plumbar

Just came back from Amankila and Amanusa. As usual, absolutely flawless. The only thing I found was that the food was better at Nusa (it was actually spectacular). Tracy just left for maternity leave and we had the pleasure in meeting her replacement Sally. She was very sweet and had quite a perky personality. She made it her business to sit and chat with us every day and night.

I have not seen ANY slippage in service or upkeep. It must have been an isolated incidence at Amanpulo.

FlyerEC

Think just missed you at Amankila! Pity we didn't make it to Amanusa as usual .. the food has always seemed better there.
It wasn't quite as flawless this time for us .. But perhaps I've set the bar too high for consistency thro' 20 years of being an ' Amanjunkie '.

Seems like some cost cutting from last year - the anniversary celebrations were only over NY 2008? Perhaps it may ' get on track ' after the global crisis dissipates .. we'll see when we visit within the year. Bear in mind though , some were like ' extras' & one can't expect it to become a norm even for Amanjunkies.. someone mentioned in another thread about only having the farewell cookies... we only got those too .
Well, we really appreciated the previous gestures/tokens & these were missing since last year..even at Amanpuri - perhaps it's their 20th year decision? Wonder if it was the same for others?

vuittonsofstyle

I recall someone bemoaning the loss of the elephants at amanjiwo. The reason they no longer do the rides back to the hotel is because the elephants are over 20 years old and have arthritis!

MegatopLover

You're not saying to the contrary, but for the benefit of other readers, you can still do elephant rides in Borobudur park. The elephants take you up Dagi Hill, from which you have a great view of the monument, then back down. Takes about forty minutes. Mr. Megatop's elephant was about sixty years old, the mahout said. Mine was just a teenager: 15 years old. I suppose I can imagine riding them all the way up the hill to amanjiwo, but it would be a LONG ride on a narrow road with traffic. Sure, it seems controlled in the park, but you're riding them for the novelty, not for transportation.

Kagehitokiri

Ericka

Was one of them Sela? She's an excellent painter.

zigzag

You used to ride them through the village and then cross the busy road to Amanjiwo and walk in the river while riding the elephant. Then through a field and then back to the village and on to Amanjiwo property so the traffic was never an issue, it was one of the highlights of travel for me! The story I heard was the rides stopped because the elephants would eat all the vegetation along the route to Amanjiwo

vuittonsofstyle

Yes, Sela and friend are now doing painting demonstrations for Amanjiwo guests instead of carrying them back from the village. Such is retirement!

Amanjunkie

The best part for us was the end of ride back at Amanjiwo and feeding them bananas. For the elephants it was certainly well deserved!

stevenshev

Sorry for the bump, but I was just linked to this thread --- and wow, what an awesome, well-composed, detailed trip report.

Certainly made me want to stay at Amanpulo.

Amanjunkie

Thanks stevenshev, appreciate it!

Hubertus

While reading the gossip (in the other Aman thread) about King Zecha to take over a sci-fi resort in Brasil I was thinking that, although I do like modern projects like Amanwella or Nizuc, I am quite sure that places like Amanjiwo or Amankila or Amanbagh (which are more tuned on local architecture, textiles, stones...) will stand the change of fashions much better.
The so called "design hotels" may be cooler but they can be sometimes disappointing if they look the same no matter if they are in Berlin or Bangkok and they risk to age too fast (I have read that Philippe Stark's Royalton has been entirely redesigned by another architect).

Now, do you personally prefer the classical Ed Tuttle's Amans or those more contemporary/minimalistic like Amanyara, Amanwella or Amangiri?

plumbar

I personally think that these "new age" designer hotels have a short shelf life and they do not incorporate their surroundings. I much prefer Tuttle's classic Aman resorts. I was very disappointed at Amanyara in general and thought the design could have been anywhere. On the flip side, Turks and Caicos is not a pretty Island so there is not much to work with. The arid plants and trees have limited appeal. They should have kept with the philosophy and designed the hotel in keeping with its surroundings. It might not have been my taste, but it would have been more "true" to the Aman philosophy and style. At the end of the day, Aman needs to find locations that they can adopt their philosophy and not try to be a new age modern resort like everyone else.

deer

Designwise (building-design as well as in-room-design), Jean-Michel Gathy's Amanyara is my absolute favorite. While, of course, landscape-wise Amanjiwo is unbeatable....

Kagehitokiri

isnt there also middle ground, like the residences at como shambhala estate?