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Thursday, April 5, 2007
Vietnamese Vending Machines (A Welcome Relief from the Hot Sun)
LIVING AS I DO IN JAPAN, THE WORLD LEADER OF CONVENIENCE CULTURE, I HAVE DEVELOPED AN UNHEALTHY INTEREST IN VENDING MACHINES AND THE NIFTY ITEMS THEY PROFFER. I reckon you can tell a lot about a country by browsing through its supermarkets -- or by checking out their vending machines, if they have any. In Japan vending machines dispense everything from batteries to pornos to cooked dinners and used underwear, but most of them specialize in health drinks (green tea, mineral water, Royal Jelly extracts, sports fluids, hangover remedies, the occasional can of Coke or a jumbo sized beer.) In Australia the country of my birth you will find none of this Royal Jelly or green tea nonsense -- vending machines are stuffed instead with rows of Coca Cola, chocolate and flabby potato crisps, and they will usually be broken. I reckon at least half the vending machines in Australia are broken or out-of-order when you try to use them. They will take your money though and give nothing in return, just like all the out-of-order public telephones and ticket machines at the out-of-order railway stations. The whole vibe you get from vending machines in Australia is one of disrespect... disrespect for you as the customer, a general contempt for you as a human being. In Japan the vending machines kind of celebrate you for who you are, with all your quirky habits and tastes, and prod you into spending more. Who are you to judge my interest in used schoolgirl underwear? -- the machine is not going to do that. In Australia vending machines won't even acknowledge that you have a quirk or the possibility that quirk might prove to be profitable. I might be drawing a long bow, or reading too much into things -- but anyway, that's my take on the difference between vending machines in Australia and Japan. Vending machines in Europe are pretty much like the ones in Australia. I don't know about America because I have never been there yet.
That all said: what about the vending machines of Vietnam? what are they like? Well, being such a poor country, you wouldn't expect to find many vending machines here, but I did come upon a couple during my most recent jaunt Vietside -- in the small verdant green park which runs behind the New World Hotel. The park is in itself a welcome respite from the stunning heat and oppression of the streets, with its beds of flowers and lolling couples and African guest workers; for even greater respite, sample one of the wares from these orange vending machines. On the healthy/cultured/interestingness range, Vietnamese vending machines tend closer to their kin in Japan, than the junk food dispensing monsters of Australia -- you won't find any Coca Cola or chocolate bars here. Instead, there are rows of various fruit based concoctions, strange bird soup and fungal nectars, and a square cardboard drink based on soya milk. During my last encounter with the vending machines of Vietnam, I opted for the soy.
This little beauty here was concocted by the mighty Vinamilk company, which not just romps it in when it comes to the Vietnamese dairy goods market, but is also making inroads/inserting fingers into pies as diverse as bird flu vaccine and beer. According to a recent report, South Africa's SABMiller, the second largest brewery company in the world by volume, and Vinamilk have opened a brewery in Binh Duong Province.
The story goes on: "SABMiller Vietnam Joint Venture's US$45 million facility, which began operations a few months ago, is situated in My Phuoc II Industrial Zone and has a capacity of 100 million liters per year.
"Its first beer was introduced earlier this year under the brand name Zorok.
"It is set to make others like Peroni, Pilsner UrQuell and Miller.
"All its products are distributed through Vinamilk's network.
"The listed Vinamilk is the leading producer of dairy products in Vietnam with an overwhelming 75 percent market share of milk and dairy products.
"The total beer market in Vietnam is estimated to be in excess of 1.5 billion liters a year."
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Dog Meat and Sea Horse Wine
ON A PREVIOUS POST ON THIS SITE I HAVE DISCUSSED THE MERITS OF DOG BURGERS AND CAT WINE IN THE CITY OF SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA. At the time of writing I had never personally eaten dog meat or guzzled cat wine, so I had only the third-hand account of others to go by, in the compilation of the report. Well, I still haven't drunk cat wine (or ingested any feline product, whatsoever), but tonight on the steamy streets of Ho Chi Minh City, I passed a major milestone: for the first time ever, I ate dog. And much to my surprise, dog tastes good. It kind of smelt a bit strong at the beginning, but once you were into the crunch, it tasted succulent and porky. To wash down the dog, I downed thimble after thimble of a vile brew called seahorse wine, which was to give me a magnificent hangover the following morn. I also tried my hand at eating one of those duck eggs you see in Viet with the baby ducks still in the shell (trung vit lon), but gave up after a while and spat a wholelot of cartlidge sh$t on the road.
According to the BBC: "Dog is a popular dish in the country, where it is eaten for its protein and also for good luck.
"It is particularly popular in the urban areas of the north where increasing incomes have sparked a search for new and more exotic recipes.
"At a busy restaurant in Hanoi, a woman weighs and chops up small puppies for her customers.
"There are about seven dishes featuring dog meat, and they often include the head, feet and internal organs.
"Dog meat has a strong smell and taste. It is heavily spiced and usually served with alcohol."
Have you ever eaten dog meat (or downed seahorse wine, for that matter?) How was it? If you are interested in having your experiences (or insults) published online on this blog, send me an email to bunyarra@hotmail.com. One Japanese reader, Ken, had this experience to report: "I was in Man-Gui, a small tiny village nearby Sino-Russo-Line, to taste dog in hot-pot, which was ok, not special good, just fine. How did you eat? Teriyaki or Hot-dog???" Ken runs a hotel in Tokyo and if you want to stay there, click here.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Lotteria in Vietnam (A Japanese Success Story)
WAY BACK IN 2005 ONE JAPANESE GUY POSTED ON HIS BLOG WORDS TO THIS EFFECT: "BETONAMU NI WA, MAKUDONARUDO GA NAI KEDO, LOTTERIA GA ARU!" ("IN VIETNAM THERE IS NO MCDONALD'S -- HOWEVER, THERE IS LOTTERIA!") It is a strange quirk of history and fate that if you visit Vietnam today, the only chain place you will find selling western style hamburgers will be not McDonalds or Burger King or Fat Burgers or the Big Kahoona Burger or those million other US exports, but Lotteria Cafe (origin Japan.) For complete Lotteria in Vietnam story, click here.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Even Cheaper Than Cheap (In Vietnam)
LET'S FACE IT VIETNAM IS A RIDICULOUSLY CHEAP COUNTRY -- THIS IS THE LAND OF THE $1 PUB CRAWL, A PLACE WHERE $15 TO $20 WILL GET YOU A DEDICATED TAXI + DRIVER FOR THE WHOLE DAY. For a foreigner visiting or living here, the cost of life is peanuts. That all said, I have been surprised since arriving back here yesterday, that for the determined scammer even cheaper than cheap options are available. What do I mean by "cheaper than cheap" possibilities? ... well, basically freebies, and five fingered discounts for those so inclined to take them. For example, down in the center of Ho Chi Minh City near the Sheraton Hotel there is a Government Post Office run Internet cafe -- full of gleaming new computers -- which is completely free (for up to 30 minutes.) Now given that commercial Internet cafes charge a heady one cent per minute for access, I wondered why the Government would even bother offering free Net use. There were no poor Vietnamese in this brand spanking new Internet cafe gratefully accessing the world of online opportunity -- no the only people inside were rich foreign freeloaders.
Today I stopped for lunch at the Dai Phat Phở restaurant near the New World Hotel (275 Le Thanh Ton St, phone 08 829 7292.) As you would expect, the specialities here included pho: specifically Hu Tieu Bo Vien, Hu Tieu Nam Vang and Cac Mon An Hoa Thuan Tuy. I ordered the Bo Vien meatball bowl which came with an array of leafy vegetables, garlic and chillies. I made the mistake of eating one too many of those chillies and got a right sting in the mouth for my troubles. But that is par for the course when dining in Asia! The remarkable thing about Dai Phat, however, was my great trouble in paying the bill there -- an experience which was soon to be repeated at various other Vietnamese restaurants and bars and cafes. It is almost as if the waiters and waitresses are programmed not to want to take your money. I put up my hand, I tried to wave the waiter over, all to no avail. I put on my backpack, stood up, but the waitstaff continued to ignore me. Eventually I decided that if I started walking for the door, that might shock the staff into action. As I crossed the room they barely noticed or acknowledged me, even though I hadn't paid for the wonderful meatball soup they had dished up for me. As I reached the door one of the waiters smiled and said: "Goodbye, sir." They didn't even know that I hadn't paid! I paused on the threshold, thinking: I could get away with not paying. I could scam this. But since the meal would only cost a dollar or two, why would you bother? So I did the right thing, and confessed: "I haven't paid yet." And the dumbfounded waiter replied: "Oh, what you ordered then?"
I had the same trouble convincing the waitstaff to take my money later that afternoon at the Highlands Cafe in the swish Saigon Center, and at some of the bars in Pham Ngu Lao district. The strange thing about Vietnam is that for such a poor country, they have such lousy skills in collecting (and enforcing) payment. It is like they don't even care about money. That could be because it is (at least nominally) a communist country, so employed staff have no real grasp of service in a capitalist style venture like a restaurant or bar...
Friday, March 09, 2007
39 Cafe Saigon (A Symbol of Changing Vietnam)
ON THE WAY BACK TO MY HOTEL IN HO CHI MINH CITY TONIGHT, I ENJOYED A SECOND DINNER AT A CLASSY ESTABLISHMENT CALLED 39 CAFE. With a balcony overlooking the boulevard and Vinh Quang Cinema... I ordered abalone covered beef here which tasted okay (not too bad, but nothing special.) However, according to a story I found in the Christian Science Monitor, this restaurant serves as a symbol of the changing face of socialist Vietnam. Back in the 1960s during the Vietnam War, the address 39 Le Loi St was home to correspondents from the Christian Science Monitor newspaper. Revisiting the address in 2005, one of the correspondents wrote: "Now, more than 30 years later, I can tell the previous occupants of the apartment that the address lives on in high style. As you peer up from Le Loi, still swarming with motorscooters, you will note a large sign, "39 Cafe." The gaping door to the garage is still there, but at the bottom of the remodeled stairway is a modern elevator that carries you two floors up to a restaurant and cafe complex with real pretensions of elegance.
"The cafe fills not only our old apartment but two or three others, and a sweeping balcony provides a view over much of the center of the city. Monitor correspondents will be relieved to know, however, that the noises from below, the fumes from the rushing vehicles, the popping and puffing of motorscooters, remain much the same..."
"date-header">Sunday, March 04, 2007
Changing Face of Hồ Chi Minh City (Otherwise Known as Saigon)
HO CHI MINH CITY IS WITHOUT DOUBT ONE OF THE CRAZIEST CITIES IN THE WORLD, AND CAN BE TOUGH GOING EVEN FOR THE MOST EXPERIENCED TRAVELLER. The first time I came here back in mid 1995 I was so culture shocked that I hid like a mouse in my hotel room for the first night, too scared to venture outside. Mind you that happened on my first night in India as well, which shows that Vietnam is at the Indian level when it comes to a guaranteed culture shock and the general insanity of the streets. This is one insane place, but it is its good points, and food is one of them. Having been to Mumbai, I wouldn't necessarily call Hồ Chi Minh City the best city in the world for food, but it is far from being the worst. There are plenty of good places to dine, and the prices are very competitive. Another point is that Vietnamese food is extremely exotic, by our modern/postmodern western standards -- you can find restaurants serving nothing but dog meat in Hồ Chi Minh City (and these restaurants are often fully packed with diners!) On previous trips through Vietnam I have been offered snake, wild boar, rat jerky, and opium. Yes, this is a wild country and a wild city. I can't wait until my next trip there!
For the beginner: what is Vietnamese food, basically, and what kind of food can I expect to find in Vietnam's brash southern urban center? Like all South-East Asian food, rice is pivotal in many Ho Chi Minh City meals, as are noodles, soup and prawns. If you wish to try out some of the local specialities, these include cha which is pork paste boiled over hot coals, ech tam bot ran which is frog meat in batter fried in oil, and bo bay mon which are sugar-beef dishes.
Anyway, here is a list of some of the places to eat in Saigon, covering all kinds of cuisine, from rice and noodles to dog soup and Japanese hamburgers, and all price levels, from the street stall to the luxury hotel restaurant, from all over the city. Let's go!
For a more detailed guide to the pho restaurants and general pho scene of Vietnam, click here.
b a n h + t r a n g
BANH TRANG HAS BEEN CALLED THE VIETNAMESE EQUIVALENT OF RAVIOLI SKINS": IT IS THE THIN TRANSLUCENT RICE PAPER THEY WRAP VIETNAMESE SPRING ROLLS IN. Since even people in the reluctant West go for sping rolls, banh trang is eternally popular. The basic idea is to wrap banh trang around some meat and a suprisingly wide variety of vegetables and leaves. Many of these leaves are not ordinary agricultural specimens at all, but wild weeds plucked by old women on the banks of polluted rivers! Thus there is a health factor to consider eating the more exotic kind of banh trang, but all up I consider the health benefits to outweigh the risks -- some of those strange tropical weeds must contain some potent vitamin combinations and rare nutrients!
Bamboo Chopstick: 594 Ba Hat Street, Dist. 10. Phone: 855 6820.
Some of the world's finest bamboo comes from Vietnam. Much of it gets turned into chopsticks to feed the millions of people who live in this land. Bamboo Chopsticks is also the name of this mid-level restaurant in the 10th District of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), whose menus are packed with Vietnamese dishes and goodies. It it is worth checking out.
Bun Nuoc Leo Soc Trang: 11 Phung Khac Khoan, District 1. Phone: 825 8525.
As my friend J. points out: "Last time, I forgot to tell you about the special food in Tra Vinh.
Indeed, there're a lot of delicious food but I like "Bun nuoc
leo"(Vermicelli with Savory Broth) best. It can be said that Tra Vinh
province and Soc Trang province are two "Capitals" of "Bun nuoc leo". "Bun
nuoc leo" is a kind of food which is charming with the Khmer's character. As
I know, there're some small restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City where you can
eat this kind of Vermicelli. But I've never ever tried it in Hồ Chi Minh City before, I just eat it when I get back to Tra Vinh Town :). I think you should eat "Bun nuoc leo" once...it's really delicious!
Com Nieu Sai Gon: 6C Tu Xuong Street, Dist. 3. Phone: 820 3188.
Mid-range Vietnamese restaurant. Along with many places listed on this website, this restaurant is bound to serve pho, which is effectively Vietnam's national dish, and is in effect a fragrant bowl of broth with beef or chicken, noodles, spring onions, bean shoots and a garnish of fresh herbs. Traditionally eaten at breakfast, it can be enjoyed at any time of the day...
For the full Com Nieu Sai Gon restaurant review, click here.
Hoa Binh Restaurant: 145 Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street, Binh Thanh Dist. Phone: 899 6151.
Mid-range level cuisine, Vietnamese food.
Golden Eyes: 65 Cao Thang Street, Dist. 3. Phone: 834 2808.
Mid-range Vietnamese restaurant.
Empress Hotel Restaurant: 131 Bui Thi Xuan Street, Dist. 1. Phone: 832 2888.
Newly-built in 1996, the Empress is a small, modest hotel whose hallmark is service. While not luxurious, it boasts some upscale touches like terra cotta tile and marble. Rooms are cozy but well laid out. The Empress Hotel is conveniently located in district 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Close to the city center, between the bustling downtown area and exotic China Town, the Empress is within easy walking distance of the central business district.
With 40 rooms the Empress Hotel is a charming, small hotel located just 5 minutes by taxi to the downtown. Deluxe rooms are cozy but well laid out, with two twin or one queen size bed. More spacious are the suites, with a small living room and seperate bedroom. The Empress also boast a small fitness center, business center, coffee shop, bar and restaurant, every bit as cozy as the guest rooms.
Lau Mam 140: 140/13 Tran Huy Lieu, F15, Phu Nhuan District. (Off Nam Khy Khoi Nghia Street, halyway between the airport and District 1.)
Specializes in bun mam (fermented fish noodle soup). According to Eating Asia who lived for a while in Saigon, and dined at this restaurant (and in my opinion, she knows much more about Vietnam and food in general than me -- get the hell off my website, and get the hell on hers!): "A plate of lotus root salad with shrimp and pork (goi ngo sen tron tom thit) kept us busy while we waited for our bowls of bun. It's a Vietnamese restaurant standard, and this version served well as a diversion, but we were there for the bun. It arrived, in over-sized soup bowls -- an odoriferous combination of thin rice noodles and a broth of dried snake head fish thick enough with fish shreds to qualify as gravy. Floating among the noodles were cooked snails, squid pieces, and prawns, as well as the occasional chunk of eggplant. Lau Mam 140 lightly blanches the herbs and vegetables accompanying their bun mam -- a nice touch. On our plate we found bitter rau om, or paddy herb, bean sprouts, purple lotus stem, and chunks of a light green, spongy stalk (resembling celery but larger and rib-less) that I've yet to identify. Lime slices and fresh chilies add a bit of zing..."
Ngoc Suong: 19C Le Quy Don St.
Great seafood. This is where the international stars come to get their Viet fix.
Average dishes come to around US$12 or so. The fish and shellfish are particularly fresh at this popular restaurant. The majority of the dishes are Vietnamese specialties. Shrimp may come raw, steamed with beer or in coconut juice (US$14 a kilogram). There is also a smattering of Western preparations -- lobster Thermidor (US$50 a kilogram) and Coquilles St. Jacques (French style baked scallops, US$4).
Van Ho Restaurant: 72 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, Dist. 3. Phone: 825 8842.
Mid-range Vietnamese cuisine.
Tri Ky Restaurant: 478 Nguyen Kim Street, Phu Nhuan Dist. Phone: 844 2299.
Mid-range Vietnamese cuisine.
VY Restaurant: 105 Yersin Street, Dist. 1. Phone: 821 4761.
Luxury restaurant serving a dominantly Vietnamese selection of dishes.
Hideaway Cafe: 41/1 Pham Ngoc Thach Street, Dist. 3. Phone: (08) 822 4222
This somewhat out of the way place is managed by a Vietnamese woman who grew up in Brooklyn, New York, Christine Van. Her experience with both cultures (ie both East and West) has created an awareness of the expectations brought to the table by both Vietnamese and foreign clients.
As the good folks at Vietnam Tourism Info write: "The first thing that strikes one about Hideaway Cafe is that the name fits. Nestled down a small laneway off Pham Ngoc Thach Street in Ho Chi Minh City, Hideaway is tricky to find. And sitting in a generous armchair in the light-filled, Moroccan-inspired dining room, really does feel like being in a haven; far from the noise and havoc of the streets outside. Very appealing. I predict long afternoons over cups of coffee or freshly squeezed juices, maybe even a decadent cake or two; the owners installing WiFi in the building means I could work on my laptop here too!"
H20 Restaurant: 216 Pasteur street, Dist. 3. Phone: 08/824 3261.
The menu in this place comes complete with a nutrition guide and a calorie count with every meal -- an idea they should start employing in American restaurants, given the huge weight disparity between the United States of America and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. This establishment in District 3 is being touted as Ho Chi Minh City's first true health food restaurant, and the emphasis in on vitamins and low calories. As Anh Thu reported: "If you're a bit overweight, you may be interested in taking a close look at the menu's detailed information on each dish?fs calorie count and vitamin content. Bo Tung Xeo: 81 Ly Tu Trong Street (near the riverfront.)
This is said to be a good place to go to sample scorpions, according to at least one reviewer, Kimmo V. Of course, they have other foods at this place, but scorpions are one of the more unusual additions to the menu -- and one absolutelty not to be missed! Kimmo V writes: "Big hall in two floors, hundreds of seats, noisy, living, crowded and amazing amount of service stuff! The food is extremely good, service is fast and polite and the prices are dirt cheap compared to quality of food and size of the dishes. Extremely good value, also mentioned in Lonely Planet book.
"Well, you really have to try almost anything. Scorpions tastes like pop-corn, really! You can eat the whole scorpion, cause the poisonous parts has (sic) been removed. The body of the scorpion isnt as good as the other parts, so eat the the legs and siccors first... "
Luong Son Restaurant: 31 Ly Tu Trong Street.
Said to be a lively and popular place, especially renowned for its barbeques. As well as some more delicious beef barbecue dishes such as Bo Tung Xeo, the restaurant also does a little walk on the exotic meats side. Inside the restaurant are tanks full of live scorpions and snakes.
There is more to the exotic meat market scene in Ho Chi Minh City than wildlife meat. Farmed exotic meat --particularly frog meat -- is really taking off. The interest in frog production in Vietnam is growing by leaps and bounds (once again pardon the pun -- and this time the pun is not mine -- it comes from SUSPER). Frog is a popular food in the country, where it is generally eaten in the form of frog legs and frog soup. It is a healthy meat that is low in cholesterol. As consumer worries over bird flu continue, the demand for frog is expected to rise here and abroad.
Thai frog is a special type of frog introduced from Thailand that is easy-to-grow with minimal costs. The large, brown, bumpy-skinned frog has quickly emerged as an attractive enterprise for farmers.
BLOGGERS CHOICE:
Professional food photographer and exotic meats connoisseur Owen Franken sounds like a man I would love to have by my side on a southeast Asian dining challenge -- on his blog he recounts munching spider and scorpion noodles on a Bangkok street with his 15-month-old daughter (and his daughter allegedly took a liking to the spider and its shrimplike flavor, according to Franken!) One month later both father and daughter dined on roast wild cat in neighbouring Burma! "We think it was lynx," wrote Franken with complete Politically Uncorrect aplomb. "It was too small for snow leopard." And out of habitat, because there are not too many snow leopards in tropical Burma! When in Vietnam, Franken consumed dog sausage in Hanoi... and had this to say about a mystery exotic meats restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City: "There is also an amazing menagerie restaurant of wild animals outside of Ho Chi Minh City. Cages rather than menus, kind of like going to the zoo for dinner. I remember keeping it simple and having cobra, rather than fruit bat. A large fruit bat, I discovered, has a very cute face, hard to imagine eating it. On the other hand, I love rabbit. ."
s w e e t + s t u f f
SOME OF THE SWEETEST SELECTIONS IN SAIGON/HO CHI MINH CITY, GOOD PLACES FOR DESERT AND JUICE AND WHATNOT:
Kem Bach Dang: 26-28, Le Loi Street (opp. Russian Market), Dist. 1. Phone: 829 2707.
I am only a beginner at Vietnamese but my guess is that "Kem" in this name means "cream" or "ice cream". I could be wrong though so I don't want to bet a testicle on it! Now this is a good place to go uf you like ice cream and sweet sh=t, but be warned, the prices are not cheap -- arasnosliw in one of his/her articles claimed?@some items on the menu creep towards US$10, which is a ripoff in Vietnam. Nonetheless, I have never been a sweets lover. Arasnosliw is, and he/she said in his/her article: "
by arasnosliwThis is some of the best ice cream in Saigon. There are lots of exotic flavors, making this place an ice cream lover's paradise. Toppings consist of many fresh fruits. This is a long withstanding shop within proximity to Ben Thanh Market. It is always swarming with people, so it is hard to find a table. Service is quick, the staff is efficient.
"Coconut ice-cream comes in a young coconut shell topped with strawberries, dragonfruit, raisins and longan. If you are not that adventurous, there is plain and simple choices available."
LIVING AS I DO IN JAPAN, THE WORLD LEADER OF CONVENIENCE CULTURE, I HAVE DEVELOPED AN UNHEALTHY INTEREST IN VENDING MACHINES AND THE NIFTY ITEMS THEY PROFFER. I reckon you can tell a lot about a country by browsing through its supermarkets -- or by checking out their vending machines, if they have any. In Japan vending machines dispense everything from batteries to pornos to cooked dinners and used underwear, but most of them specialize in health drinks (green tea, mineral water, Royal Jelly extracts, sports fluids, hangover remedies, the occasional can of Coke or a jumbo sized beer.) In Australia the country of my birth you will find none of this Royal Jelly or green tea nonsense -- vending machines are stuffed instead with rows of Coca Cola, chocolate and flabby potato crisps, and they will usually be broken. I reckon at least half the vending machines in Australia are broken or out-of-order when you try to use them. They will take your money though and give nothing in return, just like all the out-of-order public telephones and ticket machines at the out-of-order railway stations. The whole vibe you get from vending machines in Australia is one of disrespect... disrespect for you as the customer, a general contempt for you as a human being. In Japan the vending machines kind of celebrate you for who you are, with all your quirky habits and tastes, and prod you into spending more. Who are you to judge my interest in used schoolgirl underwear? -- the machine is not going to do that. In Australia vending machines won't even acknowledge that you have a quirk or the possibility that quirk might prove to be profitable. I might be drawing a long bow, or reading too much into things -- but anyway, that's my take on the difference between vending machines in Australia and Japan. Vending machines in Europe are pretty much like the ones in Australia. I don't know about America because I have never been there yet.
This little beauty here was concocted by the mighty 
WAY BACK IN 2005 ONE JAPANESE GUY POSTED ON HIS BLOG WORDS TO THIS EFFECT: "BETONAMU NI WA, MAKUDONARUDO GA NAI KEDO, LOTTERIA GA ARU!" ("IN VIETNAM THERE IS NO MCDONALD'S -- HOWEVER, THERE IS LOTTERIA!") It is a strange quirk of history and fate that if you visit Vietnam today, the only chain place you will find selling western style hamburgers will be not McDonalds or Burger King or Fat Burgers or the Big Kahoona Burger or those million other US exports, but Lotteria Cafe (origin Japan.) 
Today I stopped for lunch at the Dai Phat Phở restaurant near the New World Hotel (275 Le Thanh Ton St, phone 08 829 7292.) As you would expect, the specialities here included pho: specifically 
ON THE WAY BACK TO MY HOTEL IN HO CHI MINH CITY TONIGHT, I ENJOYED A SECOND DINNER AT A CLASSY ESTABLISHMENT CALLED 39 CAFE. With a balcony overlooking the boulevard and Vinh Quang Cinema... I ordered abalone covered beef here which tasted okay (not too bad, but nothing special.) However, according to a story I found in the 
Luxury Vietnamese cuisine.