Laos - a country of bombs

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Our journey from Luang Prabang to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, was on a sleeping VIP bus. This was a first for us, and generally it was a good experience, but not something I would want to do if I was traveling alone. We left around 8pm for the ten hour journey, which is probably only 200 miles or so. Upon entering the bus we were pleasantly surprised to find the conditions conducive to sleeping. The sleeping bus essentially replaces seats with small cubes, stacked two high, to sleep in. The one downfall is that the cubes are relatively small. I think they were about as wide as a twin bed but only about five feet long – this is for two people. This was no big deal for Amy and me; however, if we were really tall (or large) it would have become pretty uncomfortable quickly. Also, I cannot imagine sharing that intimate of a space with a stranger since you are essentially required to spoon the entire trip, and if not spoon you would definitely be touching each other a lot! So, for those considering this option, if you have a travel partner that you are comfortable sharing the space with I would jump at the opportunity, if not, I would go by regular bus, the Mekong, or even fly. One other note about the trip is that they tell you dinner is included, which is true. However, dinner comes at a dive of a rest stop at 2:30am, not really what we were expecting. Your choice for food is noodle soup, other than that you can buy snacks. Our journey took 13 hours, three more than expected, but it wasn’t too bad. It is very slow going on the roads in Laos as they are essentially all switchbacks up and down mountains. I bet we averaged 15mph or so the entire way.

One thing that has become very apparent in Laos is the abundance of French. It seems that the French really love Laos and are everywhere. Their influence can be noticed in all of the café’s and the food. Baguette’s are all over the place and a lot of restaurants are either named something French or have French as one of the languages on their signs.

After settling into our hotel in Vientiane we headed to the U.S. embassy – our main reason for coming to Vientiane when we did was to have two days to get our passport situation worked out. When we arrived at the embassy Thursday afternoon we were told we needed an appointment, which we had to book online – how convenient – we were lucky enough to talk to someone and make an appointment for 9:00am on Friday. Friday morning comes and we go to the embassy and they tell us they are closed for the day – great! We fly out to Vietnam on Sunday, Friday is the last working day for the embassy, and I have no blank pages left in my passport! We are adamant that we will be seen that day and stick around until the guards call someone that speaks good English and we can get things straightened out. The gentlemen told me to come back at 1:30 and they will help us. After some breakfast and wandering around Vientiane we went back to the embassy and added pages to our passport books, which was $82 each, a service that was free until a year or so ago. I was hoping to get a new passport since mine expires in two years and essentially I would have to pay for a new one soon anyways – but I would have had to wait ten days. In the end it all worked out, but I would advise anyone that is planning a trip such as ours to start with either a blank passport, or get pages added before you go – you will need them with all of the Visa’s that take up four stamp slots!

While changing hotels we met a wonderful man, Jim Harris, from Wausau, WI – what a small world. He was wearing a Packers hat – an easy conversation starter for us fellow Wisconsonites! After some small talk he told us about what he was doing in Laos, which is really incredible. Jim and his wife traveled around the world about 30 years ago as Amy and I are doing – they returned to teaching and took an early retirement. Since Jim retired he has come to Laos for three months every year to help remove UXOs (Unexploded Ordinance – undetonated bomb). He recommended that we check out the COPE (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise) visitor center. In addition to telling us about COPE, he told us about a non-profit organization he founded, “We Help War Victims.” Please check out his website at www.whwv.org to get an idea of the work he is doing. They have no paid administrative staff and all donations to their organization go directly to help their causes, which help both people in the United States and in Laos. Small donations can add up fast in a country like Laos, I’ll go into some details later as I explain about COPE (www.copelaos.org).

For those of you that are parents imagine the following scenario…your child goes out to play like they have hundreds of times, maybe they go to the park, maybe the woods out back, maybe the neighbor’s yard– and they are with a bunch of friends. No reason to worry they have done this several times. Except this time, after a few hours you hear an explosion where the kids typically play. Two of your child’s friends stepped on a UXO killing both of them and severely injuring your child’s leg. You rush your child to the hospital, but they have no oxygen or blood to help, so you travel another few hours to the next hospital, same thing. Maybe after a third hospital you get help and your child lives, but without their leg. This is the reality of Laos today, except that not everyone makes it to the hospital in time. Barely a day goes by without a UXO incident (about 300/year) – surely a tough place to live!

As the name suggests, the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise, is a non-profit organization dedicated to help individuals in Laos who are in need of Orthotic or Prosthetic services. UXO victims account for thirty-five percent of all of the individuals that COPE helps. During the Vietnam War the United States dropped millions of bombs over Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, mainly targeting the Ho Chi Minh Trail area – although other areas were targeted. Laos took the largest majority of the bombing, so much so, that per capita Laos is the most bombed country in the world. One of the tactics used by the U.S. was cluster bombs, which essentially are a bunch of little bombs within a large bomb. When the large bomb is dropped, it opens and a few hundred (or more) little bombs fall to the ground. Locally the little bombs are known as bombies. It is estimated that 30 percent of the bombs and bombies that were dropped never detonated, leaving about 80 million UXOs in Laos today – covering about 25 percent of Laos villages.

The problems facing Laos and dealing with UXOs are compounded by the fact that scrap sellers essentially encourage kids to go look for UXOs. Scrap sellers will go into a village and sell children metal detectors to look for scrap metal (metal detector for $16). Kids can earn $3-4 (U.S. dollars) a day by finding scrap – which is equal to what a laborer in Laos makes a day. So right away the kids are in debt to the scrap collector to pay off the metal detector. Searching for scrap puts them in serious harm’s way given that any of the scrap they find can still be a live bomb. It is a cycle that needs to be broken, but is financially so compelling for the children.

Organizations like COPE and We Help War Victims are crucial to helping make the lives of victims of UXOs as normal as possible. As I mentioned, in Laos money and donations go a long way. For instance, for $200 a victim of a UXO can get medical help, transportation, and a custom prosthetic to literally get back on their feet (this is an all inclusive price). An Occupational Therapist can be trained for $35 who in turn helps hundreds of victims with their rehabilitation, and $75 will buy a complete prosthetic leg for someone. I know – hard to believe given how much these services would cost in the United States! COPE is also helping lead an initiative to eliminate the use of cluster bombs to prevent these problems in the future…the U.S. has yet to sign on, but about 100 other countries have.

While at COPE we ran into Jim Harris again and started talking with him and a survivor from a UXO explosion, Peter Kim (his Laos name we cannot pronounce, but he said it is equal to Peter Kim in the United States). Peter lost both of his hands and his eyes in the explosion. Although he has lost so much he was a really jovial individual. Jim remembered him from a previous encounter when Peter was breakdancing at an event to raise money for UXO victims. It was great to see someone that COPE has helped, yet disturbing to see how this 19 year old’s life was changed forever a few years ago.

Although much of this seems depressing, and parts of it are, at the same time it is uplifting to meet so many people involved and committed to helping the victims of UXOs in Laos and across the world. Needless to say, it was certainly well worth the visit to COPE Visitor Center and I believe any visit to Vientiane without visiting COPE is missing out on a huge part of Laos.

With our thick passports with 48 new pages in hand we head to Vietnam tomorrow. Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is our destination. Northern Vietnam has rainy/misty weather January-March but we hope to find a break in the weather long enough to sail in Ha Long Bay for a day or two and then explore Hanoi for a few days.

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Photos

Cluster Bomb
An exhibit showing what a cluster bomb looks like. The little bombs are the bombies and you can see the shell towards the top that splits open for the bombies to fall out.

Sleeper Bus
This shows the sleeper bus cove that we slept in on our way from Luang Prabang to Vientiane

Bomb-Canoe
Fuel tank from B-52 dropped in Laos, now used as a boat.

Local Lady
Lady heading to the market with her goods.

COPE
Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise

COPE
Foreground shows a mother and baby near an UXO, back left is the B-52 bomb-canoe