Laos Barbecue - at Vientiane market

Cat fish in foreground. The next fish along is called pa-tu (like a small mackeral).

Woman cooking cat-fish - notice traditional method of cooking sticky rice (kow-niow)

on left (the steam from pot below seeps into basket containing rice above).

These cat-fish (pa-duk) taste SO GOOD - one cost

5,000 kip (ha-pan-kip) -

about 40p.

Vientiane bus station

Is the roof of a bus strong enough to carry so many motor-bikes ?

Glad I'm not in that bus !!!

Tett - Vientiane 2010

COPE - Laos UXO Rehabilitation Centre

I visited the COPE centre in Vientiane today - a place which gives support

to UXO victims (Unexploded Ordinance).

http://copelaos.org/index.html

The following foto shows a representation of a large bomb (hanging from the ceiling) containing smaller bomblets. As the large bomb descends from the plane its case opens up releasing smaller bomblets - each of which is made up of ball-bearings and explosive.

The following text is from the caption describing this display at the centre:-

"There are many varieties of cluster bombs. All work in similar ways - scattering explosive

'submunitions' over a wide area. In the case of the large casing suspended here, one case would contain enough small 'bombies' to cover an area equivalent to three football fields.

Each case contained up to 680 individual cluster bombs, each with killing radius of 30 metres.
The fins on the outside cause the bomb to spin to arm the device.

With impact the explosion occurs. In test conditions 30% of this type of device did not explode. This means that of the 260 million dropped there could have been 80 million unexploded cluster bombs left after the bombing ended."

I also watched the documetary called "Bomb Harvest' at the centre - about the

clearing of UXO in Laos. If you can't get to see the movie - just look at the trailer (shown at this link) to get some idea what these brave guys do to remove UXO in Laos:-

http://www.bombharvest.com/

For the story of one victim see also:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8089366.stm

That Luang - Vientiane Laos

The golden stupa of That Luang is the National Symbol of Laos.

It can be seen on bank-notes, T-shirts, and school badges everywhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pha_That_Luang

Statue of King Setthathirat at entrance to That Luang.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setthathirat

Jalan Pudu KL from my hotel room

Jalan Pudu from my room at Tiara Inn Hotel

Notice train leaving Pudu LRT station

This station was featured by name in the 1999 movie Entrapment starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Although Bukit Jalil station was actually used in the movie, the sign showed 'Pudu' instead of Bukit Jalil. Apparently this was because Pudu was the easiest mass transit station that could be pronounced properly by Sean Connery (Source: the following Wikipedia article)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pudu_LRT_station

The street was quiet as it was a Sunday

Cambodian snails

I tried these snails in Siem Reap - 3000 Real for this dish (about 70p)

a bit rubbery - but tasty sauce