don't knock it till you try it: Vietnamese beer

Well, it's been almost two months since I returned from Vietnam, and I've been incredibly lazy about documenting the trip. But what's possibly even more disturbing than this lack of motivation is the fact that it's been almost two months since I returned from Vietnam, and I have still not recovered from the Vietnamese beer.

You see, the beer in Vietnam is plentiful, and it is cheap. In general, a beer costs about 50 cents. An "expensive" beer (an extra large bottle in a tourist trap) might cost as much as $1.25. Beer is basically as cheap as water. But it's not water--it's alcoholic, and it's vacation, and that means it's time to have fun! In other words, we pretty much drank Vietnamese beer all day long.

If you go to Vietnam, you will encounter many brands of beer--333, Saigon, Festival, Huda, Tiger, Hue Beer and Biere Larue are a few that come to mind. And if you are like me, you will sample them all.

I went to Vietnam thinking that it was going to be such a "healthy" trip, with all that vegetable-laden, dairy-free food and all that time spent frolicking on the beach and riding bikes around in the terrifying Vietnamese traffic.

But I was wrong. I came home and was immediately faced with the fact that I had "outgrown" virtually all of my pants. I guess that girl at Phuoc An tailor was right--only empire waists for me.