People sit next to an art installation during the “Plastic Dinoland” exhibition by Japanese artist Hiroshi Fuji, in Hanoi, Vietnam, 17 March 2025. The exhibition, which features colorful installations of dinosaurs made from discarded toys, runs from 15 March to 01 June 2025 at The Japan Foundation in Hanoi. (Photo by Luong Thai Linh/EPA/EFE)

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.

Thailand officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam, is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Burma. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India in the Andaman Sea to the southwest.

English television personality Georgia Harrison is seen attending House of CB Christmas Party at Old Sessions House on November 29, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Ricky Vigil M/Justin E Palmer/GC Images)

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt takes questions during her first daily briefing at the White House in Washington on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Girls bath inside a drum on a hot summer day at a field in New Delhi, April 18, 2017. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

A stuntman performs while riding a car inside the “Wall of Death” attraction during a fair in Bhaktapur April 20, 2015. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

An image from House Television shows Republican John Rose speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives as his son Guy makes a face in Washington DC, US on June 4, 2024. (Photo by AP Photo)