Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
quiet cluster of ten villages that constitutes Champasak makes Pakse seem like a pulsing met-
ropolis.
Palace of Prince Boun Oum
On the main road, downstream from what is probably the least-used roundabout in Laos, two
elegant
Frenchmansions
, tanned a pale yellow by the tropical sun, stand out from the tradi-
tional wooden shop houses. The first mansion belonged to the former
palaceofPrinceBoun
OumnaChampasak
. Although in 1946 he renounced claims to sovereignty over the former
kingdom of Champasak, Boun Oum retained his royal title and continued to perform his ritual
duties as a Buddhist monarch until he fled the country prior to the Pathet Lao takeover; he
died in France in 1980. During Lao New Year, Boun Oum performed purification rites at the
town's temples to expel evil spirits, and on the final day of celebrations he would preside
over ceremonies at this palace, in which a
maw thiam
, or medium, called the spirits of Cham-
pasak's past rulers, and a
basi
ceremony was held. Since the advent of the new government,
however, the pageantry has been abandoned and New Year ceremonies in this former royal
seat have become a strictly family affair.
As is the case with the nagas in front of Boun Oum's house, which were taken from Wat
Phou, the area's most exquisite
pre-Angkorian relics
wound up in the late prince's private
collection, some of which is now on display at Wat Phou's small museum.
