An aerial view of Charyn Canyon located about 200 kilometers east of Almaty city in Kazakhstan on September 22, 2024. The canyon, visited by more than 50,000 people each year, was placed under protection in 1964 and became part of the Charyn National Park, established on February 23, 2004. (Photo by Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Crowds wave as HMS Daring, the largest and most powerful destroyer warship ever built for the Royal Navy, leaves Portsmouth Harbour on January 11, 2012 in Portsmouth, England. HMS Daring, the first of six new Type 45 destroyers embarked from Portsmouth on its maiden deployment, a seven-month mission to the Middle East. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Angler Thomas Rielly catches a fish during the opening of the salmon fishing season on the River Tay January 16, 2012 in Kenmore, Scotland. A procession with a pipe band and anglers made its way through Kenmore at the east end of Loch Tay to mark the start of the 2012 salmon season on the River Tay. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

A man walks with a camel at Birqash camel market on January 27, 2012 in Cairo, Egypt. On the edge of the western dessert, thousands of camels are bought and sold every Friday at Brqash camel market, one of the biggest in the Middle East. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

“Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn't resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union”. – Yahoo News. Photo: Hungary, MAV 424 Steam Train. (Photo by Rebecca Bathory)

Fann Mountains are part of the western Pamir-Alay mountain system and are located in Tajikistan's Sughd Province between the Zarafshan Range to the north and the Gissar Range to the south (see map of Fann Mountains). In the east-west direction they extend from Fandarya River to Archimaydan River, and the cluster of Marguzor lakes west of Archimaydan is also included in the Fanns.

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.