Perfume River
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The Perfume River (in Vietnamese is Sông Hương or Hương Giang, Hán nôm 香江) is a river crossing capital city of Huế, in the central Vietnamese province of Thừa Thiên Huế.
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[edit] Origin of Name
The Perfume River is called this because, in the Autumn, flowers from orchards up from Huế fall into the river. This scents the river and gives it a perfume-like aroma.
[edit] Source and flow
The Perfume River has two sources which both begin in the Truong Son mountain range. The Ta Trach (Left Tributary) comes from the Truong Dong mountains to the north-west through 55 waterfalls, and then slowly to Bang Lang fork. The shorter, tributary - the Huu Trach or Right Tributary, flows through 14 dangerous waterfalls and passes the Tuan (or ‘Bang Lang’ used in popular speech) ferry landing to Bang Lang fork where the two tributaries meet and form the Perfume River.
The river then flows in south-north direction past the temples of Hon Chen and Ngoc Tran and then turns north-west, meandering through the Nguyet Bieu and Luong Quan plains. Continuing on, the Huong River then flows to the north-east to Huế city, only an echo of Truong Son mountain, and passes the resting place of Nguyen emperors. The river of green water continues its itinerary, passing Hen Islet and various villages, crossing the Sinh junction, which is known as the capital of ancient Chau Hoa, before emptying into the Tam Giang Lagoon.
From Bang Lang to Thuan An estuary, the Perfume River is 30 km long and runs very slowly (as the river level is not much above sea level). The Perfume River darkens as it winds along the foot of Ngoc Tran Mountain - home of the Jade Cup Temple - where there is a very deep abyss.
The river snakes through the villages of Kim Long, Nguyet Bieu, Vy Da, Dong Ba, Gia Hoi, the Dinh market, Nam Pho, Bao Vinh, and through Huế.
[edit] Life around the river
The locals who live beside the river in Huế are often very poor and wash their clothes and bathe in the polluted water. Also, they earn money by dredging the river bed for sand. This sand is collected and then sold to cement manufacturers for a tiny price. All of this daily life can be observed if you take the famous dragon boat down the river.
[edit] Surrounding area
The 105m Ngu Binh Mountain has a striking and symmetric figure. On both sides of the Even Mount (Bang Son) are 2 small mounts called Ta Bat Son (Left Mount) and Huu Bat Son (Right Mount). 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 Ngu Binh.
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