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Published: November 7th 2010
It was a four hour trip from Vang Vieng to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, four hours with our favourite Karaoke guide. He actually managed to get a few lines of My Heart Will Go On out of Dave. the rest of us were keeping our mouths firmly shut.
The largest city of Laos sit on the northern bank of the Mekong river, looking across to Thailand, the name translating to "City of Sandalwood". Vientiane is characterised by broad, boulevards and rundown, creaking colonial mansions. Dotted with rustic wats surrounded by coconut palms and a generally sedentary pace of life as well, the allure of the place can be understood. It is more a town for relaxing in leafy beer gardens, eating and drinking, rather than viewing Museums, Palaces and Temples. Having said that, there are a few highlights worth visiting, which we took in on orientation walk with Molly - Mr Tui providing a non-stop detailed, commentary the whole way.
Wat Si Saket
Wat Si Saket was built in 1818 on the orders of King Anouvong, and is said to be the oldest temple still standing in Vientiane. It was built in the Siamese style
of Buddhist architecture, with a surrounding terrace and an ornate five-tiered roof, rather than in the Lao style. This kept it safe from the armies of Siam that sacked Vientiane in 1827. Although the temple was spared, the French restored it in 1924 and then again in 1930. Wat Si Saket features a cloister wall with more than 2000 ceramic and silver Buddha images.
Victory Gate
A local rendition of Paris' Arc de Triomphe. Besides the elaborate Buddhist embellishment, it differs from the original in having four gates instead of two and being just a bit higher (to spite the French). Reasonably impressive from afar, a surprisingly frank English sign inside the monument labels it a "monster of concrete" when seen up close - and the concrete in question was donated by the US, although it was supposed to go towards a new airport instead (hence the nickname "the Vertical Runway"). The monument itself aside, the palm tree-lined park around it complete with fountains is quite pleasant and for three thousand kip you can climb up to the 7th story (lots of stairs...naturally) for a view of downtown Vientiane. Roving cameramen wander the park around the fountain ready
to charge for photos in front of the gate. Mr Tui excitedly organized a photo, and demanded our email addresses so he could keep in touch. Can you do Karaoke via email?
COPE
Our tour of Vientiane also included a trip to COPE National Rehabilitation Center, this was both enlightening but disturbing. During the Vietnam War, the US embarked on the most intensive bombing campaign in history. As Laos was a neutral party during the war, there were no US troops on the ground. However, in an effort to disrupt the supply route to Vietnam the US bombed Laos mercilessly but denied any presence, hence this became known as The Secret War. Religious and civilian targets were not immune to the campaign. Air strikes were primarily carried out with cluster bombs, pieces of ordinance that opened when dropped from the plane, releasing thousands of smaller "bombies". Many of these bombs and other devices did not explode at the time. Sadly, the Secret War is still killing and immuring thousands of innocent Loatian people. Villages are so poor their people risk injury digging up UXOs (unexploded ordinance) to use the explosives for fishing, the casings for utensils, unexploded bombs
for fencing. When injuries happen they are often In such remote locations that access to help is difficult. So, even though the war ended in 1975, the country is still littered with a significant amount of UXOs which also contributes to poverty, hunger and disability on a daily basis. It is difficult to say with certainty how many people in Laos are affected by disability from UXOs and for other reasons in some way.
COPE stands for Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise and they provide prosthetics and mobility devices for those people who require them, free of charge if they cannot afford to pay for them, as well as educating people on the issues Laos faces due to UXOs, and training for local staff. It was certainly a more serious side to our tour, but well worth the visit, again reminding us of just how lucky we are.
It was our last night in Laos, so we decided it was time to stay out with the boys (Paul and Dave) and see exactly what they were getting up to and what was possibly open after the midnight curfew. We were to meet for dinner but a sudden
Scott and Shelly in Front of the Victory Gate
Also known in Vientiane as the "Arc D'Triumphe"downpour kept us separated across opposite sides of the city, however I guess the boys keen to see if the Aussies could keep up as they eventually hunted us down around 10pm in a little French restaurant. So it was a quick walk down to a little bar they had found along the river and we sat drinking beer and cocktails looking across to Thailand and working out if it was too far to swim. Of course then the drinking games started (if any one knows a country name starting with X we'd be grateful) and we were so engrossed we ended up being the last ones left at midnight and kicked out. So it was off to find another party. Eventually we found a night club, complete with Laser lights and I assume Loatian or Thai trance music! Funnily enough where the dance floor would have been were hundreds of little round tables with people just standing around looking at each other (talking being virtually impossible). Lots of hostesses though. The boys were quite used to the concept of hostesses by this stage, and each morning we would be regaled with the stories of their near misses and
flights of escape. Also a tip from Paul - the really really pretty ones are almost always ladyboys... How does he know that? After a couple of hours though I could tell Scott was about done so we headed off back to the hotel (way overpaying for our Jumbo) and left the boys to get up to their usual mischief. All I can say, there was something about the back of a jumbo, a lady boy, two girls waiting outside the hotel and Paul sleeping underneath a Stupa down the road till 5am. Hmmmmmm.....
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