Named among the “13 most beautiful palaces in the world,” by Architectural Digest, the Presidential Palace is a “memento of the French contribution to architecture in Indochina,” according to Vietnam Net. “The mustard-yellow palace was built by French architect Auguste Henri Vildieu from 1900 to 1906 to function as the living and operational bases of the governors-general of Indo-China,” and now serves as the official home of Vietnam’s president. A three-storey structure with 30 rooms the palace is enclosed by gardens, an orchard and the famous Mango Alley, “a 300 feet long boulevard which leads from the palace to the stilt house where Ho Chi Minh lived (but used the palace when important guests came to Hanoi).”