but definitely interesting to see that way of life.. It’s a completely different experience with Aman of course…. Lots and lots of cold towels, canapes eo enjoy, and just pure luxury. The $480 price includes your option of wines or a split of champagne, which is just great to enjoy while watching sunset… just an amazingly memorable experience. I will say one negative is that our guide did accompany us on the trip and that while he was good about leaving us alone, I think that this is one excursion that we would have been happer doing on our own. Of note, they have dance troupes that they bring in on occasion which is nice; however I do not like that they charge extra if you attend the performance..

Spoiler alert: there is no gym.They apparently have an arrangement at Raffles if one feels the need or has time to squeeze in more activity.. I was fine with all the walking that I ended up doing. The spa is quite a nice and serene space, which I think was purpose built when they added the pool suites. They apprently offer massages by local blind people, however, my wife and I both opted for the traditional massages, which were very very good. My wife considered getting another treatment, days were just busy at Amansara so we opted not to…

I would rate the service at Amansara as overall just stellar. Astrid has done a great job here… she was unfortunately not on site during the stay (ironically it appeared she was at Amanoi) and I would have loved the opportunity to catch up with her. Roman and Dragon were excellent stand ins and quite enthusiastic. Everything was just spot on. Our first day there was a frog swimming in our pool, which didn’t particularly interest us and while I think that initially they were confused when I talked to them about it, they then eagerly (ie 3 people) rounded it up and took care of things, Honestly nothing in stands out because everything and everyone just seemed to be doing the right thing at the right time. For instance, one night there was a dance presentation (which was an additional charge; a minor quibble not related to service) and I was sitting/sprawling/laying on a wide bench while watching. One of the staff saw me and brought over some pillows for me to lounge on. Just perfect and spot on. Good service by the pool where we of course downed more of their delicious lime drink..  Housekeeping of course was ninjas but they were probably a little weaker than I expected… and by weaker I mean that they forgot water bottles by the bed one night at turn down and one day didn’t return us a tea pot… all very minor and not a huge deal.. And that’s me nitpicking.. Having laundry service included is probably the biggest luxury. However, I was super confused because I didn’t think I was getting a lot of clothes back… I just however, neglected to look in the closet where my Under Armour shirts were hanging.. Overall I would say the the level of service at Amansara was higher than any other Aman I’ve been too, mainly because of the lack of lows…. Finally, I will say that the whole tipping thing at Amansara is the antithesis of any Aman I’ve ever been to… no tipping for most staff; however the guides are not Aman employees and they recommend $30/day for them. In addition, they also recommend $10/day for the drivers; however I do think that they are Aman employees. While I get the tips, at least for the guides, I wish that Aman would just take care of everything...

Bill was in order and checkout painless. We left about 2 hours before our flight time I think with the standard Aman farewell. They also gave us a little to go box of brownies, which were quickly consumed… then off to the airport, which is painless. Do note that they just drop you at the curb and do not offer any sort of escort service on departure…

Phenomenal stay. Defiitely a once in a lifetime bucket list type place and experience… it was definitely way expensive; probably moreso then it needs to be. I would, as DSI told me many times, not spring for the pool suite. Just cost/benefit isn’t there. However, the Tonle Sap cruise is a definite must.. I also would caution againist trying to do Siem Reap in shorter than 4 days. Sure it’s possible, but there’s a lot to see there and probably best to try not to rush it. Amansara is an incredibly amazing experience and I won’t forget it..  Service incredible; my only quibbles would be the tipping policy and the extra charge for the dance events. At that price level it seems that Amansara should just truly take care of everything...other than that a perfect stay…