A vital lifeline in war and peace, Vietnam’s North-South Railway provides an all-in encounter with the country’s incredible beauty, people and history.

Just before noon each day, the southbound train from Hai Phong to Hanoi rumbles past Mrs Bay’s front room, missing her porch by no more than inches. To me, the scene looks like something from a disaster movie. With its horn blaring like the last trumpet, the huge locomotive barely squeezes through the tiny space where the railway track runs between two rows of dwellings. It’s close enough to block all the light from the windows, flap the drying laundry and silence our conversation.

Mrs Bay, a well-preserved 64-year-old, whom I’ve bumped into on a stroll, bats away my concerns.

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The central province of Thua Thien-Hue has put many efforts to preserve and restore relics of the UNESCO-recognised Complex of Hue Monuments in Hue City, the former royal capital of Vietnam, over the past two decades.

Established as the capital of Vietnam in 1802, Hue was the political, cultural and religious centre under the Nguyen Dynasty until 1945. Many of its palaces, temples and pagodas remain almost intact, although some were bombed and ruined in the Anti-American Resistance War.

The province has allocated over 1.46 trillion VND (64.24 million USD) for funding the relic preservation and restoration between 1996 and 2017, including 933 billion VND (41 million USD) for the 2010 – 2017 period, according to Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Dung.

The Prime Minister has approved an Adjusted Planning Framework for the Complex of Hue Monuments from 2010-2020 in June 2010, laying grounds for the province’s preservation work, Dung said.

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