Vientiane 16/2 & 17/2

Yesterday, Sunday, we decided to visit COPE.  This was not a high priority for me because I knew it would be disturbing but the write up promised that once you had been told the grim reality the positive achievements of current work compensated. COPE stands for Cooperative Orthotic&Prosthetic Enterprise and the visitor's centre is located at the Rehabilitation Hospital. The work here is to provide mobility supports and artificial limbs to people injured by the cluster bombs which remained in Laos after the Vietnam War.
The bombs were dropped on Laos because the North Vietnamese were using the southern border area for the Ho Chi Minh Trail to move troups and equipment. There was also a large area of Northern Laos bombed for "political reasons". Ie. The Pathet Laos were in control and were "communist". In all 260 million cluster bombs were dropped, each one containing 680 "bombies" with a 30metre radius of destruction. 30% did not explode upon landing leaving 80 million unexploded devices scattered through rural communities. Because they were often buried in the soil and didn't explode until hit by a farming implement or had a fire built near them civilian injuries have been high. Also the scavenging of war metal debris was lucrative to impoverished communities and the consequences sometimes destructive. In recent years support from overseas agencies has increased the efficiency of finding and exploding the remaining devices and it is hoped that they will be eliminated by 2021.
Meanwhile COPE has developed local clinics to identify those needing limbs  or other support and have trained local technicians in the manufacture and fitting of artificial limbs. They have also developed a pro active program for treatment of " club foot". It was positive to read about the work being done but I still found it disturbing.
Today we hired a car and driver and went 60 kms out into the countryside to visit the Lao Zoo. This is really now the Laos Wildlife Recovery Centre where mainly native animals are housed because they are threatened or have been rescued from captivity. It is a much cooler day today and although the facilities didn't exactly come up to the standard of the Perth Zoo the animals were obviously well cared for. We enjoyed a leisurely walk around, learnt a bit about the native animals and were impressed by the efforts of the staff. We were intrigued to find an emu comfortably cohabiting with some native deer.
On the was home we stopped for lunch at a riverside restaurant complex. It was very pleasant but we forgot that they would be used to catering for foreigners with no tolerance for chilli. When we said "not spicy" it came out very bland. Won't make that mistake again at an obvious tourist spot.
Tomorrow is our last day in Vientiane an we have yet to work out what we will do. Photos following.