Action Asia Magazine rode with us. They took a lot of interest in the the Ho Chi Minh Trail, information on which Digby happy to supply.
Motorbike the Ho Chi Minh Trail
Explore Indochina organizes small group tours on Minsk 125cc motorbikes, operating in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. They pride themselves on crafting individualized itineraries to get around the region but their latest offering is perhaps the most ambitious to date.
They are now running rips along the length of the Ho Chi Min Trail, the supply route through ruggedly mountainous terrain, along which the North Vietnamese Army maintained their war machine during the American War (as it is called in Vietnam.)
One the Vietnamese side, the trail is mostly a sealed road these days. It traces the Truong Son mountain range, leading to a number of wartime sites: “km 0”, Dong Loc Junction, Phong Nha Cave, the A Shau valley and Hamburger Hill. It also passes through the former DMZ with its complex of former US military bases including Lang Vey, Khe Sanh and The Rockpile.
The Trail also ran through Laos, and the road conditions there are far more demanding, putting even experienced dirt bike riders through their paces with long stretches of raw, rarely traveled track.
Besides the riding, there are opportunities to get off the trail and enjoy some R&R at the coastal resorts of Dong Hoi, Hoi An or Nha Trang. Tours begin in Hanoi and can end at Hoi An, head further south staying in the Central Highlands, or even extend all the way down to Saigon.
