Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) Vientiane

We're in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. We had high expectations about the city after reading loads about it, but we've been a bit disappointed. First, I was sick for 2 days so it didn't make it very enjoyable. We arrived on Saturday and had a look around, went to the National History Museum. I started to feel really hot and sick there so we kind …

Au matin j'ai pris la route pour Vientiane, la capitale. 3 heures de trajet dans des routes très médiocres encore, au point de ne pas avoir réussi à dormir cette fois tellement ça sautait dans tous les sens. Construire des routes ici c'est en fait recouvrir un chemin de terre de goudron puis de coller des pierrailles. A la première pluie la sous …

In der Hauptstadt Vientiane haben wir einige schoene Tage verbracht. Wie fast jede Stadt in Asien, hat auch Vientiane viele Tempel zu bieten.

Ein besonderes Highlight ist der Buddha Park (Xiang Khouan). Auch hier waren wir fast alleine, weil sich nicht sehr viele Touristen dorthin verirren. Der Park ist aber wirklich spektakulaer und …

It's true! I drove a motorbike, as did Paul, at one point going over 30mph and neither of us crashed! It was pretty scary, and Laos is much better for traffic and bad driving than other SE Asian countries but it was still hairy at times. We were trying to find a place called "Buddha Park" with lots of weird sculptures of Buddhas and other religious …

Our flight to Laos didn't depart until 5pm today and so we had the chance to have a final photography wander around the Old Quarter and have some last minute Vietnamese food before we entered the more Indian and Chinese inspired food of Laos. However, the morning did not get off to a good start after I managed to jam the pill crusher. This was a …

Waking early, we ate our regulation Asian backpacker breakfast of eggs (scrambeld), jam and bread and then headed quickly for the bikes that the hotel had managed to procure for us while we were enjoying our delicious sausage spring rolls last night! Our destinations were a the Golden Temple (via the palace, Arch du Triumph and the Black Stupa) and …

Hello again.

So from Tha Khaek we made our way by bus to the capital of Laos, Vientiane.

Immediately we were struck by the contrast between this busy metropolis compared to the rural villages where we had been to during our motorbike loop.

A similarity on our late arrival, however, was our stubborness with tuk tuk …

It was a slow and tedious journey from Phnom Penh into Laos. It was not so much the bus ride but the party we had the night before that was affecting us. Our Tuk Tuk was there as requested at 6am to take us to the bus station, at just about the same time we woke up with half packed bags and vague memories of dancing with Cambodian strippers at 3am …

Okay folks, after numerous requests from numerous people, I have finally gotten around to doing an update (likely a 3 part series so make sure you read em all and don't miss any!).

Well where we left off was a quick summary of Laos so I will go back and embellish some of the finer points. After the brutal, bone shattering journey on bikes …

So we took a bus over the Friendship Bridge to Laos and once again found ourselves in a very different place to the one before!

The main reason we came to Laos was to volunteer for COPE, a Charity which helps the victims of landmines. We would be helping with the Physiotherapy education programme and we were very excited! Unfortunately …

... by another traveler and we were very glad we took the time to visit.   Cope stands for "Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise" and their center provides prosthetics and mobility devices for those who need them, free of charge.  ...

... of our hotel and after enjoying brunch in a lovely French style cafe we headed for the COPE (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise) Visitor Centre. COPE is a not for profit organisation that works with the government run National Rehabilitation ...

... sights, mainly temples, including the most famous ‘golden’ one. We also visited the COPE centre (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise) which explains Laos’s legacy of unexploded bombs from the Vietnam War. It is not so well ...

... income for a farmer might be around $2 or less is a useful additional source of income. COPE – Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise I was only in Vientiane for a short time, but I made a worthwhile visit to the COPE center which is an ...

... off the cycling tour (and got quite lost) looking for the excellent COPE visitors centre. COPE stands for Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise and they work to provide new prosthetic limbs, mainly (but not exclusively) for people injured in ...

... are still daily explosions resulting in deaths and awful injuries, some forty years after the war. COPE stands for Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise, was founded in 1997, and the centre we visited in Vientiane is one of 4 around the country ...

... (for me at least) was the visit to COPE near the centre of town.  A voluntary organisation (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise - http://www.copelaos.org/about.php ) which has a fascinating museum/display section about the ...

... the people and the land throughout the Vietnam war. One of the highlights for us in Vientiane was a visit to COPE (Cooperative, Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise). COPE is a national rehabilitation centre for handicapped people in Lao many of whom have ...

... the entire entry of Phonsavan, you already know about the UXO-situation in Laos. COPE (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise) is a joint venture between the Lao Ministry of Health and NGOs to support the development of prosthetic, orthotic and ...

... DVDs added to the collection! Highlight of the day was visiting COPE, which stands for the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise, a not for profit organisation providing prostethics to UXO victims (Unexploded Ordinance). We watched an ...