Eating in Laos

---

I have to confess that we have most enjoyed "foreign food" in Laos: French, Swiss, Scandinavian. The local food is, of course, delcious and interesting, but I do get tired of rice, noodles, fish, pork, and mixed vegetables. The fruit has been mainly pineapple, watermelon, and papaya, some fresh coconuts.
We had an excellent dinner in Luang Prabang at Chez Pierre, a Swiss Restaurant. The chef said that he had to import the beef as local beef is killed and sold the same day, not hung, as in Canada. He recommended a French restaurant in Vientiane run by two Quebecers; we had an excellent dinner there too--the best fish I had had since leaving Vancouver. It was a local white fish, but cooked to perfection. I don't know how they cooked their white rice, but it was also the best I'd had!
I have been hesitant to eat from markets or stands, especially after seeing the lack of refrigeration and the raw meat and fish sitting out in the heat. I suspect that the day I did get sick from food, it may have been caused by the knife that cut open the coconut I ate. Who knows where that knife had been!
We have been fortunate to get good drinking water everywhere--always bottled, even to brush our teeth. Most hotels and guest houses have a refrigerator right in each room with 2 bottles of complementary water each day.
Beer is cheap everywhere and quite good. An Irishman we met in Chiang Mai told us to drink Heineken beer because the other Thai beers have formeldahyde in them. Not a comforting thought.
Here in Vientiane, there seems to be more evidence of French influence, as we see good baguettes everywhere. Had a decent bottle of Red Bordeaux at a French restaurant; not too expensive.

---