happy anniversary Amanjunkie.

$3500 just for closing ceremonies? jeese, id expect an afterparty of some kind to be included for that..

at amanpulo im also curious about those new 2BR with pools that are part of the west villa. on the resort map theyre beachfront. (WV-3 and WV-4) i presume southeast villas are still under construction.

Sure, I'll definitely post a trip report when I get back! Though it will have to be through the eyes of an Amanpulo newbie as this will be our first visit to the resort. But at least I'll be able to compare it to the five other Aman resorts we've been to!

Thanks Kagehitokiri! Yes, everything at the Olympics is bloody expensive, hotels rates are generally five times what they normally are, and tickets through agencies are pretty much daylight robbery. Flight fares, strangely, do not seem that affected, though availability will be an issue if one is not early. But I guess this is the Olympics and to be expected. This is the first Olympics my 75 year-old father will attend, as well as my 2 year-old daughter, and really everyone in the family, so it's definitely worth it to us.

I was not aware there are new two bedroom villas with pools at Amanpulo, so definitely would like to tour those, if there are any vacant. This trip is only my wife and I, so no need for a two bedroom villa, but would be nice if next time we took our daughter and nanny. One of our best experiences at an Aman was staying at the two bedroom Amankila Suite with pool, so I can imagine these to be wonderful as well!

The Aman at Summer Palace, Beijing has 8 rooms and 10 courtyard rooms, most with kingsize four poster and armoire in Ming dynasty style. 25 suites are furnished in Ming style and most are junior-suite layout, but some have separate bedrooms. Bathrooms have island tubs, big showerts, plus dressing area with Ming style closets. The Imperial Suite has 3 separate buildings, so good for a business get-together. It even has its own spa room.

Restaurants - the Lounge, overlooking traditional courtyard - all-day dining.
Naoki - like Amanpuri, Japanese/French Kaseki food inspired by Naoki Okumura.
The Grill - Western food, beef, lamb, fish, but also open for breakfast.
The Chinese Restaurant - broken up into 9 separate units, so very private.

Plus The Spa, Fitness (including indoor lap pool), Library, boutique and all the other Aman things.

Opening end September if all goes well.

Sounds very good. Look forward to going.

(Kaiseki food? That was lovely tucker at Amanpuri but it sure wasn't kaiseki)

Thanks for the info! So it seems this property has 43 rooms? The difference in the accommodations seem to break from most of the Amans I have visited, in which the actual rooms are generally identical or very similar, but the size and/or facilities of the outdoor areas are different, i.e. sea-view, mountain-view, pool, etc. But this being really a city hotel, I can understand why they made the choice of having more pronounced options in terms of room selections.

I've received word from the Amanpulo that my request for dinner reservations and a site tour has been forwarded to the Sales Manager there so hopefully I will be able to see the property for myself in August!

THEY think it's Kaiseki style, but yes, it's not exactly Gora Kadan, is it? Nouvelle Japonais, maybe? Apparently, Adrian Zecha is a big fan of the consulting chef, which explains the proliferation

I'm happy to report that I just received a very warm email from the Aman at Summer Palace to confirm our dinner reservations in August and that they will also be able to offer us a site tour of all their facilities. I think most everything should be ready by the time we will be there in late August as they have set the resort opening to be September 1, while the restaurant(s) will open on August 1. One thing is that they cannot confirm which restaurant our table will be at yet, so it seems perhaps not all the restaurants will be open in August.

They also sent me two PDF files, one with photos and another with a fact sheet. From the photos, it seems to me that they exercised considerable restraint with the decor, in not being too "modern" or too "Aman-esque", for the lack of a better term, and keeping with the Ming theme of the Summer Palace. As a result, though looking very comfortable, it lacks a bit of that "wow" factor that you normally see with Aman interiors. The exteriors, however, are stunning. To be actually staying inside the Summer Palace to me is almost unreal; without lending too much to hyperbole, a bit like staying at the Palace of Versailles, perhaps.

In any case, this makes me even more excited for our trip to the Olympics. As we have planned the Aman visit for our last night, I'm sure it will make for a memorable last hurrah for our trip!

Do you know who the GM is at Aman Beijing?

Yes, the General Manager is Blaise Montandon.

Thank you! That is quite a name!

Blaise previously managed a hotel in Bangkok.

http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2...RaffleGMs.html

I was told by someone in the Luxury Hotels forum that you know about Aman new projects. Do you know if the Norman's Cay Aman in the Exumas, Bahamas, is going ahead? It was meant to be 40 bungalows and 28 residential villas with a beach club, pool, spa, fitness & tennis.

I think the project was halted then I heard it had started up again.

Well we just got back last night from our five night, six day trip to Amanpulo, and it was, to put it simply, fantastic!

The experience began when we arrived at the Manila airport and was greeted by the new Amanpulo General Manager, Christine, right after customs. It was just a lucky coincidence as she was there meeting her husband, Nick, who is actually the Co-General Manager, as he was flying in from Fiji where they had just finished out their contact at another property (later on, Christine would tell us that she was the original GM that opened Amanjiwo, so she's been in the Aman family for quite a while - edit: I must have heard wrong; Christine was the original Food and Beverage Manager at Amanjiwo).

We were then whisked away in a house Mercedes to the domestic airport where the Amanpulo plane departs from. In the car, as with Aman custom, there was cold water and towels provided, as well as some dried fruits. That trip took all of 10 minutes, and arriving at the domestic airport, we were escorted to the Amanpulo lounge, but not before we were weighed in along with our luggage, as they have strict weight restrictions for the small plane.

The Amanpulo lounge is small, but comfortable, and we were offered more cold drinks and towels as we awaited the final passengers on our flight. When they arrived, we were taken to the plane where they had thoughtfully rolled a red carpet that lead to the boarding steps.

As with I'm sure, all Amanpulo newbies, we took a few photos in front of the plane before boarding.

Inside, the plane is quite small, fitting only 19 passengers, seated two per row with the aisle in the middle. The seats were comfortable enough, being only a one hour flight, and there was some interesting reading material about Amanpulo as well as the sights one will see while on the plane.

One interesting thing is that during take-off and landing, there is a huge gush of "smoke" that comes out into the cabin, and had we not been warned by the captain that it was normal and from the air-conditioning, one would be quite alarmed as the smoke effect was not unlike that of a smoke machine that you would see at a concert!

Even with the AC on, it got quite hot in the plane, and you realize why they also provide each passenger with a hand-strewn hand fan as well.

The journey was relatively short and when we arrived, there was a large greeting party of Amanpulo staff awaiting us, where we were given leis after disembarking and more cold drinks and towels. We were then lead to our personal buggy, which would be ours to use for the rest of our stay, but was first driven by our guest assistant around the property for a quick tour including all the restaurants and lounging areas such as the beach club and lagoon, and the clubhouse which includes the main restaurant, pool area, boutique, and library. While at the clubhouse, the new executive chef, Garth, greeted us and told us a little more about the property. Guess he is also new to Amanpulo, having previously worked with Christine and Nick at the Fiji property.

After the tour, we were taken to our beach casita, which was lovely. We loved that there was a tiny circular driveway in front where you can park your buggy. From the driveway is a little lit walkway that leads to your casita. Ours was curved perfectly in which you couldn't see our casita from the road, offering more privacy, even though the walkway wasn't very long.

Once we went inside, it looked exactly like it does in the photos on the Aman website, but for whatever reason, it felt so much more impressive actually being in it. We liked it immediately. Like other Aman properties, the space was equally divided between the bedroom/living area and the bathroom/closet/dressing area. Out from the window in the bedroom, we could see a gorgeous ocean view. As part of our "Romance at Amanpulo" package, they included a bottle of Moet on ice in the room when we arrived, which is always a nice welcome.

One nice touch that was new to our Aman experience was the iPod dock connected to the 5.1 surround sound stereo, which came in very handy. Thankfully, only the center speaker was visible, and all the other speakers including the subwoofer was carefully hidden in either the cabinets or the ceiling. There was also a Sony flatscreen television in the room, which was surprising to us, as I remember Amankila didn't even have TVs, and at Amanusa, they hid it in a cabinet. I guess it's good to have, but we only used it once, when we borrowed a DVD from the library which we watched briefly before falling asleep.

Going outside of our casita, there was a nice two-sided terrace right outside the room which was facing the ocean, with two daybeds perpendicular to each other. Right past the terrace is a small grassy area in which there was a hammock hanging off the trees, which was pretty nice, but didn't get a lot of use from us.

Then there is a small pathway that leads to the beach. And what a beach it was! Totally gorgeous and totally deserted the time we were there. There was two sunbeds there for our exclusive use, as well as a small table. The sand was white and fine, though not "talcum powder fine" like the black sand beach at Amankila, but still very nice. The water looked amazing. Turquoise and blue, it was so calm and tranquil and inviting, and beyond it, there was a perfect view of Manamoc island, which we visited later on our trip including the village where many of the Amanpulo staff are from.

The first thing we did was dive into the water, and it was surprisingly warm. We had borrowed some snorkeling gear from the beach club during the tour, which we put on and snorkeled right in front of our casita. The water was fairly shallow, but we found some patches of coral as soon as we swam out to deeper water. Visibility was high, and it was nice being able to swim and look at marine life so close to our casita.

We snorkeled several different times, each in different spots around the island, but our favorite was definitely the house reef which is just off the south side of the island. There was an arranged excursion in which they picked us up at the beach club, and we took a 5-10 minute ride out to the reef. We went on a beautiful sunny day, and the feeling of being on the boat coasting along calm waters with Amanpulo and Pamalican island as the backdrop was unbelievable. Once we got near the reef, the crew started throwing bits of bread into the water and immediately you see dozens of fish popping up for the feeding. We were then given the bread rolls as we entered the water and it was so much fun, seeing all these beautiful fish come straight at you while you feed them. The crew taught us a trick in which you hold out the bread to the fish, and they will literally eat out of the palm of your hand. Truly a wonderful experience.

Besides snorkeling, my wife and I also took a diving course, with the option of learning either at the lagoon or in the pool. We opted for the lagoon. The was my third time diving, but the first for my wife. After the course, they took us on a boat to the house reef. My wife decided diving was not for her after being in the open water for a few minutes, so she went back on the boat, but I went ahead. It was awesome. My previous dives were in Australia and Bali, but I think I enjoyed this one the most. Besides seeing all the fish we saw already while snorkeling, I also saw a couple of turtles, some rays, and just plenty of marine life and coral. There are a few other more advanced diving sites around Amanpulo that one could visit, but the house reef was good enough for me.

Overall, we enjoyed all the activities we did, though of course, they are limited to what you can do on a private island. Another day we went on a fishing trip. They give us a choice of either trolling or what they call "bottom fishing", which is basically casting out a line and sinker, but using your hands instead of a rod to catch the fish. We opted for the latter, and it was a lot of fun. The trick is being able to detect when a fish is nibbling on the bait and to quickly pull up on the line to hook the fish. It took a few tries before we were successful, and more often than not, we pulled up a line to see the bait gone and no fish. But in the end, we caught five fish, including two lapu-lapu, a garoupa and a parrotfish. We opted to only have the lapu-lapu and garoupa for dinner, in which the chef prepared as sashimi, and it was delicious.

As part of the "Romance at Amanpulo" package (which is inclusive of all meals as well as several activities), one of the highlights of the trip was the "blessing ceremony" during sunset on the beach. We opted for the ceremony on the day of our anniversary, and we loved it. They prepared a wedding arch on the beach near our casita, and they picked us up in a specially decorated buggy and drove us directly to the site. There was at least five Amanpulo staff at the ceremony, two whom were kind enough to take photos and videos for us using our own equipment, as well as a guitarist that played and sang throughout the ceremony.

They had prepared an aisle of flowers leading up to the arch, and after some reading of prose by two of the attendants, we were asked to walk down the aisle with a "minister" at the arch, who lead us through the vows. Afterwards, we were given leis to give to each other as a sign of our commitment. Even though it was a "blessing ceremony", it felt very much like a proper wedding ceremony, which was quite a kick for us and very romantic.

After the ceremony had ended, they brought out a wedding cake and another bottle of Moet for us to celebrate. We cut the cake and ate a slice with our glasses of champagne, and then we were lead back to the decorated buggy, but now they had put a "Just Married" sign on the back. It was hilarious. We then took a little drive in the buggy before they took us back to our casita where they prepared a special beach barbecue on the beach, lit up by candles and a huge bonfire.

For the barbecue, they gave us a few options to pick from for the appetizer, main and side orders, and we went for lobster cocktail, salmon carpaccio, grilled lobster, steak, lamb, veggies, and potato salad. The beach barbecue was delicious, as well as all the food we had at Amanpulo. In general, the clubhouse serves continental and Filipino cuisine, the lagoon club serves Vietnamese, and the beach club serves Spanish cuisine, while only the clubhouse and beach club serves breakfast.

We tried all the restaurants, though mostly ate at the clubhouse. In general, I thought there weren't as many breakfast options at Amanpulo compared to other Aman resorts. I believe they had a Filipino set breakfast with the choice of five different mains, a standard western-style breakfast with eggs, sausage, bacon and hash browns, and an omelet breakfast. Also, I remember seeing banana pancakes on the menu, but nothing like Eggs Benedict or some of the more fancy breakfast options I've seen at other Amans.

We tried the Filipino breakfast with a kind of local sausage, and the sausage was really good, a bit sweet like Chinese sausage, but thicker and less chewy, but the other items were a little plain, like white rice and pickles. It also came with two eggs. The western breakfast was good as well, but wasn't anything special.

Therefore, we usually ordered lunch items, even when it was in the morning. Unlike breakfast, lunch and dinner items were fantastic. We almost always ordered the local catch-of-the-day sashimi, which was usually tuna or lapu-lapu, as it was so fresh. We also loved the roast quail, the steak sandwich, the different kinds of baguette sandwiches they had like roast chicken, lobster club sandwich, the squid ink linguine and the phad thai, they were all great. We also had a Vietnamese lunch at the lagoon club, including rice paper rolls, squid salad and beef stew, and it was very good.

Dinner, however, was definitely our favorite meal of the day. The clubhouse served both Filipino and continental dishes, and unfortunately, we never got around trying any of the Filipino dishes as we loved the continental items so much. I think we tried nearly everything on the menu, including the Wagyu ribeye, beef tenderloin with foie gras, fried quail with eggplant (one of our favorites - we ordered it twice), gnocchi with crab meat, (giant) seared scallops, steamed red snapper, huge roasted scampi, duck breast with foie gras ravioli, and the bouillabaisse for two that came loaded with mussels, crab, lobster, scampi and fish, served with garlic bread and rouille. Every meal was fantastic!

I'm not sure how good the food at Amanpulo was before, but it's certainly great now with the new executive chef doing a spectacular job in the kitchen. We've always thought the food at Amans were great, with Amanjiwo being our favorite and Amankila coming a close second, but I think the food we had at Amanpulo was as good if not better than those two. It was also nice that the F&B Manager, whose name is Michel I believe, greeted us often at dinner, and going into detail of some of the dishes that we ordered and the ingredients and such. Very helpful and friendly, indeed.

This is one of the reasons why I would definitely recommend the "Romance at Amanpulo" package, especially if you can stay for at least five nights, and you aren't doing one of the diving packages. The fact that it included all meals worked out very well for us, as we could order whatever dishes we wanted, however many we wanted, even the more expensive ones like Wagyu ribeye and the bouillabaisse, and it was all inclusive. This allowed us to sample quite a variety of the food selections, and they were very flexible on when you had your meals, or if you had two lunches instead of breakfast and lunch. We didn't end up eating three meals each day, but we certainly made up for any missed meals with the ones that we did have, and there weren't any food items on our final bill, even when we ordered snacks by the pool in between meals. It worked out to be a great deal for us.

In terms of service, it was tremendous, as with all Amans we've been to. From the tour of the property at the beginning to the final farewell at the air-strip, the staff at Amanpulo did not disappoint. As usual, it seemed everyone knew our names from the minute we arrived, and we were never asked for our room number or to sign a bill. We didn't have a lot of special requests, but the few that we did were executed properly. The service was always attentive whether we were at the pool, at the beach club, or in the salas. Water was always replenished, dishes were always cleared, and there always seemed to be someone attending to us, especially when we asked for refills of their ice teas, which was my favorite drink at Amanpulo. Before I left, I asked what was the secret that made it taste so good, and I was told they add guava juice to it!

There was perhaps only one lapse of service during our entire stay, and I only remember it because it was so inconsistent with the rest of our stay. After we had a picnic lunch at the lagoon sala on one of the last days of our trip, we decided to hang out on the sunbeds of the lagoon club as we hadn't done that before. During the first 20 minutes we were there, we were not served any water and nor did any staff come ask us if we had any drink or food orders. Actually, during our entire picnic lunch at the lagoon sala not once did any waiter come ask us if we wanted any drinks or to remove the dishes. Finally, I had to walk to the lagoon bar myself to order drinks for us. And rather than take our order and walk over to the bar to discretely relay it to the bartender, the waiter just stood and quite loudly repeated my order to the bartender through the club. This wasn't a huge deal, and certainly wouldn't raise an eyebrow at any other resort, but being at an Aman and used to being spoiled by the attentive service, this lapse was noticeable. However, it was the only time it happened and certainly not reflective of the service at the resort, which was exemplary, and I wonder if perhaps all the waiters at the lagoon club may be newer members of the staff that they are still training.

During our stay, we also had a massage nearly every day we were there. The resort offers massage treatments at the treetop casita spa, at an outdoor massage sala near the clubhouse, or in your casita. We opted for treetop casita spa each time, usually for the 90 minute Amanpulo Massage, and they were great. Besides the juice and cold towel they offer you before your treatment, we loved the special local tea that they served after your massage, along with slices of dried mango.

We also asked to see the multi-casita villas that they have on offer or are in the process of building, and they were very accommodating to our request. We were taken first to the Nature Villa, which is the oldest of the villas. It included a living room, a dining room, and a large outdoor sala area, as well as four bedrooms, with the larger master bedroom having an incredible seaside view. It also had beach access. What made this villa different was that all of the bedrooms, including the master, are smaller than the normal casitas in the resort and other villas. Having said that, I thought the size was more than adequate. This villa also does not have a pool, though we were told the villa owner is considering having one built.

We were then taken to the West Villa, which is really a series of loosely connected two-bedroom, beach and I believe, hillside casitas in one corner of the resort, which also has a pool and it's own beach club. Therefore, one has the option of renting between two to seven casitas of the villa. They were not spaced particularly close together; however, they are in a more remote area of the resort (though not as remote as the Nature Villa), so they do offer some added privacy. I thought the two-bedroom casitas were quite nice, as they also came with a living room and dining room, as well as a pool, and immediate beach access. Definitely a good choice for families or two couples traveling together.

I also got to take a look at the new four-bedroom villas that they are building, which are in the south-east section of the island. They are building seven of these villas in total, as well as a new clubhouse and restaurant to service them. The villas themselves are very similar to the two-bedroom West Villa, though they have two additional casitas for a total of four bedrooms. However, the pool, living room, dining room, and outdoor sala area looked identical. They, too, have beach access. These villas are also located much closer to the main resort clubhouse, which I found to be more convenient, as the West Villa and Nature Villa are a bit farther away.

Overall, we had an amazing and special time at Amanpulo. It certainly was a perfect way to spend our anniversary, and nearly everything was flawless. In fact, it's quite hard to point out ways on how they can improve it. If there is one critique I need to offer, it may be that the towels in the bathroom are a little bit too rough. This isn't something that I would usually care about, but being on an island resort and exposed to the sun all day, one's skin can get quite sensitive, and preferably, if they had more fluffy towels, it would be much better.

But nitpicking aside, we loved our stay at Amanpulo, and it was everything we expected it to be, and more. We loved how we had our own personal buggy, which was an activity and entertainment in itself, as we spent much time driving aimlessly and carelessly around the island, spotting monitor lizards and exotic birds, and trying to find new and hidden spots. We loved being able to walk from our room for a stroll on the beach, and the large amount of space that came with the beach casita, while also offering a great deal of privacy. We loved how we could go to the pool in the afternoons and there being no other guests there, even though the resort was at least at 50% occupancy during the duration of our stay. We loved that there was always an open sala by the pool where we could lounge and do nothing, no matter what time we showed up at the pool. We loved the friendly smiles by all the Amanpulo staff, whether it was at the beach club or passing by while driving in our buggy. We loved the "Amanjunkie" polo and t-shirts they gave us at the end of the trip. We loved the whole Amanpulo experience, and we definitely look forward to returning!

Congratulations and thanks for a great report.
It sounds fantastic and is on my soon to do list. Im impressed by the dining options for a private island.
I dont remember Christine and Nick from amanjiwo, I thought Francois Richli and his wife were opening managers. Although I know there can be pre-opening managers and also Francois and his wife moved to open Sri Lanka and India for aman shortly after amanjiwo.