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We've been in Vientiane a few days now and the weather has been great. Really hot and not to humid! We've visited the national museum, the Laos equivalent of the arc de triomphe and the presidential palace. The best place we've visited though has to be a place called the COPE visitor centre. It is a charity that helps people affected by unexplored bombs, doing everything from removing the bombs to building prosthetic limbs for people who have been disfigured by them. Unfortunately people collect them and sell them for scrap metal which leads to them detonating every so often. The saddest story however is that occasionally the bombs explode when heated. Meaning that a family can be sitting around a fire cooking and have no idea that a bomb is beneath the surface until it detonates. The Americans dropped 80 million cluster bombs on Laos in the 60s/70s so which an estimated 30 million didn't explode. It's the equivalent of a bombing run over Laos every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years. It is the most heavily bombed country in the world and they estimate it will take over 100 more years for the country to be completely cleared of unexploded bombs. The centre was an incredibly eye opening experience of which I'm sure will only increase once we get to Vietnam next week.
Today we have spent the day chilling and playing pool at our new hostel right in the centre of town. We are going out for some drinks tonight and then tomorrow spending the day at a health club where we can have an hour massage and use the gym and outdoor pool for just over £8. Not to bad a deal!
Monday we fly to Vietnam at 2.40pm and it takes just over an hour to get to Hanoi where we will spend a few days before heading to Ha Long Bay.
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Nana and Grandad Very pleased you are flying to Veiitnam don't think you would have enjoyed going by bus! Enjoy and take care love you xx