Laos licenses more and more Chinese firms to build market and hotels across the nation !

samakomlao · Guru

Laos licenses more and more Chinese firms to build market and hotels across the nation !

Date: Aug 31, 2007

DONCHAN PALACE SYNDROME

maybe Chinese tourists like staying in such ugly hovels, but I dont think they will attract many Western tourists. These hotels are freakin ugly. There should be an authority that approves the design and location of a hotel. This problem is 'donchan palace syndrome'. Throw money at the Lao official and you can build the most ugly block of ****e any location that you want.

Date: Aug 31, 2007

it looks like a 19th century prison

Date: Sep 1, 2007

These two guys who commented above seem to be abnormal. How do they know what kind of hotel the Chinese company will buid? The photo or picture of Mekhong hotel showed in this topic is not the one that the Chinese company will build. If they looked more careful at the poster written in Lao luanguage, they would have understood that this hotel located in Khammouane province which was built about 8 years ago. They are probably not in Laos or even cannot read Lao language. Nevertheless, they should learn and see things more positive, unless they are crazy or mad. The way they commented like people came from 19 century. Remember this is 21 century.

Date: Sep 1, 2007

Yes, you're right...They don't know what they're talking about.

Whenever or whereever there is new construction, that's a progress.

Date: Sep 1, 2007

Sabaidee pee nong

For the person who said Don Chanh Hotel is ugly or some kind of syndrom. I do not agree with that, Don Chanh was built next to Mekong, is good when you look at many famous hotel in Australia or around the world they like to build them next to rivers or sea....where you could have beautiful views. Perhaps he himself a person without vision....he state no western tourists will stay in the above hotel, but I saw many back pack. tourist blue eyes blond hair stayed in just guest house in Vientiane, so what did he talk about? biggrin

Maybe he should check or look around in Vientiane before comment biggrin

paris_vientiane · Guru

If they can build beautifull, respectfull of environment and local style, good quality, and usefull buildings, all investment (foreign or not) is (should be) welcome in Laos.

But in other cases, they have nothing to do there because they will cause more bad things than good ones (just enrich their owner). Lao people should not sale (or worse, offer) their countries to foreigners... they should just welcome reasonable investments... that's different.

I just wonder who control this? what are exactly the rules? what are the critera that make a project aproved by autorities or not?

I don't criticize this project spécificly.... the idea to build the market place first and then the hotel looks good.... i just speak "generaly" (Donchan Palace is good exemple).

-- Edited by paris_vientiane at 10:30, 2007-09-01

paris_vientiane · Guru

Anonymous wrote:

Sabaidee pee nong

For the person who said Don Chanh Hotel is ugly or some kind of syndrom. I do not agree with that, Don Chanh was built next to Mekong, is good when you look at many famous hotel in Australia or around the world they like to build them next to rivers or sea....where you could have beautiful views. Perhaps he himself a person without vision....he state no western tourists will stay in the above hotel, but I saw many back pack. tourist blue eyes blond hair stayed in just guest house in Vientiane, so what did he talk about?
Maybe he should check or look around in Vientiane before comment

You just pointed the problem: this building was made only by thinking about the dozens or maybe hundreds people who are inside (who can get a wonderfull view,that's true). But i was not make by thinking about the 1000s or 10000s of people living around this ugly and intrusive building, that have nothing to do with vientiane style, and can be seen from many kilometers around because of it's size.

This is precisely an exemple of NOT-RESPECTFULL developement... an exemple of what Vientiane should avoid and forbid. There are a few other luxury hotel in Vientiane, comfortable, modern, safe... but also beautifull, well integrated in the city, not intrusive... why they didn't do the same for DonChan? They wanted to make it too big? maybe... the result is that this hotel is for a large part empty, and many people hate this building.

Personaly, i won't say i "hate" this building, but i think it's clearly not beautifull and not integrated in Vientiane's style.
It's little bit too big, the "pink/orange" colour is a very bad choise, and some others architectural details should have been improved (and maybe can still be improved), but nothing terrible....For me, the result is bad, but not SO bad

-- Edited by paris_vientiane at 10:48, 2007-09-01

Date: Sep 1, 2007

I am Laotian and live in Vientiane, but don't feel that Donchanh Pace is ugly buiding and don't hate it either. Admittedly, people can have their own taste about this building. For me, it seems to me beatiful and looks nothing different with other tall buildings which I have seen in the big cities around the word. I think, if asked ordinary people in Vientiane, they will not hate this building. If we are talking about harmony in terms of architecture view, I think it is acceptable. Why? Donchanh Palace is located separately far way from the old buildings such Tat Luang, Victory Gate "Patou Xay" and the like.
If I were someone who commented earlier, I would not ask such rude questions, if not the look down like: "I just wonder who control this? what are exactly the rules? what are the critera that make a project aproved by autorities or not?", although I am Lao citizen. No doubt our autorities were responsible for it and definitely there are the rules for them to follow. They should have their own reasons. It seems to me Vientiane or Laos has no right to have a tall buiding like other countries have. Why??? idea

Regards,
TSP

Date: Sep 2, 2007

In 2002 I visited Lao, and before Don Chanh was built the surrounding Don Chanh or That khao area was very quiet and bored, but after the Hotel was built that area changed completely. If you remember Don Chanh was built for the 10th ASean Summit held in 2004 in Vientiane so if there was no Don Chanh then Lao will have big problems for guests who came to Lao for the Summit. For me Don Chanh is okay, and it was built next to water front the Mekong...that's what many well known hotels in Australia where I settle down were built. Let have a look in Canberra the Capital city of Australia, they have Lake side Hotel, Hayatt Hotel just next to the lake Griffins...I believe Don Chanh was built at the right place, not as many critics said. biggrin biggrin biggrin yawn

chiip · Guru

it is a fixed idea, the donchanh palace is ugly " does not suite vientiane style..."i`m sorry to think differently, i once participated a meeting in this hotel, it was great, the inside is a perfect malaysian decoration style, I was stunned by the carpets, they are nice, the services were impecable, ouside, the packing lots are nicely designed ; i saw nothing ugly inside or ouside or the shape of this hotel.

paris_vientiane · Guru

For sure it's a question of taste... each person have it's own
For my part, i tink that :
- if you stay inside the building, it's good, comfortable and beautifull
- if you look at the building from outside, it's not really beautifull building, but clearly not bad :

some details as the orange/pink colour should just be changed, ant it would be OK
- but if you look at the building from a far distance (as next picture) , i really don't like it:

because in this view, you can see that the building is just a big and ugly cube, with just a few details added to try to give a little "traditional lookink", but the result look cheap and not really well designed. moreover, on this view, we can see that the building is not at all integrated in Vientiane City's style... the contrast is too strong, the building kills the harmony of the city.
That's the difference between a "poor architecture" and a "high quality architecture": it's relativlely easy to make something modern, comfortable, beautifull and luxury, but it's much harder to integrate such building in the environment, respect and preserve the style of the city where it take place, etc...

So, nothing terrible... depend from where you look at the building, it can look good or not

But that's just my opinion...

-- Edited by paris_vientiane at 10:34, 2007-09-04

Date: Sep 4, 2007

Hello all

I think Don Chanh Palace has a lao touch in its design and architecture, it blends in well with Vientiane and particularly surrounding area. If on the other hand the roof top of Don Chanh is flat then the hotel just looks like a BOX.
Many buildings in Brazil which I saw in a document called ARCHITECTURES were painted in bright colour such as Orange or Yellow....etc, some even in Pink, so it depends on the country culture, why they did they paint their buildings in such colour...the answer is that because they like it.
For me what I see in Canberra or in Sydney most of high buildings or hotels are just the same, with complex using glass windows then the colour won't be bright, because most of glass windows they use are with dark glasses so they can reduce the glare and the heat from the sun, other colour you see in autralian buildings is light green or white or cream but not bright colour like the one in Brazil....so it comes back to country to country always has different ideas and cultures. Again Don Chanh has the roof and the main entrande something of Lao touch, like the one you see in Lao temples.

paris_vientiane · Guru

You're right, there is a kind of "lao touch" in DonChan Palace Hotel... but i think this is precisely where they failled: the lao touch could be much much better if they could look more carefully to the other buildings surrounding The hotel.

For example, look at the roof of most of buildings in Vientiane: it's red or dark orange, and for long buildings, the line of the roof follow the long side of the building

For Donchan, they try to put a cheap "temple roof" in the middle of a building that was not designed for this (a temple is near sqare: if one side is longer than the other, there is never a big difference). Moreover, they respected the general "shape" of a temple roof, but they simplified so much the design that the result is clearly unhappy.

Look at my second picture, and now, imagine for exemple DonChan with a roof in the other side (only a roof in the opposite side -like all 'long' buidings in VT- or a second roof that cross the current roof -like the temple at the front of my photo-)
Imagine this roof (not flat, but not too high), in red colour, like other buildings in VT, and not white.

Don't you think it would integrate better in the city environment and respect more Vientiane's style?

That's just an exemple.. i'm not architect... we could discuss like this about many details of DonChan style

Give a "lao touch" was certainly a good idea... but understand the "lao style" and adapt it successfuly to a very big and modern building, is a big challenge... i definitly think that a good architect could have done better job that what i can see now.

Date: Sep 4, 2007

But that's the point because Don Chanh Palace is not a temple so what they did I think it's alright and blends in the environment also no problem. If you look at Sydney metro, and the railways go along the buildings and streets you will hate them as many people in Sydney did....but again life goes on. You can make everybody happy at once....some say this some say that biggrin biggrin biggrin . Imagine very nice hotel it called Fujirama in Sydney and just if front of the hotel is the junk of Sydney metro.... biggrin biggrin biggrin so every cities have some sort of problems, one way or another....just C'est la vie itself biggrin biggrin biggrin The same with Don Muong Airport inside this airport they built something like the roof of a temple and Watty version one as well, but Don Chanh is not temple is a hotel so they just could not put roof exactly look like the proper temple...because is a hotel. biggrin biggrin