The Strand Hotel – The Grand old Lady Of YangonPrepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International
“When in Rangoon,” the saying went, “the place to stay is the Strand.” During its heyday, when the British ruled, the Strand was one of those glorious, “east of the Suez,” outposts of the Empire. Then for many years, after World War II, it became a sadder Peoples' Hotel, a rundown shadow of its former glory. Yet even in spite of its neglect, the Grand Old Lady somehow managed to maintain the old colonial air about it. It never lost its true character. But the story doesn’t end there. The hotel has been completely refurbished and is once again a grand old lady with a new face.
What was it that made the Strand Hotel stand out a notch above all other hotels? The answer can be found in single word—history.
It's impossible to talk about the Strand without mentioning the other two Grand Old Ladies of the East—Raffles in Singapore and E&O in Penang. They all have a common bond, aside from their fame.
The names of these three hotels have appeared in pages of novels, magazines and travel books, penned by nearly every important writer who has ever visited the fabled East: Joseph Conrad, Somerset Maugham, Graham Greene, James Michener, Alec Waugh and scores of others.
But why these hotels in particular?
Much has to do with their old word charm, their elegance, the cognoscenti who visited them and, for certain, as I mentioned, their history. The opening of these hotels more than a hundred years ago is the history of opening up the East to the western world.
But there's one other factor. These three hotels all have something in common. They were founded by four enterprising brothers from Armenia, the famous Sarkies Brothers, Martin, Tigran, Aviet and Arshak, and they were to leave an indelible mark on Asia's burgeoning hotel industry. A hundred years and their hotels continue to make headlines.
The Sarkies Brothers weren't hoteliers when they came to Southeast Asia. They were businessmen and saw an opportunity. They arrived from Armenia, a disputed strip of land between Turkey and Russia. The Russians and Turks fought long and hard in the 19th century, each claiming the territory as their own. Armenians by the scores were driven from their homeland and many came east. They settled in small communities in places like Calcutta, Rangoon and the Straits Settlement (Penang, Malacca and Singapore), where they engaged in business.
Martin Sarkies, the oldest brother and an engineer, found Penang to his liking and settled there in 1869. In 1880 he was joined by his brother Tigran. Records show that they opened a hotel facing the Esplanade and named it the Eastern Hotel, and the following year opened a second hotel, the Oriental, on a plot of land facing the sea.
Both hotels prospered, but to grow, the brothers saw the need to expand, except, even then, land was at a premium. They solved the problem by combining the two hotels into the Eastern and Oriental, or the E&O as it became known. The date was in 1885.
Martin saw the rising need for first class accommodations in Southeast Asia. With the Suez Canal opened, the Age of Travel was about to begin. No longer did one have to be in government service or else very wealthy to travel. Martin sent his younger brother Tigran to Singapore to look for possibilities.
Tigran wasted no time. He leased a large plot of land and a bungalow on Beach Road and from it came the Raffles Hotel, a name that was particularly fashionable in 1887. It was the year of Queen Victoria's Jubilee, and to mark the event, a statue of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles had been unveiled amidst great pomp and ceremony in June.
The Sarkies did not stop with the E&O in Penang and Raffles in Singapore. While Martin managed the E&O and Tigran the Raffles, Aviet, who had joined the family business in the early 1890s, went to Rangoon to open a small hostelry there called Sarkies Hotel. Nine years after his arrival in Southeast Asia, in 1899, he opened the pride of Rangoon, the Strand Hotel. His efforts, however, were not at first lauded by the public and the press. Everyone laughed at his move which they called the "white elephant."
The Sarkies proved them to be wrong. The Strand became a grand hotel and has been one of Rangoon's most famous landmarks. In a very short time, the Strand became the centre of life and the venue for the colonial world of Burma and neighbouring Malaya. The high life of the Sarkies Brothers’ hotels was the theme for many of Somerset Maugham's short stories, and the hotels became immortalized.
By 1910, the Sarkies Brothers were at the pinnacle of their success, and both residents and visitors alike found not only the accommodation at the Strand to their liking but the cuisine as well. One menu, which would be hard to duplicate today, went on to list no fewer than 20 items. Caviar on toast followed by Mock Turtle Soup, Fish Pie, and a substantial number of entrees, including Beef with Oyster Sauce, Roast Spatch Cock with Bread Sauce, Game Pot, Venison with Red Current Jelly, Roast Turkey stuffed with Truffles and Sausage, Roast Veal and Iced Asparagus. There were also two curries, chicken and dry duck, as well as green peas, spinach and cabbage. Then came the sweets orange jelly, Rhubarb Tart, Cocoa Ice Cream, pastries and coffee.
Word spread and soon the Sarkies Brothers’ hotels were attracting a stylish clientele: "Patronized by Royalty, Nobility and Distinguished Personages" boasts an advertisement in one newspaper. They certainly had cornered a highly visible, and profitable, segment of Southeast Asia's hotel market. Their hotels were attracting travellers from all over the world. The Golden Age of Travel, which took place between 1880 and 1939, saw the rise of tourism, and a boom in the hotel business.
But the year 1939, and World War II that was soon to follow, saw the end of an era. By the war’s end, all three hotels had fallen into rapid decline and there were many who believed they would never regain their former glory.
The ability of a great hotel to sustain itself is to be able to change with the times. It cannot, like a grand old lady, sit back in her fine jewels and faded brocade and become melancholy and content amusing herself by simply looking on. Some hotels, but only a few, succeed in making this change. Bangkok's The Oriental Hotel, which opened its doors about the same time that the Sarkies founded their empire, is one example. The Oriental had been voted by business travellers as one of the best hotels in the world.
The mistake many hotel owners make is to turn their grand old hotels into museum pieces where most everyone goes to visit but not to stay. We can almost say this has happened to Raffles in Singapore. And only few years ago the E&O had been completely refurbished. Its fate is to be decided with the passage of time. And then we come to the Strand. It too went through a complete renovation.
In 1980, I made a visit to Rangoon, at a time when visas were hard to get. Of course, I wanted to see the Strand. I went armed with a copy of Lonely Planet's Burma, dated 1979. I read the section "On Places to Stay." Under the title it said “Stay at the Strand, but with caution. During its British heyday the Strand used to be one of those glorious outposts of the Empire. Today in its sadder People's Hotel role the Strand is just a rundown shadow of its former glory—certainly no competition for the well-kept likes of the Raffles or the Oriental . . . Even the top-notch air-conditioned rooms are a long way below the standards of other Asian first-class hotels."
I stayed at the Strand that night and had a room for less than US$10. It was much like the Lonely Planet said, but it did have atmosphere. I was living in another era. I loved every minute of my short stay.
Then years ago I returned to Rangoon, or Yangon as they call it today, and was most anxious to see the Strand once again. Now listed as a national landmark, it had been completely renovated in 1993 and reached the status of a five star hotel. It boasts of 32 rooms.
From the outside it looked much the same as before but the interior came as a complete surprise. It was much smaller than I remembered, and there was no reception desk. Guests, I learned, make their bookings before they arrive.
The lobby, with six ceiling fans and a marble floor, was in semi-darkness, even though it was noon. I was told the sunlight is blocked out to keep it cool.
The decor is in keeping with its colonial past. The furniture is mostly rattan, and adorning the walls are paintings of the hotel as it had once been.
Now again, after the devastating cyclone, I was back, not as a guest of the hotel, but I did have a drink at the bar, which was empty. When Maugham came through Burma in 1921, and stayed at the Strand, the bar was packed. The nostalgia was still there.
Were Maugham or Kipling, who are reputed to have stayed at the hotel, to return to Yangon, neither would recognise the modest hostelry they once knew. Nor would they hardly recognise the capital which has grown to over four million inhabitants, and which has remarkably recovered from the cyclone that hit in May this year. The Strand is still worth a visit, and we can be thankful to the Sarkies Brothers for their vision. The Strand is still a grand old lady, but looking to the future and not the past.
Next week we will take a look at the klongs, or canals, of Bangkok and the surrounding areas. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERSQ. Dear Mr. Stephens. I read with interest your article about the jungles in Thailand Outdoors. I enjoyed it very much, but I am confused. What you have to say doesn’t jive with what the press has to say about the destruction of the rain forests of Asia and South America. They tell us that the wild life is disappearing. Who do we believe? Can you tell your readers? Charley Schaffer, NY
A. Dear Charley. Thailand has 48 national parks, many of which are easily accessible to the visitor. Two parks have been placed on UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These parts are well preserved.
Harold Stephens
Bangkok
E-mail: ROH Weekly Travel (booking@inet.co.th)
Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. | 
