Laos, for decades happily languishing in self-imposed isolation, has become one of the 10 fastest-growing economies in the world as the communist government experiments with the market system.
In its forecast for 2014, the Economist Intelligence Unit predicts the Laotian economy will grow by 8.5% this year.
Half the anticipated fastest-growing economies in 2014 are in Asia. There's Mongolia at 15.3%, Turkmenistan at 9.2%, Bhutan at 8.8% and East Timor at 8.5%.
