Legends of Indochina Bangkok's Mandarin Oriental HotelPrepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International
Last week I wrote about Legends of IndoChina, that collection of Southeast Asia’s best hotels, trains and cruises all rolled into one programme called the Grand Tours. Two such tours are offered. The first is 12 days, 11 nights beginning in Singapore at Raffles Hotel and then boards the Eastern & Oriental Express train to Bangkok and on to Myanmar and ending up in Phuket. The second one is longer, 16 days. 11 nights and concentrates more on Cambodia and Vietnam.
Both tours give travellers a night or two at the Oriental in Bangkok, now called the Mandarin Oriental, which is the subject of my Travel Feature this week. The question is, why the Oriental?
The ability of a great hotel to sustain itself is to be able to change with the times. And that is what the Mandarin Oriental has done. It did not, 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 do succeed in making the change. The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which opened its doors about the same time that the Sarkies Brothers opened their hotels in Singapore, Penang and Rangoon, is a good example. For ten years straight The Mandarin Oriental Hotel had been listed as one of the best hotels in the world.
Just recently, Hotels Magazine, USA, named Kurt Wachtveitl, General manager of the hotel the "2008 Independent Hotelier of the World" for "putting his full, heartfelt effort for more than 40 years as the leader of one of the world's iconic luxury hotels. . . .” The legendary General Manager of the 132-year-old hotel was honoured with the award at a reception in New York.
The original Oriental Hotel, which today is the Author's Residence, is surrounded by tower wings and gardens, but still remains a reminder of the past.
Ever since Joseph Conrad appeared on the scene, although as a seaman and not an honoured guest, writers have always had a special affinity to the hotel. Many of their names still live on and include Somerset Maugham, Noel Coward, James Michener, Alec Waugh and John Steinbeck, all who have visited and written about the hotel.
Throughout its colourful history, The Mandarin Oriental has entertained crowned heads and statesmen, politicians and businessmen, authors, actors and performers. The complete list of the distinguished guests that have been part of this extraordinary hotel's history is never ending.
It was Joseph Conrad, however, who started it all.
Conrad arrived as a ship captain, Teodor Korzeniowski. He came to Bangkok to take his first command, a rusted bark anchored a bit up river form the hotel. A few years later, when he became crippled with arthritis, Captain Korzeniowski gave up the sea, took up the pen and began to write, and changed his name to Joseph Conrad. The Oriental has been a writer’s hotel ever since.
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, of course, is not the same hotel as it was when Captain Korzeniowski came up river, but what is still there is the very soul of the hotel, not to forget the original building, once a Rama palace given by the king to a couple ship captains for an overnight hostelry when Siam opened trade with the West. Today that original building is the Author’s Wing, with suites above named after famous authors who once stayed there, and in a reading room off to one side are plaques and photographs of all the authors who stayed at the hotel. The reading room is open to the public.
Through the writings of Conrad and other authors we have a pretty good picture what the hotel was like a hundred years ago. To ensure that the world will know what the hotel is like today, the management buried a Time Capsule in the garden. It will be opened in fifty years, on the 200th anniversary of the hotel.
Conrad had also witnessed the changing times in his day. He tells us about his travels through Bangkok by horse-drawn carriage and by sampan on the klongs. He wrote above travel by rickshaw. Only a few years before he arrived, a Chinese nobleman had presented a rickshaw to the king from his private use. By Conrad's time, the vehicle was seen in such numbers that the government had to promulgate an act governing its use. The reason given was public safety. I guess traffic was always a problem in Bangkok.
Conrad made frequent references to The Oriental Hotel. He mentioned that upon his arrival there were ten or more ships anchored below The Oriental, with the Otego, which he was to command, anchored a little upstream from the hotel. The East Asiatic Company stood next to the Oriental, as is still does today, and upriver was the harbormaster's office, which is presently the Marine Fire Department.
Conrad met with immediate frustrations when he arrived in Bangkok. He expected to be on his way within a few days; it took him weeks. The loading of his ship was going very slowly and most of the crew suffered "various stages of sickness." Nevertheless, the Otego was Conrad’s first command, and he was bursting with pride when he lifted anchor and set sail down river and passed the Oriental. He tells how he and his crew waved to the early-risen guests who sat in cane chairs on the lawn.
The Author’s Wing, when I first saw it in 1962, had an open courtyard and when it rained the lobby got wet. In the very centre of the lobby was a small Japanese-style bridge over pool, and off to one side was the Bamboo Bar. There was nothing fancy about the bar, but it was a hangout for writers and journalists. It was the unofficial Foreign Correspondents Club.
The Oriental, however, has always meant more than just an accommodation. Perhaps this is its secret. It has been the chosen venue for celebrations and special events. It has been host to exhibitions, concerts, private parties and major social events that have been vitally important to the evolution of the city that has grown up around the hotel.
The celebration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee, soon after the hotel’s opening, was perhaps the first major event, followed soon after by the birthday celebration of Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. Then came other events like the first local performance of classical ballet by Nijinsky in 1916 to the annual presentation of the South East Asian Writers' Award, inaugurated at the Hotel in 1979 by H.M. Queen Sirikit of Thailand who graciously presided over the presentations. James Michener was the first guest speaker.
Names don’t necessarily make a hotel. With the Oriental its main ingredient is service. To the traveller The Mandarin Oriental has always been supreme where every need is anticipated and satisfied; a place where every small service is carried out in the inimitable Oriental style.
To the residents of Bangkok, The Oriental has played the role as a social focal point and a window on the world. For Legends of IndoChina it is one of the focal points of Grand Tours.
In the weeks to come I will take readers to other hotels in Legends of IndoChina. Next week, however, it will be places to dine on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. QUESTIONS & ANSWERSQ. Dear Mr. Stephens, Your readers might be interested in the Sail Thailand Rally, Meet and Greet the Fleet Day, on 09 January in Phuket. Everyone is invited. Twenty-two yachts crossed to Phuket with the Sail Thailand Rally completing a sail of five nations in five months together as "friends" with sister rallies, the Sail Indonesia and Sail Malaysia. I hope you can use the information. Bianca Hein, Sail Thailand Rally Organizer.
A. Dear Bianca, Thank you for the information. I will let readers know about the rally and I am sure it will prove to be an interesting day.
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. | 
