Viet Nam

 

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When to Go - Cost & Money - Travel Literature - Vietnam Experiences

Must See Movies - Top Eats, Top Drinks - Internet Resources

TOP EATS, TOP DRINKS

Vietnam's cuisine is full of sensual flavours, subtle aromas and super-fresh ingredients. Bia hoi (beer) is the new tea, but in the mountains it is all about xeo (rice wine), medicine to the minorities.
1 Bia hoi The world's cheapest draught beer keeps on flowing
2 Ca phe Caffeine cravers unite, Vietnam's coffee has a real kick
3 Cao lau Hoi An's answer to fried noodles, made with water from a well
4 Nem Spring rolls are the country's most famous export, fried or fresh
5 Nuoc mam Fermented fish sauce, the stinky secret of Vietnamese cuisine
6 Pho bo Rice-noodle soup with beef, the meal that built a nation
7 Rau muong Just the thing on a glorious morning, with a dash of garlic and
chilli
8 Thit cho Dog lover has a whole different meaning in this part of the world
9 333 Bo bo ba, learn to count with the leading local beer in the south
10 Xeo The local firewater, particularly potent Is the 'five times a night ' variety
In a similar vein is Ten Years After (1987) by Tim Page. This impressive book boasts '12-months' worth of photos taken 10 years after the war '. The author also return ed to Vietnam to write Derailed in Uncle Ho's Victory Garden (1995), the story of his quest to erect a wall memorial in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to honour the fallen war correspondents on all sides. A Dragon Apparent (1952) is Norman Lewis ' fascinating account of his journeys through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in 1950, and is a good insight in to the last days of French rule. Karin Muller'sHitchhiking Vietnam (1998) is a travelogue detailing one woman's tumultuous seven-month journey through Vietnam. Part memoir and part travel narrative .Catfish and Mandala (1999) is Vietnamese-American Andrew X Pham's fascinating account of his escape from the wartorn Vietnam of 1977 and his subsequent return two decades later, equipped with a bicycle and a need to work out his mixed-up cultural identity. The ultimate spoof guidebook, Phaic Tan: Sunstroke on a Shoestring (2004) makes fun of us all. No-one is spared, not the locals, not the travele rs, not even hallow ed guidebook authors. An absolute must for anyone travelling through Vietnam and the region beyond.