bialao

Lao Beer, affectionately refered to here as bialao (Lao doesn't capitalize much and there are no spaces between words) and listed on the bottle as Beerlao, is so prevalent that the first two weeks I was in Laos I thought it had a corner on the market. Then Po told me, objectively I'm sure, that there are other beers, like Tiger Beer, but that Lao Beer is the best. I just know that two-thirds of the signage in Vientiane would disappear if there were no such product. The distinctive green and gold colors decorate restaurants, shops, talats (markets), gas stations and billboards everywhere. The bright yellow plastic crates which carry the bottles are everywhere, too. The restaurants all along the Mekong are dotted with them. If you order Pepsi, you get a plastic bag full of Pepsi with handles and a straw, but if you order Beerlao, you get the bottle.

Linen Update: I saw the yellow and burnt red plumeria-decorated coverlet to match my sheets on the fence drying the other day and wondered why I hadn't gotten the two together. A second later, I answered my own question: Boring.

Transportation Update: There's a brand new cement foundation covered by a shiny new corrugated aluminum domed roof next to the guesthouse annex. Guess what they're selling there? Isuzu trucks.