Day 27 - Vientiane, Laos

We start the day with a good 10km run down the Mekong. Not as interesting scenery around this part of Laos. It's very flat and the Mekong is pretty dry this time of year. Good run though, although very hot, even at 8.30am. 

After breakfast we go for an explore. The national stadium is near by. Crazy to think that if England every played Laos they would play here. It's like a school stadium. 

There isn't too much going on in Vientiane. You don't need long here as there is not much to see. The centre is pleasant enough but literally only has nice restaurants and a night market. 

A giant nipple thing called That Dam that we stumble across, then stop at the greatly named That Dam Wine House for a Diet coke in the shade to cool down. 

We were tempted to go bowing as it is highly recommended by Lonely Planet. We stumble across the place and it is like a bowling alley out of the 50s. Think we will come back tomorrow night as supposed to be pretty good. 

After we head to the Beer Lao brewery which is about 12km outside of town. We have a very dusty Tuk Tuk ride there but arrive too early for the tour. 

Such a random (closed) bar / club opposite called Dodo. Looked like an abandoned hardcore dance club. 

Arrive at the brewery excited to see where our favourite Lao beer is made. As it is government owned in a 'Peoples Democratic Republic' Lao Beer has 99% market share in Lao. It is pretty much the only beer you can get. Luckily it is pretty good, especially Beer Lao Dark. 

We get inside and find out it's a bloody company event this afternoon so we can't go in! So annoying. We have a beer in the crappy canteen like bar in an office block and spend all of three mins in the equally poor museum (if you can call it that - I've got older and more interesting stuff in my pants drawer).  At least we see what we could have seen in model form. 

On the way home we went via a highly recommended gym to check it out for tomorrow. It's amazing. Haven't done any weights for a while so going to love this tomorrow. It also has an amazing outside pool and part of the day pass you get an hour massage - all for £4.80! What a bargain. 

The most mental scaffholding ever. Literally made out of old tree branches nailed together. Also an interesting way to deliver bricks!

Next up we head to an amazing little place called COPE. COPE was created in response to the need to provide UXO (unexploded ordnance - basically any bomb that didn't explode and still poses a threat) survivors with the care and support they required, namely by way of prosthetic devices. Literally limbs for people after they had been blown off by left over bombs from the Vietnam war. 

Scroll in below to see some staggering facts. There were 580k B-52 flights across 9 years, this equates to one every 8 mins and they dropped a lot of bombs in one go. One third of country is now contaminated by old bombs. A whopping 50k people were killed post war and 13.5k people lost limbs of which 40% are children. Children often try to extract them to sell them for scrap. Such risk for the 2000 kip (15p) they get for them but it's decent money for them. 

These huge 'bombie' holders hold hundreds of mini bombs. 

This is what they looked like when they opened. 270 million 'bombies' were dropped during the war of which a whopping 80m were left undetonated. 

Lao was the heaviest hit out of all South East Asia and the most heavily bombed place of all time (as it was home to the Ho Chi Minh trail the supplied southern Vietnam). Every red dot on this map represents a bombing campaign. Absolutely staggering. Also what is more staggering is that 30% of bombs never detonated which is why the county is like giant land mine today and needs the great work that the likes of COPE do. 

The place was decimated close to the Vietnam border. A lot of this was napalm as well. 

Old limbs the villagers used to make as they could not afford proper ones.  

A child's make shift limb. Very sad to see. 

Just an old tin pot and a block of wood. 

A crazy contraption that helps you feel what it is like to have a false limb. Weird feeling. 

After this we then head to a bar recommended by our "traveling bible" Lonely Plant to watch the sunset. It turns into the most frustrating search and long walk along the Mekong and we still do not find it. We are however placated by the great views and the odd decent bar along the way. 

We eventually find one on the river which is an old boat. 

Celebrating arriving at the sunset in time!!

More amazing vanilla sky as the sun disappears. 

The boat we were on was like an homage to Lao Beer. Everything had Lao Beer written on it, the orning, table cloths, lamps, tables, posters, beer mats you name it. 

That evening we head to a great restaurant called Makphet, run by a charity where all the staff are deprived people who need a chance in life. See the story below. It's a gorgeous place and amazing food. Loving the Lao traditional dish, the lap. Delicious. 

Another early night. Back at the hotel for 8.30pm!! The rock and roll life continues!