Vientiane

The capital of Laos has been moved, razed and rebuilt numerous times due to fire invasion and colonisation.

Now located in the centre of this long narrow country, it is safely far away from marauding invaders, and is home to around 1 million people.

Many mansions and grand edifices for this city and only a few relics of the French colonialism remain.

We visited their version of the arc de triumphe (Victory Gate) another beautiful Wat and the Buddha gardens, serene and beautiful.

Just one more market and mall to replace a watch glass and watch a break dancing competition and a gaming comp (E sports).

Big prizes for the winners of both and big crowds watching them.

Our visit to the COPE (Cooperative Orthotic & Prosthetic Enterprise) museum was profound, moving and distressing as we heard the stories of those injured or killed by UXO (unexploded ordinance) since the war ended in 1973.

During the Vietnam War, American bombers dropped over 2 million tons of cluster bombs over Laos—for 9 years…more than all the bombs dropped during WW11 combined.

Today, Laos is the most heavily bombed nation in history and the locals are still suffering as they continue to uncover unexploded ordnances in their fields as they plant and plow.

An estimated 30 per cent of the 270 million bombs dropped on the country did not detonate and still, these deadly items remain a persistent threat and daily reality for thousands of communities across Laos.

Luckily COPE provides prosthetic limbs and family support for free to those affected and MAG (a bomb disposal unit) continues to send out teams of brave workers daily to scour new areas and clear the land mines and cluster bombs.

Incredibly, the USA that dropped all these bombs has still not signed the treaty banning cluster bombs!

On our last night with our tour buddies, we had a beer or two, the usual Maeder award ceremony and celebrated Nok, our fabulous guide who led us safely through 2 countries without losing anyone…oh except the two Americans who never showed up.

Post prandial strolling took us to the night market and the riverside amusement park that overlooks Thailand.

Of course the usual crew jumped on board the dodgem cars to let off a bit of steam.

For some, that wasn’t enough night life, so they hit the wild Vientiane nightclub scene dancing and drinking until the wee hours of the morning.

Buddha park was a park on the outskirts of the city was a conglomeration of donated religious statues mostly Buddhist sited along the river in a quiet tree filled garden.