Part 72 - Vientiane

Buddha Park

Like much of Laos, its capital Vientiane, is very hot and polluted, although a lot less "busy" than Bangkok. We only had one night here, but that was more than enough time to visit one of the highlights of the whole trip, the Buddha Park, which was competing with the White Temple in Chiang Mai in the  batshit craziness stakes. It contained hundreds of Buddhist and Hindu temples that look centuries old, but were apparently built in the 1950s. 

The "entrance", which was at the back of the park

One of my favourite statues resembled a giant pumpkin. As you can see in the picture below, it's possible to climb up some rather precarious stairs to reach the "roof" of the pumpkin (do pumpkins have rooves?). It's also ideal for a jolly if rather disrespectful game of Hide n Seek ...

Click on the image to see if you can find me ...

In a moment of sheer folly, I decided to climb the steepest set of stairs I've ever seen, simply because the sign said "Warning Drop Down" rather than just "Don't Be An Idiot. You've Been To Hospital THREE Times Already On This Trip". 

I nearly got to the top and then froze, and there is a not-very-complimentary video taken by Charlotte (my stitch remover!) of me climbing down very gingerly (you could argue I do everything gingerly) and sweating buckets (not just from the heat).  

I somehow managed to take this photo from the top 

We then returned to the city and were driven to few other sights, including ...

Can't remember what this is. Sorry!

... and the Laotian Arc de Triomphe ...

Sadly, closed, so wasn't allowed to climb it (although I'd probably had my fill of climbing for the day)

Our final stop was the COPE Visitor Centre, which provides prosthetic limbs to victims of landmines and unexploded bombs (The USA dropped 2 million tons of ordnance on Laos between 1964 and 1972, and around 30% of it didn't explode, giving Laos the unenviable title of "Most bombed country per capita"). Dozens of people - often children - are killed or maimed each year, and this centre provides 1,300 limbs and other support devices each year. 

It was very moving, particularly the video of a young girl who lost both her leg when she was run over by a car. Her prosthetic limb enabled her to be a normal kid, including doing the exact same dance that we had performed a couple of days previous in Vang Vieng. 

Then it was off to the airport where they refused to take my rucksack because there was a mobile phone in it. No there isn't, I insisted (showing them my mobile phone), and sent it back. Five minutes later, back it comes, and they're insisting there IS a mobile phone in it. I'd completely forgotten about the old mobile that fell into a waterfall in Panama. I've no idea why it never showed up in the dozen or so other flights I'd had, but it was scarcely the time to debate why that might be the case, given that I had to apologise a thousand times. As usual, the Laotians were charming in the face of such idiocy. 

So farewell Laos. I loved the country (but not the heat/pollution). Next stop, somewhere slightly less hot/polluted, Hanoi in Vietnam!

Some bonus footage of me climbing down gingerly from the tall temple and banging some gongs disrespectfully...