Originally Posted by latinrusso

on the way from Amanbagh to Jaipur, I did want to stop at the Amber Fort and did get Aman guide, and while he was much better, he was also a freelancer to worked with Oberoi, Taj and the likes.

Yes, I corresponded with Tim Wheiland regarding the chatri dinners and when they are offered and why. Apparently the area in which chatri is located floods quite badly during the monsoon season, and even when it dries in the fall there are scorpions and snakes... only in the winter and spring is it "safe/possible" to have a dinner at the chatri.

Originally Posted by Groombridge

There's some sad news: Amanbagh no longer will provide the Jeeman dinner in the chatri that you described as a highlight among all Aman dinners you've had. Here's the note I received from Amanbagh when I inquired about the Jeeman dinner after not seeing it in the listing of activities they sent me:

Regarding Aman Jeeman dinner- we have stopped doing it due to the weather & insects at the place. Now we organize the special set up you at our roof top terrace of the main building, totally open to the stars and overlooking the lovely view of our Main Pool and Garden. Looks so good being led up there on the candle lit stairs then the floral rangoli, diyas and candles (Rs.3000++ per person).

Originally Posted by Ericka

Very sad. When we were there it was perfect weather and no insects, but I imagine that is only the case a few months out of the year.

Originally Posted by Ericka

Re: the chatri dinner, that whole insects and weather thing still boggles my mind. I can see insects and weather being a problem during certain times of year but they certainly weren't a problem when we were there. Maybe there are only a few optimal months to go out there.

Originally Posted by Groombridge

I'm glad to hear that so many of you feel like the response we received at Amanbagh to our request for the dinner in the chattri was a strange response. If we hadn't received a different reason for not doing it each time we inquired, I'd be more trusting.

Initially, we received the insect response Kage posted above. But the next day, my on-site travel agent in India said that the response was bogus--that she had other clients doing the chattri dinner all through the month and there had been no mention by Amanbagh or the guests of insect issues. I then asked Sally Baughen about this when I was at Amandari last September, mentioning that I thought it was strange that they weren't able to do this. She agreed, as she had originated the chattri dinners when she was at Amanbagh. So I followed up directly with Amanbagh's GM, who then gave a different reason why it wasn't possible--that they'd had such a successful monsoon season that the ground was too damp around the chattri. (And when we were there, they did point out the chattri, and it did indeed look as if the waters of the lake were close to surrounding it.) That seemed like a legit reason not to offer these, but since we'd been told a different reason BEFORE the monsoon season even began, the responses, in toto, were a bit strange.

Ericka--remind me what month you were at Amabagh?

Originally Posted by Ericka

March or April. Dry season

Originally Posted by Groombridge

we went to India for our first time in Oct/Nov 2010

Originally Posted by Groombridge

We arrived in the transition between General Managers, with Robin and Manav just leaving for Aman New Delhi, and Tim Weiland from Amanjena recently having arrived.