JANUARY 26, 2024
M adame Maria Maire and her husband, Jules Auguste, from the jewellery and watch- making business George Fox & Co, acquired the hotel in 1920 and owned it for the next 22 years. Notable guests during this era included Carl Faberge, who visited throughout the coronation of King Vajiravudh in 1911 and hosted an exhibition of Faberge eggs and his jewellery; Vaslav Nijinsky, who presented the first major performance of Western ballet in Thailand; and authors Somerset Maugham and Noël Coward, both of whom would return many times and both of whom have suites named after them. During Maugham’s stay in 1923 he came down with malaria, contracted when travelling overland from Mandalay in Burma. Madame Marie, concerned about having a sick, well-known author in her hotel, sent him to hospital or so he thought ‘turned him out’. Maugham never forgot the incident and reminisced in 1960 when he returned for his 85th birthday: ‘I was almost evicted from The Oriental because the manager did not want me to ruin her business by dying in one of her rooms’. Recovering from malaria he returned to the hotel, Into The 1950s And Jim Thompson And Germain Krull Enter The Oriental: During the Second World War, the hotel was leased to the
F or over 145 years, travellers have followed the River of Kings to stay at the legendary Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok. A haven of calm on the banks of the river, this iconic hotel has always been a truly remarkable place that understands and knows Bangkok as well as it does its guests. Not only was it the first luxury hotel to open in Thailand, but it was the first to open on the majestic river, the first to have a jazz bar and the first to offer guests a hotel spa. Journey Through The Illustrious Legacy Of The Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok Story and Photographs by Mandarin Oriental Bangkok
and descriptions of these feverish days spent on the hotel’s veranda were to appear later in ‘The Gentleman in The Parlour’. It was here that he penned his ‘Siamese Fairy Tale’, a whimsical tale of a king, queen, nine princesses, nine parrots, one nightingale and some cats. He was to return many more times and is
I n the middle of the nineteenth century, when Thailand was still known as Siam, a rest house for foreign seafarers was established on a large open space belonging to the Privy Purse on the banks of what is today known as the Chao Phraya River. It was to become one of the world’s greatest hotels: The
The Oriental Hotel in 1887
that he wouldn’t recognise anything. ‘Whatever else had changed, I prayed that The Oriental would be the same’, he wrote. It was to his relief that it hadn’t changed, and he went on to say: ‘The smiling welcome of the receptionist, Ankana, every bit as elegant as she had been 11 years before’. Khun Ankana was one of the first Thai women to enter the hotel business and she went on to work at the hotel for over 60 years. A room off The Authors’ Lounge has been dedicated to her, for her loyalty to the many guests she looked after. an atmosphere of elegance’, Germaine writes, ‘I thought the least our guests could do would be to wear a tie. If anyone arrived without, we gave him one. We made hundreds of ties with the cheapest satin and the children of the Chinese boys painted birds on them. These ties went around the world as they were collected by visitors and local guests. I bought the most hideous colours I could find. But still, no one objected to wearing a garish orange tie while his partner might be beautifully presented in pink Thai silk.’ This is the first reference to the hotel having a dress code and to this day this tradition is honoured.
the Authors’ Wing. These statues are mentioned in English writer Somerset Maugham’s book ‘A Gentleman in The Parlour’. In 1892 Louis Thomas Leonowens, son of Anna Leonowens (of Anna and The King of Siam), was to become the hotel’s proprietor. Whilst he did not manage the hotel himself, he treated it like a second home,
quoted saying he enjoyed joining ‘the unofficial club which met every day (except Sundays) in the old bar’ where ‘a good deal of gossip passed’. Noël Coward, a frequent guest at The Oriental in the 1930s, wrote: ‘It is a lovely place and I am fonder of it than ever.’ A lounge area dedicated to this great playwright can be found off The Authors’ Lounge. Alec Waugh was another notable visitor. In his 1969 autobiography he wrote how upon returning to Bangkok, many years after his first visit, he was concerned Japanese Army, which used it as an officers’ club. The end of the war saw The Oriental enter the modern era under the enthusiastic ownership of a group of six local residents, who each paid USD 250 to buy the hotel. These included Germaine Krull, a former war correspondent; His Royal Highness Prince Bhanubandhu Yugala; a prominent Thai lawyer, Pote Sarasin, who would later become Prime Minister; General Chai Prateepasen; and two Americans, John Webster and Jim Thompson, the ‘Thai Silk King’. Together they revitalised and revived the hotel’s former glory and an advert on 12
Chulalongkorn paid a private visit to The Oriental to assess the hotel’s ability to host royal guests. Crown Prince Nicholas of Russia stayed in the hotel in April 1891 and went on to became Tsar in 1894. It was the beginning of a long-lasting relationship between the legendary hotel and Thailand’s Royal Palace. The hotel would go on to host other visiting dignitaries, politicians, authors and celebrities, all of whom found some special affinity with The Oriental. 1891 was also a special year as electric lighting was installed. The Times correspondent reported: ‘Businessmen and the seafaring community, The Oriental hotel has added to its attractions with electric light which was flashed into every room in the building and
an elegant abode where he could give lavish and elegant parties for his friends. Carl Edwards, an American from New York, was the next to acquire the hotel, under the management of Madame M. O. Bujault. Together they added a dignified twist to the hotel by way of engaging a Viennese orchestra for musical dinners and, being a bon vivant herself, summoned a new chef straight from France. Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok believesthat Madame Bujault would be delighted to learn that all these years later guests of The Oriental can still enjoy live orchestral music nightly and that the hotel is now home to a two- Michelin-starred French restaurant, Le Normandie.
Oriental. In 1865 the hotel’s original structure was destroyed in a fire and was replaced by the current structure in 1876. It was two Danish sea captains, H. Jarck and C. Salje, who opened The Oriental as the first luxury hotel in the Kingdom of Siam. By 1881 this modest building had come under the enterprising ownership of H.N. Anderson – the only Dane outside the Thai Royal Family to have been decorated with the Order of the White Elephant by the King of Siam. Anderson appointed Italian architect firm Messrs Cardu and Rossi to design The Oriental hotel, which is today one of Bangkok’s proudest and most iconic landmarks. They officially opened their doors on 14 May 1887. Royalty, Authors and Electricity: A year after its opening, The Oriental welcomed a soon-to-be-famous young merchant marine officer, Joseph Conrad, the first of many world-renowned novelists to stay in the hotel. Today a suite has been named after Conrad and one of the hotel’s much-loved restaurants is even named after his famed book ‘Lord Jim’s’. In 1890 His Majesty King
June 1947 declared the ‘Oriental Hotel Open Again - Cuisine Franoise, Bamboo Bar, European Manager’. The Bamboo Bar swiftly evolved into the city’s first jazz bar, where people gathered to have sanuk (fun) until 4am. ‘To give it
shed its soft rays steadily throughout the night.’ Two classical statues carrying lamps can still be found today outside
Le Normandie
Germaine Krull and Jim Thompson in front of their Oriental Hotel
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