latinrusso

A condensed review of 12 nights in India follows:

We arrived in New Delhi at 2am, and rather than check into a hotel, we immediately set out for Agra. This turned out a really good move as traffic during the night was very light with no animals or biclysts on the roads. The only dangers were trucks, but there were relatively few of them. We slept most of the 4-hour drive and checked into Oberoi Amarvilas around 6:30. Four hours of rest (it was a Friday, Taj is closed on Fridays), and we were ready to see some of the other sights of the city - of which they are plenty: Agra Fort, Tomb of Itmad-ud-Daula and gardens that are being rebuilt on the other side of the Taj -- all highly recommended. The hotel offered: amazing service, and accommodated us with an early check in, the Taj-view balcony room was very nice – The view was AMAZING and thus we used the balcony constantly (worth the upgrade!). I read several comments that rooms at this hotel are outdated, and would not agree with those comments. This is our 10th year anniversary trip and I made certain that every hotel was aware - but no mention of our anniversary was made.
The food - there is an a la carte breakfast, limited breakfast buffet, but incredible Indian restaurant for dinner. The only place to stay in Agra…

We may have been lucky with our timing, but we didn't have any issues of olfactory insults that I've heard many people talk about. Agra was very spread-out, clearly all based on tourism, and if you want to do souvenir shopping - save it until Jaipur or Udaipur since all the marble was actually brought to the Taj from Rajasthan.

One more comment: we requested specifically an “outstanding/special” guide from the hotel, and were assured that our request was noted, but the concierge connected us to a woman who told us far more about her family than we needed to know and was rather short on the description of the amazing sights that were in front of us. She kept jonesing for a tip by mentioning how she can't even afford a coffee at that hotel, meanwhile telling us about her car, where she's traveled, and answering all of her freaking mobile calls on an impressive-looking Samsung phone. Name can be provided on request.

Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur. Beautiful property in a lovely setting - about an 30 minutes ourside of Jaipur, actually. We stayed in an "air-conditioned luxury tent", which was a lovely room with all the comforts you would expect from an Oberoi property. We did get a lovely welcome/happy anniversary cake from the GM (btw, we are two men - and one of us thought the GM 'cringed", while the other one wasn't paying attention to GM's facial expressions and was gawking around instead). Lovely spa with good massages, spa pool is a quiet pool (no kids) and there is a much larger pool if you want a more resorty experience.

On the negative – we have received a gift of wine from our friends in Delhi, and when wanted to take it to the restaurant and asked the butler to put the wine on ise – was informed that the hostess told him that it is against the law in India. When I approached the host at the restaurant, she has mumbled something like “well maybe not a law, but would look bad with other guests, let me check with a manager and I would still much prefer that you have your dinner in your room”… After having to see her now a second time, she has stated in a ADMONISHING tone that she was able to get an approval from her manager, but she hopes that we do not have any more wine with us, and inquired again if we did not prefer to have a dinner in our room”… Very bad customer service, but instead of spoiling our evening further with more complaints, we decided to take our business somewhere else and had a WONDERFUL dinner at an amazing Rambagh Palace, where both service and the grounds looked to be exceptional. Not having seing the rooms at the Rambagh Palace, I can’t really compare it to Rajvilas, but based on the walk through the grounds, I would much have preferred to stay at the Rambagh Palace.

Jaipur is also amazing place to shop: This is the place where the most amazing jewelry is made , lots of cashmere, antiques. Just make sure you go to a place that has a semi-solid reputation (and this is the highest recommendation I can give) WITHOUT a guide - the guides get a hefty commission for getting you into a store, and that's immediately reflected in your price. Bargain mercilessly for everything, even if the store has plaques inside and outside about fixed prices. Do not buy a single article of cashmere/pashmina without doing some sort of a test that it's real wool, not acryllic (just google how to do it quickly on the spot). If somebody in the store says "we are a wholesaler" and "we sell these articles to designer X for which they charge $$$", ask to be shown the webiste or the print catalog of that designer. Read up just a bit on what to look for in good stones (diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires). Lots of semiprecious stones... Lots of "cultured ivory" - a mix of marble powder and camel bone pressed together into a material that does look pretty close to ivory - and will smell of bone if you stick a hot needle into it.

We have been told about many different times of cashmeres - the most valuable (from the throat of the goat), followed by wool from the belly, and finally from back and legs. If it's all wool and the prices are significantly different, I can assure you that it will not affect the insulating quality of the scarf/shawl. There are some amazing block-printing workshops, beatifuly embroidery. As always, buyer beware. And BARGAIN!

We also had a fortune of finding and making a connection with an excellent driver, who has worked for 12 years at Rajvilas, and with the help of the former GM of the hotel was able to obtain financing to buy a new car. He spoke excellent English and was even brave enough to admit not knowing where to buy certain things or or where some stores were, but was able to get on the phone and get answers within minutes. Please pm for his details if interested.

Amanbagh: From the transfer to the hotel to the stay at the hotel the service was top notch. Room (Garden Haveli Suite) was very nice… and we felt no need to even inquire regarding an upgrade. Had a little confusion on the “board inclusive” plan, which was just a bit embarrassing (yes laundry, no laundry, yes alcohol, no alcohol, if yes what kind – several people had to be consulted and got contradictory answers, but in the end all was resolved).
Food was delicious. Had a Chatri special dinner which proved to be an experience in more ways than one: due to the fact that it was VERY windy on that day, we were asked to start our dinner on the side of the Chatri (a small domed pavilion of which there are plenty sprinkled around the region to accommodate the various royals during their travels) right by the “kitchen” where our food was prepared. When the wind calmed down, our table was moved back to the Chatri. While this was a bit of an inconvenience, it was done with such a charm, great service, and provided us with even more a memorable experience (the waiter at that dinner was most gracious and accommodating). Did a couple of tours, all of which proved to be great – morning village walk was very memorable, kids were really looking forward to have their picture taken, which was a delightful experience. Also did a combined Bhangarh and Cow Dust tour, while seeing Bhangarh was pretty special (it was also Sunday, so we got to see many locals picnicking and getting a little drunk there… still a very nice experience). I imagine that most people won't miss much by skipping the Cow Dust tour if done in a combination with the Bhanagarh as it seemed more like afterthought. Spa/massage – had the Ayurvedic Mudha & Shirodara massage, was one of the best ever had (out of almost a hundred massages).

Aman-I-Khas: It is with great pleasure after visiting four Aman resorts that I can now say I finally understand and have fully experienced the full idea of Aman – unobtrusive service, where nothing is too much and total anticipation of one’s needs. We had an amazing batman, Sunil – who has responded to all of our requests with grace and understanding. Nothing ever had to be repeated twice. (Batman - old British term for orderly to an aristocratic/highly ranked officer, usually retired as a servant when his master retired).

The tent was the best we’ve ever stayed in (after safari’s in Tanzania, South Africa, and Botswana) and it had truly outstanding shower, the water pressure was “just right” – the only other such experience I had was in the spa at the Posta Vecchia in Ladispoli. Food was good to very good (my partner thought Amanbagh food was better), I had never felt a need to ask for a special dish, as I always found something on the menu that I liked. Their “special” dinner, was truly (and again truly) special. In exchanging e-mails with their GM, she has asked me if I wanted to be surprised and I agreed, and I truly was – with that said, please ask to be surprised with a special dinner.
No tigers after the three safaris – and here is the only comment/suggestion – these safari’s can be booked online with the park authority directly for a fraction of the cost. These safaris are regulated by the Indian government and while the hotel provides one with cookies and tea/coffee the rest is third party vendor driven, there is a lottery system by which a driver is given a permission to cover a certain portion of the park, do make sure you go onto the section number 3 – amazing views of the Fort and palaces. if you also have a “special connection” e.g. someone who knows someone, it can be arranged that you get assigned a car where previous sightings were just registered, while not a guarantee, still is a better chance of seeing a tiger.

Oberoi Udaivilas: We had a pleasure of staying at both their standard room and the Presidential Suite. Not having visited the Lake Palace, I would say – clearly the best hotel in Udaipur. The rooms, the grounds, the food all was absolutely superb. Current GM Jan Tibaldi is doing a phenomenal job at keeping both the grounds and the service top notch! The city is also the smallest, but probably the most developed of all we had visited with amazing roads, well managed traffic, most buildings in good repair.