The new route turned west from Muong May, at the southern end of Laos, and paralleled the Kong River into Cambodia. Eventually, this network extended past Siem Prang and reached the Mekong River near Stung Treng. The next step was the seizure of the town of Kratié, in east-central Cambodia, on 5 May. The 470th cleared the population out of the Mekong River town and turned it into its administrative headquarters. PAVN base areas to the east were fed by Kratié while men and supplies headed for the Mekong Delta region of South Vietnam were now circled westward, around Phnom Penh, through the foothills of the Cardamom Mountains and then east again to cross the border.