hanoian beer

Let me introduce the Peter Hall challenge: when someone is travelling they should take a photo of the local beer of the place travelled to. This challenge was given to Graham when he travelled around Europe in the summer just past. The challenge was then expanded to include any trip made by any of us for the rest of our lives!! (or until we grow bored of it).

Hence I must post some photos of the local Hanoian beers. Let me introduce Bia Hà Nội:

The Vietnamese word bia means beer, and is pronounced in the same way. This particular can of Bia Hà Nội was being consumed by me while I was attempting to figure out how to get free Internet in the hotel.

The second beer to introduce is Halida. I've been informed that this beer is a joint-venture between the Vietnamese and the Danish. My suspicion is there is some government regulation on foreign companies starting up here as most foreign investments are joint ventures. Another example is the hotel I'm staying in is a joint-venture between the South Koreans and the Vietnamese. Anyway, back to the beer, here is a photo of me and a can of Halida on my trip to Halong Bay.

Another beer I've been sampling has been 333 Export, which is from Ho Chi Minh City, so not strictly a local beer. This is a annoying beer to order until you learn the Vietnamese word for three is ba. Hence you order a ba ba ba. Alternatively I had some success asking for the "beer from the south".

It's amusing to note some of the bad translations into English that are around. One restaurant was attempting to sell "crap meat" instead of crab meat, and another was advertising on a big neon sign that they served "cooktails"! I didn't realise that cooks were a special breed of human; humans with tails!? : )

You can't escape Nestlé anywhere on this planet, and Hanoi is no exception. At least they sell Aussie Milo though!