Into the Mountains...

The first hour of riding is along a dead straight ribbon of asphalt that bisects the Kon Tum Plateau, which is covered in plantations of towering rubber trees and coffee bushes. Silhouettes of mountains loom on the horizon and there is a fruity, flowery smell in the air as it gets cooler and thinner.

Dak To is a forgettable town with a notable history. The surrounding area was the scene of some of the fiercest battles of the American War. The countryside still bears the scars of all the bombs and defoliants that were dropped. A few kilometres after passing Dak To, there is an old US landing strip just to the south of the road. The long stretch of tarmac is still visible through the fields of crops that have grown up around it. I leave the road to ride along the landing strip and notice farmers using it to dry their crops on.

The Ho Chi Minh Road soon follows the valley of the Dak Po Ko River, not far from the Laos border. The mountains start to close in on the road. It looks as though the trees have been vacuumed off the hillsides as the cultivation continues right to the top. This gives a somewhat patchy appearance to the landscape in this area and is a reminder that Vietnam is still a mostly agricultural economy.

The rivers become clearer and mountains higher; the air damper. Many houses are made of packed mud and straw, with wood panel walls and tiled roofs. Several impressive Rong Houses dot the countryside. Kids are everywhere: playing in the dusty front yards and waving at anything that passes.

Deforestation reaches its peak at the beginning of the pass out of Dak Glei: the scarred mountainsides are naked, save from some lonely trees that have escaped the chop. The landscape looks like the skin of a recently plucked chicken: a few tufts and clumps of feathers left on its pink, raw and exposed flesh.

Thankfully, things change at the top of the pass: agriculture is pushed from the mountainsides down to the river valleys, forced there by dense tropical forests that appear to melt over the mountains like candle-wax, dripping down the steep contours and washed by relentless cascades of rain-water, draining off the mountains in gushing waterfalls, and swelling the rivers below. It is a glorious ride all the way to Kham Duc, as the Ho Chi Minh Road twists up into the mountains, cutting a path through rock and along thickly forested river valleys.

Continuing north from Kham Duc to Thanh My, the Ho Chi Minh Road follows the Dak Mi River. This quiet stretch of road straddles the valley walls, sometimes high above the river, as it makes its slow but steady progress over the boulder-strewn riverbed.

At Thanh My, I say my final farewell to the Ho Chi Minh Road and head east along Road 14B through a maze of paddy fields to explore the hustle and bustle of Hoi An.

Distance: 297.3km