The Melbourne Age
The staff's service is 'impeccable'.
Louise Southerden is treated like royalty at Phnom Penh's most resilient hotel.
In theory, Raffles Hotel le Royal shouldn't exist. Designed
by French architect Ernest Hebrard (like Cambodia's other Raffles, in
Siem Reap) and opened in 1929 by the then-king, his majesty Sisowath
Monivong, it's the only luxury hotel in Phnom Penh to have weathered the
Khmer Rouge storm of 1975-79.
There's no sign of Cambodia's dark past, of course, on the
steamy Monday morning my partner, Craig, and I arrive by tuk-tuk from
the airport. But as we're greeted by a doorman in his day-of-the-week
pantaloons (a different colour for each day, according to Khmer custom) I
can't help wondering: how did such a grand hotel, whose guests included
Charlie Chaplin, Somerset Maugham and Jackie Kennedy in its heyday from
the 1930s to the '60s, survive the turbulent '70s?
The Royal Palace. Photo: Reuters
The lobby is cool, calm and collected - and so, suddenly, are
we, sitting on cream sofas, dabbing our faces with chilled towels and
sipping from tall glasses of iced lemongrass and ginger tea as if we've
been doing this all our lives. That's the charm of five-star hotels,
particularly in Asia. It's like taking a subliminal deportment class
that urges you to glide (not walk), whisper (don't talk) and slow down
(rushing is ever so common).
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It doesn't help that we're treated like royalty. It's only
eight in the morning but our room is ready and we're invited to enjoy
breakfast on the terrace at Cafe Monivong. After, we check in and meet
our white-suited butler, Thy "Mr T" Sothea - Raffles is the only hotel
in Phnom Penh with a 24-hour butler service.
Freshened up and ready for the day, we take a city tour in
two cyclos (rickshaws). It's a little colonial but surprisingly peaceful
to be pedalled around, past the Royal Palace, the Silver Pagoda, the
Tonle Sap river, the Russian market, Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum - all of
which we mentally bookmark to visit on our three-day stay.
After lunch at Romdeng, a restaurant that trains street kids
in the art of hospitality, we catch a tuk-tuk back to Raffles, where
word has spread that it's Craig's birthday. Exhibit A: on the desk in
our State Room, a chocolate cake with "Happy Birthday" in icing on the
top, and a card signed by Mr T and the hotel's management.
For the rest of the day, there are birthday greetings around
every corner. Whether we're retrieving our key at reception, ordering a
drink at the bar or arranging a wake-up call, our room number never
fails to elicit a cheery "Happy birthday, sir!" in Craig's direction.
There's an elevator to the third floor, and our room, but we
find ourselves taking the dark-teak staircase to reach the 25-metre pool
- where we spend the afternoon in splendid anonymity, swimming, reading
and napping. Until one of us gets thirsty for a beer and the other
needs a cup of tea. The pool attendant comes over. Room number? Craig
tries to say it quickly: "Three-oh-five." The attendant writes down our
order. Perhaps he's just started his shift. Then it comes, with a smile:
"Happy birthday, sir."
When the shadows lengthen across the patio, we climb the
creaking stairs back to level three to dress for dinner. It seems a pity
not to spend more time in our beautiful room - with its stone balcony
overlooking the pool, chiffon-like curtains billowing romantically in
the breeze and black-and-white-tiled bathroom, complete with claw-foot
bath - but it's happy "hour" at the Elephant Bar, from 4-9pm.
Pre-dinner drinks in this elephant-themed lounge on the
ground floor are a Phnom Penh institution. Once the domain of war
correspondents, it's classier than the Foreign Correspondents Club by
the river, the kind of place Elizabeth Taylor might have swept into from
the tropical garden. And everyone we see surely has a story: two
European gents in wicker armchairs discussing world politics, the
pianist tickling the ivories of an upright piano, expat families
reuniting over gin and tonics.
We're dining tonight, on this special occasion, at one of the
best restaurants in Phnom Penh: the hotel's Restaurant le Royal. There,
under crystal chandeliers and accompanied by classical music from a
grand piano, we're treated to a parade of French and Khmer dishes -
including Norwegian sea bass, crepes Suzette, Khmer petits fours,
another complimentary chocolate cake - created by Michelin-starred
Belgian chef Steve van Remoortel.
How delightful it is, after a few glasses of celebratory
champagne, to have your room just minutes away, the bed turned down,
slippers at the ready, a thoughtful quote on your pillow. Like being on a
luxury cruise ship, one that is firmly anchored in its surroundings and
has sailed through interesting times, and changed with them. That's
probably the secret to Hotel le Royal's success - and its survival.
It's hard to believe this elegant building, which for three
decades played host to visiting celebrities and heads of state, was home
to foreign journalists, ringed with barbed wire and declared a neutral
zone by the Red Cross in Cambodia's troubled '70s. It was later occupied
by Khmer Rouge cadres, and taken over by international aid agencies and
the United Nations in the '80s and '90s. Its name even changed four
times: from the original Le Royal to Le Phnom in the '70s, Hotel Samakki
(Solidarity) in 1979 and finally Hotel le Royal in 1993, when Prince
Norodom Sihanouk (who died late last year) was restored as king. But all
this gives the hotel depth. It's luxury - with substance.
Besides, staying at this Raffles is a Gatsby-like experience
of other-worldly elegance - from its stately facade and impeccable
service to its cool, checkerboard floors and french doors that make you
stand back as you open them, arms wide to embrace a new day. Isn't this
why we holiday? To escape world events past and present, and the flotsam
of our everyday lives, and immerse ourselves in another time and
sensibility? If it is, Hotel le Royal is an ideal escape hatch - and if
it's your birthday, so much the better.
Louise Southerden travelled as a guest of Air Asia and Raffles Hotel le Royal, Phnom Penh.
FAST FACTS
Getting there Thai Airways has a fare to
Phnom Penh for about $1158, low-season return, from Sydney and Melbourne
including taxes. Fly to Bangkok (about 9hr) and then to Phnom Penh
(75min). Phone 1300 651 960, see thaiairways.com.au.
Staying there Raffles Hotel le Royal Phnom Penh, 92 Rukhak Vithei Daun Penh, Sangwat Wat Phnom, Phnom Penh; phone +855 23 981 888, see raffles.com/phnom-penh.
Rooms start at $US216 ($226) a night during the low season (April to
September). In the high season (October to March), rates start at $US243
a night.
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