HO CHI MINH TRAIL FOR MOTORBIKING

The Ho Chi Minh trail or the “Truong Son trail” that people call in Vietnam. In fact, it was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) to the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) through the neighbouring kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia. The system provided support, in the form of manpower and material, to the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (called the Vietcong 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 for North Vietnamese president Ho Chi Minh. Although the trail was mostly in Laos, the communists called it the Truong Son Strategic Supply Route. This was the Vietnamese name for the Annamite Range in central Vietnam. 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 Trail served exactly 6,000 days during the Vietnam – American war. However, currently, most of the trails were buried in the jungle in Laos. BBC’s Top Gear Vietnam Special retraced part of the trail but sadly that’s not the best. In reality, they only filmed the classic road. The Trail in Vietnam was replaced by the newly-built Ho Chi Minh Road. On our motorcycle trips, we see many traces of the war and meet people. In general, Ho Chi Minh trail is not about the trail, but history and life after the war.

For more information about places, people, or things that are useful in planning your motorbike tour in Vietnam, please follow this link