To be honest, I’m not really sure why this site has been added to the World Heritage List. I read one suggestion that it was a ‘gift’ from UNESCO for Hanoi’s 1000th birthday. I think that’s unlikely but it does make you wonder how some of these decisions are made.

Despite the long and fascinating history of the site, there is so little to actually see today. There are lots of buildings - but they are new and have nothing to do with the listing.

There is an archaeological site that is probably the most important part of the site, from a heritage perspective, but there's not much to see there yet. The dig site is across the road from the main buildings and would be easy for a visitor to miss if they didn’t know where it was or how to get to it. It’s a large space, protected from the elements by a temporary roof, with a few workers sifting through the dirt and cleaning the items they find. You can see the foundations of buildings here and there are, presumably, important artefacts buried.