Perfume River


The Perfume River is a river that crosses the city of Huế, in the central Vietnamese province of Thừa Thiên-Huế Province. In the autumn, flowers from orchards upriver from Huế fall into the water, giving the river a perfume-like aroma, hence the sobriquet.

Surrounding area

The 105 m Ngự Bình mountain is strikingly symmetrical. On both sides of the Bang Son are two small mounts, Ta Bat Son and Huu Bat Son. After observing that Bang Son resembled a screen, the Nguyễn Dynasty decided to build up Huế, which became known as their "Forbidden Purple City". Emperor Gia Long approved the design of geomancers, which chose this mount as a front altar of the imposing and solid defending wall system, and renamed it Ngự Bình.