Vientiane

 Vientiane

First stop in the capital of Laos was Pha That Luang, the most important religious site in Laos and a symbol of Laos national identity. 

The main stupa. The top is covered with 450 kgs of gold leaf but the ret is only painted gold.

                                                 

The main entrance.

One of the surrounding walls with another temple shown above the wall.

Inside the surrounding wall, many statues of buddha.

One of just a dozen surrounding temples.

A long distance shot of the stupa.

One of the entrances to a nearby temple.

And then a lot of photos of temples...

...and statues...

...beautifully decorated insides...

...a resting buddha...

And then it was a visit to COPE, the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Entreprise. The Americans dropped more than two million tons of bombs on Laos during the Vietnam War, making it the most bombed place in history. A lot of the bomblets and cluster muntions failed to detonate on impact and can cause injury decades after being dropped.

COPE is a charity that helps victims to recover, manage their disabilities and to lead productive lifes. A very worthy cause and essential for a small country with a fedgling economy that couldn't provide the essentials by itself.

The entrance.

A display of the cluster munitions dropped. 

A reminder.

A poingant reminder of the damage done, a statue of a other and child made from UXBs by a local artist...40% of victims are children who find something unusual in the fields or forest before their parents can tell them to leave it alone.