Draw Laos from Memory
Test your geography knowledge by drawing Laos from memory on a blank canvas. Shape comparison scoring is coming soon — practice Laos's outline in the meantime.
Related Countries in Asia
Why Laos Looks the Way It Does
Rivers make borders, and no Southeast Asian country is more literally made of them than Laos, the region's only landlocked state. The Mekong runs along or alongside its western edge for hundreds of kilometers, separating it from Thailand, then swings across the south toward Cambodia; on the other side the Annamite Range walls it off from Vietnam, leaving a long ribbon of valley and ridge caught between the two.
That geometry dictated the country's political fate. The kingdom of Lan Xang held the middle Mekong from the fourteenth century but was pressed from both sides by Siam and Vietnam, and became a French possession in 1893, partly because Europeans believed the river would open a route into China. The Khone Falls in the south stopped that idea immediately, since no boat could pass them, and Laos stayed the thinly governed backwater of Indochina, its western border settled simply by drawing along the water. In the twentieth century the same wall of ridges made Lao territory the route the Ho Chi Minh Trail took west.
Because the Mekong is the spine, Vientiane sits almost on the frontier itself, a capital built on the bank facing Thailand across the river. Anyone trying it from a blank page needs only one rule: Laos has no coast, so every edge is somebody else's river or somebody else's mountains — a long lean shape that bends with the current and comes to a point against Cambodia in the south.
Quick Facts: Laos
- Capital
- Vientiane
- Continent
- Asia
- Area
- 236,800 km²
What is "Drawing Laos from Memory"?
Drawing Laos from memory means sketching Laos's border on a blank canvas without looking at a map. Focus on the country's distinctive features and overall shape — that's what pushes your accuracy score up.
Laos sits in Asia and is rated ★★★ out of 4 for drawing difficulty — a trickier outline with more detail to remember. It connects to 5 neighboring country pages on this site. Border comparison scoring for Laos is coming soon — the shape tips below will get your mental map sharp before it lands.
Laos is a long, narrow, landlocked country that tilts southeast, squeezed between Vietnam on the east, Thailand on the west, China to the north, and Cambodia at its southern tip.
How to Draw Laos from Memory
Step 01
Draw Laos as a long, narrow strip that runs from China at the top down to the point where it meets Cambodia at the bottom, bending slightly like a banana. Orient it diagonally, leaning southeast, and remember it has no coast at all, so every edge must be traced as a land border, which is what makes it so distinctive.
Step 02
The dominant feature is the Mekong River, which carves the entire western border with Thailand and then turns east across the south of the country. Sketch it as a wide, curving line that Laos wraps around, letting the border bulge and dip with the river's bends for most of its length, giving the country its gently curved waist.
Step 03
Lock the outline with Vietnam, because the border runs for over a thousand kilometers along the rugged Annamite mountains, forming Laos's long, lumpy eastern edge. Get that ridgeline right, keep Thailand's Mekong curve on the west, and the strip's distinctive lean and tilt come together so the country reads clearly even at small sizes.
A long, lean landlocked strip that bends like a banana, sandwiched between Vietnam's spine on the east and Thailand's bulk on the west, with China at the top.
How Laos Is Scored
When you hit Reveal & compare, your sketch is measured against Laos's real border, point by point, in the same canvas space. Three numbers come back:
Matched — the share of the real border your drawing covered. 100% means you traced every part of the outline.
Extra — how much of your drawing fell outside the true border. This catches sketches that are too big, mispositioned, or drifting off.
Missed — the border you didn't reach, the flip side of Matched.
The three combine into a single 0–100 accuracy score. The rating names give you a target: 80+ is Cartographer, 60+ is Border patrol, 40+ is Getting there, and below 40 is Try again.
Automated scoring for Laos is coming soon. When it ships, drawing large and centered will be the fastest way to raise your score, because a small sketch overlaps less of the true border.
FAQ
- Which countries are Laos's neighbors?
- Laos connects to 5 neighboring country pages on this site: China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar. Once you've drawn Laos, try a neighbor next — drawing two shapes side by side locks both into your mental map.
- How hard is it to draw Laos from memory?
- Laos is rated ★★★ out of 4 for drawing difficulty — a trickier outline with more detail to remember. Automated scoring is coming soon, so use the shape tips below to practice in the meantime.
- How is my Laos drawing scored?
- Once Laos's border data goes live, your sketch will be compared with the real border point by point. You'll get a 0–100 score built from Matched, Missed, and Extra, plus a clear overlay showing where you nailed it and where you drifted.
- Can I draw Laos on mobile?
- Yes — Laos works on desktop, tablet, and mobile. Draw with your finger on touchscreens; no app download is required and it runs directly in your browser.