This was my first time in Laos, and I was surprised how much more laid-back Vientiane was to Bangkok and Phnom Penh. The French left their mark with many cafés dotted about the city and its retirees choosing this part of Asia to retreat to.
Throughout our trip I had been trying to hit as many museums and art galleries as possible. Japan was simply a treat for an art enthusiast who has her specs at hand to hop from own art exhibition to another. Southeast Asia on the other hand somewhat lacked in this area. The museums were either poorly curated with objects lying about in no particular order and badly labelled, as if you just stumbled upon a new finding at an archaeological site, or the facilities were in bad shape.
However, the COPE Visitor Centre in Vientiane was surprisingly informative. I would recommend this place for anyone visiting this city. As the most heavily bombed country in the world with 270 million bombies (cluster bombs dropped by the USA between 1964-1973) dropped in Laos PDR and around 80 million unexploded bombies lurking beneath, Laotians continue to be killed and injured by them every day. COPE’s mission is to “help people with mobility-related disabilities move on by supporting access to physical rehabilitation services in the Lao”. In the exhibition, a series of videos and documentaries were available for viewing. We watched one called Bomb Harvest (2007), a story about an Australian bomb disposal specialist risking his life in Laos. Despite the low-key building and curation, it is an important place to learn our history and pay tribute.
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Love this sisi!
Awesome adventures, and you have a good story to tell when you got stuck in the mud (it doesn’t look fun!). I got stuck in Laos as well when I crashed my motorbike and hurt my leg… Spent a week in a little village on the Ho Chi Min trail until I flagged down a UN truck! It’s all about the adventure!
I do like the idea of bumping into you in Laos after a few decades in that little village if you didn’t get rescued by the UN truck 😉
Stay healthy! Hugs from Runan and Henning