Drinks in Hong Kong

The guys I lived with while in college would kill me for what I'm about to say: "I couldn't figure out how to open my first beer in Hong Kong and inevitably ruined it."

As I've come to realize, 90% of the beer cans here are the old pull style type cans which I had never encountered in my life. I tried opening it like a regular can, and eventually just ruined the top. Upon looking at some of the other cans here I've noticed some strange differences.

I am sitting at my computer enjoying a nice Mt. Dew and I see that the top is normal size. And when I say normal sized, it is not the wide mouthed, vented cans like most beverages in the US, but a modest size to maybe cut down on chugging and intense sugar delivery. Even though it is a regular Mt. Dew, it has both Chinese and English writing on the can, and the nutrition facts are in units per 100ml, which is very inconvenient to try to figure out how much sugar is in something, or other important facts.

It is hard for me to compare to products back in the States, as it has been so long since I have had any, but it seems to me that pop here has much more sugar in it that pop back home. I don't drink sugary drinks too often so maybe that is why I am not used to it, but based on my memory, this seems to be a slightly different recipe for Mt. Dew.

While shopping and eating out, I always find it funny to see Budweiser and Coors Lite in the "Import" section. I've never thought of those two as being considered "fine" enough to import, but what do I know. The most popular beer here in Hong Kong is called San Miguel. I prefer their cheaper Blue Ice beer because it is more like what I was used to back home. Most here consider it too light and tasteless, which is also how I've heard most American beers described.

Recently I tried Saki while having sushi with friends and was mildly disappointing in it. I always imagined Saki as a terribly strong drink which would have been comparable to rubbing alcohol, but it was almost sweet and syrupy. I always saw it for sale in the store, but never wanted to try and purchase any, because the entire bottle has Chinese writing on it so I never knew what was what.

I've never been a big fan of drinking bottled water and always found it funny that there were different brands in the store and that some people actually thought some brands were better. I couldn't imagine paying for some of that high dollar bottled water back in the States because at that time, every type of water tasted the same. I could notice differences in tap water in geographic areas, but never in bottled water. I have grown so used to drinking the very popular Bonaqua water here that when I bought a bottle of a different brand, it really tasted funny to me. I suppose it is just what you get used to.

I work outside in the heat for most of the day, and find that Gatorade is one of the best ways to stay hydrated. I brought a big tub of Gatorade mix over with me because I was concerned I wouldn't be able to find any Gatorade here. Well, I can find bottles of Gatorade, but no powder mix. Instead, I drink Pocari Sweat drink powder. I have heard it is about the same as Gatorade, and seems to work well with keeping me hydrated, but again, it seems to have a lot of sugar in it.

My favorite drink here by far is these little cans from Nescafe of cold coffee. They are about 2/3 the size of a regular pop can, and the can is super tough, nearly impossible to crush. The coffee inside is pretty sweet and creamy and reminds me of those cold Starbucks drinks sold in bottles next to the check out at Wal-Mart. Unfortunately this drink is very sugary, like all the others, so I watch how many I drink, but I could easily drink 3 or 4 a day if I wanted!