Saba-Dii from Laos

March 24, 2011
First things first, we are safe and sound from the earthquake in Thailand, having felt only some violent shaking, or was that just a bumpy tuk-tuk ride...yup. Another natural disaster averted, we didn't feel a single shimmy or a shake.

We are now in Laos. We had read some major bus horror stories about the 24hr border crossing from Hanoi, Vietnam, to Vientiane, Laos, but in fact, we had the best bus ride in history. We scored the back seats, the ones with extra leg room and Q took on the role of "big spoon" with his Vietnamese neighbor. 
On the bus we met another couple from Edmonton, Adam and Stacey, and have enjoyed their company for the past 5 days.
We spent a few days in Vientiane, the bustling capital city, with a population totaling a whopping 200,000. 
We rented scooters and hit the dusty trail (literally) to tour COPE and Buddha Park.
COPE (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise), is an organization that works in cooperation with the Laos Ministry of Health and rehabilitation centers across the country to develop rehabilitation services, provide aids and prosthetic devices free of charge for those who require them and educates the public on UXO's (Unexploded Ordinance) as 30% of their clients are victims of UXO's.
Why is there a problem with UXO's in Laos you ask? I wondered this very question myself. Well... during the Vietnam war, Laos was devastated by "The Secret War", when the US carpet bombed the eastern side of Laos in attempts to attack the presence of the North Vietnamese. A statistic we read was that more bombs were dropped on Laos than in all of WW II. If that isn't bad enough, approximately 30% (80 million) of these "cluster bombs" failed to explode on impact and they remain littered across the country side, impeding this counties development since much of the land is unusable, not to mention the lives that are continually damaged and lost when someone comes across a UXO. We learned at COPE that education is so important since the lucrative metal trade in China has caused people in this impoverished country to seek out UXO's in hopes of making some money. Often children either think the smaller bombs are toys and mistakenly pick them up or they want to help provide for their family and they know that metal equals money. Our visit at COPE was informative, inspiring and touched our hearts deeply.

We instantly fell in love with Laos. The people are quiet and kind, there's no hassling (the guide book wasn't lying when it said "the Thai tuk-tuk driver would take you to your destination via a silk shop, the Vietnamese tuk-tuk driver would almost run you over, while you'd have to find the Lao driver, wake him up and then persuade him to drive you"). There's a peacefulness about the culture and subsistence village life remains the norm. The rugged landscape is gorgeous with clean rivers crossing through checkered farmland with huge rock spires covered in lush green forest intermingled amongst it all. And maybe best of all, they have fantastic bakeries due to the history of French influence. We've spent much of our Laos budget indulging in baked goods.

We are now in Vang Viang, a town seemingly plucked right out of Koh San Rd- Bangkok, it's a major tourist trap. A step just out of the town limits puts you right in rice paddies and wooden farm huts, but within the town are guesthouses, DVD stores, shops selling "Tubing Vang Viang" t-shirts and numerous bars and restaurants. It doesn't seem to fit in to Laos' quiet reputation and we have indulged in the "western comforts".
The big attraction is the river which is lined with bars sporting trapeze swings, slides, ziplines and mud-pits. They market it as "tubing the Vang Viang"! The catch is, no body actually makes it down river in their tube instead they just get caught up at the bars until dark and end up walking to the nearest road to catch a tuk-tuk, toting the tube and all.
Our first day on the river, we were the unsuspecting rookies who still rented the tubes. On round two we wised up, ditched the tubes and thanks to our friend Adam, who constucted some poles, we even introduced  Vang Viang to the game of beers-bee!
 
There are a few other pursuits in town, multiple caves and The Blue Lagoon, a tranquil Eden on a clear blue river, to name a couple.
Q was able to get his first straight razor shave at a little hole in the wall....actually there was no wall, shop along the side of the road. The small shop consisted of an old barber chair and mirror, two roosters in bamboo cages and a lady cutting sugar cane with a machete.... It's quite funny what becomes the norm after over two months here in SE Asia.

Sadly, we are running out of time and we must move on. Today we head to Luang Pranbang, a city in the middle of Laos which is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site.