Network path between containers in custom network

I’m trying to understand the network path taken between 2 containers in a custom network.

My environment and setup:

  • CentOS 7 Linux VM
  • Docker version 1.10
  • A custom bridge network
  • 2 containers that use the custom bridge network
  • –iptables=false in the docker daemon

What I am trying to understand is how the packet is routed from one container to the other when it performs a ping. When I do a ping, I do not see the packet counter increment in the FORWARD chain of iptables. In addition, containers can ping each other even though IP forwarding is disabled on the host. This makes me think that the packet does not hit the host at all. Is this correct? How is the packet being routed in this scenario?