Time to hit the road, so we climbed on the bus for the road trip to Hoi An. Hoi An is truly a magical place, a charming town of small shops and restaurants…

Finally, the rumored dress-up night arrived, and we met in a hotel dressing room filled with imperial-style clothing in all sizes, shapes, and colors.

After a brief nap (who can sleep after a couple of salt coffees), a few of us slipped across the street to have lunch at a magnificent hotel, the Azerai La Residence…

We got up for an early breakfast because we were going to the Imperial City, or Imperial Palace, also known as Đại Nội, in the walled city of Huế.

Breakfast is served in the hotel's basement. That sounds bad, but it was a charming restaurant with smiling waiters and waitresses who immediately fetched coffee. The cool thing about hotel breakfasts in Asia is the variety.

We gathered in the hotel lobby at 6 pm to meet our fellow food tour travelers. This is when you discover who you will be traveling with for the next 10 days.

I was very excited. We were about to embark on a 10-day food tour with celebrity chef Luke Nguyen, zipping from the top of Vietnam in Hanoi to the bottom in Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon).