A few years ago I was the Executive Chef of The Strand Hotel in Yangon, Myanmar (Rangoon, Burma). The Strand is a historical boutique hotel built by the famous Armenian Sarkie brothers in 1901. The Sarkies also established the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore and the E & O (Eastern and Oriental) in Penang. While working there, we stayed in various different rooms, and I swear I could feel the presence of the spirits of famous authors that had stayed at the Strand. These famous writers and thinkers included Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell), Maurice Collis, E. F. Schumacher, Richard Curle (confidante of Joseph Conrad), Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham, R. Talbot Kelly, and Noel Coward.