Friday, September 15, 2006
Beer and Coffee in Vietnam
Just a small one to mention the beer and coffee here in Vietnam.
Both are actually fantastic!
The coffee is served in many different forms, but I think the coffee itself is largely the same. It has a kind of liqueur taste to it and is normally very fresh. The Vietnamese prefer it with ice. They give you a glass of ice and a little perculator which is dripping the coffee into the glass of ice. You then add sugar and grind up the ice with a spoon. Pretty darn tasty, but I still preferred it hot with a touch of milk. When you ask for milk though, it's a bit of a raffle to see what you get. Sometimes (and quite often) it's sweetened condensed milk. Sometimes is carnation milk, and I believe I even got goat's milk one time.
As for the beer, it's superb. They do serve it very cold here too, I haven't been served a warm beer, except for maybe once. There is many locally made beers, including Tiger, Saigon, Halida, Larue, Huda and Hanoi. They also serve Carlsberg and Heineken in most places.
Larue used to be brewed by Fosters, and is a nice draught beer. My favourite was Huda, which is found mainly in Hue. It's a 'Belgian like' beer that is very smooth and flavoursome. There was a Belgian guy who ran a bar who had it on tap and it was superb. I drank quite a bit of Huda on our one night in Hue.
Halida is also a European style beer which is also superb. Tiger is the equivalent of Carlton Draught or VB, and is found everywhere and tastes great.
Last but not least is Bia Hoi, or the fresh beer you get in dodgy little places in Hanoi. It's really 'hoppy' or something, but tastes fantastic. The price is about 20 cents for a schooner sized glass so it is absolutely fantastic value. It's great because you sit out on the street corner on these little plastic chairs and watch the entertaining night life of Hanoi.
Both are actually fantastic!
The coffee is served in many different forms, but I think the coffee itself is largely the same. It has a kind of liqueur taste to it and is normally very fresh. The Vietnamese prefer it with ice. They give you a glass of ice and a little perculator which is dripping the coffee into the glass of ice. You then add sugar and grind up the ice with a spoon. Pretty darn tasty, but I still preferred it hot with a touch of milk. When you ask for milk though, it's a bit of a raffle to see what you get. Sometimes (and quite often) it's sweetened condensed milk. Sometimes is carnation milk, and I believe I even got goat's milk one time.
As for the beer, it's superb. They do serve it very cold here too, I haven't been served a warm beer, except for maybe once. There is many locally made beers, including Tiger, Saigon, Halida, Larue, Huda and Hanoi. They also serve Carlsberg and Heineken in most places.
Larue used to be brewed by Fosters, and is a nice draught beer. My favourite was Huda, which is found mainly in Hue. It's a 'Belgian like' beer that is very smooth and flavoursome. There was a Belgian guy who ran a bar who had it on tap and it was superb. I drank quite a bit of Huda on our one night in Hue.
Halida is also a European style beer which is also superb. Tiger is the equivalent of Carlton Draught or VB, and is found everywhere and tastes great.
Last but not least is Bia Hoi, or the fresh beer you get in dodgy little places in Hanoi. It's really 'hoppy' or something, but tastes fantastic. The price is about 20 cents for a schooner sized glass so it is absolutely fantastic value. It's great because you sit out on the street corner on these little plastic chairs and watch the entertaining night life of Hanoi.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman)
Most of you won't get the title but don't worry.
Whilst we were in Hoi An, we found that we were walking about 2 KM in the 35 degree heat to and from town every day. We also wanted to go to the beach which was about 5KM from where we stayed. So we decided to take the plunge and hire a motorbike.
I insisted we get a manual (as opposed to an automatic), even though I had never ridden a motor bike before in my life (apart from a Pee-Wee 50). It wasn't a speed machine but it took me a while to get the hang of it, especially changing down gears (as the pedals were designed for little feet) and stopping or parking, which often involved riding up onto the footpath via these tiny little ramps. My stopping usually meant stalling first, then turning the bike on again and slowly changing down to neutral.
On the day we decided to go to the beach, we went for a swim early in the day, rode back to hotel, and decided to ride back that night for a nice seafood dinner. We arrived at the beach and I parked (with slighty improved skill) and removed the single key from the ignition, and put it in my pocket.
As we strolled along the beach towards the restaurant, I tried to put my glasses into my pocket, which already had my wallet and the motobike key in it. I removed the wallet so that I could put the glasses in and continued to stroll to the restaurant.
We had a delicious dinner of steamed fish and prawns, along with a few Larue beers. After dinner, we went down the beach to hang out by ourselves and enjoy the cooler night. After some terrible beach dancing and a game or 2 of tug of war, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel.
As we were walking up towards where the motorbike was parked, I reached into my pocket for the single key, and couldn't seem to find it. I searched all my pockets and still couldn't find it. I began to panic a bit at this point, and started to imagine how I was going to explain this to the guy that I hired the bike from.
It suddenly dawned on me that, when I put my glasses back into my pocket, I must have pulled out the key by accident when I pulled out my wallet. After moon-slapping myself I started to search along the strip of beach that we walked along to the restaurant. We really had buckleys of finding it, as it was very dark and we had no torch. We were just looking for some sort of relection from the ground somewhere.
After a while Denh suggested I should go to the restaurant just to see if I had perhaps dropped it there, and to ask if they had a torch. I ran back to the restaurant which was now closed, so I ran up to the house of the family that ran it. Luckily the old father (who was the fisherman of the family, and didn't speak a word of english) was still there. I explained my situation which he somehow understood, and he turned the restaurant lights on for me. I couldn't find the key anywhere so I again tried to ask him for a torch. Remarkably, again he understood and went back into his house, to soon return with torch. I said I needed to have a look down the beach and promised to return the torch as soon as possible.
When I got back to the part of the beach where I thought I might have dropped it I turned on the torch and began to search. It was still going to be a one in a million thing to find it, as it had probably been buried in the sand. I persisted though, possibly because of the thought of the consequences that might occur if I couldn't find it.
When we were close to giving up hope, my eye caught a reflection
coming from the ground. Looking closer, I saw what looked like a ring poking out of the sand. I pulled the ring up and sure enough, af the end of the ring was my single, tiny, motorbike key. I said 'no way' to Denh and showed her the little miracle. She was amazed and after a little celebration I ran back to the restaurant to give back the torch. The old man was waiting for me. I gave him 5000 VND for his help (about 50c) and he was stoked.
I returned to the parking area, we got on our bike and rode off into the night...
Whilst we were in Hoi An, we found that we were walking about 2 KM in the 35 degree heat to and from town every day. We also wanted to go to the beach which was about 5KM from where we stayed. So we decided to take the plunge and hire a motorbike.
I insisted we get a manual (as opposed to an automatic), even though I had never ridden a motor bike before in my life (apart from a Pee-Wee 50). It wasn't a speed machine but it took me a while to get the hang of it, especially changing down gears (as the pedals were designed for little feet) and stopping or parking, which often involved riding up onto the footpath via these tiny little ramps. My stopping usually meant stalling first, then turning the bike on again and slowly changing down to neutral.
On the day we decided to go to the beach, we went for a swim early in the day, rode back to hotel, and decided to ride back that night for a nice seafood dinner. We arrived at the beach and I parked (with slighty improved skill) and removed the single key from the ignition, and put it in my pocket.
As we strolled along the beach towards the restaurant, I tried to put my glasses into my pocket, which already had my wallet and the motobike key in it. I removed the wallet so that I could put the glasses in and continued to stroll to the restaurant.
We had a delicious dinner of steamed fish and prawns, along with a few Larue beers. After dinner, we went down the beach to hang out by ourselves and enjoy the cooler night. After some terrible beach dancing and a game or 2 of tug of war, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel.
As we were walking up towards where the motorbike was parked, I reached into my pocket for the single key, and couldn't seem to find it. I searched all my pockets and still couldn't find it. I began to panic a bit at this point, and started to imagine how I was going to explain this to the guy that I hired the bike from.
It suddenly dawned on me that, when I put my glasses back into my pocket, I must have pulled out the key by accident when I pulled out my wallet. After moon-slapping myself I started to search along the strip of beach that we walked along to the restaurant. We really had buckleys of finding it, as it was very dark and we had no torch. We were just looking for some sort of relection from the ground somewhere.
After a while Denh suggested I should go to the restaurant just to see if I had perhaps dropped it there, and to ask if they had a torch. I ran back to the restaurant which was now closed, so I ran up to the house of the family that ran it. Luckily the old father (who was the fisherman of the family, and didn't speak a word of english) was still there. I explained my situation which he somehow understood, and he turned the restaurant lights on for me. I couldn't find the key anywhere so I again tried to ask him for a torch. Remarkably, again he understood and went back into his house, to soon return with torch. I said I needed to have a look down the beach and promised to return the torch as soon as possible.
When I got back to the part of the beach where I thought I might have dropped it I turned on the torch and began to search. It was still going to be a one in a million thing to find it, as it had probably been buried in the sand. I persisted though, possibly because of the thought of the consequences that might occur if I couldn't find it.
When we were close to giving up hope, my eye caught a reflection
coming from the ground. Looking closer, I saw what looked like a ring poking out of the sand. I pulled the ring up and sure enough, af the end of the ring was my single, tiny, motorbike key. I said 'no way' to Denh and showed her the little miracle. She was amazed and after a little celebration I ran back to the restaurant to give back the torch. The old man was waiting for me. I gave him 5000 VND for his help (about 50c) and he was stoked.
I returned to the parking area, we got on our bike and rode off into the night...
