When you go to the central provinces of Vietnam
Vietnam's narrow waist comprises a string of provinces squeezed between the long, sandy coastline and the formidable barrier of the Truong Son Mountains, which mark the border between Vietnam and Laos. Ragged spurs sheer off the Truong Son range towards the South China Sea, cutting the coastal plain into isolated pockets of fertile rice land. For much of Vietnam's early history, one of these spurs, the thousand-metre-high Hoanh Son Mountains north of Dong Hoi, formed the cultural and political divide between the northern, Chinese-dominated sphere and the Indianized Champa kingdom to the south. As independent Vietnam grew in power in the eleventh century, so its armies pushed southwards to the next natural frontier, the Hai Van Pass near Hué. Here again, the Cham resisted further invasion until the fifteenth century, when their great temple complex at My Son was seized and their kingdom shattered.
Since then, other contenders have battled back and forth over this same ground, among them the Nguyen and Trinh lords, whose simmering rivalry ended in victory for the southern Nguyen and the emergence of Hué as the nation's capital in the nineteenth century. The Nguyen dynasty transformed Hué into a stately Imperial City, whose palaces, temples and grand mausoleums now constitute one of the highlights of a visit to Vietnam, despite the ravages they suffered during successive wars. In 1954, Vietnam was divided at the Seventeenth Parallel, only 100km north of Hué, where the Ben Hai River and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) marked the border between North and South Vietnam until reunification in 1975. Though there's little to see on the ground these days, the desolate battlefields of the DMZ are a poignant memorial to those who fought here on both sides, and to the civilians who lost their lives in the bitter conflict.
Da Nang and nearby China Beach are other evocative names from the American War, but the region has more to offer. The compact riverside town of Hoi An, with its core of traditional, wood-built merchants' houses and jaunty Chinese Assembly Halls, is a particularly captivating place. Inland from Hoi An, the Cham spiritual core, My Son, survives as a haunting array of overgrown ruins in a hidden valley, while the coast here presents a succession of empty, white-sand beaches that are among the finest in Vietnam.
All these highlights lie in the southernmost of the central provinces. In stark contrast, the more northerly provinces suffer from a particularly hostile climate, and were also the hardest-hit by bombing raids during the American War: from Hué most people skip straight up to Hanoi, but if you're travelling overland, there are a couple of places en route that warrant a stop. First of these is the Phong Nha Cave, near Dong Hoi, where boats take you into the mouth of an extensive underground river system. Then right up in the north, Ninh Binh is the base for a number of attractions, from engaging river trips to ancient temples and reserves of primary rainforest. For those travelling by car or minibus, the usual place to break the journey between Hué and Hanoi is Vinh, though if you stop off at Dong Hoi for the caves you should be able to press on to Ninh Binh in a long day.
Finally, if you're heading overland to Laos, the four border gates open to foreigners in the central provinces are at Lao Bao, along Highway 9 from Dong Ha; Cau Treo, on Highway 8 from Vinh; Nam Can, northwest of Vinh on Highway 7; and Na Meo, on Highway 217 from Thanh Hoa. (For information on the Bo Y border gate, near Kon Tum.
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