vientiane

… a guy walks into a bar, orders a drink and sits at a table. Another guy, we’ll call him Guy 2, walks up to Guy 1 and casually says “I was doing some renovation work on my house last night and I found a bomb.”

Guy 1 casually eyes the date on his watch and replies, “I’ll send someone ‘round next week to take care of it.” Then turns back to his drink.

This sounds like the beginning of a joke, right? Nope, this is a true story; Helen and I were sitting with Guy 1 when this conversation occured …. Welcome to Laos.

Getting off the plane, Helen and I had no idea what to expect. Yes, there was the consensus that Laos was the favorite place of every single traveler we’d met who had been through SE Asia, but really, what does that mean? We’ve learned from following other peoples’ recommendations that standards can vary drastically.

I have always held the belief that certain cities and towns hold a certain luck for each traveler. Good fortune or bad. Good karma or bad karma would probably be a more accurate way to describe it. Like when I arrived in New York City with less than a thousand dollars in my pocket and within three weeks I had a very high paying job and lived in a loft. When we arrived in Vientiane we were very excited by the possibilities Laos had in store for us. Within two days we had found several really good restaurants, a yoga shala, and an amazing volunteer organization with which to satisfy Western, First World, over-privileged guilt complexes. In 48 hours we were completely plugged in.

Vientiane is small for a capital city– its streets easy to roam around and not so easy to get lost in (unless, of course, you're Helen!).

I know all of you are beginning to think we have a fixation with monks, but in this part of the world they are integral to everyday life. At the age of 18 all males are expected to take their Buddhist vows and don the distinctive golden (sometimes neon orange!) robes for at least a year;  some stay, some leave but take the spiritual lessons into manhood. A few weeks after our arrival, the week long That Luang Festival fell into full swing: every year monks and nuns from all over Laos make the pilgrimage to Vientiane to give thanks. People also come from all corners of the country to give alms. Naturally, where people congregate the vendors come, then the ferris wheels, carnival rides, and in every corner games of chance appear and the whole thing becomes a week-long festival that begins well before daybreak and ends well after midnight.

The organization we volunteered at was COPE. Before I explain the work that they do, I have to go into a pretty messy back story. During the Vietnam War the conflict spilled over into Laos (who was neutral) in a secret war leaving it one of the most heavily bombed countries in history. In fear of landing with full loads of munitions, weather impaired bombing runs of the B-52’s that took off from Thailand were ordered to unload over Laos. The Laos countryside was also used for target practice. Many of these bombs and other devices did not explode at the time. So, even though the war ended in 1975, the country is still littered with a significant amount of UXO's (unexploded ordnance) which contribute to poverty, hunger and disability on a daily basis. The scrap metal business is huge in Laos which significantly adds to the problem as does the fact that, really, would you farm your land if there was a very strong chance of a bomb being in your field? It is estimated that there are upwards of 80 million UXOs still in Laos. THAT’S 80,000,000 LIVE BOMBS!

Jo at COPE generously let me use most of these photos. The close up of the little smiling boy you may remember as Santar, the boy we delivered the bicycle to in Luang Namtha (Northern Laos). Some of the pictures near the end are of the exhibit and the gift shop, and a few of us playing Twister (which the rehabilitation staff uses for patients). The last two pictures are what Helen and I would look like in the aftermath of a UXO accident. Our sour faces are not acting, just putting one of these heavy fake limbs on throws even the healthiest of minds into a deep depression.

If you are ever in Vientiane you must go to COPE! It is an amazing facility with wonderful people who work very hard to rehabilitate UXO victims, as well as trying to push through global legislation to ban the manufacturing and use of cluster bombs. In the months that we were volunteering at COPE there were many people who visited the exhibit several days in a row because it was so good. Please check out the COPE website at:

www.copelaos.org

Please, buy an arm or a leg for someone, it'll cost less than you're going to spend at the bar tonight.