Style: Places: Southeast Asian Adventures

Southeast Asian Adventures

Indagare member Elizabeth Mead recently traveled through Cambodia, Laos, and Chiang Mai with her husband, staying at Aman resorts and a Four Seasons property. Here are her reflections on the trip.

We had a great time on our trip to Southeast Asia! Loved Cambodia. Our hotel (the Amansara) was very attractive and comfortable. We went out early each morning with our own guide to the amazing temples and it got better each day. Our guide was great: so knowledgeable and easy to be with. Sally, the manager at Amansara couldn’t do enough for us. She arranged an art tour one afternoon with a woman involved in the local art scene who took us to various galleries, shops and sights. It was a good break from the temples. The food at the Amansara was delicious, especially the breakfasts. On the way out to dinner one night we stopped for a cocktail at a recommended spot, Mrs. Chang, which was a fun and lively place. We also really enjoyed tea at the Aman tea house.

Laos was next and the Amantaka was beautiful. We were upgraded to a pool suite which was amazing. My husband was in the pool about 5 times a day! We had a tour of the town and the temples which was good. The hotel suggested we go to the waterfall and elephant attraction but we only stayed at the waterfall for about 5 min—it was very touristy and kind of gross. But we had a nice meal at L’Elephant and an amazingly beautiful and peaceful boat ride up the Mekong river. We took a cooking class one night which was one of the highlights of the trip. The chef was so nice and great to work with. We made an amazing dinner and ate overlooking the farm. The next day the head chef took us through the local food market which we enjoyed. On our last day we did an early offering to the monks which was really interesting. The manger of this property, Gary, was also very personable. He went out of his way to make us feel welcome and cared for.

The package that we got with Aman was great. All of our touring with a private guide and driver each day was included. Plus we had two meals a day and all beverages, the river cruise, a special Korean Barbeque dinner, and a massage. We really felt it was a good deal.

We got a little sick by the time we got to Chiang Mai and the medicine we had was not working so we called the Four Seasons doctor. He came immediately and gave us both antibiotics and we recovered. I was a little surprised when I asked the front desk for a list of antique stores and they didn’t have any suggestions. We had a small guide book we referred to but could have used more guidance. Unfortunately, we didn’t really get a feel for Chiang Mai because we lost time being sick. The hotel was beautiful and so different than the Aman properties—much more over the top. We were upgraded to the pool suite the first night which was great as it’s very nice to be in a comfortable room when not feeling well.