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Plei Me | Hensel | Pleiku

These photos, arranged south to north, i.e., Plei Me to Pleiku, were taken on 23, 24 and 25 September 2007.
0630 hour Ban Me Thuot (BMT) departure. En route, KONTUM placard aids picking up passengers by the roadside. I bought seats 1 and 2 (orchestra row A) in front of the windshield.
On Route 14, coffee break upon entering Gia Lai (former Pleiku) Province from Dak Lak (former Darlac) Province. Travel time between BMT and Pleiku will not exceed 4 hours.
Marked Ia Mor, this is the turnoff to Plei Me. With the camera pointed south, I am 20 kilometers north of Chu Se. Two days later, 25 September, I returned with a guide and inspected Plei Me.
The isolated road to Plei Me, which is lined with rubber plantations.
The farther you move away from Route 14, the closer the plantations come to the sides of road.
Inside a young rubber tree plantation. View is southeast. I was reminded of the bittersweet scene (so clever!) at the plantation house in Bao Ninh’s the Sorrow of War.
Now getting close to Plei Me, the road heads almost south. Haze prevents one from seeing distant mountains.
Monument at the base of the north side of Plei Me Special Forces Camp. To be here was a moving experience. One leaves irrevocably changed, for months without words to convey how. If I were to describe it now, I would say it was crushing sorrow. The dirt underfoot, the plants in the adjacent coffee plantation, even the trees and the dome of the sky scream sorrow. If one listens and looks for birds, he notices that, rather than sing and fly, they are mute and walk. In all likelihood out of respect, say locals, the stars never change position above Plei Me but their light seems twice as bright.
Mlle. Nguyen Le Hoang Anh, my guide, translated the sign and then took my picture.
Although I didn’t travel west beyond Plei Me, the road does. The Cambodian border is 20 miles away. As Hal Moore knows, signs are unnecessary: just follow the Ia Drang Valley.
Where a gate once stood, my guide and driver stand atop the eastern edge of the compound, elevation 376 meters (1234 feet).
In the eastern distance, Chu Co rises 751 meters (2463 feet).
From Chu Co, the panorama heads southward. The landing strip, which was on the south side of the camp, is out of view on the right.
Heading back to the SUV, the driver, who had admired the panorama with me, poses. Everybody is courteous.
Looking back at Chu Co. Without a sound, shadows cross the road.
Socialist art on a billboard outside an army compound halfway between Plei Me and Route 14.
The turnoff to Duc Co and LZ Oasis, 45 kilometers to the west. Route 14 is behind me. From the south, a motorbike and white minivan approach. My guide took the picture. “A lot of veterans would like to be able to strike this pose under the Duc Co sign,” I said. “Sadly, they never will.” In fact, en route to Pleiku I was startled when I had seen the sign two days earlier, my Vietnamese road atlas reading Chu Ty instead of Duc Co. (Expeditions to Duc Co cannot be arranged on the spot -- several weeks’ notice must be given. Plei Me, however, can be arranged in minutes.)
My guide stands on the foundation of a former gatehouse to Camp Enari, Dragon Mountain in the background. Enari had been home to the 4th Infantry Division.
Looking west, laterite is all that remains of Enari’s Hensel Army Air Field, elevation 771 meters (2529 feet).
Tar and PSP once covered the airfield; I stand on the niggling remains of tar but the PSP is long gone -- like a false positive, its impressions remain. Tomorrow, which will be the 26th, the driver and SUV will take me to Kontum, only an hour away.
To the left, Route 19 heads to the Valley of Crosses at Mang Yang Pass, and An Khe. This series of 4 photos was shot from the balcony of room 1016. Heading south, Route 14, straight ahead, heads over the hill.
Junction of 19 and 14, which hasn’t moved an inch in 41 years.
Two red-roofed churches front the junction. Dragon Mountain, all but invisible, rises on the horizon above the left one.
Route 14 takes aim on downtown Pleiku, which, to the right, dominates a hill out of sight.
Room 1016 (approximately US$25 per night) at HAGL Hotel-Pleiku, 01 Phu Dong St.
The hardwood floors are beautiful.
Modern marble bath with tub and stall shower. (Not accidentally, the owner of the hotel also owns marble quarries throughout the Central Highlands.)
Still on the 10th floor but now on the backside of the hotel, eastward view towards former Camp Holloway, which I irregularly flew in and out of.
Houses are being built everywhere.
Seen from the backside of the hotel, Route 14 climbs the hill to downtown Pleiku. At the top, a small forest shades former colonial buildings.
With a conical roof, trung tam thuong mai, a central market. Photo was taken from an upper floor of Tre Xanh Plaza, 18 Le Loi.
On the north side of Pleiku, Route 14 aims for Kontum, 43 kilometers away. Blue sign on the right marks the entrance to Pleiku’s airport. Formerly called New Pleiku Airfield, Pleiku’s first airport being Holloway, the name was shortened to New Pleiku in everyday speech.
New passenger terminal; old American tower.
Inside, gleaming Vietnamese marble.
The runway is beyond the perimeter wall on right. Airfield elevation is 742 meters (2434 feet).
Airport road leads to the old American compound at the airfield’s east end. I say au revoir to Pleiku.

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