By the Hue', we're in Vietnam - 26/03/2026

Brett Sedgwick
Apr 27
5 min read

Xin Chao from Hue, (Hway) Vietnam

So we decided to have about ten days in Vietnam to see if the world political climate chills a bit. It had been years since we’d been to Vietnam and we got a flight to Da Nang International Airport that arrived around 7pm.

Dang, Da Nang aint as hot as Bali, as it was a cool 25 degrees

After weighing up various travel options we ended up in a private car that took us to Hue, which was about two hours north. The driver was a gun, overtaking trucks, easily navigating the 10km tunnel under the Hai Van pass, and rocking up to Hue’ walking street around 9.30pm. Thanks to Google Translate, Maps and the Grab app, our ride to this cool little town was seamless.

We lugged the suitcases down the walking street and it was in full swing! All the bars, restaurants, coffee houses, and massage shops were doing a roaring trade. We loved the vibe instantly and after checking in, dumping suitcases, etc, we were amongst it. The local beer called Huda was on tap across the road, Hue pancakes were on the menu, and it was all for the right price. Two large beers, two pancakes and a soda water came in at the ridiculously low price of around 300,000 Dong - he,he dong - which is about $15 AUD!!

I had forgotten how cheap Vietnam is, thank the universe!

The next morning saw us roll out of bed and hit the breakfast buffet!! Yes, one of my favourite things about Asia are the breaky buffets, and this one had the goods. Tropical fruit - the BEST passionfruit on the planet, eggs station, pho station, baguettes, hot dishes, cheeses, coffee, tea, you name it!! So freakin’ good!

We didn’t have a coffee though - I had a tiny shot - because that morning we were booked in to do a Vietnamese coffee course. We got the Grab and next thing we were in the course with our host Duck, and three other Aussies - Dave, Shannon and Nicole. Well after the first coffee, it was like we were pissed and we carried on like besties!! So good.

What about the coffee I hear you ask?

Good question.

Vietnam has had kind of a coffee renaissance over the last few years, mainly because the Robusta bean grows so well in this tropical climate. We made 4 coffees today out of the robusta bean. They were:

Drip (phin) coffee - like a filter on the top of your glass
Egg coffee - think coffee Creme’ Brulee, complete with blow torched crust
Salted coffee - cream, cream, milk, salt
Coconut coffee - cream, coconut cream, condensed milk, coffee.

Man, this was fun and delicious. Check out the gallery below… absolute peanuts, and I think Duck was happy to see us leave.

The night we met our guide Rose, and six other tourists and went on a walking food tour. Rose was a great guide, and over the next few hours, she took us to about four places where we tried all of Hue’s specialties:

Local’s restaurant - noodle bowl with clams, peanuts, sauce, herbs and broth
Local’s restaurant 2 - Hue traditional food - (see green picture), but basically all types of rice and prawn dishes steamed in pandan leaves. Most of these dishes were one-bite delicacies, but so delicious.
Footpath restaurant with tiny stools - traditional Hue Soup - like Pho but with a chicken broth, chicken and a crab meatball.
Grill restaurant - lemongrass pork skewers and Hue pancakes. All served with herbs and veggies and wrapped in rice paper rolls before dipping in sauce… incredible.

What a first day. Coffee, traditional food, local beer and all are totally affordable. Yeah baby!!

The next morning after our bouffee, we got the old Grab to the ancient Imperial city. Up until 1945, Hue was the capital of Vietnam and over the next three stinking hot hours (did I say Vietnam’s weather was cooler than Bali, yeah bullshit…) our guide took us all through the Imperial City and told us the history of the 13 Emperors of Vietnam. The buildings were beautiful - most were restored because they were looted in 1975 after the fall of Saigon and everything destroyed - and they were Chinese in style, as China were the first occupiers of Vietnam.

The day was informative, and it was about time these two travellers got a bit of culture up ‘em. Life can’t be all buffets and coffee!!

One interesting thing we learnt was that the phoenix represents women - beautiful, mysterious and full of fire - while the dragon represents man - strong, fierce and noble!! Also, Vietnamese dragons do not have wings and spurt water out of their mouths, rather than fire. This is to cool the tempers of their phoenix partners and provide some yang to their yin… Right on, brothers!! (Sorry, Jen, you’re the boss, not me ;() - No Shit, said Jen…bloody fiery phoenix!!

On our final day, we organised a motorbike tour of the city. At 9 am, an old bloke with a long ponytail and half his teeth missing called Koo (a 70-year-old retired Geography teacher) and his mate (no name, no English) rocked up on scooters. Faaark. I weigh as much as both of them put together!!

Anyway, Jen rode with Koo, and I rode with Silent Bob. It was an absolute blast hooking through the streets of Hue on the back of bikes.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/af3533_6a53443c25fe444abb095f09c2391f4b/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Now, we didn’t know where we were going, and the blokes took us out of town and 25 minutes into the countryside. I didn’t know if this was part of the organised journey or some sort of organised organ removal operation!! Oh well, my liver’s probably cactus by now anyway.

But nuh, we got to the first stop, which happened to be an abandoned Amusement Park. Cool!! We rode some pushies around the lake, climbed a massive graffiti-covered dragon, saw decrepit waterslides and basically had a great little time.