Bia Hoi is one signature of Vietnam.  It means “fresh beer” – beer brewed locally and delivered each day in huge drums directly to various small restaurants, cafes, and bars.  By 1pm, it’s ready to drink, but we didn’t enjoy it until 2:30pm.  1 liter costs 10,000 Vietnamese dong, approximately $.63…we may have had a couple…or more than a couple.  But hey, this is Vietnam, it’s what the locals drink.

Bia Hoi…(and don’t be fooled be the time stamp, which still on PDT)

We also noticed, at the threshold of our Bia Hoi establishment, a curious ornament, which at first we thought was gnarled rope.

Instead, it was a gnarled dessicated claw.  We’re not entirely sure of its purpose, but decided not to speculate.  But hey, this is Vietnam – its what the Bia Hoi establishment does.

We’d been told that the ice in Ho Chi Minh is safe to drink, because it’s not made at each restaurant from tap water but created in factories and distributed throughout the city.  Today, not only was the Bia Hoi fresh, but the ice was as well.

Many beers in Vietnam are enjoyed over ice.  This may sound blasphemous to some, but a beer with a thick block of ice is definitely preferable to a warm beer with a thick flowering of bubbles.  Hey, this is Vietnam – it’s how to drink beer.

Our first afternoon with Bia Hoi all together was immensely relaxing, as we watched outside the buzz of motorbikes, the slow lumbering of food carts, and the too swift disappearance of our liters of cold carbonated Bia Hoi.