The Epic Central Ho Chi Minh Road

I have no words to describe this so I am just going to show you my best pictures from our three-day ride from Hue to Phong Nha.

These do not come close to doing it justice, but they will have to do.

This is a beautiful road you really need to experience for yourself.

Day 1: The Warm Up

First, we ascended into the central highlands from Hue.

The scenery got greener.

The views got better.

The people became more friendly. Regularly stopping to wave and say hello.

We played on the most rural pool table yet.

Nice.

There were a couple of lovely rivers we followed for a while that I didn’t manage to capture as we were running from a storm that eventually caught us.

We stayed the night a nothing town on the border with Laos. Described beautifully in Vietnam Coracle as:

Khe Sanh is just a place to get some rest and stock up on supplies before the next day’s ride into Wonderland.

Still, not a bad view from the hotel.

Day 2: Into The Wild

This leg from Khe Sanh to Long Son. Wow! What a day.

The sun was shining.

The views got better …

And better …

And better.

The beauty of the scenery was blissfully relentless.

I particularly enjoy the pictures that show a sliver of the road. It helps put things in perspective.

Like this

Or this one which you can just about make out winding down from the waterfall

We stopped for a swim in a river fresh off the mountain.

Then meandered through the valley.

Stopping overnight in the most scenic village I have ever seen.

Day 3: Phong Nha National Park

This day was as beautiful if not more than the previous. But…

The clouds came over.

Then we drove up into them.

And got soaked.

Partly down to this terrible poncho.

So I don’t have that good snaps from this day.

The scenery was mental though.

As all the best views were in the Phong Nha National Park I just drove back another day.

I couldn’t not show you this

Or these towering limestone peaks

Or this lovely road

Hunting the herb

Throughout this three day ride, we kept our eyes peeled for our favourite green herb.

And were teased by some convincing look alikes

We will keep looking.

Hazards

This road is not without it’s hazards. While pretty much devoid of vehicles and being only one road there is not need to worry about navigation. There are other hazards to watch out for. Such as:

• Becoming distracted by the beautiful scenery.
• The road is very winding with some surface gravel. So take it slow
• Breaking down in no man’s land. You should know and trust your bike by the time you do this route because if you break down in the wrong place you could be in for a very long walk.
• Animal obstructions from unpredictable cows, docile water buffalo and chickens literally playing chicken. Although as you climb up into the mountains the animals were replaced by beautiful butterflies.

Like this

History

I know I said I wasn’t going to write much but I have to say a little about the fascinating history of this road.

The Ho Chi Minh Road evolved from the Ho Chi Minh Trail. A system of paths through the mountains and jungle of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam used by Northern Vietnam to send troops and supplies down to fight in Southern Vietnam.

This road is the reason that Laos, a country not even involved in the war is the most bombed country per capita in the world. Dropping over 2 million tons of ordnance across a staggering 580,000 bombing runs. Crazy.

You can read more about it here and here.

Or just watch this

Review

The road from Khe Sanh to Phong Nha in particular was spectacular.

A must do for anyone on a motorbike. Fuck the Hai Van Pass.

This road is 200km through a wild landscape free from humanities destructive influences. There can’t have been more than 1000 people living along this whole stretch. We barely saw another bike on the road.

Nature at its most beautiful!

It was a magical three days for me. Every corner you turned the view got better. You never knew when to stop for a picture.

Easily one of the highlights of my whole trip. Bring on North Vietnam for more stunning scenery.