AMANSARA'S RECENT ADDITION OF A SPA, PLUS 12 POOL SUITES AND A 25-METRE LAP POOL, EXTENDS GUEST OPTIONS FOR RELAXATION AND INDULGENCE OF MIND AND BODY.
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AMANSARA'S RECENT ADDITION OF A SPA, PLUS 12 POOL SUITES AND A 25-METRE LAP POOL, EXTENDS GUEST OPTIONS FOR RELAXATION AND INDULGENCE OF MIND AND BODY.
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Category: Asia Pacific
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2006-03-17
Located in Siem Reap, Cambodia, just 10 minutes away from the renowned ruins of Khmer civilisation at Angkor, Amansara's new Spa offers treatments providing guests the opportunity to enhance both their mental and physical wellbeing.
The Spa is accessed along a pathway paralleled by a long reflecting pool. Steps lead up to the reception area which is flanked by a courtyard garden and an ancient Rain Tree. Guests may choose from three single treatment rooms, each with an adjacent private relaxation room, featuring glass walls overlooking the reflection pool and its 43 metre long, Angkor-inspired bas relief. One double treatment room with adjacent separate relaxation room is also available. Baths, showers, a sound system, and massage and beauty treatments making use of traditional Cambodian techniques and natural products, combine to imbue the Spa with the peace of a quiet refuge.
Available daily to guests from 10am until the final booking at 8pm, spa treatments not only provide relief from the physical exertions of exploration but reflect holistic Khmer traditions readily discernable throughout Angkor's great temple complex.
Trained masseuses provide soothing reflexology sessions and specialised treatments like the 'foot cooler', a 45-minute peppermint scrub and massage ideal for temple-weary feet. Oil- and non-oil-based massages provide a unique Khmer touch, with firm pressure and gentle stretching to ease tension from the back, neck and shoulders. The 'apsara' treatment involves two female therapists who dedicate their time to a guest's complete pampering. Using a combination of steams, scrubs, wraps, masks, massages and healing techniques, this treatment could be described as 90 minutes of complete indulgence.
Another highlight of the Spa menu is the 'teap bourn' treatment, translated as 'four healing angels from heaven' where blind therapists see with their hearts and express with their hands. Twenty per cent of the treatment fee goes to the local charity which supports local orphans and the blind, including the therapists.
>From the window walls of the Spa's treatment and relaxation rooms, guests gaze out on a reflecting pool that features a 43-metre-long sandstone bas relief inspired by those which wrap the exterior walls of Angkor Wat. Eight sandstone slabs of different sizes were quarried at Chunh-Chaing Mountain in the Preah Neth Preah (Eye of God) area of the province of Banteay Meanchey, undergoing several months of cutting and preparation by eight artisans before being carved, portion by portion, by another 19 artisans over an additional two months. Weighing approximately 9,500 kilograms, with a height of 2.15 metres, the bas relief required eight to 10 layers of paint applied by a final team of artisans to obtain the desired effect.
An open grass courtyard serves to group Amansara's other new facilities, with the pool suites sited six on each side. At one end of the courtyard, hidden from view behind a six metre high wall, the 5m by 25m lap pool provides guests an additional facility for morning swims before heading off to explore the many wonders of Angkor.
Interiors of all 24 Amansara suites share an open plan design with a terrazzo-and-timber finish. The bedroom embraces an enhanced living area with a large writing desk and a king-size bed. Each bath area has a separate shower and a tub for soothing soaks after a long day out enjoying temple tours, cultural strolls, lectures or cycling. Suites are air-conditioned and come with ceiling fans and a CD player. A few steps down from the lounge area, a floor to ceiling window wall separates the bathroom from where it opens onto a courtyard, which features a water garden. Courtyards of the pool suites are equipped with pools measuring six by five metres.
Furthering Amansara's intimate ambience as a gracious retreat for those seeking to explore the legacies of Khmer culture, the Spa and other new facilities encourage guests to relax body and mind, complementing their experience of Angkor's compelling heritage.
Amanresorts was founded by Adrian Zecha who envisioned a collection of intimate retreats in beautiful surrounds with the unassuming, warm hospitality of a gracious private residence.
The first resort, Amanpuri (place of peace) in Phuket, Thailand, introduced the concept. Amanresorts has grown to encompass 18 resorts located in Bhutan, Cambodia, France, French Polynesia, Indonesia, India, Morocco, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turks and Caicos Islands and USA.
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