Day 4 - I Can’t COPE

My alarm went off at 2.56am and I tuned into Sky Sports to watch the Everton v Man United game live. It wasn’t the most exciting match, but our relatively new young striker, Benjamin Sesko, came on as a sub and scored the only goal of the match.

Despite my best efforts I struggled to get back to sleep again after the match and I felt shattered when my alarm went off at 8.05am.

We went down to breakfast at 9am, where on this occasion I ordered an omelette and Jackie ordered 2 boiled eggs along with all the other accompaniments. Over breakfast Jackie decided that she wanted a couple of hours of sun beside the pool before sightseeing. This suited me as it gave me an opportunity to write my blog on the pool sunbeds.

At 12.30pm, we left the pool, showered and caught a stretch Kok Kok Move from the hotel to the COPE Visitor Centre. COPE stands for Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise.

It is a surprising fact that Laos is the World’s Most Bombed Country per capita. Beginning on the 9th June 1964, the United States during the Vietnam War deployed more than 2 million tons of ordnance in 580,000 bombing missions over Lao P.D.R. This is equal to one plane-load every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years. At least 270 million cluster bomblets (Bombies) were released during this campaign, which amounts to 2 tons per inhabitant. This was done to hinder their adversaries’ use of guerrilla warfare along the Ho Chi Minh Trail and resulted in Laos becoming the most extensively bombed country in history. 10 to 30 percent of the bombs did not explode resulting in civilians still being regularly killed and maimed today by unexploded bombies.

The Visitors Centre was well set out with bombs and prosthetic limbs on display. There were numerous photos of victims displayed on the walls, but I chose to avoid them leaving them to Jackie and her more morbid curiosity.

20 minutes later we were done and we walked back to Khop Chai Deu for a couple of large BeerLaos, satay chicken, garlic bread and finally a half litre of white wine, which was just about drinkable.

After lunch, we headed to Wat Sisaket, the oldest wat in Vientiane. We had to pay a 30,000 Kip (£1) entry fee and Jackie was made to wear a pair of trousers to enter. We entered the temple and I managed to sneak a photo. We also walked around the tile roof cloisters that contained 100s of Buddhas, then around the outside of the cloisters which were where the monks were residing. Our visit was interrupted by a group of visiting Thai dignitaries complete with their own film crew.

Our next stop was Haw Pha Keo, which was once the king’s own personal Buddha temple, but is now a museum of art and antiquities. It cost us another £1 each and Jackie wore a long wrap around skirt provided by the museum. Again it was mainly lots more ancient Buddhas and not particularly interesting.

We then hiked back along Setthathilat Road to the MAG (Mines Advisory Group) Visitor Information Centre. The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) is a global humanitarian and advocacy organisation that finds, removes and destroys landmines, cluster munitions and unexploded bombs from places affected by conflict.

MAG also provides education programmes, particularly for children, so people can live, work and play as safely as a possible until they clear the land. Since 1989, MAG has helped over 20 million people in 70 countries rebuild their lives and livelihoods after war.

It was only a small Visitor Information Centre providing information about the work they do around the world. We contributed to their good work by buying a packet of ‘From Bomb To Beans’ coffee beans to take home.

Our next stop was at motorcycle rentals to hire a scooter for the next 2 days. Unfortunately the place I had identified (nearest to home) turned out to cater more for motorcyclists who wanted a bike to go touring on and wasn’t what we wanted. There wasn’t another scooter hire shop nearby so instead of riding home as planned we ended up walking back to the hotel and clocking up another 4.32 miles.

After a short recuperative lie down then shower, I went down to reception to see our very friendly and helpful receptionist, Nou. We had already spent virtually all of our 2 million Kip, so I changed up another $60 and instantly became a Kip millionaire again. If I’m honest, I am already sick of shuffling through wads of notes with too many zeros.

Through Nou, I also booked seats on the bullet train to Vang Vieng for Friday. All the 1st class seats were already booked, so I had to make do with booking the 2nd class seats. Nou later WhatsApp’d me our tickets in the form of a QR code.

I returned to the room where Jackie was still doing her hair and makeup. We had a whisky and coke on the balcony then Nou booked us a 24,000 Kip Kok Kok Move (KKM) to the river front. We selected a table at a riverside restaurant overlooking the Mekong and the lights of Thailand beyond.

Jackie chose grilled squid and I had a fried chicken green curry and rice. It was all very delicious and reasonably priced.

After dinner, we strolled along the river side, decided that no bars particularly took our fancy so we flagged down a KKM who took us home for 90,000 Kip. I was told to stop moaning about the fare price.

After a nightcap on the balcony, I climbed into bed to watch England’s run chase in T20 World Cup match against Pakistan using my Amazon Stick plugged into the telly. England won by 2 wickets thanks to a superb ton by captain Harry Brook. England have now already qualified for the semi finals.

Song of the Day - Zombie by The Cranberries.Baca lagi