Our first sightseeing stop today was a place called Buddha Park, and to be frank I was a bit weary of Buddha and was not enthusiastic. But the place was a pleasant surprise. It was located a good distance out of town and on the banks of the Mekong River and is a lovely garden setting for some enormous statues. The statues of course are all depicting Hindu themes but the size and the variety made it more interesting.

The next stop was That Luang, a hugh stuppa in its own walled enclosure and the nearby Wat Pra Keo an ornate temple building, with a very large reclining Buddha and many well restored smaller statues.

Next on the list was The Patuxai Victory Monument this is a copy of the Arc de Triomphe but with additional Hindu decorations. It is a memorial to the Lao soldiers that died fighting against the French for independence. Interestingly it was built with US money intended for an airfield and hence is sometimes called, by Lao people, the vertical airfield. I got the impression that locals get a kick out of having mis-spent spent US money on this memorial.

Finally we visited The COPE Center, this very small establishment is housed within the grounds of a medical rehabilitation center. COPE itself provides prosthetics and other support to victims of Unexploded Ordinance(UXO), left over from Cluster Bombardment during the Vietnam War. They also work to raise awareness of the danger amongst the population in regions contaminated by UXOs. Their office provides a movie and displays related to the topic of UXOs and Cluster Bombs. A sobering way to finish the day.

Finally its worth noting that Lao is obviously a poor country, the evidence is everywhere. It is also evident in the conversation with locals that in recent years inflation has been a burden for the populations. A bit of research finds that Lao is ranked something like 150th in the world on GDP per capita and in 2023 inflation was somewhere in the range of 30-40%pa. They are in need of investment and modern infrastructure and are turning towards China for help.