Vietnam

09/05/2026 - 11/05/2026

I think I've hit a wall and I'm tired of Asian type food. The plan today is to get my ass to Hue and spend the week relaxing. I put Hue KFC in the GPS, and chose the coastal route. Let's go. It turned out the coastal route was mainly through rice paddies and as I rode along I enjoyed watching farmers working their puddles. The only thing I didn't like was the burning of the chaff. This seems to go on everywhere and blankets the sky in a smokey haze. Some farmers were bailing it in with machines simular to the harvesters. The front would pick up the the straw and the machine would wrap it in a barrel type bail where the guy at the back would stack it. The straw was basically being scooped up from sitting on the soggy field, so to dry it several farmers then unwrapped the bales and spread them all over the road. I would soon discover this became super annoying as you then had to navigate around drying hay all the time.

I was surprised as I got closer to Hue because I had expected the countryside to become hilly. This is what I remembered from my last visit, but the land was flat. After a couple of hours I reached KFC, where the security guy put a blanket over Donkey and I had my first feed in a long time.. OMG it was delicious!

I then headed to my motel Phu Chau and as soon as I sat on the bed and felt how soft it was, I fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon. Why am I so tired? The hotel was absolutely excellent, except the hot water didn't work. I left my key with reception and when I returned the next day it was all fixed. One of the best places I have stayed in Vietnam and for $AUD15 a total bargain.

Speaking of soft beds, for anyone travelling Vietnam the number one item I recommend you bring is a hiking mattress. I use the ultra light hiker II and it's invaluable for Vietnam. Finding a decent bed to sleep on is hit and miss, so the mattress guarantees some comfort. My second recommendation would be to get Moreta Pay and use QR codes like a local. Visa is only accepted in the major centres and cash is not only expensive to withdraw, it's a total pain to manage and have enough off. And my final tip would be to buy yourself a good rain poncho. Goo bought me my poncho and it has been one of my most used items.

That afternoon I headed of to Indian at Shiva-Shakti, It was so good I would return the next night. I totally recommend this place and it was in the heart of Hue's night district area.

The next two days were spent visiting the tombs of the remaining kings. The Mausoleum of Emperor Tu Duc and Mausoleum of Emperor Minh Mang were really the only ones worth it. In visiting the other tombs what became obvious was the tour we had been on to see the tomb of the 12th King (Mausoleum of Emperor Khai Dinh) was widely exaggerated by our tour guide. He may have built the most extravagant tomb, but the themes and style were no different from the other Kings.

After visiting the tombs, I was tombed out and the weather was hot, so I headed to Thuan An Beach. I had been talking to Grok about where I should live, and Grok had told me that if I live at Hue, I could always go to the "beautiful" Thuan An Beach to cool off and eat seafood. But when I got there, what a dumpster. Apart from rubbish everywhere the rip was insane. I couldn't go any further than my groin without the rip dragging me through the sand. It wasn't a place you could swim with any confidence.

Having the water cool me down, there is a large cluster of seafood restaurants that have decks running onto the beach. I opted for a feed of grilled prawns, but I only received 5 for $VND200000 which I would later on discover is expensive. I hated the beach and the seafood was average which confirmed my decision I cant live in Hue.

12/05/2026

I was excited to return to Danang. I booked two weeks at the Continental Hotel and figured that would give me enough time to find an apartment and settle in for a while. After traveling for 3 weeks, I'd had enough and just needed to stay in the one place for a bit. The plan was to end the trip here and then do the south in 6 months time. But for now I was excited to eat easy food, speak English without Google translator, and not have to push my ass through another day of pain.

The pass is unavoidable on a bike as you aren't allowed to travel the freeway and little Donkey was eating it up. I only stopped a few brief times, as I just wanted to get to Danang, and to be honest I was over the coffee shop with a vista experiance. These are everywhere in the North and I'd already had my fair share. The pass is pretty and the road is in excellent condition, but it doesn't compare to the road of Meo Vac.

This is a bit of an issue I'm having with Google now. The reviews always rave about a place, but it's rarely as good as it says. I'm not saying the pass was bad, but it's not worth the hype people go on with. The beach at Thuan An Beach was another example, it wasn't terrible, but it was far from great. However, to be fair it's not just Google reviews, it's also things like movies. The amount of movies I've watched this year based on rave reviews and it is totally shit is crazy. People either have no idea what a good movie is, or their expectations are near 0, or all these reviews are simply paid. It's all part of why the internet is becoming totally valueless.

Trip Advisor is another one. When I started using this app in 2000, it was fantastic. If you went to a restaurant that had 4 or more stars it was guaranteed to be good. Now, it's likely to be anything including shit. And one of the things that pisses me off the most about this app, is that it promotes paid tours like crazy. If you look up something like the Citadel in Hue, all you get is endless tours at $US100+. WTF is the point of that when if you go there the ticket is $US4.

It shows how just like in AFL football, money has entered the internet game and made it 100% worse for the average person. Recently I was asked why football was better in the past, and when I think about it, I miss the fights in the crowd the most. People and players had passion, they had toughness, they had anger, and they had loyalty to the club. I was never a fighter, but running while literally shitting myself from Collingwood supporters is something in my childhood that made you feel alive and something I will never forget.

The thing you cant ignore on the Hia Van Pass is the 512HA Vinhomes Hia Bay project. Another Vietnam mega project that really makes you wonder how on earth the country can continue to build such things. Looking at the plans, $AU400K it's tempting to buy in. But the big worry is will it just become another Ha Long Bay Sunworld disaster? I really don't know who will live in all these homes?

I'm not sure why these type of projects exist when it seems more logical to build smaller projects within DaNang. I guess they want to make everything Vin something. I already love thier cute little cars. Can you believe this company has Vinfast (vehicles), Vinhomes (homes), Vinretail (shopping centres), Vinpearl (resorts), Vinwonders (entertainment), Vinpearl Golf (golf courses), VinAI (AI), Vinbigdata (data centres), Vinbrain (healthcare), VinCSS (security), Vinmec (hospitals), Vinschools (schools), Vi University (universities), and Vinenergo (energy production). CRAZY!

How nice to be back in DaNang and in a more comfortable western civilization where I can relax a bit. Little Donkey did an amazing job covering 2298kms in 24 days on the road, and having one complete rebuild. 55kph was her top speed, and I don't think you would really want to travel any faster than that. However, I will say having been in DaNang for a while now, they have some of the worst riders I've come across! For now Donkeys touring of Vietnam has come to a stop, but we still have the South to do.