Amansara, Cambodia

Arriving in Siem Reap was a pleasant surprise. We did not expect much from an airport in a country with so much poverty. But it was lovely. And all check-in, immigration and baggage services were very efficient.

Our complimentary airport pick-up was done by a classic 1960s Mercedes limousine. The resort owns two of them and they were formerly owned by King Norodom Sihanouk as was the villa that makes up the main part of the resort. The drive to the resort revealed Siem Reap as a city undergoing tremendous growth, but there were so many new hotels under construction that we were glad we saw the temples now rather than waiting for all these additional tourists to arrive.

We booked a pool suite for 3 nights. The room was beautifully designed in a more modern style than the other Amans weve visited. The best part of the room was probably the wall of windows separating the living areas from the private outdoor courtyard and plunge pool. And while the suites were all under one roof unlike other Aman villas, the resort added a great deal of privacy by building very tall concrete walls around each suites courtyard. You could occasionally hear traffic noise since the suites were on the edge of the property, but this is probably unavoidable in a town as bustling as Siem Reap.

Our first day in Siem Reap was spent at a local school called Wat Bo. Before our trip, we made a donation to the Ponheary Ly foundation (www.theplf.org) which was used to send 68 Cambodian children to school. Ponheary and her driver picked us up at Amansara and drove us to what we later learned was the finest school in Cambodia and one that our designated kids were very lucky to attend. We were greeted by several teachers, the principal, and hundreds of smiling children. In an unexpectedly formal presentation, we handed out 68 pre-packaged bundles of school supplies, uniforms and flip-flops to some very cute and appreciative kids. Seeing their smiling faces was the most rewarding part of our trip, so much so that we hope to find similar charitable venues for our future vacations. And because the organizers of the charity (thank you Ponheary Ly & Lori Carlson) donate so much of their time, 100% of the donations go right to the children. In fact, our donation was originally budgeted to send 50 children to school and yet they managed to stretch the money to accommodate 68.

Food at Amansara was definitely up to Aman standards and the restaurant was great at accommodating my (mental) fish allergy by eliminating all fish and oyster sauces from the traditional Cambodian fare. On our last night, the chef arranged a private barbecue for us on the rooftop with a customized menu. Sitting cross-legged under the stars and surrounded by candles was very nice. Also, two daily meals were included with the nightly package rate, as were house wines (during the time of our stay, they were mostly South African and Australian).

For our first temple-related activity, we chartered a helicopter to Beng Melea and enjoyed an Aman-style sunset picnic. The flight was amazingly beautiful with spectacular views of Angkor Wat, many temples, small and large, Tonle Sap Lake and the Mekong River. The helicopter was not air conditioned, however, so be prepared for the heat. Our Amansara guide (who was extremely knowledgeable about all of the area temples, knew where to get the best photos and how to avoid crowds at all locations) was with us to explain what we were seeing and ultimately take us through Beng Melea. Beng Melea is best described as a temple utterly subsumed by jungle. For the more adventurous, park rangers literally lent us a hand through ancient windows and up to the highest points of the rubble which, in our case, provided for some great photos.

We also visited the main temple of Angkor Wat at sunrise, Ta Prom (the temple now famous for being featured in Laura Croft: Tomb Raider) and Bayon. I especially enjoyed the more ruined of the ruins like Ta Prom which seemed to appeal to my romantic notion of what Siem Reap would be. Sadly, we learned that the park fees charged for seeing these temples doesnt stay in Cambodia but goes to a management company in Thailand.

Overall, service at Amansara was very efficient and extremely friendly. To ask for anything was to have it done, as is the case with all of the Aman properties in Asia. For the diehard Aman-junkies, however, we feel it necessary to provide a short list of annoyances. For all of Amansaras merits (and there are many), this list reminded Mr. Ericka and me that were not in Indonesia anymore.

- Our first morning, we were out of the room for a couple of hours and yet housekeeping failed to clean our room. While we did not participate in an Amansara activity that morning, the front desk knew we left the resort and could have notified housekeeping.
- We were asked our room number a handful of times, even after we had volunteered our name.
- There was a note in our room from the GM encouraging us to generously tip our guides and drivers since gratuities make up the bulk of their income. While this sounds like a nice gesture on the surface, it made us wonder why the resort wasnt paying them enough in the first place and why theyre not getting a generous piece of the service charge.
- The resort was charging $10 to attend a Khmer dance performance in the library. $10 is no big deal, but we dont recall other Amans charging for performances of this kind.
- Our rooftop dinner wasnt ready when we arrived (candles werent lit and no one was there) and we had to literally go find someone to get things started. As such, the dinner started late and we missed the above mentioned dance performance even though the people we scheduled dinner with knew we intended to join the performance for dessert and coffee.
- The GM didnt greet us on arrival or departure. To his credit, when he bumped into us on the property, he knew who we were. But when we told him about the great experience we had at the school that morning, he was more interested in scolding us for not signing up for any of the complimentary house outings (temple tours). While he was absolutely right that our helicopter tour wasnt as good as visiting on foot, his choice of words and tone felt condescending. We ended up following his advice (pushing ourselves despite the jetlag) and are grateful we did but it was awkward nonetheless.