Lonely Planet Epic Drives of the World by Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet Epic Drives of the World by Lonely Planet

Author:Lonely Planet
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781787010024
Publisher: Lonely Planet
Published: 2017-07-31T16:00:00+00:00


© Matt Munro | Lonely Planet

crossing Long Bien bridge in Hanoi

The motorcycle was the obvious choice of transport: well over 80% of Vietnam’s registered vehicles are two-wheelers and if you ride you join one of the world’s biggest motorcycle gangs. It doesn’t help much in the near-death experience of trying to get out of Ho Chi Minh City’s industrial areas into clean air, and the Ho Chi Minh Rd doesn’t properly start until you reach Dong Xoai. From there, the road is still busy but becomes progressively more rural as you head northwards.

In places it seems as if you could almost hit a golf ball from the road into Cambodia, and in areas like Dak Mil, the original trail and the road have frequent intersection with evidence of very heavy bombing. Parts of the original trail are available here to explore.

Climbing onto the Truong Son range gave us our first encounters with highlands ethnic minority groups variously known as ‘hill tribes’ or, as the Vietnamese prefer, ‘minority people’. More than 50 different groups have been identified and small concentrations of them are spread along the route. Once we were recognised as travellers (bigger hire-bikes and full-face helmets are the give-away), we were waved at and cheered like rock stars. Tourists on the Ho Chi Minh Rd are still rare. Coffee stops usually resulted in faltering conversations with students keen to practise their English and a sense that the younger generation in Vietnam is fundamentally happy. It’s a bright sign for a country fast-tracking its development.

“Once we were recognised as travellers, we were waved at and cheered like rock stars. Tourists on the Ho Chi Minh Rd are still rare”

The wildness of the mountain range increases the further north you ride. The 50 miles (80km) from Prao to A Luoi, which skirts the Laotian border, is one mountain pass after another with the jungle encroaching more obviously onto the road.

Quang Tri Province was the most heavily bombed area of Vietnam during the war. Much of the agricultural land is still affected by unexploded ordinances (XMOs) and the Ho Chi Minh Rd passes Hamburger Hill where one of the most inexplicable battles of the war took place. US forces chose a ground assault on this place of no strategic importance and suffered 442 killed and injured. The US captured the hill only to quietly abandon it less than a month later. The giant US base at Khe Sanh is long unused but there’s a small museum there with a modest display of war images and memorabilia. There’s also a moving cemetery in Khe Sanh with a surprising number of graves with no name. Such was the ferocity of the bombing that 300,000 Vietnamese are still listed as ‘missing in action’.

When you arrive at Dakrong Bridge, you have the option to turn right and take the Eastern Ho Chi Minh Rd to Hanoi or turn left for its Western branch. The Eastern road is interesting but the Western option is the highlight of the entire trip.



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