The Anam, Cam Ranh

Fusing old-world architecture with traditional Vietnamese design, hotelier Pham Van Hien creates Cam Ranh’s first five-star colonial beach resort, The Anam, Cam Ranh

Words: Guy Dittrich | Photography: Courtesy of The Anam

The beauty of The Anam, a resort on the central Vietnamese coast, stems from its particular location on a sandy shore of the South China Sea. From the open reception, eyes are drawn across swathes of grass and swaying palms towards the breakers rolling in. The driving force behind The Anam is the locally born and internationally educated Pham Van Hien, who first saw the plot in 2012. “It’s one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen in my life,” he begins. “There is no river emptying into the sea meaning the water is clean.” This is due to its location on the peninsula, which shelters Cam Ranh Bay. Hien is the chairman of East Sea Group, a privately owned travel solutions company offering sales, marketing, technology and distribution services, which he founded whilst studying physics in the Czech Republic. The hotel’s name meanwhile is not a play on Singapore operator Aman, rather it refers to ‘Annam’, or Pacified South, the Chinese term for the region in the 7th century, and also the common name for the central province in French Indochina. The low-rise resort joins a number of other developments along Cam Ranh, the sandy peninsula with sweeping headlands between Nha Trang and the international airport, where a new terminal is currently being built. Sites are allocated for Swiss-Belhotel and Westin, whilst under construction is a gargantuan complex by Euroinvestor, billed on the roadside hoardings as a Movenpick and Radisson Blu duo, the scale of which may well be regretted.

At The Anam, Hien has deliberately kept it intimate. “I don’t want an industrialised product,” he explains of the resort, pointing out the wide expanses between structures. The plot runs west to east towards a 300m long waterfront, with many of the 117 villas set around two long fairways that climb up the slope from the beach. One is a culde- sac keeping guest traffic to a minimum. Hien was greeted by sand dunes upon acquisition, their scale witnessed in the vacant sites either side of his green jewel. Impressively, some 3,000 palm trees were planted as part of the project, along with pink and white Frangipani, Banyan trees, banana fans, hedges of hibiscus and bougainvillea, and beds of spider lily and canna. Such landscaping took precise planning at the very earliest stages to ensure plant placement did not require adjustment once construction began.

The masterplan of the 12-hectare estate references a 19th century Vietnamese village, and rather than employ a single design firm, Hien took a very active role, overseeing the services of some 300 local contractors. In addition to the villas, the resort features a Deluxe Collection hotel with 96 guestrooms, each with access to a garden or balcony. Throughout, local interventions are plentiful. Hardwoods sourced from nearby sustainable forests have been assembled by artisans from Hien’s northern home province of Nam Đinh, and can be seen in structural elements as well as bespoke guestroom casegoods and outdoor furniture. Stone from the central coastal provinces of Thanh Hóa and Nghe An is present throughout, lining the resort’s three swimming pools and also appearing in guest bathrooms. The defining feature of the villas – which come in a variety of configurations – are their roofs. Steeply pitched to allow for swift run-off during heavy rains, each has a small gable, or gablet, above it. The red clay tiles are already developing a lovely patina, whilst all roof ridges are topped with a stepped, decorative white plaster capping. The eaves are wide to provide shading and for some of the public spaces, natural ventilation.

The Beach Club bar is situated perpendicular to the beach to make the most of the sea breeze and minimise solar gain. It has the same roof arrangement as the villas, but the gablets are open to assist with cooling. These buildings are expertly thatched with palm-fronds by artisans from the nearby Bình Thuan province. The all-day dining restaurant, Indochine, benefits from air conditioning so any gap under the eaves has been glazed. Here and throughout the public areas guests will find beautifully patterned, French-inspired, encaustic floor tiles sourced from Hué. Further local design elements have natural origins. All around the property are tall clay pots bubbling over with water. At the entrance these stand on plinths in reflecting ponds that are illuminated at night by tea lights on lotus-style floats. Vegetation is always close at hand – palms poke through corridor walkways in the hotel whilst villa bathrooms have tubs looking onto courtyard jungles. Guestrooms in villas and the hotel itself essentially follow the same design, which incorporates a colonial feel, owing to the cornice detailing, ceiling fans and delicate drapery. Colours are derived from the natural materials of wood and stone. Beds are topped with Sealy mattresses while bathrooms have generous and often-symmetrical layouts with sanitaryware from Toto.

Like any self-respecting resort, The Anam has an indulgent spa. Relatively small with 10 treatment rooms, it includes steam and sauna facilities, arguably superfluous in the climate. MICE business is catered for across four meeting rooms, including The Colonial Room and The Au Lac Room, ideal for gala dinners and weddings. There’s also a water sports centre, gym, yoga deck, kids club, and a 3D cinema with excellent acoustics. If this were not enough, General Manager Herbert Laubichler- Pichler is working up a number of home-grown experiences, including cyclo-tours of the Nha Trang art scene, the opportunity to sample truly local cuisine cooked by the mothers of the hotel staff, and sea-fishing from a traditional coracle boat. Laubichler-Pichler, with some decades of hospitality experience, is clearly on to something. With occupancy running at over 75% in the immediate months after opening, he comments: “This is the most successful hotel opening I have ever been involved in.”

In The Anam, Hien has conceived a resort that is locally inspired and neatly blends elements of traditional Vietnamese architecture with an international level of comfort. Positioning the hotel for a wellheeled audience will help with the return on investment, but Hien gives the feeling that this project means so much more to him. Almost a tribute to his beautiful country and all the possibilities it holds.  Sources: Sleeper, 9-10, 2017

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