Originally Posted by
Aventine
I've heard so much about Strand in the Zecha era. What was the pool area before? A lawn or garden patio of some kind?
We stayed two nights prior to a cruise to Mandalay on the Irrawaddy and one night on the return. It was a fantastic place with vast rooms and suites and everything in keeping with the Sarkie-era original. Except the plumbing worked. I think some people might have thought it a bit spartan. There was the wonderful entrance lounge (which seems to have been completely re-done judging from your photo), the colonial-style dining room and a cafe at the front with a few seats outside for those prepared to brave the cacophony and the dust . There definitely wasn't a pool and I don't remember a patio or a garden or anything at the back of the building. I know I would have a photo if there was. My guess is that the hotel bought a wreck of a building at the back, kept the shell, and made the pool deck. It certainly needed a pool back then.