SAUSAGES AND BEER

I confess to once opining that Beerlao is the best beer in Southeast Asia.

I'm taking that back and sticking with San Miguel Beer but still, it's a close second in my list and the best pairing for sai oua, that delectable Lao sausage from Luang Prabang on whose oily crumbs I vowed to be my first meal should I ever set foot in Vientiane again.

Not really unfortunately since apparently, there are all kinds of burning meat at the Mekong Riverside Night Market except that on my Day 1 in Vientiane. 

But what followed is a Noir of excellent sai oua: twice at the Khambao Lao Food Restaurant for the second best in the world according to tasteatlas, countless servings at the Kongview Bar and Restaurant where I achieved a personal best of imbibing the most Beerlao in one sitting, and twice ordered at Khop Chai Deu during my longest ever bout with Beerlao. 

But really, sai oua and Beerlao (lager, dark, IPA) should be the main protagonists in the Night Market to add emotion into Sunday's tasteless beef barbecue and Monday's overrated grilled river prawn, and might have justified Tuesday's sleaze at a place in Vientiane called Yaowarat which in Bangkok is not sleazy at all.    

We got lost on Thursday but a huge Beerlao signage led us to the banks of the Mekong River where the lights of nearby Thailand bounced and danced as bottle after bottle was opened and poured, humidity and heat extracting sweet phermones from sweat glands to inspire the local band in playing the ballad of a distant memory who was noticeably absent in Friday's group photo.    

Ban Haysoke turned out to be a neighborhood of the Chanthaboury District where the best street food of Vientiane including the alleged third best sai oua in the world can be found, which Vin did and ate for two dinners, which I totally missed on my first try.

I went back the next morning but the monks who were sweeping the yard of the centuries-old Wat Ong Teu Mahawihan said I was too early even for coffee.

So I went back to Somerset Vientiane via Quai Fa Ngum where morning cyclists tempted me to book an expensive bike tour.

I did not...