If you head east out of Xepon, the highway gradually climbs through the foothills of the Annamite Mountains, passing bomb craters - often obscured by brush - and unexploded ordnance, dragged to the roadside by villagers clearing their land. Women squat by the road selling bamboo shoots - a local speciality. The area's abundant bamboo crop is in fact partially a by-product of the spraying of defoliants by American forces who hoped to expose the arteries of the Ho Chi Minh Trail: hardy bamboo is quick to take root in areas of deforestation.

Rows of bamboo-and-thatch drink shops signal your arrival in BAN DONG , the site of one of America's most ignominious defeats during the war, and a popular stop on any tour of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. If you're travelling by public transport, the best time to visit Ban Dong is in the morning, as there are no late-afternoon buses plying this stretch of Route 9, and Ban Dong has no accommodation. For getting back in the afternoon, check to see if another bus will swing through town to pick you up, otherwise you'll have to hitch a ride from a Vietnamese trucker.