Of Camp Enari itself, there is almost no trace. The exception is at the entrance fo Camp Enari: a concrete pedestal in the center of the road which must at one time have supported a guard post. So here Lynn and I stand at what was the entrance to Camp Enari. Lynn was a nurse at 71st Evacuation Hospital in Pleiku.
Looking at Dragon Mountain from a location near the old Camp Enari entrance. Bob Moore photo.
One sees in this photo the tour bus, the tour group, Dragon Mountain in the background, and some local observers. The local observers include the head of the local People's Committee. When the tour was planned, the itinerary was sent to all the locations the tour proposed to visit, and their approval was given. However, the local head did not receive word we were coming, and was upset. It was necessary for the head of the District Peoples' Committee to come here and assure the local chief that our presence was authorized. While the local man was upset, the district leader greeted the tourists cheerfully.
Leaving Camp Enari, we returned to route 14, turned south, and then turned west on route 19 toward Cambodia, which was not terribly far away. 35 years ago the Oasis was here, which had been headquarters for the First Brigade after it left Dak To. Today there is a tea plantation where the Oasis might have been.
Looking for the Oasis site.
Now it's a tea plantation.
Near the Oasis site, we look southwest from Route 19 toward the Ia Drang Valley. Bob Moore photo.
Looking for the site of the 71st Evacuation Hospital in Pleiku.
Is it the site of the new civilian hospital? Ultimately we decided that the site is most likely currently being used for a military hospital, a location we could not visit.
Wherever you go in Pleiku, you can see Dragon Mountain.
Entrance to an outpost of the "Vietnamese Peoples' Army". The uniforms are the same as the NVA, but those who wear them are the children and grandchildren of those we faced.
We visited a Montagnard village that participates in Vietnam's tourist program.
This Montagnard village has a band. We noticed that some of the tunes played by the band were vaguely reminiscent of Christian hymn melodies, and one or two of the villagers wore crossses, but there was nothing overtly religious in the presentation.
Young women acted out the themes of the music through dance.
One of the dances encouraged group participation.
Montagnard agriculture is "slash and burn", moving locations periodically when the soil is exhausted. This small plot for corn illustrates how differently -- and less efficiently -- they farm.
A sign in Pleiku has an interesting graphic. Could that be a totem pole to the right?
Another sign in Pleiku.
We concluded our time in Pleiku with a visit to the market. While our purchases had to be of the more durable kind, the vegetables were the most colorful.
