Vodka.com vs. Vodka Hanoi

The domain name vodka.com sold for a cool 3 million USD. The large sized Vodka Hanoi featured above sells for 3 USD (VND 50,000). I was never one for Vodka, esp. after my freshman year of college when I had too much of it, blacked out, fell in a pond and woke up in an abandoned house. But since living in Vietnam, its been my liquor of choice as it is cheap; and, Vietnam makes good Vodka, possibly because of its ties to the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. If you're into strong liquors, I suggest Vodka Hanoi. Why pay outrageous prices for imports? Or, buy an over-priced boutique Vodka that marketers have been pushing on the public. Just be careful of fakes, which I've heard exist. I wouldn't know how one might tell the difference before sampling given how well fakes are made nowadays. Just be aware they do exist. Either, buy from one of the larger supermarkets, or buy from the same place where you've build up some rappor, which was what I did. [Note: The small sized Vodka has less alcohol content than the large sized one (25% vs. the 40% I believe)]. Buy some to take home as they make a nice gift, but don't wait to buy at the airport where the prices are double.

Price: Large Vodka bottle VND 50,000 (3 USD); Small Vodka bottle VND 27,000 (1.5 UD)

Factory life in Hanoi - the reality.

Today, I deviate from my usual postings. Although I have and will continue to introduce interesting places for visitors to enjoy, in reality, factory life is quite boring. Most of the time, my co-workers and I live a quite staid life in dormintories worrying about missing shipments of parts for production, customer pressures to continually cost down, rising commodity prices, competitors building new production facilities, and so forth. This is, unfortunately, the reality resulting from competition. 7:30-17:00 Mon-Sat (with the occational Sat off). Lunch at 45,000VND (.30USD) would be a variation of something as follows:

I think most people don't appreciate what it takes to make the everyday products that they buy and use; and why products are as cheap as they are - with inflation as low as it is even as oil prices rise over 60USD/barrel and copper prices jumping several folds.

Where to go for Chinese food in Hanoi, Vietnam?

Nhà Hàng Hoa Viêm (625 Duong La Thanh, Ba Dinh), is the place to go for authentic Chinese (actually Taiwanese) food in Hanoi. So much so that its become a meeting place for executives of Taiwanese firms to meet after work. How do I know? I work for a Taiwanese firm and everytime I go with co-workers, we invariably see the same group of Taiwanese executives and end up leaving with too much to drink. Also beware that Hoa Viêm is a favorite also of Taiwanese tour groups that come by the bus load so sometimes fill up quickly. Ask the husband and wife owner couple for recommendations. Personal favorites include basic staples such as pork bun, scallion pancake and vegetable dumplings, as well as their selection of hotpots.

Price: approximately 100,000VND (6USD) per person.