Laos’s Plaine des Jarres (Plain of Jars) is a plateau within the Annamese Cordillera. High mountains surround it on all sides. Its flat lands are covered by grasses and a spattering of short, thin trees. Motorized traffic can move more rapidly over the open country of the plateau than through the high-walled, winding mountain passes situated around its edges. The region received its name from the thousands of stone jars lying atop the plain. The jars are of varying sizes. Some are tall and fat, others are short and narrow. Each jar possesses a hollowed out center. The largest can hold an adult man. Continue Reading »
Within the Annamese Cordillera is a sub-region known as the Central Highlands. The Central Highlands are actually the southernmost segment of the cordillera. The Americans knew the Central Highlands as the mountainous region stretching from the 17th Parallel south to the area of Da Lat. However, the Vietnamese have defined the highlands as the mountain and plateau area that extends from Kontum Province in the north to Lam Dong Province in the south. Continue Reading »
Tagged Annamese Cordillera, Ca Pass, Central Highlands of Vietnam, Co Ma Pass, Crachin, Cu Mong Pass, Da Lat, First Indochina War, Hai Van Pass, Kontum Province, Lam Dong Province, Ngang Pass, Ru Ry Pass, South China Sea
During Indochina’s southwest monsoon, which occurs annually from May through October, the Mekong River becomes engorged with rainwater. Because the great river cannot absorb the vast amounts of runoff streaming off the jungle-covered highlands of Laos, the plateaus of the Annamese Cordillera, and the agricultural lands of east-central Cambodia, the stream is pushed up and over its banks. Once unleashed from the confines of it channel area, the Mekong spreads its tan waters over thousands of square miles of Cambodia and Vietnam. Continue Reading »
Tagged Annamese Cordillera, Ca Mau Peninsula, Cambodia, Dong Tam, Indochina, Mekong River, My Tho, People's Army of Vietnam, Plain of Reeds, Plaine Des Joncs, U Minh Forest, U.S. 9th Infantry Division, Viet Cong, Vietnam War
In order to effectively hunt and gather, Vietnam’s indigenes trekked through the mountains over an ancient network of footpaths. These trails had first been developed by Indochina’s non-human mammalian species. Thousands of years ago, such creatures as the Asian elephant, Indochinese tiger, gaur, wild water buffalo, and Asian black bear discovered the routes of least resistance through the Annamese cordillera. They not only located the most gradual gradients across difficult terrain, they also found the mountain passes, and they located the driest routes through otherwise boggy lowland areas. The pounding of hooves and feet over thousands of years deepened and widened the most-used routes into veritable animal superhighways. Continue Reading »
Tagged Annamese Cordillera, Asian Elephant, Chu Pong Massif, Dak To, Georges Condominas, Ho Chi Minh Trail, Ia Drang, Montagnards, Ngor Bor Beang, People's Army of Vietnam, Plei Me, Sar Luk, Viet Cong
The French named the mountain range that extends through the center of the Indochinese peninsula the Annamese Cordillera. In the nineteenth and early twentienth centuries, French colonists referred to the Vietnamese as Annamese; thus, the reason for the name of the range. The Vietnamese know the range as the Truong Son. The cordillera’s mountains, thick triple-canopy jungles, and flat, grassy plateaus cover portions of Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The mountain range stretches southward in a roughly 815-mile arch from its origins in Laos to its termination northeast of Saigon. Continue Reading »
Tagged Annamese Cordillera, Ben Hai River, Cua Viet River, Dak To, Ho Chi Minh Campaign 1975, Khe Sanh, Laos, Mekong River, Montagnards, Ngoc Linh, Plateau des Bolovens, Plateau du Darlac, Plateau du Kontum, Plateau du Mnong, Thach Han River, Truong Son, Vietnam
