Ho Chi Minh Road Central Vietnam
I am taking liberties with the geographical regions of Vietnam. I think that this will cover central Vietnam as near as possible. Vietnam is divided up into North Central and South. But I am taking liberties with the borders.
Once reaching the mainland after Cat Ba Island I made it to Ninh Binh. Stayed in my favourite area, Tam Coc. Just stayed one night as I had already been here. But I had to retrace my tracks.
Grave stones beside the paddy fields, a common sight…on the way to Tam Coc
Then it was on to Thanh Chuong. This is a rural area where the main source of income is the farming of cassava and tea plantations. Logging is also a major industry here. Thanh Chuong was a one-night stop. I visited the Tea Island there. This is an island in a bend on the river full of tea plantations. But to be honest it was raining nonstop, and I just didn’t bother taking the boat tour. Also, I was having problems with my action camera. It is a Drift HD 4K Ghost. It short circuited. I had forgotten to seal the charging port and it got wet inside. So, from now, on no more road pictures. I hope to be able to fix it when I am back in Europe.
Ho Pho Da….
This turned out to be the house and temple of a billionaire…Thanh Chuong
Tea Island Thanh Chuong
Tea plantation Thanh Chuong
So who has right of way….
The road from Thanh Chuong to Phong Nha is a boring run. It is a mountain road, and forms part of the Ho Chi Minh trail but not really that spectacular. It is pretty much desolate, not many villages or towns. But to add to my frustrations I ended up with 4 punctures that ride. In a way I was lucky. The first one happened just as I was negotiating a series of switchbacks. The feeling that there is something wrong, the bike is cornering really bad, and you know what’s wrong, but are afraid to admit it or look. I pulled over by a lone sawmill and yes, my back tyre was soft and getting softer. Then a pickup truck pulled into the deserted sawmill, and I asked him if he had a compressor and yes, he started the compressor up and we pumped the tyre back up. About 3 km back down the road was a puncture repair place. I managed to get there, and he fixed the bike.
First puncture Ho Chi Minh trail
Then it was off again. Then 70 kms later that spongy weaving feeling in the back again…. Jeeezzzz. I found a house and they had a compressor and I headed to another puncture repair guy. He discovered two more pin pricks. Once again fixed and off we went. Now we were really late, and it was getting dark. There was no way I was gonna make Phong Nha, plus I hadn’t booked a hotel, and I was too tired to ride around looking for one. I found a local nondescript hotel and booked in. They had no food, so I took the bike and went about 6 kms to another place that had food but no rooms. On the way back guess what… that squishy wobble was back. Made it to the hotel, parked up and just went upstairs showered and slept. Next morning, yep, a flat again. The hotel phoned a local mechanic who came out, once again pumped the tyre up and got it to his workshop. This time he found number 4 but also a lot of other pin pricks, the tube was porous. I had a spare, so we replaced it. Phong Nha was just 20 km away so made it okay. I went to a Honda mechanic and had the wheel examined. He cleaned it but could find no sharp objects. Bought another tube to keep as a spare.
Ho Chi Minh trail to Phong Nha
Puncture number two
Ho Chi Minh trail to Phong Nha
Puncture number 3, fixed temporarily in front of hotel
And at his workshop puncture number 4
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is an UNESCO world heritage site, containing the oldest Karst Mountains in Asia. Being formed more that 400 million years ago. Covered with lush green jungle vegetation and riddled with caves and underground rivers, it forms a unique place. In 2009 the world’s largest cave, Song Doong Cave, was discovered. I stayed there 3 nights and explored the back roads and visited Paradise Cave. Paradise Cave is breath taking. It stretches 31 km back into the mountain. There are wooden staircases and walkways allowing you to visit the first sections of this cave. It is huge, the ceiling towering above you. It really makes you feel small. To get an idea, visit the like named photo album.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang
Phong Nha, wash, service and wheel check
Phong Nha-Ke Bang
Phong Nha-Ke Bang
Paradise Cave Phong Nha-Ke Bang
Paradise Cave Phong Nha-Ke Bang
I was taking the Ho Chi Minh Road. This is a road that roughly coincides with the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a supply route used by the Vietnamese to supply their troops in South Vietnam, during the Vietnam American war. This road has now been paved and to date stretches from Saigon in the South to Hanoi in the North and is about 2,000 km long. There are plans to extend the road from the most southerly point to the most northly point by the Chinese border. It is an iconic road and one loved by bikers. But honestly the best part has to be between Phong Nha and a small town called Prao, passing through Khe Sanh. This section of the road is paved with concrete slabs and can be slippery when wet. It is roughly the width of a car. It runs along the Laos border but stays in Vietnam, I think.
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Ho Chi Minh Trail
It meanders through seemingly impossible terrain, hanging onto the side of mountains, running through jungle and along deep blue rivers to form the ride of a lifetime. Added to the remoteness and the lack of data or mobile signal in places, it is just insane. I stopped in the remote jungle section to drink some water and when I switched the engine off the sounds of the jungle were all around me. It was a special magic moment, reminding me of Tikal in Guatemala. But it brought home to me the fact that I was just a small insignificant being surrounded by the jungle. It was there before me and will be there long after I am gone. But for one moment in time, I was a part of something special. This was the section just after Phong Nha, traveling North to South. After about 100 km, small settlements, around fertile land cut out of the jungle started to appear. But still no amenities. Also, no petrol stations. There were two, but both were closed. I had started with a full tank, and I was carrying 1.5 litre spare, so I wasn’t worried. After about 150 km in 5 hours, I was getting tired. At a junction on the road I stopped to figure out what I should do.
Ho Chi Minh trail….. this was a nightmare…don’t look down!
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Carry on the Ho Chi Min Road to Khe Sanh over 80 km away, about another 2 to 3 hours, or head down to the coast and take the coast road to Hue. I decided on the latter. But I had a really nice meeting on the crossroads there. Another biker was stopped eating a snack, Samuel. We had a chat, he was heading to Phong Nha. He bought the spare petrol from me. I wasn’t gonna need it as I was gonna head down to civilization and Hue. This was the right decision as I was really tired. I got stopped for speeding just before Hue and yes, I was speeding. I was doing 70 on the main dual carriageway where the maximum is 60. They let me go with a warning.
Imperial City Hue
Hue is a world heritage site, housing the remains of the once Grand Citadel or Forbidden Purple City and the slowly decaying Grand Emperors Tombs. Hue is the cultural, spiritual and intellectual capital of Vietnam, a city where Pagodas and Palaces abound. A city with a teeming night life and a culinary lovers paradise, Hue has got it all. I checked into the hotel, actually it was the first one on my list and I was too tired to look around. It was centrally located and within walking distance of the Forbidden City. I spent the best part of the next day walking around the Citadel. You can easily spend the best part of a day here. It was built between 1804 and 1833, it is a heavily fortified, with 2 meter thick and 10 km long walls, surrounded by a moat 10 meters across and 4 meters deep. It had 10 separate gates. The Citadel was divided up into distinct sections. The Imperial City and the Forbidden Purple City forming the epicentre of royal life in Vietnam. Only members of the royal family and the trusted servants were allowed into the inner sanctum. The male members were all eunuchs, this to protect the emperors harem and believe me, they had huge, big harems. It was the 13th and the last Emperor, Bao Dai, reigning as an emperor, from 1926 to 1945, who abolished the harems and tried to modernize Vietnam. On the Southwestern side were the temples and compounds, residences in the Northwest and gardens in the Northeast. The North is home to the Mang Ca Fortress, still in use today as a military base. The complex is pretty much in ruin, wars and the jungle have taken their toll. But efforts are being made to reconstruct it. Still, it is well worth a visit.
Kiến Trung Palace, Imperial City Hue
Kiến Trung Palace, Imperial City Hue
Imperial City Hue
Imperial City Hue
Imperial City Hue
The next day I checked out and headed up the Ho Chi Min trail to Khe Sanh. I really wanted to finish that lope. Khe Sanh was an American base and saw some of the heaviest fighting in the war. The hills and the jungle still bear the scars of the bombings, napalm and chemical attacks. A lot of war relics are left. In a small town called Coi Nguon there is a fully intact American army helicopter on display in the town. Today Khe Sanh is a sleepy little mountain town, frequented by bikers doing the Ho Chi Min Trail. It forms a night rest stop. Also, some American and Vietnamese veterans come here to visit some of the famous hills that saw some of the heaviest fighting. But for me it was the Ho Chi Min Trail and the road that I wanted to ride, and it really does not disappoint. The section from Phong Nha to Khe Sanh being the best. The next day it was back to Hue. Along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Ho Chi Minh Trail, Phong Nha to Khe Sanh
Ho Chi Minh Trail, Phong Nha to Khe Sanh
Ho Chi Minh Trail, Phong Nha to Khe Sanh
Somebody forgot where they parked
I checked into the same hotel, it was actually really good and in my budget. I took a city sight seeing tour. A sort of hop on hop off bus. I chose to use a small company instead of the big red double-decker bus company and it proved to be a really good choice. I told them the places that I wanted to see, and they made sure that I got to them and got picked up by the next bus. I wanted to visit the Thien Mu Pagoda or Fairy Lady Pagoda. Legend has it, that an old woman appeared on the site and predicted that a Lord would arrive and build a Buddhist temple on this site. In 1601 Lord Nguyen Hoang built the Pagoda and over the centuries it was restored and added to by other Lords. The most noted addition being the Puoch Duyen Tower, added in 1884. This distinctive tower has become the unofficial symbol of Hue. It is still an important Buddhist Monastery to this day. It also houses the preserved Austin Westminster Sedan, this is the car that the high-ranking Buddhist monk, Quang Duc rode in on the day that he set fire to himself, in protest against the Catholic persecution of Buddhists, who were supported by President Diem and his South Vietnamese government. That demonstration and self-immolation of Quang Duc made world news and the photographs of the burning monk, shocked the world into action. Unfortunately, President Diem didn’t comply with the announced reforms and more monks burned themselves to death before the Americans deposed his government and a new government was elected. Press photographer Malcom Browne won the World Press Photo of the year prize for his photograph of the Quang Duc’s death.
Evening in Hue
Hue Riverboat
Thien Mu Pagoda or Fairy Lady Pagoda
Thien Mu Pagoda or Fairy Lady Pagoda
Thien Mu Pagoda or Fairy Lady Pagoda
Thien Mu Pagoda or Fairy Lady Pagoda
Then on to the Tu Hieu Pagoda, also known as the Root Temple. It is an important cultural and historic site. One of the greatest Zen masters of all time lived there after his return to Vietnam after years of exile. This was Thich Nhat Hanh, poet, peace activist and global spiritual leader, renowned for his teachings on mindfulness, global ethics and peace. He was a pioneer in that field, living in the United States for many years.
Tu Hieu Pagoda, also known as the Root Temple
Tu Hieu Pagoda, also known as the Root Temple
Tu Hieu Pagoda, also known as the Root Temple
Tu Hieu Pagoda, also known as the Root Temple
Then after a quick stop in an incense making village it was time to explore the Tu Duc Tomb. This is one of the most imposing of all the tombs. It was designed by Emperor Tu Duc himself before his death and was completed in 1867. It is a vast complex with beautiful gardens. Tu Duc used to come here with his closest servants and female companions, he had a lot of them. He would stay here for days at a time, composing and writing poetry. The complex consists of a temple, and residential areas as well, as a lake and immaculate gardens. The emperor is actually not buried in the tomb. He is buried somewhere else along with a vast amount of treasure. The location is secret to stop grave robbers. All the 200 servants who buried him were killed to keep the location secret.
Incense making village
Incense making village
Tu Duc Tomb
Tu Duc Tomb
Tu Duc Tomb
The garden of Tu Duc Tomb
Next stop was the Khai Dinh Tomb. Khai Dinh was the 12th emperor of Vietnam and also the last emperor to build a tomb. This tomb was finished in 1931 and used modern materials brought from France. It is located on Chau Chu Mountain, surrounded by forests and streams, it is a combination of East-West classic and modern architecture. One of the centerpieces is the one-ton bronze statue of Khai Dinh, made in France. The tomb is one of the smallest, but one of the most elaborate qua artwork and design. It consists of 5 separate buildings. The central building housing the altar, emperors statue and tomb, being the most elaborate. It is reached by 127 stone steps.
Khai Dinh Tomb
Khan Dinh Tomb
Khan Dinh Tomb
Khan Dinh Tomb, bronze statue of Khai Dinh
And the road goes on…..
Now it is time for you to make a nice wee cup of tea, grab some biscuits and sit down in your favourite chair and click on the like named phot album. Time to enjoy some of the sights of Central Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh trail.
Central Vietnam 7 March to 17 March 2024
Thank you for reading the posts, clicking on the photo albums, liking and commenting. Much appreciated. My real time location is Ho Chi Min City, known locally as Hochi or by it’s old name Saigon.
Tạm biệt tạm thời nhé, Vietnamese for Bye Bye for now