Colonial Chic - Swishful Thinking

Like a living museum, Asia’s grand colonial hotels are the lavish legacy of the region’s colonial past, and provide a glamorous window into a time when the expanding empires of France and Britain in particular cut mighty swaths across the globe.

Wealthy traders and entrepreneurs like the famous Sarkies brothers, flocked to exotic new outposts in the Far East and were quick to leave their imprint on the occupied territory, importing familiar customs and, above all, familiar architecture to the native landscape.

Mostly built early last century, these plush properties like The Oriental in Thailand, Hanoi’s Sofitel Metropole, Vientiane’s Settha Palace and The Strand in Yangon, provided a decadent refuge for the rich and privileged in a very foreign land. Lofty ballrooms, exquisite dining halls, sweeping stair-cases and luxurious suites all supplied the lush backdrop to an endless round of parties and intrigues.

But more than simply a grandiose tribute to imperial decadence, these institutions set high standards in luxury and architecture that their current owners take pains to preserve. Though most are now in the hands of luxury hotel chains, such as Sofitel, Raffles and GHM, which have the funds necessary to maintain them, many of their historical traditions, such as high tea, Tiffin and classical French cuisine, happily live on.

From the rattan furniture and potted plants, to the marble floors and brass fittings, these great colonial hotels still evoke the wonderful opulence of their golden days in the 1920s and '30s. They all offer welcome despite from sterile, modern and often charmless hotels and give us the chance to experience the un-adulterated glamour of a bygone era.