Hue Vietnam Has a Side Most Tourists Never See!

Hue, Vietnam. Looks quiet, but hidden outside the walls is a completely different world. One tomb covered in glass and dragons we had no idea even existed, an incense village that's famous on the socials that actually smells like lemongrass, and then a forest temple where the noise just disappears. It left us speechless. Today we're riding out from Hue to find its hidden side, and trust us, this is not what we expected. We are now out on the streets of Hue, having checked into our awesome room on the 10th floor with views of the city. We just now need to go get some food. So Nikki has found us a restaurant online, but it is down a rather interesting little alleyway. It's this one down here with a flashing light by the looks of things, and I've just had some sort of spider drop on me from a tree, inducing absolute panic by Nikki. Not wake up to be Spider-Man, you never know. Well, this looks to be the place. So we are here at the restaurant Nikki's found, Nina's, and it is already looking crazy busy. It ain't a big place, so make sure you time it right if you fancy it, but we have to say local beer is actually... It's one that tastes different to the Hanoi beer. Yeah, it's a bit sweeter than the Hanoi, isn't it? So, yeah, pretty good. But we've also, well, I say we, Nikki's also got eyes on the tablecloth, which just so happens... They might sell. It looks like they're selling. So I guess we're buying a tablecloth. Look how smug she looks. Come out for dinner, and the suitcases are already getting full. Okay, so we've got the vegetable spring rolls, caramel chicken, which comes with rice, which is stuck in the bowl, and then there's the honey chicken, which comes with rice as well. Yeah, that's a traditional caramel clay pot chicken. So, yeah, just get stuck into that for sure. So, question is, what does it taste like? I think let's try a bit of this caramel clay pot chicken first. Oh, that's sticky, really sticky. They're actually quite similar. The honey chicken is very, like, grilled, but very sweet and gingery. And the aftermath. No longer hangry. That was a hit, wasn't it? Yeah. So we've just come out of Nina's Cafe, which is a really interesting one, because obviously there's a lot of people in there because they do some sort of Western food, but their local specialties are absolutely stunning as well. So it's definitely worthwhile. Oh, sorry. So definitely worth checking out. Sorry, interrupted a game of badminton behind us. So yeah, now to find the main sort of tourist street, as we've been told it is, because that's where the bars are, that's where the shops are, that's where things are happening. So we'll see what we can find. It's a bit mad. It's a bit crazy down here. It appears we have found Party Street. How is it crazier here than in certain parts of Hanoi? Not my days. Lots of shops, but yeah. Yeah, we may have gained a few kilos in the suitcase before any of you insinuate otherwise. After grabbing some food and exploring the streets of Hue, we head back to the hotel for the night, but our time in Hue is far from over. In the next video, we're back in the chaos as we head out souvenir shopping and discover a few more sides to the city. The next morning, we're upright and early and jumping a grab towards the tomb of Khai Dinh. We are now about eight kilometres outside of Hue because we are visiting the last of the Nagoyan dynasty tombs. And I believe it's also one of the most expensive built, about 100 years old. So let's get in there and explore it because it's quite early. There's no major tour buses around, so it looks like we could be on for a bit of a private experience, which would be lovely. Lots of steps though. Yeah, and as our favourite, steps to start. Oh, wow. Okay, so we've only just got in the door and this looks mighty impressive. Between Buddhist, Gothic and Roman, I believe these designs are already pretty imposing. And Nikki's making haste and getting straight up the steps while it's a little bit cooler, which I can't say a blamer. Elephant pants. Oh, my God. Oh, look at these. Wow. As if they've got to say, do not sit on the damn horse. Even before reaching the main entrance, we're greeted by rows of life stone statues arranged like a traditional royal court standing before the emperor. The elephants and horses represent power and loyalty, while the mandarins and soldiers represent the civil and military officials who would continue serving the emperor even in the afterlife. Once inside the tomb, two life-sized bronze sculptures of Kaidin dominate the room, one seated and one standing. But it's the incredible detail surrounding them that really catches our attention. Oh, my God. Look at that. The walls and ceilings are covered in elaborate mosaics created by smashing and piecing together colourful Chinese porcelain, Japanese ceramics and even discarded European glass bottles. And above us is the centrepiece, a huge painting of nine dragons soaring through the clouds. That's mental, isn't it? Yeah, it's creepy, but it's quite warm. The humidity and the heat. It's definitely warmer here than Hanoi, right? It's 8.20 in the morning and it feels like it's about 35 degrees, which makes me very thankful we got up the steps quick and we're now going back down. OK, then, guys, Tomb of Kaidin, definitely get yourself down here. It took us about 15 minutes and a grab, and I think it cost us about $90,000, which is about £3 between the two of us. But, I mean, that architecture is stunning. Yes, it's about 100 years old and only 100 years old, which feels quite young in terms of the architecture here and the history in Vietnam. But, wow, I mean, that blend of Gothic, Roman, Buddhist, it's just absolutely phenomenal. Get here early, though, because they're now starting to pile in. And, yeah, it's going to get a bit busy. On to the incense village, though. From the tomb, we jumped in a grab and we dropped off at the incense village and immediately we were surrounded by colour. Bundles of brightly coloured incense filled the streets and we were given an incredibly warm welcome as we arrived. But as we make our way further into the village, we quickly realised that not everything is quite as it first appears. Which scent is this? Is this lemongrass? Ah, you can smell it very strong, very strong. That takes a lot of skill. Does this naturally dry yellow? OK, which was this? Oh, wow, yeah, very strong, very, very strong. Oh, like mint? Mint? No, no, no, allergic. So we're here in the incense village and, yeah, it's an assault on the senses. The smells are fantastic. But you definitely want to come here and get your shopping here. It's amazing stuff. Really, really good. Really, really good. OK, then, guys, so if you come here to the Tansien incense village, be wary because if you get a grab, chances are they may well know someone that has a shop here. We were dropped at one of the first shops and immediately on exiting the car, the door opened. There was someone there. Come inside, have a look. They'll show you how to do it. But some of the prices for some of the stuff they were looking at were way, way higher than the shop we were just in. So by all means, if you feel like you want to entertain it when you get out to grab and someone jumps on you, do. Don't feel obliged to buy. We walked... Sorry about the traffic. Sorry about the loud lorry. We're walking in the road, as ever. But, yeah, we walked a couple of feet over the road, had a little look through a couple of other stores and what was just quoted at about 220,000 dong for an incense burner, we managed to get for 200,000 with the actual incense cones that go in it as well. So, you know, the haggling is still, you know, possible. I think they're a little bit more accustomed to tourists here, so they're a little bit firmer than they are in, say, Hue or downtown Hanoi. You know you're not in a touristy area when you're walking around and everyone's looking at you. Definitely more local and it's quite funny, we've seen a number of tour buses with big groups of people sort of fly past and, yeah, needless to say, no one else is walking. What? I don't want a moped. I've got two working bloody feet. That sign is a bit nondescript, but the two local guys sat at the cafe opposite have just said the pagoda's down here. So, fingers crossed it is, otherwise we're probably going to get some funny looks and probably chased off with a stick. We just stopped off at the cafe because, as ever, hot climates like this, make sure hydration drinks because it is too, too hot. Nikki remembering what Long taught us. Right side to enter. Notice how she's using my nice cold drink to cool her neck down, not hers. So if I get that back and it's warm, it is proper peaceful here. Very, very peaceful. Yeah, there's fish. And rooster. They're big fish. I wonder if that's like a long way of feeding the trees. No, well, they're not coconut trees, are they? But I'm not sure. Oh, wow. This pagoda is the real deal. It's not like the ones that you see on the tour. Operators sort of day trips, is it? I mean, this is, you know, there's practicing monks. You know, it's out in the middle of nowhere. Truth be told, there's not really any signposting for it. So you kind of have to know it exists in order to find it. But the sense of calm is beautiful. It's really, really peaceful. Minus the car sat idling, which you're probably hearing most of at the moment. Yeah, you're probably enjoying aircon more. I apologize now because you can probably only really hear bugs. I wonder if they're the cicadas that we had in Thailand. Yeah, they're bloody noisy. Albeit, they're about that big if they are. Makes no sense. This place is just stunning. Absolutely stunning. Wow, that was a well worth experience. It is a little bit out of the way from Hue and it is not typically on any of the big tours that we're aware of anyway. I mean, truthfully, the signs to get here aren't great. I mean, you're about to see the entrance as we've walked through it this way and you just wouldn't suspect that it's actually down there. It is literally just down there. Now it's time to get back to Hue and continue exploring. So a quick little pit stop on the way over to the market here in Hue and somebody conveniently put a floating Starbucks on the river, which is a perfect little pit stop. Nicky's already attacking the what looks like absolutely divine coconut chocolate cake and Vietnam only something. What is it? Salted caramel Dolce Espresso. I should know that because I've had it twice since being here. And it was £6 in total. Yeah, £6 for two massive drinks and that, which has to be said is more expensive than if you go local for sure. But it's floating and you get a view so you can't really knock it. You're not very keen on being up here. There's a very simple solution to not being very keen on this bridge. Walk quicker. Ah, there's a nice breeze and you're kind of in the shade here. Okay, so we are here in Hue. They don't have a night market as we have now learned, but we are here at Dong Ba Market. So it's time to redeem ourselves. Second attempt at the old £10 challenge. So we've got 320,000 Dong. Let's see what we can get. Interestingly, it almost immediately feels a bit quieter than we were expecting. I'm not sure why. I'm not sure if that's a good thing. We shall see. It's a big market though. It is a bit small in here, a bit crazy. Well, it's quite funny really, because where we've seen a lot of people say that there's hassle and stuff like that, not only are we not really seeing it, but it may very well be because we've come here around midday. Most of the vendors seem to be asleep, which is definitely a bit strange. Well, that was quite an interesting experience, wasn't it, in Dong Ba Market. I mean, obviously we wanted to try and do the whole £10 challenge. It didn't really work out between most of the sellers being asleep or they just didn't really like reach out. There was a lot of stuff in there that was quite a local market as well. If we wanted a good kilo of rice or five kilo bag of rice, we probably could have got that. Obviously, we don't. It was quite limited. Probably not somewhere I'd recommend to go souvenir shopping as such, because there's much more options in other areas. But no, that being said, though, did manage to pick up some genuine sandalwood marlabies on the way out for about £160. £160,000 VND, which is probably about £4 or £5, which is quite interesting because everywhere else we've seen them we've been quoted anywhere between about £8 or £9 up to a million dong, which would have been the best part of £30. So it's very varying. That's to say, though, the original asking price was not the £160, £170. The original asking price was, I think, £300. They were the smaller ones, I think. I think it was about £300,000. They say to go between 30% and 50%. 30%, if you're feeling very daring, I think I might have upset somebody earlier by doing just that. So it's kind of funny because we're quite obviously tourists here. Despite having said, no, we don't want a tuk-tuk, because of the heat, the driver's just driving alongside us and he's waiting for us to give in. But I think we're good. I don't know. He's progressively buggering off. He's probably going to go up there and then wait for us. Going to wait up here, probably. He'll try again in a minute. So that morning in Hue sums up why we do this. The Tomb of Khai Dinh was incredible. It's crazy to think we had no idea it even existed until we arrived in Vietnam and we'd have been gutted if we missed it. That blended architecture, everywhere you look, it's glass, gold, dragons. It just hits you. One of our favorites so far. Incense Village, great for the socials, good shout if you want to see the sticks handmade and have a go. Otherwise, you could skip it. But Thu Hue Pagoda, that consumed us. Sitting in that jungle pagoda while the chanting started, you just feel calm, peaceful, completely immersed in it all. It's not just about what you see, but it's about the moment in general. It's special and something you'll remember far longer after your trip has ended. And trust us, this is just the beginning. Next, we're inside Hue's ancient imperial city and we walk straight into the middle of a movie shoot. Make sure you hit subscribe as you're gonna see what happens next. And as ever, drop your Hue questions in the comments below, we reply to everyone.