Getting There
The story of getting to the Western Ho Chi Minh Road, Central Highlands
We entered the Ho Chi Minh Road from the direction of Khe Sanh. Khe Sanh is a bustling town of 13,000+ residents. Trucks rumble through the town to and from Laos and connecting to the major Vietnamese highways near the coast. Electric windturbines stand guard on the plateau overlooking the town giving it a sense of being connected to the future.
Khe Sanh is very close to the former DMZ that separated North and South Vietnam. Situated where many of the pathways of the Ho Chi Minh Trail reentered Vietnam from Laos, it was the location chosen for an American Marine Combat Base intended to interdict the flow of material on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In 1968, a famous and fierce battle resembling a siege took place at the Khe Sanh Combat Base. Both sides claimed victory with the difference being how one measures victory, and who is telling the story.
The key takeaway for me about Khe Sanh is that it was about as far north that American forces traveled on the ground during the war. Close to the Ho Chi Minh Trail and close to the DMZ where Americans did not generally go, except by air, meant mystery and adventure for me.
We spent an evening walking around Khe Sanh. I found a family-run restaurant and convenience store with the ubiquitous, small-scale plastic chairs out front to enjoy a couple of beers with the sunset. No Americans. We saw a few Westerners including some Poles who were serious riders on big bikes.
Takeoff
We were up early the next morning, packed our gear, checked it twice, and found a survivable gas station to fill up. Leaving the gas station meant diving into a rapid stream of trucks and buses only to make a quick left that felt like being ejected from an airplane.
A few minutes and kilometers later, the town melted away and the scene became rural. It was clear that little or no traffic was going our direction. We were going where few Westerners, and fewer Americans, have gone. A brief stop near some farms to check our location, gauge the distance to the crossroad that brings the Ho Chi Minh Road, and for Lauren to get the coordinates for a roadhouse we hoped to encounter around lunchtime that might offer the prospect of food. We were off on the adventure episode one.
Hue
We came to Khe Sanh from Hue. Hue was an ancient provincial capitol of Vietnam and the scene of one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the war in 1968. Like Khe Sanh, Hue was near the DMZ between North and South Vietnam. Geographically, Hue is near the coast. Riding from Hue to Khe Sanh is riding East to West from the coast to almost the border with Laos.
Hue brought us one of wonderful experiences that is the hospitality of the Vietnamese people. Using a locally popular booking app called Agoda (much better subscribed and cheaper than Booking.com and Airbnb in Vietnam), we reserved a room at a small boutique hotel in Hue. Only one other room in the hotel was booked that night so it felt as if it was our private accommodation. It is beautiful property with dozens of blooming flowers, water features, and a wall that keeps what little road noise to a minimum.
Flat Tire
A kind young woman and a young man managed the hotel. No English was spoken but the magic of Google Translate made things easy. At breakfast, the woman presented her phone with Google Translate to say one of our motorcycles had a flat tire. Leading us to the bikes, we discovered it was Lauren’s motorcycle that was flat. The young man rode Lauren’s motorcycle to a nearby mechanics shop, explained the problem, and arranged for the repair. The woman from our hotel beckoned the both of us to get on her motorbike, 3 of us in total, and gave us a ride to the mechanics shop. See video.
Repair
The shop owner warmly welcomed us with a couple of the ever-present plastic chairs so that we could watch the repairs. The shop dog greeted and joined us for our or his entertainment. A young mechanic that appeared to be about high school age set about to repair the tire. After disassembly, it turned out to be a faulty tire valve rather than a puncture. Again, no English but plenty of communication with lots of friendly smiles.
The shop owner presented a scrap of cardboard with 30,000 Vietnamese Dong as the bill. 30,000 is less than $1.50 US. I gave him 60,000, petted the dog, and we were off to the hotel both riding Lauren’s motorcycle to pack up and head to Khe Sanh.
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Church of the A Shau
Leaving Hue driving West is to leave dense, noisy, heavy traffic for a small rural road. From chaos to peace.
To drive West out of Hue is to enter the A Shau Valley between the coast (East) and highlands (West). Having read many firsthand accounts of the war, entering the A Shau Valley made the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention. It is jungle and elephant grass. The area near the DMZ was contested and American forces knew the A Shau to mean danger.
Riding along in relative quiet, I felt as if I were entering a church, a temple, or perhaps graveyard.
Hamburger Hill
One of the limestone karsts on the left is Hamburger Hill, scene of yet another fierce battle, this one in 1969 and the subject of a 1987 film, Hamburger Hill. Like the Khe Sanh Combat Base, hill 937 a.k.a. Hamburger Hill was fought over and abandoned, leaving few rational answers to the question: Why?
I pulled off the road for a few quiet moments in my reverence for the people who fought and died there. The scene is beautiful and tranquil. The hill is another steep limestone and clay karst set against the broad part of A Shau Vally. It is hard to image the carnage that took place here.
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On one hand, it was all too soon that we left the quiet part of the A Shau Valley and came to Khe Sanh. On the other hand, each day we would take stock of how beat up were at end of the day, look at the kilometers riden, and pledge to ourselves to never ride that much or more in a single day.
Things hurt. Of course we kept increasing our limit daily.
Da Nang & Hai Van Pass
Getting to and from the Ho Chi Minh Trail and Road involved Hoi An, Da Nang, and drama on the famous Hai Van Pass. Each of these wonderful places are covered in another section.