Word: vong
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...Laotian princes in Zurich. Up from Nice, where he has been sunning himself, came the U.S.'s favorite Premier, Prince Boun Oum. From Geneva, looking as relaxed as a pair of tourists, came Russia's favorite Premier, "neutralist" Prince Souvanna Phouma, and his brother, "Red Prince" Souphanou-vong, who commands the Pathet Lao. Prince Souvanna greeted his rival warmly and talked in friendly style about getting together on a "broad-based coalition government." The way things were going back home, one diplomat cracked, "Boun Oum will be lucky to get the Education Ministry." After two days, about...
Upriver, in the royal capital of Luang-prabang, Buddhist monks in orange robes gathered in the gold-spired temples to pray for the soul of King Sisavang Vong. who died 18 months ago. Since then, his corpse-preserved in formaldehyde and spices-has been sitting in a huge gilded coffin carved from a single, perfect sandalwood tree, awaiting a propitious time for cremation. Last week the time came. Military planes, which might usefully have airdropped munitions to isolated garrisons, were commandeered to fly in tons of food for expected funeral guests. The King's coffin was placed...
...could work with the Communists without being swallowed up. And King Savang Vatthana thought he knew just how to start getting the warring factions on better terms: have them all up to the royal capital of Luangprabang late this month for the cremation of his father, old King Sisavang Vong, who has been preserved in formaldehyde since...
Savang Vatthana, a rather puritanical fellow, found himself at sharp odds with his father. King Sisavang Vong, who considered polygamy a foundation stone of the Laotian way of life. Once a year it was his father's royal pleasure to take a leisurely 40-day boat ride down the Mekong to Vientiane, picking and choosing from the new crop of maidens in the villages as he passed. The palace swarmed with royalty who were all half or full brothers and sisters of the future King...
...Laos one rainy day last week, Premier Tiao Somsanith, 47, assembled the top members of his Cabinet and flew north from Vientiane to the royal city of Luangprabang on a matter of some urgency: the burial of the late King Sisavan Vong, who has been preserved in formaldehyde since last October. By long tradition, a Laotian King must be buried in a coffin made from a sandalwood tree that had been growing for centuries for this predestined purpose. This tree had just been found, and Sisavang Vong could at last be laid to rest. But even as Somsanith...