Hue

Imperial City is situated along the banks of the Perfume River.

It is a massive walled fortress with a high wall and deep moat running around it's perimeter for about 12km.

The moat is filled and refreshed by water from the Perfume River.

Within the walls or citadel lies the imperial city or what remains of it.

The city was reserved for the Nguyen family and referred to as the Purple Forbidden city.

This palace was the emperor's home and administrative capital of the empire.

By the time the last emperor stood down, the palace had hundreds of rooms and pavilions and was truly staggering in size and wealth.

Tragically for the city, after its takeover by the Viet Cong in 1968, the US bombed the city, destroying much of the buildings and the citadel.

Since the 1990s, some of the citadels buildings have been restored to former glory.

The Perfume River passes through the city of Hue and the Imperial City on its way to the sea or rather the Tam Giang lagoon.

While the river takes its name from the perfume arising from thousands of orchid flowers that fall into the river each autumn.

The river rises in both the Dãy Trường Sơn and Trường Đồng Mountains passing over 50 waterfalls on its way to the confluence of both river legs at at Bằng Lãng.

In contrast to its mountain stage, the river slowly meanders across the plains till it reaches the sea.

Thien Mu Pagoda is about 3km down river from the imperial palace.

The pagoda with its seven stories is the tallest in Vietnam.

The temple was first constructed around the early 17th century.

The Pagoda and temple are well maintained and regarded as being one of the most attractive in the area.

Legend has it that the war lord Nguyen Hoang had the original Pagoda built on the spot where a beautiful heavenly lady sat talking of great prosperity should a temple be built on the small hill.

Hue was the former imperial capital of the Nguyen dynasty (1802 - 1945).

In 1945 the emperor abdicated as the area came under the influence of the Ho Chi Minh government.

The city is located north of the Hai Van Pass and about 700km south of Hanoi, it is situated on the Perfume River - which today does not have the smells normally associated with perfume.

The area is dotted with Buddhist temples, though the monks have had a troubled past, with the monk Thích Quảng Đức torching himself in Saigon back in the 1960s.

Enjoy the train journey from Hue to Danang - about 3 hours as it hugs the mountains offering great views of the coast below.

With one of the fastest growing economies and the second largest exporter of rice, agriculture gives a lot of employment.