This post is about An Khê which is a town 70km east of Pleiku via the Mang Yang pass and 55km west of Quy Nhon via the An Khê pass. Situated between these two difficult mountain passes, the town has always been an important gateway to the insulated highland interior of Gia Lai and Kontum. …
Continue reading “Disneyland & The Golf Course: A Tour of Wartime An Khê”
The well-known travel guide Rough Guides has this to say about Pleiku: Though it’s not terribly easy on the eye, the regional capital of Pleiku possesses a carefree air quite in keeping with its far-flung location. The city was wrecked during the war, and so little of it was left standing that a near-total reconstruction …
“Christmas, 1967” The sand bags look the same:a dismal green-grey bag leaks red clayupon the bags below. Outside the perimeter,children pick though the garbage,thrown out waste of a thousand men.Christmas in Pleiku, 1967, war fillsthe surrounding hills. Across the valleywe see cloud puffs of artillery and at night red, green, amber flares dangle,shining bright beneath …
The dirt road gave way abruptly to a stretch of wet concrete drying under the sun. Nearby, men were clearing up after a days work. A glance at Google Maps suggested I was only 1.5 kilometers from my destination, so I decided to park my moped on the verge and began walking. From behind a …
There’s something oddly nostalgic about taking a drive I used to hate. My weekly 6am drive to Đắk Đoa once felt like a chore, but over time, the small town grew on me. I started to appreciate its quiet charm—exploring its cozy cafés, like one with tiny tiled-roof huts and hammocks, or wandering through the …
It’s still dark when I arrive at Biển Hồ 9km north of Pleiku City. I shuffle nervously through the large crowd, unsure of where to go or what to do. The PA crackles in Vietnamese, but I can’t make out the words. I’m surrounded by seasoned runners adjusting their gear and some people looking a …
“Teacher Will!” a small voice calls out. I turn and scan the bustling crowd to see a group of my former students grinning and waving yellow flowers, dressed in striking black Jrai clothes with intricate brocaded trim. They’re selling dã quỳ wreaths, made from the bright yellow tithonia diversifolia flowers. The occasion? The annual Chu …
House hunting in a small Vietnamese city, like I’ve recently been doing here in Pleiku, is pretty stressful. There are no letting agents—just a Facebook group that moves at lightning speed. Thankfully, getting out to actually view places has been rather fun for me to offset the stress; it’s given me a chance to explore …
During the Vietnam War, Da Nang earned the nickname “Rocket City” because of the near-constant barrage of rockets launched by the Viet Cong. But what fewer people know is that Pleiku had its own version of this during the war, a place that became known to soldiers as Rocket Box. It was located about 20km …
While researching the story of Mereyna, I stumbled upon another curious episode featuring some of the same characters caught up in a rather different affair with the Sedang people—this time, a decade later. The deeper I dug, the more it became clear that this story deserved its own blog post. A place called Poste Robert …
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