Zoee Heath of New South Wales competes in the womens U18 discus throw during day two of the Australian Junior Athletics Championships at Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre on March 11, 2011 in Sydney, Australia.

A wild elephant that strayed into the town moves through the streets as people follow at Siliguri in West Bengal state, India, Wednesday, February 10, 2016. The elephant had wandered from the Baikunthapur forest on Wednesday, crossing roads and a small river before entering the town. The panicked elephant ran amok, trampling parked cars and motorbikes before it was tranquilized. (Photo by AP Photo)

Sulphur miners haul sulphur up an arduous path out of Indonesia’s Ijen volcano. The average carry out of the volcano is 70 kilograms per load per miner. The all-time record carry was 120 kilograms in one load. Extraordinary numbers given most of the miners only weigh around 55 kilograms. Ijen volcano, Indonesia, 2012. (Photo by Hugh Brown/South West News Service)

Little owl chicks in Northumberland, UK on August 19, 2018. Strutting up and down and barrelling through the air, these Little Owl chicks will soon be fending for themselves. The intense little birds were snapped by wildlife photographer Bill Doherty in his native Northumberland. The chicks have about seven or eight weeks to learn their survival skills before their parents drive them away to fend for themselves. (Photo by Bill Doherty/South West News Service)

Sunrise over a moor viewed from Littaford Tor, Dartmoor, UK, 2016. Autumn visits the windswept moors and granite tors of Dartmoor earlier than the rest of the south-west. While there aren’t many trees here, autumn shades appear in golden ferns and tan heather. Littaford Tors, near Two Bridges and a mile from Princetown, is a short walk and can be combined with a visit to the adjacent Wistman’s Wood. (Photo by Stuart Holmes)

An Elvis impersonator is reflected in the window of the Elvis Express at Central Station in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday, January 5, 2023. Hundreds of Parkes Elvis Festival attendees will board the Elvis Express train from Sydney's Central Station on Thursday for a windy 450-kilometre journey to the central west. (Photo by Steven Saphore/Anadolu Agency via 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.