A mahout watches the Thai animation movie Kan Kluay with his elephant in Ayuthaya province, about 80km (49 miles) north of Bangkok June 5, 2006. The movie tells the story of a young Thai wild elephant who, while looking for his father, becomes the war elephant of the Thai King fighting against Burma and restored Thailand's ancient Ayuthaya empire that existed about 400 years ago. (Photo by Sukree Sukplang/Reuters)

Natural world and wildlife shortlist. Lop Buri in Thailand is home to hundreds of macaques, which local residents consider to be disciples of the Hindu god Hanuman. While some people love them, others fear or even hate them. Despite the inconvenience they often cause, the macaques are generally respected and considered sacred. (Photo by Joan de la Malla/Sony World Photography Awards)

Yingluck Shinawatra reaches out to shakes hands with supporters after speaking at a rally during her election campaign June 29, 2011 in Burirum, Thailand. Thais go to the polls on July 3 to vote in a tight race between Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrats and the red shirt followers of fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. Its population was estimated to be around 6.5 million in 2012. A third (33%) of the country's population lives below the international poverty line which means living on less than U.S. $1.25 per day.

Tanbo Art is the strategic planting of four varieties of rice which have different colored leaves in order to create a giant image in the rice paddy. This type of aesthetic planting began in the Japanese village of Inakadate in 1993 in order to celebrate the village’s over 2000 year history of rice farming. The practice has spread to other rice cultivating communities in Japan and even other countries such as Thailand and South Korea.

A devotee of the Chinese shrine of Samkong, pierces his cheeks with toy guns during a procession of Vegetarian Festival on October 11, 2010 in Phuket, Thailand. Ritual Vegetarianism in Phuket Island traces it roots back to the early 1800's. The festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days. Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a means of shifting evil spirits from individuals onto themselves and bring the community good luck. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Getty Images)

As Russia puts the finishing touches to the carefully manicured fields that will host the World Cup from next week, people around the globe are playing soccer on a surprising variety of makeshift pitches. Off the coast of an island in southern Thailand, they play on a floating platform; in the mountains of northern Italy, they kick about in the snow – images captured by Reuters photographers around the world. Here: Local residents play soccer on the top floor of a parking garage in Jakarta, Indonesia, May 4, 2018. (Photo by Darren Whiteside/Reuters)