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This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use, please contact client relations at 1-866-831-4314 or email [email protected]. APRIL 2016 | Our 37th Year andrewharper.com TRAVELING THE WORLD IN SEARCH OF TRULY ENCHANTING PLACES HOTEL DISCOVERIES, GOLDEN PAGODAS, TROPICAL BEACHES COVER PHOTOGRAPH The serene pool at Belmond Governor’s Residence in Yangon / PHOTO BY ANDREW HARPER The Changing Face of Myanmar THIS MONTH yanmar was isolated from the on travel itineraries. The number of A New Era Begins rest of the world for nearly half American visitors is increasing rapidly. From Yangon, we traveled north to Bagan, M a century. When I first visited Of course, the experience of a land Mandalay and the Himalayan foothills, before the country in the 1980s, tourists could frozen in amber is a big part of Myanmar’s relaxing beside the Andaman Sea. ...............1-7 obtain a visa for a maximum of seven days, appeal. Yangon bears little resemblance Yangon’s Colonial Heritage ..............................3 and tour groups were shadowed, fairly to modern Asian cities like Bangkok, Myanmar’s Ethnic Mosaic ................................4 blatantly, by the secret police. A paranoid Singapore or Hong Kong. The grand brick What’s in a Name? ................................................6 military junta governed the country from buildings of its colonial heart remain Ayeyarwady Riverboats ...................................7 1962 until 2011, when strongman Gen. largely untouched and gently decaying. Online: Touring Itinerary, Shwedagon Pagoda, Than Shwe finally stepped down in favor Seen from a boat on the Yangon River Inle Lake and Bookshelf of a milder-mannered former general, the most prominent landmark remains Thein Sein, to clear a path to some form the golden spire of the Shwedagon, an Bordeaux Openings of civilian government. ancient pagoda that is a focus for both Two small independent hotels provide fine new Last year, Aung San Suu Kyi duly national identity and Buddhist devotion. choices for visitors to this gracious city. .... 8-10 won an electoral landslide. At the time A country that has remained substan- Les Sources de Caudalie Update .....................9 of writing, a full political settlement has tially unchanged since the 1960s may Favorite Restaurants .....................................11 yet to be agreed, but many sanctions be romantic, but there are obvious Wine Bars .....................................................11 have been lifted, and President Barack downsides. The purpose of my recent Find video and more photographs of our trips Obama and then-Secretary of State trip was to see whether Myanmar’s new at andrewharper.com/hideaway-report Hillary Clinton have included Myanmar economic and political circumstances Full-service travel planning is available to subscribers at (800) 375-4685 or [email protected]. For comments and inquiries concerning the Hideaway Report, please email [email protected]. Exterior and our bedroom at Belmond Governor’s Residence Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon The Governor’s Residence is a refuge from the city, a place to “ recuperate from a long flight or to unwind at the end of a demanding tour. have yet resulted in improved logistics renovation and has since found favor The Strand has been restored rather and expanded opportunities for Ameri- with diplomats and businesspeople, as than converted, so there is no pool, no gym can travelers. well as leisure travelers nostalgic for the and only a small Spa Suite. Aside from Burma of Kipling. The atrium lobby, with nostalgic appeal, the hotel’s chief merit is its columns, rattan furniture, ceiling fans its location at the colonial heart of Yangon. Yangon and inlaid marble floors, is extremely However, it is important to understand y journey began at an old haunt, atmospheric. And the adjoining Strand that the setting is uncompromisingly M The Strand, a 31-suite hotel, built in Bar, with its teak panels, brass fixtures urban. There are no gardens to provide 1901. It reopened in 1993 after a complete and billiards table, remains a favorite of a buffer between the hotel and the city; expatriates, especially during happy hour the view of the Yangon River is blocked on Friday evenings. (The famous house by warehouses lining the waterfront, and BHUTAN cocktail, the “Strand Sour,” is a concoc- the property faces a multi-lane highway. INDIA PUTAO tion of Mandalay rum, lime and bitters.) Three miles to the northwest, in the After a friendly check-in, we were green and tranquil Embassy District, a d y R . escorted upstairs and introduced to our the Belmond Governor’s Residence SH a r w CHINA e y personal butler. Our Executive Suite was provides a complete contrast. Its main A y relatively austere, with cream walls, a building is a 1920s teak mansion with polished teak floor, teak headboard, and a wraparound porch, surrounded by ANGLADE MYANMAR B framed floral prints. Tall windows looked gardens and accessible by a covered MANDALAY across a quiet street to a sidewallHONG of the KONG walkway across a lotus pond. The hotel BAGAN Bay Inle Lake AustralianVIETNAM Embassy. Modernity had is a refuge, a place to recuperate from of LAOS arrived in the form of air-conditioning, a long flight or to unwind at the end of a B engal PACIFIC NAYPYIDAW slow Wi-Fi, an adequate cell phone connec- demanding tour. Ceiling fans whir in shad- OCEAN NGAPALI tion and an iPhone dock.HAINAN The marble bath owy lounges and the peace is disturbed ISLAND was sufficiently spacious, but the lighting only by an occasional splash as a guest YANGON was subdued, while the water that initially takes a dip in the lovely fan-shaped pool. flowed into the tub was a sinister shade of The 49 accommodations occupy brown. (It ran clear after a while.) four newer buildings, set amid gardens THAILAND Overall, we were content. True, we behind the mansion itself. The rooms tend Andaman noticed one or two signs of peeling paint to be rather dark, but all are elegantly Sea — I have learned recently that The StrandS outhfurnished in a traditional style and come MYEIK willCAMBODIA close from May to November this yearChina with teak floors and expanses of Burmese Sea MYEIK for refurbishment — and the housekeep- silk. Baths provide twin sinks, walk-in ARCHIPELAGO S R H ing staff had an annoying habit of leaving showers and excellentPHILIPPINE lighting. EvenS the ANDAMAN 4 AND NICOBAR the door to their storage cupboard wide Wi-Fi works unexpectedly well. ISLANDS Gulf of open, treating us to a view of cleaning The main Mandalay Restaurant serves 0275 MI Thailand products, but in general the atmosphere Burmese cuisine plus familiar interna- PHOTOS BY ANDREW HARPER 0 275 KM PHUKET was calm and dignified. tional dishes. Although the quality of 2 HIDEAWAY REPORT APRIL 2016 MALAYSIA BRUNEI MALAYSIA 23 24 SINGAPORE BINTAN ISLAND SUMATRA BORNEO 2.5 HR S INDONESIA JAKARTA INDONESIA MOYO JAVA BOROBUDUR ISLAND 25 26 27 BALI A NEW GUINEA APU P Our room at Bagan Lodge Infinity pool at Aureum Palace / ALL TOP PHOTOS BY ANDREW HARPER the food was high and the staff proved Ayeyarwady River. Bagan had about ARCHITECTURE extremely polite and friendly, the service 200,000 inhabitants and 10,000 Buddhist during our stay was exasperatingly slow at temples before its destruction at the hands Colonial Heritage times. Otherwise, the hotel’s chief amenity of the Mongol Kublai Khan in the late 13th is The Governor’s Oasis spa. century. Its wooden structures disap- SOME ASIAN CITIES have chosen to preserve peared, but many of the brick pagodas the buildings erected during their colonial yanmar is a large country that survived. Today, around 2,200 remain, periods. These are viewed as remnants of a long- M extends about 1,250 miles from the surrounded by quiet fields. vanished era, aspects of history that can now Himalayas to the tropical Myeik Archipel- Three local properties are sufficiently be appreciated for their architectural quality or ago along the western coast of the Malay comfortable for Harper subscribers. utility. Elsewhere there is little or no reverence for Peninsula. Much of it is extremely remote The Bagan Thiripyitsaya Sanctuary the past, and Victorian structures are routinely and receives few, if any, visitors. For now Resort has well-tended grounds that torn down to make way for undistinguished most travelers follow a fairly predictable slope down to the Ayeyarwady, a large concrete towers. Yangon now has this choice itinerary. Nearly all the roads are poor, open-air swimming pool and a spa. Most to make. The city was planned by the British in 1852, and its colonial core is virtually as it was and the main railway line from Yangon of the accommodations do not make the at independence in 1948, with an array of grand to Mandalay is ill maintained. Until such cut. The furnishings are simple and the brick buildings laid out in a grid, some relatively time as the infrastructure is radically baths are old-fashioned. However, the well-preserved, some in fairly advanced stages of improved, the only practical way to travel eight suites within villas close to the river decay. Pressure for rapid development is intense. around is by plane. are worthy of serious consideration. These The Yangon Heritage Trust was established in Twenty years ago, Burmese aviation are spacious and tranquil, with expanses 2012 by Harvard-educated architect Dr. Thant had a notorious reputation and barely a of teak, local artwork and modern baths. Myint-U. It is involved in urban heritage planning monsoon season passed without one of The most obviously luxurious of as well as specific conservation projects. The the elderly Fokker turboprops operated Bagan’s hotels is the Aureum Palace.

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