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Tourism Malaysia

The Eastern & Oriental (E & O) Hotel at Penang, Malaysia (Part 1)

The Eastern Oriental Hotel (popularly known as the E. O) (N5.42314 E100.33597) is located at 10, Farquhar Street, Georgetown, Penang. We spent our family vacation here for 3 days 2 nights on May 2013.
I will separate into 2 blog posts because the page might load very slow due to many photos.

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About the Eastern Oriental Hotel :-
Established by the famed Sarkies Brothers in 1885, whose architectural landmarks also include the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, the Eastern Oriental (EO) Hotel in Penang island is the only hotel in the heart of the George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site that possesses prime sea frontage. Over its century-and-a-quarter history, the EO Hotel has played host to some of the world’s most celebrated artists, writers and heads of state.

Today, the luxurious 100 all-suite hotel stands as the grand dame of heritage hotels, its distinctive classic elegance and grace of service enhanced with time. Majority of the suites look out onto the ornamental garden and swimming pool with views across the Andaman Sea.

The Hotel’s restaurants and bar—Sarkies, 1885 and Farquhar Bar—have a celebrated reputation for serving an extensive menu ranging from Penang’s local delicacies to European fine dining.

EO’s stately grand ballroom is perfect for hosting formal banquets, replete with viewing balconies and polished timber floors to honour the era and romance of debutante’s balls and black tie dinner and dancing.

The adjacent annexe block is currently being fitted out and scheduled for completion in late 2012. The 15-storey building will be named the Victory Annexe, its namesake being an old block of the hotel, so named after the British victory in World War I. The Annexe will add a further 139 suites, all sea-fronting, to the present 100, complemented by new restaurants, meeting rooms, pool, spa, and niche retail outlets. To distinguish between the two hotel sections, the existing hotel building will be known as the Heritage Wing.

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The hotel staffs were really nice and helpful. The feeling started from the reception. At first we went into the Heritage Wing and found out that our room was at the Vicotry Annexe Wing (the new wing), therfore they guide us all the way to the other reception area politely without any hesitation.

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Then we walked through the Nice passageway from the old building to the new building. Honestly, I never feel tired walking through this heritage passageway…especially during the night time where all the lights up…I’ll share the photos with you later…

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The check-in was nice and fast! I like the polite lady who attended to us and we were impressed when she request us to wait at the sofa sitting area then she brought all the keys to us.

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The young lady (from the reception) was patiently explain every facility that we can utilize within the hotel, I like the way she presented to us.
I will show the room photos in my next post, and now…let me show you around the hotel…

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The Gallery is situated behind the lift lobby (on the right), the place tell everything about The Eastern Oriental Hotel of Penang. It was just like a mini museum…

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The above photo showed the outlook of E O Hotel on year 1885, it was the fisrt look…

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The above poster explain the journey of the four Sarkies brothers and the year they built the hotel…
There was a nice lady who well known the history and patiently explain to us of the beautiful stories of Eastern Oriental Hotel of Penang. Appreciated.

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The History :-
In its early days as an outpost of the East India Company, Penang drew travellers of every shade and description – merchants, missionaries, mercenaries, sailors and adventurers. From London to Singapore, one was required to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, an arduous journey which took four months on the average. In the 1840s, an overland rail route was established which made it possible for travellers to by-pass the Cape of Good Hope altogether.

But it was not until the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the arrival of the steamship, that travel to Asia assumed unprecedented style and luxury. Writers, actors, playwrights, the rich and the titled, bored with Europe and America, looked to the exotic East to satisfy their wanderlust. Suddenly, there was a new breed of travellers – the globetrotters.

It was to meet the demands of these new affluent travellers that the Eastern Oriental was born.

Already renowned in Southeast Asia for their enterprise and business acumen, the Armenian Sarkies brothers, Martin and Tigran, settled down in Penang and established the Eastern Hotel in 1884. Encouraged by its success, they opened another hotel, the Oriental in 1885, on an adjacent piece of land facing the sea. Combined, these two hotels became the largest hotel in Penang, offering 80 comfortable and tastefully appointed rooms.

The above history is Only part of it, if you interested to know about the hotel, please visit their ‘Gallery’ in the Victory Annexe Wing. Thanks.

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As I said, I like to walk pass the passageway between the old and new wings countlessly because of the heritage deco. The pathway was different during the day time and the night time…

During day time…

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Then we reached the Lobby of the Heritage Wing…the Dome design is marvelous! It’s echoing every single words below, that’s mean…there will be no secret under the Dome area…:)

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The Antique Lift which is still function well, according to the Manager of E O Hotel.

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Follow by the restaurants in the hotel….

The hotel has 2 Sakies Corner, they are located at the Heritage Wing and the Victory Annexe Wing…both are having a different setting and decorations…

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This restaurant looked so quaint and I like the ambience very much! The warm lightings during the evening make the restaurant feel more comfort and cozy…
Operating hours are from 10.00 am – 11.00 pm (Daily)

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Next to the Sarkies Corner, it is the 1885 Fine Dining Restaurat.
Named for the year that the EO Hotel was established, 1885 offers classical yet contemporary cuisine in an elegant environment in the finest traditions of colonial fine dining.

The selection of inventive fusion dishes from thier accomplished chefs, accompanied by a superb selection of wines, marks 1885 as the perfect choice for an enjoyable dining experience.

The environment of the 1885 Restaurant

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The atmosphere was Perfect! I can’t really describe in words but you have to try it yourself…

Traditional English Afternoon Tea is also served in this elegant setting.
Candlelit tables, starched linens, silver service, and attentive staff create a magical experience.

Operating hours are from 2.00 pm – 11.00 pm (Daily)

Not to forget, the Farquhar’s Bar is situated beside the lobby of the Heritage Wing. You can have some beers or others alcohol to relax yourself after your sumptuous dinner…

Operating hours are from 11.00 am – 12.00 am

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There is a live band performance during the evening and I like the wooden armchair design very much!

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I did mentioned that I like to walk along the passageway countless time…and when the night fall and all the lights up, it presented the other beauty of it…

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Beside the passageway, the garden also painted with all the beautiful warm lightings accompany by the sea breeze from Penang Strait…it’s kind of romantic garden area in the evening…

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It was another enjoyment strolling in the garden during night, the Penang Strait was on the left and the background lights was from Butterwoth town of mainland.

We had 2 restaurants to choose for our daily complimentary breakfast, The Sarkies Corner or The Planters Lounge on the 6th Floor. Both are located in Victory Annexe Wing and also called the ‘New Wing’. The Sarkies Corner had much more varieties compare with the Planters Lounge, but the lounge has more privacy for the hotel guests.

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Full of varieties in the breakfast, they serve local foods, western foods, raw foods, breads and many more…you can easily spend 2 hours by enjoying the breakfast here…

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And my breakfast is always ‘simple’…

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The Planters Lounge is the private lounge exclusively for all the guests who stay in Victory Annexe Wing. It dining area connected from the lounge to the 6th Floor Infinity swimming pool. The lounge is open from the afternoon unitl 10pm, but we visited during 5pm – 7pm where they served all the finger foods and alcohols.

The interior and dining area of Planters Lounge (6th Floor of Victory Annexe Wing)

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And you can also choose the outdoor session area where with the excellent scenery of the Penang Strait. It connected to the Infiity Pool area…

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The foods and drinks by the Planters Lounge

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And they do serve soft drinks, Red Wine from Chile, white wine and Anchor Beer. All on the house!

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We like to enjoy our foods and drinks at the pool area, we did it for 2 days! 🙂

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After the foods and drinks, we jumped into the pool…we did that for continuous 2 days during our stay…:)
I like to swim to the edge, admiring the view of the Strait…

The hotel has a nice jetty located in between the 2 wings, maybe you can get down from the Cruise directly and walk to the hotel in the near future…

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The Eastern Oriental Hotel is one of the Best place to relax yourself and it is also the Only 5 starts Heritage Hotel in Penang. I felt the different within their services compare with other 5 starts hotel.
We were really comfort interacted with the hotel staffs, and not to forget the most friendly person in the E O Gallery. I apologies that I cannot recall her name, she generously explained the histories of E O Hotel to us was really appreciated and I like her attitude! Great!

Definitely it’s worth for the second visit and it was one of the Best Hotel we ever stay before!

Ms Eileen Chong and Ms Melvis, thanks for your warmest hospitality and we really appreciated.

*  The virtual tour for the few types of rooms will be continue in my next blog post.

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Related post :-
The Suite Rooms in Eastern Oriental Hotel in Penang (Part 2)

Categories
Tourism Malaysia

The Suite Rooms in Eastern & Oriental Hotel in Penang (Part 2)

This post is continue from the previous…The Eastern Oriental (E O) Hotel at Penang, Malaysia (Part 1).

Let me continue the our virtual tour for the Suite Rooms of The Eastern Oriental Hotel in Penang…

The Writer Suite. Where all the suite room are named after the Writers name at the Heritage Wing.
This room is named – Rudyard Kipling.
Suite size : 135 sqm.

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And it has a Nice seaview balcony!

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Follow by the bedroom…

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Now, let’s visit the bathroom area…

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I found this is unique design of the E O Hotel…every suite room is designed to has 2 basins area, as you can see from the photos below. One for the male and the other for the female, both provided with different facilities. Do you spot the different?

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Well, it’s simple! The female basin has an ‘extra small mirror’ mounted from the side. Can you see it? 🙂

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All the Suite Rooms at the Heritage Wing will be provide with the old fashioned Television, which is the picture tube type. The reason is just because to follow the ‘Heritage’ deco of the E O Hotel. As you can see from the photos above…the furnitues in the suite room are all Classic! They were Antique!

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Personally, I like the lighting switch….

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The Premier Suite Room was the second room in our tour…
Suite size : 58 sqm.

As usual, the Living area…

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In this room, I saw a antique telephone on the writing table…and the table lights. They were from the seventies! Goodness! This were Classic!

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The bedroom in the next…

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The bathroom…

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The bathtub and the ‘two’ basins, as usual…

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By walking into the Suite Rooms in the Heritage Wing of E O Hotel was just like walked into a Time Machine, it direct us back to the 60s and the 70s. I don’t know about others, but I’m appreciated very much! With the Unique designed Suite Rooms of the hotel, it provided a total relax environment and given a nice cozy place to rest on the vacation.

After the 2 Suite rooms from the Heritage Wing, let’s visit to ‘New’ Victory Annexe Wing. The new wing has opened its doors to the new world on 15th March 2013.

The new Victory Annexe, will mark a full circle in the EO Hotel’s illustrious history. Named after the original Victory Annexe – a magnificent 40-room addition unveiled by Arshak Sarkies in 1923, the new wing will house a total of 122 sea-view suites.

There are 117 Superior Suites measuring 55 square metres each and five Corner Suites spanning 123 square metres each. All Superior Suites feature a bedroom, bathroom with twin vanities and private balcony. A separate living room, unique rainforest shower and dining area with 270º view of the sea are standard in the Corner Suites.

The Corner Suite Room of Victory Annexe Wing.
Suite size : 123 sqm.

This was the room we stayed for our 3 days 2 nights vacation in Penang…

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Once entering the door, the dining and the living hall in the full view…

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Beside the antique furnitures, the suite room is a bit modern where a 42″ LCD TV was provided.

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The mini bar is located at the left side if the dining area…

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A King size bed in the bedroom with another 42″ LCD TV accompany with a BOSE Audio System within.

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The wirting table was attractive!

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The bedroom has a way easy access to the balcony which I going to show you later…the centralized air-conditioning had a separate temperature control at the living and bedroom area. Well, it was really cold!

The bathroom was spacious!
By soak yourself in the bathtub with the pleasant seaview is blissful! For me, the enjoyment won’t complate with a mug of ‘ice cold beer’. 🙂

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The shower are on the right of the bathtub and the toilet was at the left…

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Let’s go the 270º seaview private balcony. It has a ‘L’ shape with the view of city and the sea, accessible from the Living area or Master Bedroom.

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A simple dining table on one side and lazy chairs on the seaview side…

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The Infinity Swimming pool is located on the side, and the pool was enhanced together with the city view!

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The magnificent sea view from the balcony! It was a the place where I had my beers in the evening accompany with the cool sea breeze and the lonely jetty. (you will know what I mean the ‘lonely jetty’ if you experience yourself…).

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The same architectural elements of the original hotel are incorporated into the Victory Annexe. In keeping with the original colonial styled guestrooms of the early 1900s, all suites feature Victorian details such as en-suite bathrooms fitted with claw footed long baths, pedestal ceramic basins, lazy ceiling fans and breezy private balconies.

Guests staying at the Victory Annexe enjoy exclusive privileges such as complimentary non-alcoholic beverages from the mini bar. Also included in the all-encompassing room rate are daily breakfasts and complimentary coffee and tea with accompaniments throughout the day as well as evening cocktails with canapés at The Planters Lounge from 5pm to 7pm. Privacy is assured and only guests staying at the Victory Annexe are allowed access to The Planters Lounge.

There are total of 222 rooms (100 from Heritage Wing and 122 at Victory Annexe Wing) in Eastern Oriental Hotel.

We had a wonderful stayed at the Eastern Oriental Hotel on our vacation. It a Nice Heritage Hotel and the Only one in Penang that we like it very much!

If you like to check out the rooms availability and the room rates, please click on their official website below…

Related post :-
*  The Eastern Oriental (E O) Hotel at Penang, Malaysia (Part 1)