Tombs and clouds on Truong Son Road

A view of East Truong Son

We reached Pleiku City in the Central Highland when night started to fall. The mountainous city was magnificent with lights everywhere and high buildings. We found a hotel to sleep to be ready for Truong Son Road, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, next day.

Early in the morning, after visiting Bien Ho (Sea Lake), a tourist destination that is five kilometers from the center of the City, we left Pleiku in a light drizzle for neighboring Kontum Town.

Truong Son Road is sinuous track that gets thinner as it climbs. Along the road are many weirdly named passes such as Lo Xo, Prom, P’Rao.

Scattering along the road are many graveyards of soldiers and locals, making us feel very somber. One member of my group, whose father died there in the war time but his body was never recovered, burned incense at some tombs hoping that one was his father’s.

This bridge on Truong Son Road crosses a waterfall - Photos: Pham Manh Anh

The rain continued so the trail was blanked in water and fog. Winding roads looked like silk scarves across the hills and everything looked dreamy and vaporous.

Along the road there were no residential areas, just some small villages spread far apart. The villagers pan for gold, or cut wood. There was no sign of cars, buses or trucks.

We stopped by Lo Xo Pass where clouds clung to the mountain sides. We all took out cameras and took photos as if we were standing in front of a watercolor painting that we were afraid would vanish.

We went back to the car as the FM radio broadcast that the monsoon would come the next day. It was time to leave but we all agreed to return next year.

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