Source:
https://scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3007579/doulos-phos-ship-hotel-drops-anchor-indonesia
Post Magazine/ Travel

Doulos Phos, The Ship Hotel, drops anchor in Indonesia – complete with swimming pool, spa and museum

  • Previously known as the MV Doulos, the floating bookshop was popular in Hong Kong for its cheap, Christian-themed books
Doulos Phos, The Ship Hotel, will open on Bintan Island, in Indonesia, in June.

The Floating Hotel Company was registered in Hong Kong in the summer of 1890. Its only property, the Hotel Marina, was a converted sailing ship, which was advertised in the local papers as a first-class hotel offering “exceptional advantages for Healthfulness and Refreshing breezes; the avoidance of street noises, and unwholesome odours, &c”. There were 24 bedrooms, each with a private veranda and bathroom, with facilities including a billiard room and a card room.

As one local reviewer noted, “The promenade deck has an area of 8,000 [square] feet and of course gets the breeze from whatever quarter it may be blowing. There are electric bells fitted throughout the ship, the cuisine is excellent, and every arrangement for the comfort of guests that could be expected in a first class hotel is provided.”

Opened in July 1890, she lay at anchor off the southern tip of Kowloon until mid-September, and thereafter just off Wan Chai, near “the Blue Buildings”. In early October, it was reported that she had “dragged her anchors and nearly dropped across the bows of the Oceanic, much to the uneasiness of the few residents”. Within two weeks the Hotel Marina disembarked her last guests and closed for business, largely due, it seems, to mismanagement and insufficient funds to pay creditors.

About a century later, another repurposed ship, the MV Doulos, began making regular visits to Victoria Harbour, usually dropping anchor at Ocean Terminal. As a floating bookshop, she was a popular visitor for many years with Hongkongers of all ages looking for cheap, mostly Christian-themed books. Later renamed the Doulos Phos and retired in 2009, she was once said to have been the world’s oldest active ocean-going passenger ship, having launched in August 1914 as the SS Medina.

In June, Doulos Phos, The Ship Hotel will open at the Bandar Bentan Telani Ferry Terminal, on Bintan Island, Indonesia, as part of the Bintan Resorts development. With 104 cabins and land facilities including a swimming pool, a spa and a maritime museum, it is likely to be more successful than the long-forgotten Hotel Marina, a luxury boutique hotel that was perhaps too far ahead of its time.


French gourmet deli to open first international hotel in Kyoto, Japan

An artist’s impression of Fauchon’s first foray into hospitality, Fauchon L’Hôtel, in Paris.
An artist’s impression of Fauchon’s first foray into hospitality, Fauchon L’Hôtel, in Paris.

French purveyor of gourmet foods Fauchon has confirmed that it will open its second hotel next year, in Kyoto. The company hinted that a Japanese property might be on the horizon back in 2016, when it announced its first hotel – which opened in Paris, near the original Café Fauchon on the Place de la Madeleine, last September. With Fauchon’s presence in Japan – which began in Tokyo in 1972 – now standing at 28 stores, the country was the obvious candidate to host the first of a planned 20 overseas hotels, ahead of others in the United States, Britain, China and elsewhere.

The 70-room Fauchon Hotel Kyoto will be located in the main downtown Shimogyo-ku district, although precisely where is as yet unclear. Joining a good many other French-style bakeries and patisseries in the city will be a Fauchon bakery at street level and a Grand Café Fauchon on the top floor, with “spectacular” views of Kyoto.


Trailblazer publishes 10th edition of Trans-Siberian Handbook

While the content of the guidebook has much improved since the Trans-Siberian Handbook was first published in 1988, one thing has remained the same – its cover image.
While the content of the guidebook has much improved since the Trans-Siberian Handbook was first published in 1988, one thing has remained the same – its cover image.

The 10th edition of Bryn Thomas’ epic Trans-Siberian Handbookwill be available at amazon.co.uk from May 16. First published by Lascelles in 1988, and thereafter by Trailblazer (which Thomas set up in the early 1990s), the book has much improved over the years, but one thing has remained unchanged – its cover photo.

This may well be the only guidebook cover that has stayed the same through two editions, let alone almost a dozen. It is, though, a nice tribute to prolific photographer, the late Ron Ziel, who captured the shot of a steam locomotive in the early 1970s while pursuing his passion for photographing steam trains behind the Iron Curtain.


Deal of the week – three-night package to Langkawi, Malaysia

The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa is offering a fourth night free with Tiglion Travel’s three-night package to the Malaysian island.
The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa is offering a fourth night free with Tiglion Travel’s three-night package to the Malaysian island.

A fourth free night’s accommodation at the Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa is a highlight of Tiglion Travel’s three-night package to the Malaysian archipelago. The Westin offer starts from HK$6,390 including flights and daily breakfast, and will be available until late December with occasional seasonal room and airfare surcharges. A similar deal is offered for The St Regis Langkawi, though not during most of June, July and August, and with prices starting from HK$10,190.