Vientiane

While we were in Vientiane, we visited the COPE Museum at the Medical Rehabilitation Center.  COPE stands to Cooperative Orthotic, Prosthetic Enterprise. The center is donation based and helps benefit victims of unexploded ordinance such as cluster bombs, mines, and other explosive from the Secret War with the U.S. and Vietnam on Lao soil. Lao is meant to be the most heavily bombed country on the planet and many areas of the country are littered with unexploded ordinance and shrapnel. 

Unexploded ordinance (UXO)

Trained experts are still working, and will be for a long time to clear potentially deadly UXO from villages, fields ,and surrounding areas throughout Lao PDR.

It is common for Lao people to collect the remains of sometimes unexploded bombs found throughout the land to repurpose the metal or sell it for scrap.

Sadly many people are left maimed if not killed due to accidents from the left over explosives. We saw a plethora of prosthetics at the museum, most of which were homemade prosthetics made by people in poor villages without resources for proper prosthetics, care, or recovery. We saw prosthetics fashioned from bamboo, repurposed metal (even from the bombs themselves), solid wood, and a combination of several materials.

We saw pictures, watched documentaries and read stories about the locals. It's crazy and sad to know that our country caused so much devastation that is still affecting locals, when the Lao people weren't even involved in the conflict. 

We spent a couple days riding bikes around Vientiane and picked up our Cambodian visas as well (same day service!) before heading all the way south to the 4,000 Islands scattered in the Mekong in Southern Laos. 

Our night bus was a VIP 'sleeping bus'. We weren't sure what to expect, but we had an actual horizontal bed, pillows and blankets. We joked that it would be weird for two strangers to share the small space.. it was he first overnight bus ride where we actually slept. 

More to come from the river islands of Laos!

-MRP