Vietnam - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 866

cities prior to the Tet Offensive. he battle
cost 500 American lives, 10,000 North
Vietnamese lives and uncounted civilian
lives. hree months later, the Americans
also withdrew, leaving a plateau that
resembled a lunar landscape, contaminated
for years to come with chemicals and
explosives; gazing at the lush greenery and
coffee plantations that cover the place
now, it's di cult to imagine.

northern bank of the river, while the
southern bank hosts the majority of the
city's hotels and restaurants. he city is
easily navigated on foot, while the best
way to visit outlying temples and
mausoleums and enjoy the surrounding
countryside is by renting a bicycle or
motorbike, or on the back of a xe om .

The citadel
Hue's days of glory kicked off in the early
nineteenth century when Emperor Gia
Long, founder of the Nguyen dynasty ,
moved the capital here and laid out a vast
citadel , comprising three concentric
enclosures. he city must have been truly
awe-inspiring in its heyday; today, only
twenty of the original 148 buildings
survive, though the citadel is as imposing
as ever, with a large chunk of Hue's
residents still living within its 10km-long,
2m-thick walls.
Ten gates pierce the citadel wall: you
enter through Ngan Gate, east of the flag
tower. A second moat and defensive wall
inside the citadel guard the Imperial City
(daily 7am-5.30pm; 100,000VND),
which follows the same symmetrical
layout along a north-south axis as
Beijing's Forbidden City, though on a
much smaller scale. By far the most
impressive of its four gates is south-facing
Ngo Mon , the Imperial City's principal
entrance and a masterpiece of Nguyen
architecture. he gate itself has five
entrances: the central one for the
emperor, two for civil and military
mandarins, and two for the royal
elephants. Perched on top is an elegant
pavilion called the Five Phoenix
Watchtower as its nine roofs are said to
resemble five birds in flight. Facing Ngo
Mon, Thai Hoa Palace , dating from 1883,
boasts a spectacular interior glowing with
sumptuous red and gold lacquers. his
was where major imperial ceremonies
were held; it's well worth watching the
introduction video for the digital
reconstruction of the Citadel.
he Forbidden Purple City , enclosed by a
low wall, was the personal domain of the
emperor; only eunuch servants and
concubines were allowed in. Many of the
residential palaces are nothing but

Hamburger Hill
Right near the border with Laos,
Hamburger Hill is where a massive
infantry battle (immortalized in a film of
the same name) took place in May 1969,
resulting in the deaths of 72 Americans
and more than 600 Vietnamese. It's
possible to visit the bunkers, trenches and
war memorial by first obtaining a permit
in the nearby town of Aluoi.

11

HUE
A UNESCO World Heritage Site since
1993, HUE is the city of the Nguyen
emperors. he city has suffered extensive
damage, both when the French destroyed
much of the once-magnificent Imperial
City, and during the 1968 Tet Offensive ,
when the North Vietnamese Army
(NVA) held Hue for 25 days, and the
city was all but levelled in the ensuing
counter-assault.
Nevertheless, some magnificent
historical sights remain - including the
nineteenth-century walled citadel, and
seven palatial royal mausoleums in the
city's outskirts.
Hue is the main starting point for
day-tours of the DMZ, as well as a
springboard for buses to Savannakhet in
Laos, via the Lao Bao border (see box
opposite) and a handy connection to
Phong Nha National Park.

WHAT TO SEE AND DO
Built astride the wide, slow-flowing
Perfume River , with its pleasant,
tree-lined boulevards, abundance of
historic sights, beautiful buildings and
picturesque surrounding countryside,
Hue repays exploration at a leisurely pace.
he imperial citadel stands on the