Sri Lanka: Seaside Vacation at Amanwella

For the last few days of this trip, I decided to spend them leisurely at the second Aman resort on the southern coast of Sri Lanka. The space and natural scenery are beautiful, but the service is indeed below Aman standards. - In terms of design, Amanwella is the work of in-house designer Kerry Hill, and the design techniques show a great degree of respect for Geoffrey Bawa. From the hotel gate, Bawa's favorite lines are used without concealment. Whether in the public areas or guest rooms, the designer clearly blurs the boundaries between indoor and outdoor spaces through sliding doors, revolving doors, and a large number of hollow partitions, allowing the interior space to be more integrated into the natural environment. The red roof of the hotel may be a tribute to the iconic traditional Sri Lankan clay tile "Kandyan roof". Integrating traditional culture with modernism is also a major architectural concept of Bawa's works. The space element I like most in the entire hotel is the cloister at the entrance. In addition to its highly symmetrical aesthetics, the large areas of blank walls seem to give nature full play. In the afternoon, the sunlight casts the shadows of the vegetation onto the walls, poetically enriching the space with life. - In terms of service, it is quite disappointing. First of all, the ghostly room service that Aman should have does not exist at Amanwella. I encountered housekeeping several times. One day, after having breakfast and spending two or three hours at the pool, I returned to the room and found that it had not been cleaned. Even after staying for four days, many of the staff did not know our room number. Also an Aman in Sri Lanka, the service at Amangalla can be described as attentive. After checking in, I was never asked for my room number, and the butler would ask me every day if my cold was getting better. The cave tour in the reserved package was also forgotten when it came to arranging a time for us. Although we didn't plan to go anyway, they should have at least discussed our itinerary. In terms of hardware, the guest rooms are very noisy due to the sound of the waves, so I suggest that light sleepers remember to bring earplugs. The mosquito and insect prevention in the rooms is not very good, and ants crawl on the bed every day. It can be said that the service at Amanwella is rather lazy and does not meet Aman standards. - The experiences and activities here are still relatively rich. There are three national parks where you can go on safari, and there are many choices for marine activities, as well as local cultural experiences. On the second day of our stay, we went on a safari in Yala National Park. We had to leave very early, and the hotel prepared a breakfast box. On the way to the national park, we saw a beautiful sunrise. It is a pity that we did not see a Ceylon leopard. We originally planned to do some light surfing, but the waves were quite big these few days, so we gave up the marine activities. Amanwella Hotel