Amankora New Year's Eve Celebrations, What A Way To Start 2024!
Intro
While the review of Amankora Paro is currently in the works, I wanted to share my experience of experiencing New Year's Eve at the Aman in Bhutan. Many New Year's options were on the table, such as Rio, Singapore, and Bali. However, after reading this review, you might come to the same conclusion as I did: it was magical.
Pre-Dinner Events
The evening started with an hour of traditional dances. Bhutanese wear was provided to all of the guests, and most of them partook. A special cocktail menu was made, so that we could all enjoy these handcrafted drinks of deliciousness.
We made our way outside, where blankets and hats were waiting in our seats. Drinks were brought over tableside, probably one too manyđ°. However, I didn't take any pictures of them.
There were 9 dances in total.
Which were all incredible to watch.
The dances brought life to the Bhutanese culture, reinforcing why I believe the best country in the world is Bhutan.
Following the dances, I made my way downstairs to the dining room where we would feast later. The staff were busy setting up for the celebrations.
Drinks In The Lounging Area
Following the dances, there was some time to kill which meant lounging around and having a few drinks. To add on that, flag-making was an activity with a local monk.
Continuing on, a complimentary glass of champagne was served.
I asked for an espresso martini as it was only 7 pm and I was getting tired. I took it back to the room as I freshened up for dinner.
7:30 pm came around so it was time for dinner.
Dinner
My mum and I proceeded to the dining room to begin New Year's Eve Dinner. The dining room is set up so you sit with other explorers. While some people may not like this, I found it refreshing since we don't spend enough time conversing with strangers. Here is what the menu read for the night.
The dining room was laid out gorgeously for this special evening.
Every detail was perfect.
Our table for this evening.
Dinner service started with warm bread. There was an amuse-bouche, but my mum and I decided against it. There was already too much food to come!
The next course consisted of a Yak Carpaccio. Before I came to Bhutan, I was skeptical about eating Yak for the first time. However, it is incredible, extremely falvorful and moist.
Next up came the Veal. With the pesto sauce, this was the highlight of the meal, extremely tasty. We got into conversation with the family sitting next to us throughout the meal, turns out they live an hour away from me. What are the odds?
At this point, my stomach was going to explode, but I had to continue. It was time for the steak. The steak was decent, but not as good as the one I had at the lodge in Thimphu.
The meal proceeded at a leisurely pace, which was perfect for this evening. I decided to kill the evening with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, made in-house đĽ°.
By 9;30pm the meal wrapped up. I made my way to the bathroom where I met one of the house dogs! We spent a good 30 minutes together outside of the bathroom getting to know each other.
Soon enough it was almost midnight and the guests were gathered in the lounging area upstairs. It was a social hour, conversations roaring, drinks cheering, it was a small party at Amankora. As the clock struck midnight, all the staff including the manager, counted down from 10 until it was 2024!
Needless to say, the next morning I woke up with a brutal hangoverđ but it was well worth it for this incredible night!
Final Thoughts
New Year's Eve was incredible at Amankora in Bhutan. From 5 pm until midnight there were a variety of unique activities to keep the guests entertained. The staff made this night extremely special by offering handcrafted drinks and the manager was a pleasure to speak to in the hour we had a conversation. It felt a lot more like family compared to staff vs guests. Thank you for an amazing eveningâ¤ď¸, I can't recommend this experience enough.
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