vientiane.

we've been two days in the capital of laos, vientaine. the city has a population of 250,000 people roughly.. amazing when compared to bangkok which is what.. 10 million? so it's pretty small town. we've gone out both nights, basically to hang out together.. not really hopping on a monday and tuesday night! today we said goodbye to michelle, who has been such a solid foundation in our travel crew.. kind of like we're losing a part of our little fam.. so we celebrated last night, rented a private karaokee room and went to town! christine and i belted out a little "achey breaky heart" just to clarify that we are in fact, well.. i suppose you can just fill in the blank on that one.. i remember doing that line dance around the living room for hours on end.. (i was really really cool).

today we went to check out a visitor center called "cope". it's a foundation that was created to help laos people with disabilities and amputations due to warfare. it's was an extreme eye-opener. stories of real people who lost limbs, families.. there were pictures and movies and it broke my heart. these young children who never experienced war, who are innocent, still feel the effects.. laos is the most bombed country in the world, and about 30% of the bombs dropped did not explode. they estimated about 580,000 bombs are still alive today.. scrap metal is a hot commodity for people here to provide money for their families, so many people of all ages see these UXO's as food for a month, and not as a danger. they don't understand that it could detinate. many of the accidents are also from children who see bombie's and think they are fruit or something to throw, and go to play catch with their friends.. i left changed, to say the least.

we take an overnight bus down south, to a place known as the '4000 islands'..