Built in 1901 by the famous Sarkie brothers (who also built the E & O Hotel Penang and Raffles Singapore) the hotels 32 suites have recently been restored to their former opulence. The hotel has joined the GHM stable which also has other stellar properties such as The Chedi Muscat and The Nam Hai in Hoi An. Sitting in a rattan chair at The Cafe, with its teak-framed windows and its black ceiling fans you feel like the character in Rudyard Kipling's The Road to Mandalay - "Ship me somewhere east of Suez/Where the best is like the worst/And there ain't no Ten Commandments/And a cat can raise a thirst'.