Laos has 6.6 million people in a land mass marginally larger than the known universe.
Only 300,000 live in the capital, Vientiane but, free of the curse of the high rise Commercial Business District, it feels larger as it spreads in a charming sprawl of Indo-French architecture.
Peppered with beautiful temples and slighty down at heel Maisons Des France, it has the feel of a place caught in a time warp. The French have long since left but the ghost of their presence lingers on.
In 1973 the nation received a donation of 77,000 tonnes of concrete to enable the Lao capital to build a modern runway and airport complex.
Around about the same time, the city built what was intended to be an asiatic replica of the Arc De Triomphe, complete with a chaotic traffic roundabout and a tree lined boulevard suspiciously like the Champs Elyses.
Weighing how much, I hear you ask?
About 77,000 tonnes.
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