Villa Maly
Address
BP 78 - Luang Prabang
Website
Price from
0.00$
In the heart of Asia’s “best preserved city,” there is Villa Maly. A residence. An oasis. A destination unto itself. Once the home of Lao royalty, today Villa Maly is an exquisite boutique hotel, ensconced by a profusion of tropical flora. Its rooms evoke the sudued elegance and creative flourishes of yesterday’s aristocrats. Its wonderful situation, in an enclave of classic old homes, will embed itself in your dreams of Luang Prabang.
Massages and facials are now being added to the already luxurious residence.
The opening of the spa adds another layer of relaxation to supplement the dazzling stays
The homelike ambiance of the Villa Maly has a royal pedigree. This is what we know.
In Southeast Asia, the great divide between the colonial and modern eras opened in the 1950s after the colonial French decamped for Europe, leaving Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to fend for themselves as independent nations. What endures in the former colonies from before the 1950s is as captivating as relics from another age. And so it is with Villa Maly.
The anchoring villa at Villa Maly, Plumeria, was built in 1938 by His Royal Highness Khamtan Ounkham, a grandson of a Lao king, Kham Souk Zakarine, and the first of his seven wives, Queen Pheng. Khamtan Ounkham was born in 1909.
Like many well-to-do Laotians of the day, Khamtan was sent by his father to Hanoi, where the boy made his way through the colonial educational system from the age of 7 to 20. His success as a student won him an appointment to France where he continued his studies for three more years.
Upon his return to Laos, Khamtan pursued a career in government. This was the ineluctable choice for a well-educated young man of royal pedigree. He served as prefect of the provinces of Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Sayabouri. In a surviving photo, Khamtan is a dapper administrator whose fashion cues, from bow tie to sport jacket, he took from the Europeans.
The young prefect married his cousin, Princess Khampieng, who was born in 1911. Like her husband, Khampieng was schooled in the colonial system. At 18, she was named an auxiliary instructor in the girls’ school of Luang Prabang. She devoted her life to national education and climbed through the ranks until she became principal of the first class in 1962.
It was actually Khampieng’s mother, Princess Vanthatmaly who built the villa, perhaps as her own residence or as a gift to her daughter. The traditional Lao house was wooden, raised on piles and split between private family rooms and a public terrace. The extended royal family favored the noueveau designs brought by the French. They clustered their homes about the royal heart of the city.
Nowhere was the building more impressive than in the neighborhood around Villa Maly. On the site of a pagoda, the Princess raised her residence in two generous stories, shelter
Massages and facials are now being added to the already luxurious residence.
The opening of the spa adds another layer of relaxation to supplement the dazzling stays
The homelike ambiance of the Villa Maly has a royal pedigree. This is what we know.
In Southeast Asia, the great divide between the colonial and modern eras opened in the 1950s after the colonial French decamped for Europe, leaving Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to fend for themselves as independent nations. What endures in the former colonies from before the 1950s is as captivating as relics from another age. And so it is with Villa Maly.
The anchoring villa at Villa Maly, Plumeria, was built in 1938 by His Royal Highness Khamtan Ounkham, a grandson of a Lao king, Kham Souk Zakarine, and the first of his seven wives, Queen Pheng. Khamtan Ounkham was born in 1909.
Like many well-to-do Laotians of the day, Khamtan was sent by his father to Hanoi, where the boy made his way through the colonial educational system from the age of 7 to 20. His success as a student won him an appointment to France where he continued his studies for three more years.
Upon his return to Laos, Khamtan pursued a career in government. This was the ineluctable choice for a well-educated young man of royal pedigree. He served as prefect of the provinces of Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Sayabouri. In a surviving photo, Khamtan is a dapper administrator whose fashion cues, from bow tie to sport jacket, he took from the Europeans.
The young prefect married his cousin, Princess Khampieng, who was born in 1911. Like her husband, Khampieng was schooled in the colonial system. At 18, she was named an auxiliary instructor in the girls’ school of Luang Prabang. She devoted her life to national education and climbed through the ranks until she became principal of the first class in 1962.
It was actually Khampieng’s mother, Princess Vanthatmaly who built the villa, perhaps as her own residence or as a gift to her daughter. The traditional Lao house was wooden, raised on piles and split between private family rooms and a public terrace. The extended royal family favored the noueveau designs brought by the French. They clustered their homes about the royal heart of the city.
Nowhere was the building more impressive than in the neighborhood around Villa Maly. On the site of a pagoda, the Princess raised her residence in two generous stories, shelter
