Since 1810, people have celebrated the Oktoberfest, the world-famous German beer drink­ing festival. The original Oktoberfest began when Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria decided to hold a big beer festival in the city of Munich, to celebrate his wedding to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghause. He invited the entire population of Munich to join his party. The guests had so much fun; they decided to do it every year. What a smart bunch of people. Anyway, the Munich Oktoberfest, known by the locals as the "Wiesn", is the biggest public festival in the world attended by around 6 millions visitors and will be held this year for the 172nd time. And now, visitors can enjoy it in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The sounds of oompah, the aroma of sizzling bratwurst once again herald the arrival of Oktoberfest in Hanoi. The Press Club (Add: 59a Ly Thai To St, Tel: (84-4) 934 0888), gets in on the act with their Oktoberfest Celebration, run­ning from September 26 to October 2. They failed to tell visitors if there will be men in tight lederhosen or buxom wenches, but visitors can guarantee it will be fun. Meanwhile down in Ho Chi Minh City, the Windsor Plaza Hotel (Add: 18 An Duong Vuong St, Tel: (84-8) 833 6688) is hold­ing their very own Oktoberfest for five days, from October 5 to October 9, at the Jade Ballroom (7th floor). The theme of this year's Oktoberfest is "introducing German culture to the world" - that is, importing German beer in, flying in two German bands to perform tradition­al Oktoberfest style of music, hiring an award-winning German chef to create authentic German food, plus German Oktoberfest fun-fair games for the participants. The ballroom of the hotel will be transformed into a real German atmosphere, with fifty students from the University of Art competing to see which artist can create the most authentic Bavarian landscape.

The festival lasts for five days, from 6pm to midnight. Tickets cost $29 per person, discount on Sunday morn­ing (10.30am-2pm); $22 per person for less than 20 tickets, $20 per person for between 20 and 49 tickets and $18 per person for more than 50 tickets.