The long wait in Vientiane (27th October to 30th December)

As you are probably aware we have been in Vientiane from the 27th October with a set of mechanical problems that Chrissy described in her earlier blog (28th November). Having spent two months in Vientiane we will finally be ready to leave on the 31st December.

Despite the frustrations of being two months behind schedule; missing a rendezvous with Chrissy’s family for Christmas; ordering and waiting for spare parts from the UK we have filled our time well. Here are a few examples of what we did and of some of the things we leant:

Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) – The huge problem
Unbeknownst to me, during the Vietnam War the Americans strategically planned to cut off the Vietnamese supply/exit/entry routes through Laos and box them into their own country. In 1964 they set about putting this plan into action by carpet bombing the Laos/Vietnam border and they did so with formidable results. By 1973 they had flown over half a million bombing raids and dropped two million tons of explosive ordnance giving Laos the title of, ‘Per capita the most heavily bombed nation in the world’.

The legacy this plan has left in its wake is devastating. The Americans estimated that 30% of the bombs dropped did not explode. However, one source we spoke to at the International Cluster Munitions Conference suggested that figure was much higher because the bombs were often cushioned by vegetation on steep sided mountains as they fell and didn’t explode. These booby traps are now covered in soil and vegetation and mutilate or kill people in rural areas. I imagine this problem will only amplify as an increasing population occupies undisturbed land in the quest to produce a livelihood.

According to Lao National Unexploded Ordnance Program (UXO Lao) they have destroyed nearly 500,000 sub munitions since 1996 to 2010. However, this equates to only having dealt with 0.55% of the problem, which puts it into perspective how big a problem this is.

Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise or COPE – Brings it home.
We learnt more about the UXO problem when we visited COPE and their fantastic awareness raising exhibition. The exhibit quite literally brings home the effects of UXO’s like a bomb (no pun intended).

The first thing you walk past in the exhibition is a life-sized model of an extremely nasty Cluster Bomb in mid-fall. A Cluster Bomb is basically a torpedo sized bomb that splits in half after it has left the aircraft and releases hundreds of golf ball sized bombs that spread over a huge area. No bomb is ever nice, but this one is completely hideous and you can see that it was designed to have maximum devastating effect. It is for this reason why the ‘Convention on Cluster Munitions’ was set up in 2008 and became law in August 2010 to ban using, producing, stockpiling or transferring Cluster Munitions. Luckily for us the first meeting of the state parties took place in Vientiane and we were invited along to one of the week’s events by John Dingley.

Continuing through COPE’s exhibition the impact of the hidden bombs (exploded or unexploded) turns into reality as you walk past towers of homemade prosthetic legs displayed to illustrate how people in Laos coped with loosing a limb before COPE established in 1997. There are many pictures in the exhibit that tell individual stories and there are others that show the excellent work COPE is doing with it’s work in rehabilitation, training programs and producing prosthetics.

We also learnt that there are two other problems relating to the UXO’s and Laotions. One is that poor people can actually earn a living from collecting either exploded or unexploded bombs to sell them as scrap metal and the other is that rural people use the bombs or scrap as tools, bedding pots and building materials. The consequences are so obvious that I don’t need to write about them.

COPE is a great organisation with a positive approach. You can pay them a visit on the web or in person http://www.copelaos.org/

Association for Aid and Relief, Japan (AAR JAPAN) – A great project.

Located next to COPE is the AAR Japan project that we also visited. This project produces and gives away forty wheelchairs a month to people who can’t afford them. The project works like a double edge sword because it doesn’t only provide a much needed service but it also employs and trains staff with disabilities to build the wheelchairs. Over the last ten years this project has given away hundreds of wheelchairs (costs $100/wheelchair) , which has contributed hugely to a country that is so in need but unfortunately the projects funding comes to an end in early 2011.
AAR Japan website: www.aarjapan.gr.jp/english/act/laos/index.html

Mechanical Problems – A waiting game.
Over the weeks we spent in Vientiane we have spent a vast majority of our time with the mechanics at Lao Ford City. A Philippine mechanic, called Hernan fitted our parts and worked into the night on countless occassions to get Miranda back on the road. We owe Hernan a huge amount of thanks for helping us and we also owe thanks to Gary from Frogs Island 4x4 in the UK for all of his advice and for doing everything possible to get our parts to us promptly.

Miranda’s Situation
The engine warning light is still on. Hernan tested the fault on the computer, which showed that the fault is coming from either the injector pump or the EGR. After some adjustments to the pumps timing Hernan managed to get the fault reading down to 0.75 and he said that an unacceptable reading is 4, so anything under that should be fine. She seems to be driving ok, so I have everything crossed that she will be ok.

A Good Guest Is One That Knows When To Leave – That is not us.
There are times in life when it is difficult to put feelings into words. On the eve of leaving Vientiane both Chrissy and I are finding it hard to come up with the words to express how much we would like to thank John, Katrina and Casper for everything they have done to help us. Thank you seems far too meager. Even so, we would sincerely like to thank them for their amazing hospitality and friendship over the last two months – they certainly made the challenges we faced far easier. Katrina once said, ‘What goes around, comes around’, so we hope we will be able to return the favour in the future.


The people we have met here in Vientiane have also been extremely welcoming and it has been great getting to know them all. We would like to thank the people who have fed us roast chicken; driven us around in the Pope mobile; ordered medication; helped fix our van; found cheaper deals to send our parts to the UK; taught us something; hosted a talk I gave at I-Cat Galley; lifted me in and out of Tuk-Tuks and the Pope mobile; driven us around in a Tuk-Tuk; fed us more delicious food; invited us to Christmas; gave us ginger bread men; reheated our gravy (Steven); invited Chrissy to a Hens Party and shared a part of their lives with us. You know who you are, so Thank You Very Very Much.

Good bye and thank you. We are going to miss Vientiane.

PS. Public message from Brendon at COPE - ‘Eat your greens’.