The Oriental Bangkok (2013)

The Oriental Bangkok is written by Andreas Augustin and Andrew Williamson. It is a volume in the series about the most famous hotels in the world.

The team behind the book consists of four persons:

** Andreas Augustin is an Austrian writer, who was born in 1956. He is the author of several books about famous hotels around the world, including Sofitel Hanoi Metropole (2001), The Savoy London (2002), The Caledonian Edinburgh (2003), and The Imperial New Delhi (2007).

** Andrew Williamson is a British writer, who studied history at St Anne’s College in Oxford. He is the author of The Golden Age of Travel (1998).

** Chancham Bunnag helped compile an early biography of the Oriental, An Oriental Album. She was of great help in researching this book.

** Michelle Chaplow is a British freelance photographer. She contributed some of her portraits and still shots for this book.

The first edition of The Oriental Bangkok was published in 1996. Since then it has been revised several times. The latest edition (which has 160 pages) was published in 2013. This edition is under review here.

The book begins with a preface, signed by Andreas Augustin. The main text is divided into eleven chapters, which follow a chronological line from the foundation around 1876 until the beginning of the 21st century. Here is the table of contents:

Chapter 1 – ARRIVAL OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNESS

Chapter 2 – THE LAND OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT

Chapter 3 – GRAND HOTELS OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Chapter 4 – THE RIDDLE OF THE ORIENTAL’S OPENING

Chapter 5 – JOSEPH CONRAD

Chapter 6 – THE CONCEPT OF TRAVEL

Chapter 7 – WHEN NIJINSKY DANCED

Chapter 8 – MODERN TIMES

Chapter 9 – IN ARTISTIC HANDS

Chapter 10 - ITALTHAI

Chapter 11 – NUMBER ONE IN THE WORLD

At the end of the book we find a section called “Who’s Who at the Oriental” and an epilogue. There is no bibliography, no index.

Each chapter is illustrated with numerous pictures, drawings and maps. For obvious reasons old photos are in black-and-white, while all new photos are in colour. The illustrations are excellent. Text and illustrations complement each other very well.

The authors did a lot of work while preparing this book. They looked through memoirs written by people who lived and worked or travelled in Asia during the 19th and the 20th centuries. Some of them are quoted in the book. They also searched for articles about the hotel and ads by the hotel published in newspapers and magazines. Some of them are quoted in the book.

The History of the Oriental
The English governess mentioned in chapter 1 is Anna Leonowens (1831-1915). King Mongkut, also known as Rama IV, hired her to teach his children English. She worked as a teacher in Bangkok for five years (1862-1867).

Her name is controversial in Thailand because of the memoirs that she published a few years later. As the authors explain, “her memories proved to be rather a mix of fantasy and reality.” Several films based on her memoirs have been made in the west. They were all banned in Thailand “due to their real historical inaccuracies and the perceived disrespect to the monarchy” (pp. 18-19).

Anna and her son Louis Thomas Leonowens (1856-1919) never stayed at the Oriental, but they saw it as they arrived on a boat from Singapore in 1862. When Louis returned to Bangkok in 1881, he would often visit the bar of the Oriental (pp. 54-55).

“The Land of the White Elephant” – chapter 2 – is a brief history of Thailand. In this way the history of the hotel is placed in a social, economic and political context.

How old is the hotel? This question is discussed in chapter 4, “The Riddle of the Oriental’s Opening.” The answer is: nobody knows for sure.

A newspaper article from 1863 mentions “a boarding house for sea farers at the river,” but the name of this boarding house is not mentioned. It could be the Oriental. There was no other boarding house at the river at that time.

In 1865 a fire destroyed several buildings along the river, including the Oriental. This time the name of the hotel is mentioned in a contemporary source. So it must have been founded at least five or ten years before that date. But when?

The authors explain:

“During the 1970s the board of the hotel decided to end the uncertainty. They agreed that it would be questionable, not to say inauspicious, to use the burning of The Oriental in 1865 as it’s [sic] founding date. 1976 heralded the opening of the new River Wing and so, putting history to work, the hotel was declared a hundred years old.”

This is the official answer: the hotel was founded in 1876, and this is no exaggeration, because it is older than that. The 125th anniversary of the hotel was celebrated in 2001, and next year, in 2016, it can celebrate its 140th anniversary.

The Oriental is sometimes called the Mandarin Oriental. Why? The answer can be found on page 111. In 1972 the Oriental entered into a partnership with Mandarin International Hotels. Since that year the Oriental has been a part of the Mandarin chain, which operates five star-hotels all over the world.

Many famous people have stayed here: actors, authors, businessmen, politicians as well as royalty: kings and queens, princes and princesses. A list of famous visitors is available in the section called Who’s Who at the Oriental, pp. 138-149.

The list is long and varied. From Graham Greene to Michael Jackson to Queen Elizabeth II of England. One frequent visitor was the English playwright Noël Coward (1899-1973), whose impression of the hotel is quoted on page 35:

“There is a terrace overlooking the swift river where we have drinks every evening watching the liver-coloured water swirling by and tiny steam tugs hauling rows of barges up river against the tide. It is a lovely place and I am fonder of it than ever.”

You can still sit on this terrace and have a drink while you watch the river and the traffic on it. It is still a lovely place. If you have been there, just once, you will understand why Noël Coward was so fond of it.

Flaws
I like this book, but not everything is as it should be. There are flaws here and there. I am a bit surprised about it, because this is not the first or the second edition of the book. The flaws do not concern the history of the hotel. They concern the background information which is offered to give the account a broader perspective. Here are some examples:

(1) A footnote on page 36 mentions Anna Leonowens:

“In 1867, Anne went to live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, where she became involved in women’s education, and was a suffragette and one of the founders of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design… After 19 years she moved to Montreal.”

This passage is not quite accurate. Anna left Thailand in 1867, but she did not go straight to Canada. For a while she lived in the US. In addition, she travelled a lot. In 1881, she visited Russia. Only then did she move to Halifax where she was one of the founders of the local college (which was founded in 1887). According to the book, she moved to Montreal 19 years after 1867, i.e. in 1886. But this is not true. She moved to Montreal 19 years after 1881, i.e. in 1900.

(2) For 12 years (1881-1893) the Oriental was owned by three businessmen from Denmark: Hans Niels Andersen, Peter Andersen, and Frederik Kinch. The names appear on pp. 35, 44-45, and 54-55. The first of them is the most famous of them. However, in Denmark his first and middle names are never used. He is known by his initials: H. N. Andersen.

On page 55 we are told that Andersen was ready to sell the hotel, if he could get a good price, because he wanted to return to Denmark. The text continues:

“Andersen was happy to sell. He returned to Denmark in 1897 to found the East Asiatic Company along with I Glückstadt, the founder of Landmans-banken [sic]. Today it is the largest company in Denmark with branches all over the world.”

This passage is most unfortunate. H. N. Andersen and Isak Glückstadt founded the East Asiatic Company (EAC) in 1897, but Glückstadt was not the founder of Landmands-banken. It had been founded in 1871 by G. H. A. Gedalia (1816-1892) and Glückstadt (1839-1910) was the first director of the bank. He served from 1872 until his death in 1910. In 1976, Landmands-banken changed its name to the Danish Bank. In 1990, it swallowed two other banks, after which it became the largest bank, and the second-largest company, in Denmark. It still is.

Under the leadership of H. N. Andersen, the EAC became a large company, but things began to go downhill after World War Two. In 1993 all shipping activities of the EAC were bought by Maersk Shipping, the largest company in Denmark, which has branches all over the world. The EAC is still in business, but these days it is merely a shadow of its former self.

(3) H. N. Andersen appears again on page 87: “… on New Year’s Eve 1937, H N Andersen died in his native Copenhagen at the age of 85.” New Year’s Eve is 31 December. But H. N. Andersen died on 30 December.

(4) On the next page we are told the name of the country was changed in 1939, from Siam to Thailand, “meaning free country.” The name Thailand does not mean Free Country, it means the land of the Thais.

(5) On pp. 89-90 we hear what happened in early 1942 when the Thai government under Phibul Songkhram decided to side with Japan in the Second World War. Seni Pramoj, Thailand’s ambassador in Washington, DC, met with US Secretary of State Cordell Hull and told him that he had an unpleasant duty. He had to give him Thailand’s declaration of war against the US, but he did not want to do it. Cordell responded: “Forget it, Seni, I will not accept them.”

The story about Seni and the Thai declaration of war on the US is famous. It is found in several accounts. But a closer inspection reveals it is a myth. For details, see Thailand’s Secret War by E. Bruce Reynolds (2005, 2010), pp. 19-20.

(6) On page 100 there is a picture of Kukrit Pramoj, who is a brother of Seni Pramoj. According to the caption Kukrit Pramoj was Prime Minister of Thailand “for 13 months.”

This is not true. Kukrit Pramoj was Prime Minister of Thailand from 14 March 1975 to 12 January 1976, i.e. a period of ten months, not 13 months. In the age of the internet, it is quick and easy to check this fact. I wonder why the authors did not do this.

(7) On page 111 there is a cross-reference to pp. 118-120. The cross-reference is wrong. The correct reference is pp. 116-118.

Conclusion
As stated above, I like this book and I want to recommend it, but I am disappointed to see the flaws I have mentioned here. I cannot understand why they were not discovered and corrected after the first or the second edition of the book. Because of these flaws I cannot give it five stars, but since I like it, I will give it four stars.

PS. Full disclosure: I have never stayed at the Oriental, because I live in Bangkok. But I have visited the place several times. I enjoy the terrace by the river as much as Noël Coward did when he was there.

If you have stayed at the Oriental, this book will be a wonderful souvenir. If you have never stayed there, you can still enjoy this book while you think about what it would be like to be a guest at this establishment. I know I do.

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Andreas Augustin and Andrew Williamson,

The Oriental Bangkok,

The Most Famous Hotels in the World, 2013, 160 pages

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