Old Saigon and the French in Indochina

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Kennie Ting

The Municipal Opera House, erected in 1897 and recalling the Paris Opera House.

Saigon is essentially a French city. When the French arrived in the 1860s, they wasted no time in making it the Paris of the East, replacing the existing Vietnamese citadel with some of the most impressive, most French, imperial monuments east of Suez.

As with their contemporaries, the British and the Dutch, the intent of French colonialism was trade, commerce and access to raw materials. Unlike them, however, the French also had one other important goal: the export of La Civilisation Française.

This focus on “Civilisation” manifests itself in the presence of marvellously ostentatious (and somewhat out-of-place) opera houses that exist in almost all of France’s colonies abroad – certainly in the major cities of L’Indochine Française: Saigon, Hanoi and Phnom Penh. These opera houses took centrestage in the cities’ urban landscape, and were also the centre of the colonial social scene.

In Saigon, the Municipal Opera House sits on the famed Rue Catinat (the Champs-Elysees of Saigon). Erected in a Beaux-Arts style in 1897, it still stands today, and as the two photos (above and below, THEN and NOW) demonstrate, very little has changed in terms of the view, even if the context has changed.

A closer look also reveals the country’s French past continuing to linger in the habits of the newly affluent Saigonese – or Ho Chi Minh-ites. As they smoke, converse and drink petites tasses de cafés et de thés in the cosy cafés that line many of the city’s sidewalks, they recall the joie de vivre et de conversation of their former rulers.

Similarly, the sight and smell of newly-baked banh mi, or baguettes, stuffed with a variety of hams, meats, cheeses and salads; the delectable confit de canard, boeuf bourguignon or even escargots that can be had in the excellent, French restaurants resuscitated in the city, is a reminder that the city’s French past refuses to go away.

All in all – Saigon is alive and well in today’s Ho Chi Minh City!

[The Romance of the Grand Tour – 100 Years of Travel in Southeast Asia is available now at all major bookstores in Singapore – Kinokuniya, Times and MPH – as well as at museum shops and the airport. As of mid-May, it will also be available at major bookstores across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, at Waterstones and Blackwells in London, and on http://www.amazon.co.uk.]

The Municipal Opera House today.

Locals enjoying crepes and coffee at a popular café, housed in a lovely French colonial villa.

Old Manila and the Spanish Empire

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Kennie Ting

Manila Cathedral and the Headquarters of the Knights of Columbus.

Old Manila was a mediaeval walled city, built by Spanish colonialists in the late 1500s. Up until the early 1900s, it was a beautiful place of baroque cathedrals and ornate villas, reminiscent of towns in New Spain (today’s Mexico), from which it was ruled. It was known by sailors who stopped on her shores, as the “Pearl of the Orient.”

Unfortunately, much of Old Manila – called Intramuros (or “inside the walls”) today – was ruined in the aftermath of World War II. Specifically, the old city was a casualty of the Battle of Manila – a key battle on the Pacific front between the United States of America and Imperial Japan.

Today, much of Intramuros still lies in ruins, and around these ruins sit luxury residences alongside shanty-towns. But look hard (and look up) and you will find windows into the past – when you can just about imagine how it was like 400 years ago when the Spanish brought EMPIRE, RELIGION and TRADE to these shores.

Vintage view of a calesa (horse carriage) exiting the Parian Gate, Walled City of Manila.

Vintage view of a calesa (horse carriage) exiting the Puerte del Parian (Parian Gate), Walled City of Manila.

Fort Santiago is the entrance to the Walled City of Manila.

Old Batavia and the Dutch Empire

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Kennie Ting

Stained Glass panel at the former De Javasche Bank (1828) in Kota Toea. Today, it houses the Museum Bank Indonesia.

At the recent book launch on 15 April 2015 at the Singapore Art Museum, I had the chance to highlight some of my favourite images from this Grand Tour project and why I thought they were special.

Here’s one of the images – a stained glass window in the former De Javasche Bank (Bank of Java) in Kota Toea – the old town of Jakarta, formerly known as Batavia.

The reason why this stained glass window is special is because it spoke eloquently of the guiding philosophy behind Dutch colonialism in Indonesia.

Note the image of the Roman God Mercury at the top of the window – this is symbolic for two reasons: the fact that it depicts a pagan god shows how the Dutch considered their new colony a kind of utopia – a new world. At the same time, the fact that they depict a Roman God – and they were very generous with depictions of Roman gods and goddesses elsewhere in the bank and the city – suggests perhaps that they were themselves inheritors of Romans.

Or, to put it simply – they were the New Romans, out here in the Far East, creating a new Roman Empire.

Stained glass, as we all know, is also a religious form of art. In this case, the fact that stained glass was being used to depict motifs of Empire and Trade – the bottom half of the window presents the coats of arms of Batavia, Soerabaja and Semarang, the three largest port cities of the Dutch East Indies – suggests that TRADE was the new religion. OR, if one were to be a little more cynical, it could also be the Dutch solipsistically referring to themselves as the new GODS, creating a new world out here.

Finally, the third reason why this image spoke so movingly to me was because it suggested the existence of a whole different civilisation than ours, that has completely disappeared. It wasn’t so long ago that the Indische, or Dutch Europeans were living here – but today traces of them have been removed so systematically from the city that what remains feel – to me, at least – like relics from a lost civilisation.

Chancing upon this image was, in a sense, a kind of urban archaeology.

The Eastern & Oriental Hotel, Penang

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Kennie Ting

The Facade of the Eastern & Oriental Hotel (built in 1885) today.

In Penang, stay at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel – the grande dame of the city’s hospitality scene since 1885, when it was established by the illustrious Sarkies Brothers. This is the sister hotel to the Raffles Hotel in Singapore and the Strand Hotel in Rangoon, and a close cousin to the present Hotel Majapahit in Surabaya.

In its time, The E & O – as it is familiarly known to Penangites – played host to nobility and heads of state as well as literary and cinematic greats, such as British authors Somerset Maugham and Rudyard Kipling and American movie stars Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks.

The E & O is the second stop on our Grand Tour of Southeast Asia. Period postcard views from the early 1900s, and photographs from today show that it hasn’t changed much in spirit and ambience in 100 years, though of course, the E & O today has all the fittings of a modern hotel – in particular its swimming pool set right by sea along the hotel’s seafront promenade.

Be sure to opt for one of the sea-facing suites with attached balcony, if only to wake up to spectacular views of the Malacca Straits and the ships bringing cargo from afar, exactly like they have done so for two centuries.

The Romance of the Grand Tour – 100 Years of Travel in Southeast Asia will be available from 15 April onwards at all major bookstores in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, as well as at hotels featured in the book. It will also be available online at http://www.amazon.co.uk.

1900s view of the famous Palm Court, with its fountain and whispering dome (guests seated underneath the dome could hear conversations occuring across the room).

1900s view of the E & O’s back-lawn facing the Malacca Straits, and its Victory Annexe.

The E & O’s back-lawn was turned into a swimming pool in the ’50s and remains so today.

Rangoon in the 1900s

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Kennie Ting

In the course of writing the Rangoon chapter, I managed, very fortunately, to acquire quite a few early 1900s vintage postcards that presented views of the city of Rangoon in British Burma – today’s Yangon, in Myanmar.

The first postcard above is a spectacular bird eye’s view in colour, of Strand Road and the Rangoon River. As you can see, Rangoon was a bustling port – in fact, it was perhaps the most important port in Southeast Asia proper, after Singapore.

The second view, below, is that of the historic High Court Building (at centre), which still stands today. The building was built in 1914 in a distinctly Edwardian style, and wouldn’t feel out of place in London itself.

The wonderful thing about today’s Yangon downtown, is that it looks almost exactly the same as the Rangoon presented in these vintage postcards. All the amazing monumental architectural heritage still stands, and there is a race against time to preserve and restore many of these.

The first chapter of The Romance of the Grand Tour – 100 Years of Travel in Southeast Asia takes the reader on a stroll through the old town of Rangoon/Yangon in the 1900s and today, presenting views and vistas from the turn of the 19th century and the turn of the 20th century.

The Romance of the Grand Tour – 100 Years of Travel in Southeast Asia will be available from mid-April in all major bookstores, museum shops and featured hotels in Singapore, the Southeast Asian region and Hong Kong.

Rangoon City View with the High Court at centre. Collection of the Author.

The High Court Building today.

The Romance Of The Grand Tour

100 Years of Travel in Southeast Asia

Monthly Archives: April 2015