AP Photo/David Longstreath
A thriving tourist industry, gold and copper mines and the construction of several large hydroelectric dams are nudging to life what for decades has been a sleepy backwater. The hammer and sickle flag, symbol of the country’s ruling communist party, still flies across the country but unlike neighboring Vietnam, Laos’ closest ally, capitalist fervor has not yet taken hold. Laos remains one of the poorest and least populated countries in Asia. Roughly the size of Great Britain, the country has fewer people – about 6 million – than metropolitan Bangkok.
