Perfume River

The Perfume River is a river that crosses the city of Huế, in central Vietnam. 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 Mount Ngự Bình 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.