Three Grand Old Hotels of Southeast AsiaPrepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International
Do you like old hotels, the ones with mood and character and high ceilings? Last week in Weekly Travel Feature I mentioned the grand old dames that are still popular today: The Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, the Manila Hotel in Manila and the Peninsula in Hong Kong. So now let me tell you about another three?the Raffles in Singapore, the E&O in Penang and the Strand Hotel in Rangoon. I am not advocating that they are the best hotels in Asia. The Royal Orchid Holidays booklet World Wide Stopovers 2007-2008 does that and lists literally hundreds of these hotels in its 72 destinations around the world. These are some of the finest hotels one can find.
But why the Raffles, E&O and Strand in particular? Much has to do with their old world charm and elegance. The VIPs who stayed there, and certainly the hotels? history, has something to do with it. 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 another 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.
As I mentioned last week, the ability of a great hotel to sustain itself is to be able to change with the times and I gave the example of Bangkok's The Oriental Hotel. The Sarkies Brothers opened their hotels about the same time, more of less, and all three of their hotels have undergone colossal changes in recent years. Were the Sarkies Brothers to return today they would hardly recognize them. Raffles in Singapore has become the city?s heritage and a half dozen years ago it went through a complete renovation. Today it's more museum than lodging.
In February last year I went to Rangoon, Myanmar, and the first thing I did was visit the Strand, armed with a copy of Lonely Planet's Burma, dated 1979. (I grabbed the wrong one from my bookshelf.) I read the section "On Places to Stay." Stay at the Strand, it said, 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. Even the top-notch air-conditioned rooms are a long way below the standards of other Asian first-class hotels.?
The newest Lonely Planet reads much differently. ?The Strand became a run-down shadow of its former self. All of this changed again in 1991, when Dutch?Indonesian resort impresario Adrian Zecha and his company began spending US$36 million to renovate the Grande Dame. By the beginning of 1995, 32 rooms had been totally redone and opened to the public. Of the three major Sarkies hotel renovations in South?East Asia, this one seems the most faithful to the original spirit.?
All well and good, but the price of a room at the Strand is something else. Twenty years ago I stayed at the Strand and had a room for less than US$10. It was much like the Lonely Planet said, but it did have atmosphere. The renovated guest rooms are divided into eight superior suites for US$425 a night and one apartment-like Strand Suite for US$900.
I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed with the new Strand. It was smaller than I remembered, and there was no reception desk. Guests are booked long 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 was blocked out to keep it cool.
The placed smelled of oiled wood. The furniture was rattan and along the walls were paintings of the hotel as it had once been. The bar was empty. When Maugham came through Burma in 1921 and stayed at the Strand, the place was packed.
My big disappointment with one of the grand old ladies came a few years ago. I was motoring from Bangkok to Singapore and looked forward to a night at the E&O in Penang. General Manager Don Chan offered me a room, and then announced I would be one of the last guests to stay at the hotel. The enduring E&O would close its doors on May 30, 1996. Whether or not it was permanent, or only for renovations, Don Chan would not say. All he would tell me was that the hotel was sold and he and his family who had once owned the hotel were moving on.
The Sarkies family had sold their interest in the E&O to the Choong family after World War II; in 1965 they in turn sold to the Chan family. Don Chan became the general manager.
I had to take a walk through the hotel for the last time. From the lobby beneath the great dome, I exited via the back door into the gardens that surrounded the swimming pool; I strolled the path that followed the seawall to the far end of the grounds, and then looked back. The beauty of the hotel, and its old world charm, shined through. I could almost expect an English planter to be sitting at a table beneath a shady tree, drinking a tall gin, talking to a lady in an ankle-length brocaded dress.
I entered the Grand Ballroom on the ground floor. Fun-loving Arshak once waltzed around the dance floor with a drink balanced on his bald head. I lingered for a look at the framed photographs along the walls in the lobby and corridors. There were photographs of old Penang, and one of the Sarkies Brothers taken when both they and the hotel were young. I had my last Tiger beer at the bar, with the brass plate at the entrance?1885.
The E&O has been refurbished completely, and how much of the old hotel still remains I will find out on my next trip to Penang and then make my report.
In the 1950?s the Raffles Hotel in Singapore had a bleak future. Property developers wanted the property. The hotel was losing money, until Frans Schutzman arrived. Frans had been born in Indonesia, with Dutch parents. After the war he wanted to return to Indonesia as a journalist but, being Dutch, he was refused entrance. He ended up in Singapore, broke and with no job. He took a position as headwaiter in the Raffles and six months later was the General Manager. He convinced the Chinese owners he could turn the hotel into profit making, and he did just that. He resigned when the management refused to give Somerset Maugham, after using his name to promote the hotel, a free room. As I mentioned last week, he later went to the Manila Hotel and turned that one around.
They never tore down the Raffles and in time it became Singapore?s heritage. But it did go thought a complete face lifting. Remnants of the old hotel are still there but it has become an all suites hotel with the hotel itself sealed off to the public by a wrought iron gate. In November 1989, the management of Raffles began an international heritage search to build up a collection of memorabilia for a museum to be opened on completion of the hotel's restoration. Letters were sent to newspapers around the world asking people to donate their souvenir keepsakes of the hotel. The Raffle Hotel Museum has them on display.
Herbie Lim vividly recalls the days of nostalgia at Raffles Hotel. "Parties were held every night; whistles, trinkets, streamers and crackers were generously spread on the tables as playthings for us," he says. Maugham first visited Raffles Hotel in 1921 after he came from Burma and was inspired to write the short stories contained in The Casuarina Tree. The writer once said that there were more good stories to be written in Southeast Asia than in any other region in the world. He came again in 1961 when, as I mentioned, Frans Schutzman was the GM.
Silent movie actor Charlie Chaplin and his brother Sid made their appearance at the hotel in the 1930s. Their photograph is on exhibit in the museum.
It is a sin to drink the famous Singapore Sling and not know anything about its creator. A photograph of bartender Ngiam Tong Boon and the iron safe in which he allegedly kept the recipe of the gin drink is likewise on display in the museum. A handwritten recipe of the Singapore Sling is attached to the Ngiam exhibition.
Mackie Martin remembers when Raffles Hotel was jam-packed. Born in Singapore in 1907, he took up residence at the hotel for several years. "During my stay at the hotel, I met many actors and actresses, including Douglas Fairbanks. What I remember most about Raffles Hotel are the fancy-dress parties," he said. He once turned up as actor Rudolph Valentino in his role as The Sheik; and as a musketeer another time. He donated several photographs to the museum.
Raffles, Strand and the E&O?we can thank the Sarkies Brothers for them. Next week we look at Bangkok as the gateway to China.
Q. Dear Sir, I would be travelling to Thailand & Cambodia soon & would like to know if a Cambodian visa is required if I am going to visit "Preah Viharn" temple coming from Thai side? The guidebook says passports will have to be left with the Thai authorities at the border & after our visits to the temple, we will get our passports back. Does this mean that no Cambodian visa is required? Would appreciate a reply from you soon. Many thanks for your kind attention & assistance. Sincerely, Mrs. Amy Iseppi
A. Mrs. Iseppi, When visiting Preah Viharn you do not need a visa. Sometimes, but not always, Thai authorities will hold you passport. It's an easy procedure. Preah Viharn is certainly worth a visit. The key is to go early, when it's cool, when there is mood. In the afternoon it gets hot. I feel sorry for the people arriving then. I might suggest you rent car and drive. That way you have control. But then I don't know the bus schedules. Stay on the main paths only. Don't go wandering off for there are still many land mines in the area. Nevertheless, I am sure you will love it.
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. | 
