大咖福利影院

Ciambella wrote:

@THIGV, Matt, et alii --聽 i must be the only person who gained weight anytime I stayed in VN for longer than a month.聽 I've never gained more than 7 or 8 lbs, but on my body frame, 4kg of unwanted baggage is still a lot to carry.

For almost 20 years now, our diet has always been healthy no matter where we lived -- plenty of fruits and a lot of vegetables, minimal amount of meat with fat removed, and very little salt.聽 In addition, no sugar for me because I simply do not care for sweets, and no more alcoholic drink for me because my two favourite single malts are not available in VN.聽 We also walk a lot and work out almost daily, but while spouse maintains his weight, I just get thicker, Vietnamese cuisine notwithstanding.

Gaining weight simply means you burn less calories than you absorb every day. It's a very simple math really, but difficult to control! When I'm in Vietnam I usually *gain* weight because I love cheap bakery and love drinking beers with friends, which seems to be a favourite local hobby over there :-) Also, I tend to use a motorbike more and walk less... but yeah as we get older we burn less and less calories so it sometimes requires extra efforts to keep our weight.

70 years old wrote:

15 year old McAllan Fine Oak seems abundant at Aeon Mall and it is an excellent sipping whisky. Several other choices are available as well.

I prefer Lagavulin 16 and Highland Park 18, Mr. E.聽 Since I couldn't find either one, I'm going for full abstinence.聽

(I entrusted a rare bottle of Highland Park 25 into the children's safekeeping in CA.聽 Didn't聽 want to pack it in checked luggage and didn't know how to ship it safely here.)

eodmatt wrote:

For the Lords sake, both of you please try and get your tonsils around a few drams of Caol Ila Islay single malt. It's the neck tie of the Gods!

At home right now I've got two bottles of Laphroaig and two bottles of Ardberg, both 10 years. Islay darlings!

70 years old wrote:

I do remember a time in Japan when JW Red was the premier聽 Scotch and JW Black was considered almost an insult.

As the grocery store at the Aeon Mall has at least a dozen different brands of Scotch for sale including "The McAllan." someone else in Vietnam must be drinking some Scotch other than Chivas. Also note, the customers seem overwhelmingly Vietnamese. I'm almost always the only American/European in that mall.

Which is odd because JW Black Lable is the better of the two blends.

Ciambella wrote:

I should have said "older Vietnamese men", as I was using my brothers and their peers (all of them are between late 70s and mid 80s) as the examples.聽 I don't know much about the taste of the younger generation Vietnamese; even the youngest of my nieces and nephews is already in his mid 50s.

The thing here is that older Vietnamese men are highly susceptible to advertising hype - for example I have had many an argument with Vietnamese men about Heineken beer. They buy it because the adverts tell them that it is "higher quality", in fact it's just a normal alcoholic, fizzy malt and hops drink, which in Europe, where it was originally brewed, is no better than any other bier, beer, bia, pivo etc.

In UK the Belgians successfully branded Stella Artoi as a "premium lager" which is "reasuringly expensive". In fact I used to quaff it when passing through Belgium en route between Germany and UK when I was a young soldier. It was the cheapest you could buy in those days and, to me, it smelled somewhat of cat pee (and it still does).
Blended whisky is ok and some are useful for mixing. Chivas is not bad, a pleasant blend. Some, like Bells, Cutty Sark etc are. .... Well, a bit rough to be honest.

I used to drink Laphroag, but my taste mellowed over the years and I began to find it too strongly phenolic - like TCP mouthwash.

Then I found Caol Ila. Still a peaty Islay malt, but more subtle than Laphroag.

Then there's the Speyside malts....

I lived in Scotland some years ago, in the wilds of Ardnamurchan. You needed a good malt whisky there in the winter especially.

WillyBaldy wrote:

@Ciambella, even local prices in the UK are often more expensive than elsewhere because of the British pound, sadly.

And of course because of tax and duty!

ralphnhatrang wrote:

Stop this torture, please! Anyone who has tried to buy real whisky in Australia, where unfortunately I am, will know that a real whisky is unaffordable unless you are a millionaire.

Have you tried the Rob Roy hotel in the city, they used to have a large selection of scotch whiskey.

70 years old wrote:

I've always enjoyed is walking, something that is rather unpleasant in much of Saigon. The thing that I absolutely love about the Aeon Mall is that it is a very pleasant walk with good sidewalks etc, from the apartment.

I do have someone looking at the jeep and hopefully the jeep will sell soon. There just isn't anywhere that I need to drive.

Just opened a can of Dole chopped mixed fruit from the mall. It really tasted good. Bac was in Heaven.

We live in a compound which is very pleasant, however there are only 14聽 streets, which i pound every morning for exercise. There are no footpaths outside, so if we want to go anywhere its motorbike or taxi. Im just about to set off for my morning walk - same old streets.