Vientiane with a capital V?

It's very hard to believe that Vientiane is a capital city. It's unlike any other capital I've ever visited; it is very compact and easy to navigate, it has very light traffic, it has no malls, no chain stores, no business district, no crowds and no buzz, leaving it feeling more like an unimposing town. However, for little sleepy Laos, with it's largely rural population, Vientiane makes quite an apt capital.

As the traffic is so light, I decided to hire a bicycle to explore the city. I started my sight-seeing with Laos version of the 'Arc de Triomphe'. It's an odd choice of monument which on close inspection is really quite ugly. It's built from concrete and due to Laos turbulent history didn't get properly finished. Even the building itself recognises how ugly it is, with a plaque on the wall describing it as a 'concrete monstrosity'. It does however provide a nice view of the city and the manicured boulevards below.

I continued my mornings sight-seeing with the presidential palace, and Wat Si Saket, which in a few short hours pretty much concluded the major sights of Vientiane!!

After getting the obligitory sights out of the way, I was keen to visit 'Cope Centre' which is based in the capital. Cope is a rehabilitation centre and providor of prosthetic limbs to local victims of UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) left over from the Vietnam War. It is a really interesting centre, and brings attention to how badly Laos (a neutral country) suffered during the war, particularly due to the use of cluster bombs.

The museum documents some very sad stories of local people who have lost limbs as a result of UXOs. A particularly sad story was that of 9 year old Hamm, who died after a bomb his friends were playing with exploded. He didn't die immediately, but local hospitals were ill-equipped to deal with his injuries, and so the only option was for him to be sent home to die. This is a common tragedy for ill-educated locals who do not realise the dangers of UXOs or are willing to risk of handling them due to their scrap metal value.
Another story tells of a local man who lost both arms and an eye when he found a UXO while fishing with his Sons. He believed that the bomb could be used to catch fish, but unfortunately it exploded it his hands leaving him severely injured. His sons had to row for 5 hours to reach a hospital. The man survived, but spent years struggling to get around and was forced to eat like a dog as a result of his injuries. Luckily cope centre workers visited his village and explained that they could provide him with artificial limbs and rehabilitation free of charge. This is one of the fantastic things cope does, it sends workers into the communities to educate locals and inform them that rehabilitation/ prosthetic limbs are free and available. Cope also have a team who work to destroy UXOs buried in the countryside.
Despite the serious nature of the centre, it has a really positive vibe focusing on improving people's lives  and changing international legistation on the use of cluster bombs. It was a really great experience at cope, and opened my eyes to the problems many Laotions are dealing with as a result of the countries turbulent history.

Trying out a prosthetic leg

Another sight I was keen to visit while in Vientiane was Buddha Park. I traveled to Buddha park by bus for 10,000 kip (80p) round trip, saving myself 13 pounds that a tuk-tuk would have cost. It was an over-packed bus, made even more uncomfortable by the pot-hole filled road, and my location next to a cage of cheeping chicks, but it was worth the journey, as Buddha Park was even better than I'd anticipated. The park consists of fantastic sculptures portraying the artists unique religious ideas, which seem to cross a few different religions. I wandered around the park taking photos until I was interrupted by a local man named Dao, who asked if I would sit with him to help him practice his English. I agreed, and we spent quite a while chatting while he made notes about any unfamiliar words I used. Dao had an interesting sense of humour and after a while decided that I was 'supergirl' and he was 'spiderman', he rambled on about our alter egos for a while which started to border on an odd version of flirting! After listening to his hopes for 'supergirl' and 'spiderman' to save the world together, I felt I'd heard quite enough and left him to it. I left a false email and promised that I would be in touch!

After a few days in the capital I'd seen pretty much all there was to see, and eaten rather too many croissants, and so I decided it was time to leave and head further south. My original plan had been to head to Vietnam after Vientiane, but I'd heard about a few good sights in the South of Laos, so I decided to change my plans.

Baguettes aplenty in Vientiane