A fishing boat passes near a construction site of the Don Sahong dam, near the Cambodia-Laos border, June 20, 2016. An official impact assessment for a controversial new Lao dam on the Mekong river has been directly copied and pasted in parts from a previous project, a coalition of groups fighting to protect the river has alleged.

Centara, a Thai hospitality group led by Suthikiati Chirathivat, board chairman , has signed a memorandum of understanding with Asia Investment, Development and Construction Co Ltd , an investment and construction company in Laos. The agreement paves the way for Centara to enter into management agreements for three hotels in Laos in Vientiane and Luang Prabang.

Nothing fancy or glamour, it's just a shot of a hard working woman - one of the many faces of Laos, that I simply could not resist taking of this colourful Tai Dam market seller, paused from time to time in between making the sales. I thought she made an interesting subject of another ordinary human landscape with her eye popping headdress that seemed to stand out in the setting on a dull and cool morning.

Aerial photo taken on Sept. 14, 2018 shows fishing boats returning to harbor at a fishing port in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province.

MUKDAHAN: A Lao national suspected of slaying a 67-year-old woman and her 12-year-old granddaughter in their house in Samut Prakan was arrested early Monday morning. The 22-year-old, identified only as Phu, was apprehended by immigration officials in front of a grocery store in Ban Na Po Noi, Muang district, while he was waiting to take a ferry across the Mekong River to Savannakhet in Laos, according to Thai media reports.

The charming town of Luang Prabang - the ancient royal capital of Laos and a UNESCO National Heritage Site, is surrounded by precipitous mountains at the junction of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. The town is famous for its elegant mix of traditional Laotian architecture and its distinctive French air and quaint small village atmosphere.

The north and central regions of Laos have been put on alert for heavy downpours after weather forecasters warned that Typhoon Mangkhut and Tropical Storm Barijat are expected to pass over Laos on coming Monday and Tuesday. Areas at high risk of damage from storm activity include the capital and the provinces in central and northern Laos.

I believe that Kra Z Kai's is the first Inland Empire restaurant to serve the cuisine of land-locked Laos, which is located north and east of Thailand and is also close to Vietnam and Cambodia. It's a little-known fact that Laotians eat more sticky rice than any other population in the world.

Located on the west side of the Mekong River opposite the Lao heritage town Luang Prabang is Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden. Opened around a year ago, the garden collects Lao plant species with the aim to conserve Laos' rich biodiversity and traditional ethnobotanical knowledge.

Laos' attempts to strengthen food security are facing major challenges after almost 600 irrigation projects were affected by heavy flooding during tropical storms Son-tinh and Bebinca last month. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry reported that storms flooded low-lying areas in six northern provinces, three central provinces including Vientiane, and two southern provinces, damaging or destroying more than 1 million hectares of crops and fisheries.

Laos and China on Tuesday signed an agreement for a feasibility study on the establishment of a college that would train personnel to work as ticket sellers, station operators and provide various passenger services. Graduates of the college would have the opportunity to work on the Laos-China railway, which is currently under construction and set for completion in 2021.

Laos will try to cut by half the number of procedures, time taken, costs involved and documents currently required to obtain an import or export licence by 2019, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Wednesday. The easing of the procedures required to get an import permit is significant for socio-economic development and trade facilitation.

Laos and Thai officials were holding a major trade meeting on Tuesday as the neighboring countries seek to identify measures to boost the value of their shared trade. The meeting, scheduled to be held in the Lao capital Vientiane from Tuesday to Thursday, saw officials from the two countries discuss more measure to increase bilateral trade to 10 billion U.S. dollars by 2021, local daily Vientiane Times reported.

Khao soi is a pork mince and rice noodle dish in a hearty soup, served with an abundance of vegetables. Photo: Instagram @laughtraveleatsalot When people think of amazing food in Southeast Asia, Laos is not likely to be the country that springs to mind.

The Foreign Trade Department reports Thailand's total border trade, including transit trade, rose 7.14% in the first seven months this year to 800 billion baht. Thai trade delegations are scheduled to attend a joint meeting with their Lao counterparts in Vientiane this week, aiming to raise bilateral trade to US$11 billion in 2021.

I was out of bed very early in a morning heading to Talat Sao market in town just to get a taste of local life and like most markets in Asia, it starts very early with a heady mixture of sights, sounds and smells. Those bounty of golden rich baguettes grabbed my attention so much more and indeed hard to resist even though I found the lighting was a bit of a challenge to tackle.

Over the past year, Chinese officials reportedly have been surprised by how quickly the Trump administration has undermined U.S. influence in East Asia, creating a leadership void that could potentially be filled - by China. But even before Trump alienated many Asian partners with a mix of harsh trade rhetoric and a general disinterest in South and Southeast Asia, Beijing had launched a strategy to establish itself as the dominant power in its neighborhood.

The Lao government and the International Finance Corporation , a member of the World Bank Group, are conducting a basin-wide Cumulative Impact Assessment of renewable energy development in southern Laos' Xekong River Basin. According to local online newspaper Vientiane Times on Sunday, it is the first ever CIA being conducted according to the draft CIA Guidelines for Hydropower Projects in Laos and will result in recommendations for a variety of sustainable scenarios for the development of this important national resource.

Rik Gadella got the idea for the garden 11 years ago after a week's holiday in Luang Prabang. He rented some land and spent years building up his collection of indigenous plant species Luang Prabang, the royal capital of Laos before it became a communist nation in 1975, tends to attract the world-weary.

Chinese nationals already make up about 11 per cent of visitors to Laos. When the railway is finished, that figure is expected to rise dramatically, bringing challenges and opportunities for the country When Chinese low-cost retail chain Miniso opened a shop in June on Sisavangvong Road, the main thoroughfare of Luang Prabang, it was the talk of the town.