Ho Chi Minh Trail

Eleven nights tracing the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos, guided, on dirt bikes, with the price quoted on application.

The trail was never one road but a network, the Truong Son Strategic Supply Route, built and rebuilt under bombing to move men and material south. Nearly two thousand kilometres of it are covered here, with abandoned Russian tanks and war scrap still lying beside the track in places.

Champasak is the start, in the south. The longest bamboo bridge in Laos comes early, then Konglor Cave, a passage of close to seven kilometres through a limestone mountain, ridden through by canoe with the motorcycle loaded aboard the boat. The Plain of Jars follows, a megalithic site some three thousand years old whose stone jars are still unexplained, then Long Chieng, the former CIA airbase once called the most secret place on earth, with a barbecue on the old runway, subject to travel advice at the time. Luang Prabang and its French colonial streets close the route.

Bike hire is included, with a discount for anyone bringing their own, and the price is quoted on application rather than published. Twelve days on this terrain is demanding: the trail is dirt, sand, rock and river crossing, and unexploded ordnance means staying on the track is not a suggestion. The dry season from November to March is the window. This is the most historically specific tour in the range and the one that rewards some reading beforehand. Luang Prabang at the end is worth a day once the bike is parked, and the flight home goes from there.