You never really know what you are going to get when you wander in to some random pub in Hoi An or Da Nang. If you are lucky, you get something a little bit unusual rather than the usual cookie cutter offerings that it seems like everyone has. Havana doesn't have anything particularly compelling on their menu, but the decorum inside is certainly one of a kind
Although the owner is Vietnamese, he certainly had a penchant for all things Cuba, particularly cigars and unusual artwork. The reason why we ended up there was because there was a buy one get one free happy hour on cocktails as well as 15,000 VND beers (This is about 70 cents US.) I'll go anywhere with that kind of deal.
The place is comfortable enough but what really makes the place is that all the decorations are related to Cuba, a country that is probably about as far away from Vietnam as a country can possibly be.
In particular, he seems to like these pictures of older women smoking gigantic cigars. There are on nearly every wall in the place.
I don't know much about Cuba because I am American and up until recently it was forbidden for us to travel there because of old beefs over cold war shit from ages ago. I did, however, know that the world's best cigars are meant to come from there. I have never had one and I don't smoke so I guess i'll just take their word for it.
You might have also noticed that there is a lot of "classic" Audio / Video equipment in those pics above and this gear is strewn all about the place and there are tools here and there too which indicate that he is probably always tinkering with them. I have no idea if he knows what he is going but it is still a very unusual hobby that is probably pretty healthy. I wasn't able to ask him very much about it because his English was pretty poor and my Vietnamese is all but non existent.
I wonder if he speaks Spanish?
There are a lot of cheap places to drink in Hoi An but this one was a real winner as far as the antiquities are concerned. You can find it HERE if you happen to be in the area
It seems to be good place to hang out.
I spent some time in Vietnam years ago and don't remember this place. Based on the age of that equipment it was most likely there when i was but then again, there are so many bars and restaurants geared towards budget travelers in that part of the world that it is probably pretty easy to miss a few of them.
i tried tinkering with an old VCR that I found in my parent's basement on a recent visit. After about an hour achieving very little I can say that I am extremely happy that the world abandoned that tech and went digital. It brought back horrible memories of using the "tracking" feature trying to get a picture you can actually see.