The Hồ Chí Minh trail (also known in Vietnam as the “Trường Sơn trail”) was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) to the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) through the kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia. The system provided support, in the form of manpower and materiel, to the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (called the Viet Cong or “VC” by its opponents) and the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN), or North Vietnamese Army, during the Vietnam War.

It was named by the Americans after North Vietnamese president Hồ Chí Minh. Although the trail was mostly in Laos, the communists called it the Trường Sơn Strategic Supply Route (Đường Trường Sơn), after the Vietnamese name for the Annamite Range mountains in central Vietnam.[1] According to the United States National Security Agency’s official history of the war, the Trail system was “one of the great achievements of military engineering of the 20th century”.

The section of track was 40KL just rough gravel mixed with big boulders and lots of dust ! We all coped although a little dusty at the end !!

later we visited a bee farm inside a rubber plantation

A stop at a beautiful waterfall and then more track !

 

arrived in PLEI KU

Pleiku is a city in central Vietnam, located in that nation’s central highland region. It is the capital of the Gia Lai Province; Many years ago, it was inhabited primarily by the Bahnar and Jarai ethnic groups, sometimes known as the Montagnards or Degar. But now, it is inhabited primarily by Kinh ethnic group. The town is the centre of the urban district of Pleiku which covers an area of 261 km².

 

 

And of course rice wine, the carvings inside the rice wine bottles were very intricate!