Our last day in the capital of Laos today; our bus wasn't due to leave until 8pm so we had time to fit in a few more sights. After another fantastic breakfast at the hotel, we left our bags behind and caught a tuk-tuk to a place called COPE, on the outskirts of town.

COPE stands for the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise, which is a bit of a mouthful but bear with us - it was one of the most interesting and inspiring places we've visited on the whole trip. COPE is the main source of artificial limbs, walking aids and wheelchairs in Laos for the thousands of people injured every year by UXO (unexploded ordinance) left over from the Vietnam War. As we found out when we arrived, because of Laos' position in Southeast Asia it served as a crucial supply line to Vietnam and consequently became the most bombed country in history, which we were pretty surprised to find out! A few other facts: more than 580,000 bombing missions were carried out on Laos - one every eight minutes for nine years; up to 30% of the 280 million bombs dropped failed to explode and remained in Laos after the war. Millions of these are still there, scattered all over the country, and thousands of people are still killed and injured by them every year including children searching for scrap metal which they then sell to raise money for their families. It was all shocking and saddening stuff but COPE are doing their best to help.

We watched a couple of documentaries in the theatre there that described the work COPE does - paying for artificial limbs, educating people as to the dangers of UXO and assisting with the gradual removal of them. This is a painstakingly slow process that at current removal rates will take over a hundred years to complete. We also saw exhibits showing the stories of individual families affected - again, they were very moving but not all desperate. Lots of people have now been helped by COPE to get moving again with their prosthetics and are living 'normal' lives again as best they can. It really was an amazing place to visit and long may their good work continue - look them up!

Afterwards, we caught a tuk-tuk back to the hotel before heading out to eat at the Full Moon Café. Then it was back to the hotel again until our songthaew transfer arrived just after 6. It dropped us off at the huge bus station where we got on our 'VIP sleeper bus' at 8pm - a strange and not particularly enjoyable experience! Inside were beds arranged in bunks that were designed for two people although they weren't doubles and were probably only slightly wider than a single bed and not long enough for me! Everyone piled on, we were given some complimentary water and we set off. The temperature was OK this time (good air-con!) but the roads definitely weren't; we bumped along all night, making it almost impossible to sleep. We watched the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on our laptop to help pass the time!

We stopped for a 'dinner' break at about 1am - needless to say, we didn't bother with any food! After that, we did manage to get a few hours sleep, interrupted fairly regularly by a guy coughing, hacking and spitting (Where was he spitting? We felt sorry for whoever was lying next to him!) somewhere at the back of the bus. Definitely not one of the best nights we've had on our travels!