Out: Ho Chi Minh Trail. In: Ho Chi Minh Highway.
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 03.04.08 | 1:34 PM ET
David Lamb’s terrific story in the Smithsonian chronicles Vietnam’s efforts to turn the former Ho Chi Minh Trail into a 1,980-mile “paved multilane artery” from the Chinese border to the Mekong Delta. “The transformation of trail to highway,” Lamb writes, “struck me as an apt metaphor for Vietnam’s own journey from war to peace, especially since many of the young workers building the new road are the sons and daughters of soldiers who fought, and often died, on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.”
Government planners insist the highway will be an economic boon and attract large numbers of travelers.
From Lamb’s story:
“We cut through the Truong Son jungles for national salvation. Now we cut through the Truong Son jungles for national industrialization and modernization,” former Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet remarked, as construction began in April 2000.
Lamb reports that “[m]ost of the 865-mile stretch from Hanoi to Kon Tum in the Central Highlands has been completed. Traffic is light, and hotels, gas stations or rest stops are few.”
The estimated completion date for the project: 2020.
Related on World Hum:
* Vietnam’s New ‘Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail’
* From Mao to Morrison: Why Are Travelers Drawn to Controversial Tombs and Celebrity Graves?
Photo: Public domain, via Wikipedia.
