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Esplanade Mansion, Mumbai
Opinion
Travellers' Checks
by Adam Nebbs
Travellers' Checks
by Adam Nebbs

Travel deals: double happiness with Siam Hotel/Dhara Dhevi offer; packages for sunny Sanya

Adam Nebbs

Said to be India's oldest surviving cast-iron building, the decaying Esplanade Mansion, in Mumbai - now no more than a crumbling slum - used to be regarded as one of the finest hotels (above) east of Suez. It was built in the 1860s, almost entirely with materials sent out by sailing ship from England. The cast-iron framework came from Derby, the bricks and cement from the banks of the River Thames, the tiles from Staffordshire, and the red-stone columns from Cumberland. The 130-room Watson's Hotel went into business in 1869 and was the place to stay until the opening of what is now the grand Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, in 1903. (It was said that industrialist Jamsetji Tata built the Taj in revenge for being barred from Watson's, though this has since been largely discredited.) Mark Twain checked-in in 1896, as did the Lumiere brothers, who gave India's first exhibition of moving pictures in the hotel. Watson's closed in the 1960s. The building was turned into flats and offices, and began falling apart soon after. In the 90s, Italian architect Renzo Piano took an interest in the building and, through his efforts, it was placed on a list of endangered monuments by the World Monuments Fund. Very soon after that, part of the building's façade collapsed, killing a passerby. Since then there have been a couple of promising reports about renovation of the old hotel, but red tape seems to have prevented work commencing. Red tape was, perhaps, also the only thing that kept the hotel standing, but it's now about to be stripped of its official heritage status, along with 1,000 other listed buildings and sites, under a new Mumbai development plan. The demolition of one of Asia's most historic hotels now appears to be inevitable.

Posters: Callisto Publishers
s an impressive new book celebrating the heyday of airline marketing and advertising. Described by its publisher as possibly the most technically sophisticated book produced in recent years, it contains poster reproductions using "seventeen different colors, five different types of varnishes, and two different methods of foil printing and embossing" in "a book of exceptional vivacity that pushes the limits of modern art printing technology". Weighing in at a hefty 6.3kg, with 436 pages, it also carries a heavyweight price tag of US$400. Pre-order copies at amazon.com, are, though, at time of writing, available for just over US$250. A preview of the book's contents can be found at www.callisto-publishers.com/en. An even larger, equally nostalgic collection of original airline posters and ephemera can be browsed and purchased at www.dpvintageposters.com.
Guests checking in for two nights at The Siam Hotel (above), in Bangkok, will be offered a free one-night stay up-country at the Dhara Dhevi (below; formerly the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi), in Chiang Mai, until the end of September. TripAdvisor currently places The Siam Hotel in third place out of 777 hotels in the Thai capital while the Dhara Dhevi is placed first out of 333 Chiang Mai hotels, so this looks like a good chance to sample two of Thailand's best hotels in one comparatively affordable package. Your travel agent should be able to arrange open-jaw flights between Hong Kong and Bangkok/Chiang Mai. For further details and reservations, visit www.thesiamhotel.com
Available from Friday until the end of September, Cathay Pacific Holidays' two-night Sanya (Hainan) Special package offers accommodation with daily breakfast at some of the better resorts in the so-called Hawaii of China for very reasonable prices. Hotel options include: the Renaissance Sanya Resort & Spa from HK$1,750; the Sanya Yalong Bay Resort & Spa from HK$2,160; Raffles Hainan (below) from HK$2,510 and the Mandarin Oriental, Sanya from HK$3,100. These rates are quoted per person, twin share, and include round-trip, economy-class flights with Dragonair but not the HK$331 in taxes and fuel surcharges that will be added to your bill during the online booking procedure at www.cxholidays.com.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: TRAVELLERS' CHECKS
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