Diem Bien Pheu
Left SonLa for the trip over the mountains to here DBP. Bus journey harder than I expected, over 6 hours on a hot dusty bus on some fairly rough mountain road. A new road is under construction but only added to the dust and with recent bad weather making parts very slow. But some nice scenery and very colourful hilltribes who do well to remain colourful given some of the conditions. The area probably deserves more tourist development but maybe the rip off attitude of those in the tourist front line discourageous people from lingering too long.
DBP itself modern and dusty and is more significant for its historical interest. It is where the French were soundly beaten and led to the end of their trip to Asia in 1954.. Did the sightseeing bit around the important sites and museum and all pleasant enough but more of interest to the Vietnamese and French than others. At least locals friendly. few dogs and some good coffee to make the journey worthwhile.
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petefurlepa