Eastern & Oriental Hotel

Georgetown, Malaysia

Even if the notorious Hong Kong Bar was all that Georgetown had to offer, we would have been happy with our trip to the capital of Penang. As it turned out, there was so much of interest in this uniquely multicultural place city that we didn’t have time to see it all.

Destination Hotel, the E&O

There can be no better way to arrive at the historic Eastern & Oriental Hotel than trundling up in a couple of trishaws. Our luggage having been dropped off a while earlier by crew from the train, we waltzed in unencumbered.

I was unprepared for the sheer grandeur of the hotel, the vast acreage of its domed lobby, the lavishness of its furnishings. And its imposing street entrance pales in comparison to the splendour of its rear aspect, situated as it is a dozen metres or so from the sea with a beautiful swimming pool and a long private promenade. It’s simply gorgeous.

It is difficult to believe that our suite, one of just a hundred in the entire hotel, is the standard accommodation. On the third level, it has sweeping views of the sea, as most of the rooms do. Its proportions remind us of the Dalat Palace Hotel in Dalat, Vietnam; the British colonial feel and its seaside location of the Brunton Boatyard in Cochin, Kerala.

Hotel History

Established in 1885 by the same four brothers (the Sarkies) who started such other stellar hostelries as our own Raffles Hotel and The Strand in Rangoon, the E&O’s unrivalled glory in the decades before World War II was followed by a series of ups and (mainly) downs. Finally, the grand old dame was closed for restoration in 1996, but recession and delays meant it was five years before she emerged from the scaffolding, wonderfully rebuilt and back in business.