5th January – Dien Bien Phu

I've spent the past couple of days in a much better hotel, the Muong Thanh Hotel, relaxing and recuperating after my exertions getting across the border.  Still quite stiff but that's improving.  Eaten well in the excellent hotel restaurant.  Yesterday bought a new outer tyre for the back wheel and feel confident this will cut down on punctures.  Also bought better rain gear. 

It had finally stopped raining when I got up this morning, having slept a lot better (though not brilliantly).  After breakfast I walked into town and visited the main town market where I found some indescribably wriggly worm like things being sold in a bucket; also some Sâu chít (chit depth) which are the larvae of the chit beetle which are found deep in the trunks of diseased trees.  They are stored in alcohol and are a delicacy of the northern mountainous regions of Viet Nam, especially around Dien Bien Phu.  I’m afraid I wasn’t about to try them but apparently they are considered very medicinal (for what I cannot say).  

Sâu chít

Then walked to the Vietnamese war cemetery of the famous battle with the French (who lost) in 1954, a week before I was born.  This decisive battle effectively marked the end of the French colonial occupation of Viet Nam (but which heralded Quiet American involvement).  As with all war cemeteries, this one got me choked up as I walked around.  There was only one other person there, a Vietnamese soldier in uniform.  The gardens around the graves were beautifully landscaped. 

The war museum across the road, however, was closed for what was described as refurbishment though the whole place looked as if the war had just ended and a bomb had recently landed on it.  Presumably they plan to rebuild from scratch.  Had an extensive walk around town.  People generally very friendly, lots of smiles and ‘hello’s.  Had an excellent bowl of pho, stuffed with fresh vegetables, near the bus station.  Did some map planning in the afternoon.  I think I will go back into the mountains, but not up to Sapa which others have said has become a tourist trap.  Anyway I’ve already seen loads of hill tribe villages.  But I think I can get to Than Uyen in one day and then to Yen Bai the next.  None of these places feature in Lonely Planet so there shouldn’t be many tourists there.  Come to think of it, I’ve seen only one other tourist in this town in three days.  After Yen Bai I will head down to Hanoi though I am rather dreading the Hanoi traffic which is supposed to be as bad as anything in Saigon.  Delicious ginger chicken along with water spinach cooked in garlic in the hotel’s restaurant tonight.