Adam and Alice's Round The World adventures: Vientiane,Laos

Our final stop in Laos was the capital city Vientiane. We spent quite alot of time pottering about, walking around and drinking coffee. The city was awash with scooters and pretty busy.

One day I went to visit a women's centre which teaches sewing and weaving to local women to provide them with a skill. This allows women to earn money and keeps the traditional methods of weaving alive. The cewntre also offers the opportunity to tourists to take part in a craft workshop. I decided to dye a pattern on a silk scarf.

The dyes are all made from natural materials including jack fruit, insects and bamboo and we could see them being made. It was a very relaxing morning to be able to dye a scarf and chat.

I was pretty pleased with the final result!!Adam meanwhile had been toughing it by having an hour long massage!!!

Our other expedition was to the Cope centre. We hired a couple of bikes and headed over there. Laos is the most bombed country in the world (per capita) and around a third of those bombs didn't detonate on impact. Therefore much of the country is covered in UXO (Unexploded ordinance devices) As Laos is so poor, many people collect the scrap metal from the bombs in order to sell them, many people have parts of bombs in their homes (as lamps, boats, tables etc) and as a result many people die and are maimed from these devices. Others are killed whilst ploughing and farming the land and some have houses built over the buried devices so when they light a fire the bomb is triggered blowing up them and their homes.

Due to the lack of help from the US (who dropped the bombs in the first place) and the fact that Laos is one of the poorest countries in the world at the rate that it is going it will take over 100 years to clear.

Cope offers limb replacements to those affected by the bombs as well as other people in need of them, from being born without limbs, disabled due to a disease etc. It was a fascinating centre and the displays were really interesting. We tried on some prosthetic limbs and can't imagine how people are able to walk in them!!Before heading off we treated ourselves to some icecream and good karma (the money went to the centre) It was delicious!!