Vientiane

So Laos capital isn't the most entertaining city I've ever been to. Still, the COPE orthotics and prosthetics rehab centre was definitely worth a visit. It was an inspiring, emotional and highly educational experience and I was shocked to hear about the devestating and lasting effects the Vietnam war has had on the people of Laos. After the war there were 8 million unexploded bombs that are still injuring people to this day.
I learnt a lot from this centre and even asked if they took volunteers but unfortunately they don't! I think it would be such a cool place to work.

I spent my two evenings with my roommates who were all a good laugh. The first evening I ended up going for dinner with a 50 something yr old American guy who was probably the most interesting person I've met. He has had so many jobs, and travelled so many places. He had so many cool stories! Afterward we browsed the night market and then returned to the hostel.

My hostel had a happy hour deal on 'Free vodka for 2 hours'. So naturally a big group of us took advantage of that, playing drinking games until the vodka ran out. We then decided to check out the local nightlife, very weird. We went to three different 'clubs', two of which had local singers perfoming which were bloody terrible. The last place was a kareoke establishment like nothing I've ever seen before. There are separate booths for groups which were kitted out with plush sofas, huge tv screens, lights, huge speakers and alcohol. We ended up gate crashing a booth of local men who were singing, dancing and rapping with their tops off. They seemed to enjoy having our massive group join them, it was chaos!

Next stop, Vang Vieng... a bumpy 5 hour journey with a hangover from hell, yay!Read more