MYANMAR’S COLONIAL-ERA STRAND HOTEL WELL PRESERVED
San Jose Mercury News
Sept 8 2008
CA
Grass grows around the rundown mausoleum of Myanmar’s best known
citizen, former… ((AP Photo))Â"12345Â"
YANGON, Myanmar–In the colonial heyday of this elegant Victorian
hotel, gentlemen in white dinner jackets and ladies in flowing gowns
sipped cocktails on the shaded verandah as the sun went down, enjoying
a welcome respite from the tropical heat.
The legendary Strand Hotel was one of the great watering holes of
the British Empire. Just like Raffles Hotel in Singapore or the
Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok, the 107-year old Strand remains a
national landmark.
Yangon has the largest number of colonial buildings in Southeast
Asia, including colonnaded government offices and sumptuous official
residences, but most are dilapidated, neglected for decades.
Large black water streaks mark most of the facades, and bushes
sprout from the roofs of some, including the stately High Court
building–adjacent to a rooftop statue of a British lion still gazing
over his domain.
Surprisingly, however, most of the old buildings appear to have
survived relatively unscathed the fury of Cyclone Nargis which
devastated the capital when it roared through on May 3. Although
many modern structures were badly hit with their roofs torn off,
the city’s historic downtown district appears relatively undamaged .
Except for the glittering golden stupas such as the famed Shwedagon
Pagoda that are the symbol of Yangon, almost everything else in the
city is suffering from more than 40 years of neglect. This includes
the potholed roads and even the rundown mausoleum where
Myanmar’s best-known citizen, former United Nations Secretary General
U Thant, lies buried.
The Strand was built in 1901 by the Sarkies brothers, Armenian refugees
from Turkey who founded a chain of luxury hotels in the region,
including Raffles, the Oriental, the Majapahit in the Indonesian port
of Surabaya, and the Eastern & Oriental in Penang, Malaysia.
In the 1920s and ’30s, it became a favorite hangout of famous writers,
British officers, celebrities and even royalty. Luminaries such as
Rudyard Kipling, W. Somerset Maugham, Graham Greene, Noel Coward,
George Orwell and Lord Mountbatten were all regular customers. More
recently, it has accommodated the likes of Mick Jagger and Oliver
Stone.
Completely renovated in 1990, its teak floors are polished and
gleaming, the antique chandeliers sparkle in the spacious and luxurious
reception rooms and the quintessential colonial icon–the ceiling
fans–gently rotate above tables surrounded by rattan chairs in the
cozy cafe.
But today, the Strand is mostly empty, just like in other hotels in
this city of five million once called Rangoon. Since the cyclone swept
through the nearby Irrawaddy Delta killing more than 130,000 people,
the number of guests has plummeted.
"It’s understandable that a tragedy of this scale has badly affected
Myanmar’s entire tourist industry," said the hotel’s manager Budiman
Widjaja. "But we hope that with the passage of time things will
improve."
Before World War II, the Strand was reserved for "whites only," but
during the Japanese occupation of Burma–as Myanmar was formerly
known–it became an army barracks. It received its first Burmese
guests only after the war.
The socialist military regime that ruled the nation from 1962 to
1988 nationalized the hotel and it became a rundown shadow of its
former self.
But since the early 1990s, the military junta has tried to encourage
foreign tourism, and the property was acquired by Adrian Zecha, the
founder of Singapore’s exclusive Aman Resorts chain, and renovation
began.
The Strand reopened in 1995 as an all-suite, top-of-the range boutique
hotel. Its teak and marble floors, mahogany furniture, and canopied
beds compliment original pieces, like period bathroom fixtures.
But unlike the other grand old hotels in the region, the Strand’s
restoration remained true to its architectural past, and it has no
new wing, and no swimming pool or tennis courts.
"We came to the Strand because of its old-world romantic charm,"
said Tomas Llobet, from Brussels, Belgium, who was celebrating a
marriage anniversary with his wife Victoria. "We wanted to be in a
place with a lot of historic character, properly renovated without
huge concessions to modernity."
The ghosts of the British colonels would approve their choice.
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