A model presents a creation by Kazakhstan's designer Naiyl Baikuchukov during Kazakhstan Fashion Week at National Academical Theater of Opera and Ballet in Almaty, Kazakhstan on April 11, 2018. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

A man drinks a Frucola as a policeman chases demonstrators during a protest against Chile's government in Santiago, Chile on December 4, 2019. (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

Vietnam's Pham Hong Anh in action during her single dance final during the Southeast Asian Games' DanceSport competition in Mabalacat, Philippines, December 1, 2019. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

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.

Russia's Maria Sharapova carries the torch during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Friday, February 7, 2014. (Photo by Matt Dunham/Associated Press)

“John Constables's «The Hay Wein» meets «Bender» from «Futurama»”. (Photo and caption by Dave Pollot/Caters News)

A chimp motions for Santa to deliver his gift during Lion Country Safari's annual Christmas with the Chimps on Thursday, December 20, 2012. (Photo by Bruce R. Bennett/The Palm Beach Post)

Elephants munch on Christmas trees in their enclosure at Berlin's Zoologischer Garten Zoo on January 4, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. Traditionally, the animals get in the first week of the year leftover Christmas trees. (Photo by Andreas Rentz)