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I'm pretty sure that the Highway and the trail you're talking about are the same thing, though there are 2 paths to the HCMH, east (Đông) and west (Tây). West is the more barren one, I rode it for a while, and it's not that bad. The East one is far less barren and still very pretty. In your other comment, you went from Nha Trang to Hoi An? I did the same but went through Pleiku. If you're in Hoi An, you've already gone past the barren part, and I still highly recommend you go the HCMH route after Hue, especially if you are going to Phong Nha-Ke. I think whoever told you that meant north of HCMC, not north in Vietnam.