London-based Rough Guides has turned to its Twitter and Facebook followers to ask for their opinion on the world’s friendliest countries. Why do we care? Well, Laos made it to 3rd place!
While a ranking of this nature is probably not particularly scientific, highly objective nor very representative of the world’s real tastes as a whole, it is nevertheless quite flattering that Rough Guides followers chose Lao people as the third most hospitable and welcoming in the world.
The results of the poll conducted included every country from Albania to Uganda, but below are the top ten friendliest countries in the world.
Call us biased if you will, but here at The Laotian Times, we have our own theory about why the following countries are so friendly: because they’re the happiest!
10. Sri-Lanka (of course they are on the list, their name sounds like Shangri-La!)
9. Scotland (is it the Highlands, the Islands, the history, the mystery, the bagpipes, and the poetry? Or could the tickle of frigid air under the kilt after a breakfast of scotch whisky on porridge have something to do with it?)
8. Fiji (must be that great tasting water and the lovely, lovely beaches – but don’t get us wrong, the water does not come from the beaches)
7. Indonesia (great value for money and tremendously great tasting foods like Nasi Goreng, Satay, Soto Mie and Nasi Kuning; if the stomach is happy, then the mind is happy)
6. Myanmar (the Shwedagon Temple is the oldest Buddhist temple in the world – which means that as Buddhists, Burmese people had a head start at being friendly, and have had a longer time to perfect their friendliness!)
5. Thailand (they don’t call Thailand the Land of Smiles for nothing)
4. Nepal (we’d be happy too if we had the tallest mountain in the world)
3. Laos (We’ve got the best tasting beers in the world, that’s why!)
2. The Philippines (they love to sing and they have so many public holidays)
1. Cambodia (despite a bit of a hiccup along the way, the Cambodian people have a long history of friendliness. Or maybe it’s something about eating those big hairy spiders?)
Give us your opinion in the comments section below. Why do you think Lao people are happy and friendly? Is this a good list? Which country should have made it to the list?
Source: Rough Guides
