DAY 4 - VIENTIANE

Second, and last, day in Vientiane - slightly regretting not giving it more time.  Another jolly good breakfast and today, as we're venturing further afield, we'll be negotiating with the local tuk-tuk drivers. First stop, the Revolutionary Monument to the fallen

 

Just across from the monument is the National Assembly.  Oh dear, have you ever seen a building (the one on the right) that more screams ferry terminal?

After a quick coffee in one of the chains ("Parisienne"!)

on to one of the most venerated temples, That Luang, the golden national symbol; it's the country's seal, cropping on its bank notes and government buildings.  

Legend has it that an Indian missionary brought Buddha's breastbone to Laos and it was built in the 3rd century to house the relic, but the current structure was in fact built in 1566 on the site of a 13th century Khmer ruin by King Setthathirat (here he is)

As well as the sheer gold-ness, lots of fine detail 

and it is treated most reventially by the faithful, who queue to buy marigold wreaths and bunches of white chrysanthemums from a stall-holder

 

although blow me down if he doesn't recover them for recycling every so often...
  

The other form of devotion involves poor wee sparrows, carried about in bamboo cages

and released, presumably with a prayer

As well as the temple, nearby is what we deduced is a training building 

Not too far away is the Patuxai Victory Monument, dedicated in 1968 to the fallen in the independence fight from France, Siam and Japan.  Laos' answer to the Arc de Triomphe, its crenellated upper level is topped with five ornate towers

and you can climb for a closer look

 

and views - this one is down to the (off limits) Presidential Palace 

and, for Duncan, the even higher top level

 

Another pit-stop for a Beerlao, the local brew

and our last stop is the C.O.P.E (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise), a charity providing clinical treatment and rehabilitation programmes for Lao people with physical disabilities. This is the sharp end of what we saw at the National Museum about how Lao suffered and continues to suffer; unexploded weapons (UXO), which still litter the countryside as a result of the Vietnam war, injure and main thousands of people, mainly children who live in rural areas and have limited access to healthcare.  

COPE makes prosthetic legs from lightweight  polypropolene, and custom-fits feet, arms and hands. It funds the manufacture of wheelchairs and other orthotic (helping to support parts of the body) devices and provides medical treatment and travelling and accommodation costs.

Heart-breaking and inspirational in equal measure, the work is ongoing, both to clear UXO and to help those injured by it; a small exhibition tells the recent story of aid given to a child whose job was to root around in a nearby field and collect "scrap metal" for his parents' sale.  That's what he was doing when, as so often it does, a piece in his hand turned out to be a "bomblet" - part of a cluster-bomb (The Convention on Cluster Munitions is the international attempt to address their use - as of April 2016, 108 states have signed the treaty and 100 ratified it or acceded to it; Laos is one of them, the USA is not).