This small village is not
marked on many maps, but if
you are heading from Hoa
Binh to Moc Chau it is
impossible to miss. Mai Chau
is set about 2.5 hours North
of Hoa Binh and is
approached as you go down
the side of a very steep
valley. From Hoa Binh to Mai
Chau you will pass by Man
Duc crossroad, which is an
hour driving from Hoa Binh
and backed by karst peaks,
with an interesting market.
Another hour from Man Duc is
the stop for a spectacular
view over Mai Chau valley to
the south. The village,
nestled between two steep
cliffs and surrounded by
emerald green paddies, is
enchanting to look at as you
wind down the mountainside.
"Thai" ethnic people have
inhabited in Mai Chau for
centuries and are
highlighted from other hill
tribes for their cleaness,
intricate weaving decoration
made by dexterous women's
hands and hospitable
customs. Many evidences show
that they are homogenous
with the Thai groups living
in South of China and in
Thailand now. An overnight
visit to Lac village or
Poong Com village in Mai
Chau can be easily combined
with trekking or hiking in
the surrounding mountain
area or with a longer visit
to the far Northwest.
Moc Chau
Moc Chau is set nearby some
small dairy-farms, belonging
to the government or
privacy. The way from Mai
Chau to Moc Chau stretches
between the round hills
filled of green tea and
terraced rice fields, which
bring a special tranquil
beauty for the region. Yet,
since most of visitors stop
by Moc Chau just to refresh
before heading North, the
attractions of the town are
limited in local dairy
cakes, fresh milk, and the
market that concentrate
colourful-dressed H'mong and
Black Thai people.
Hoa Binh
Nearly 70km to the Southwest
of Hanoi, Hoa Binh is easy
to reach by the Highway No.
6 which have much less
traffic compared with other
national ways crossing by
the capital, and have more
poetic landscape. Hoa Binh
is the name of a mountainous
province, the name of its
chief town, and of the
biggest Hydropower Station
of Vietnam run by the water
power of the Reservoir built
on the "Da" River (the Black
River). For those who love
ecotours, Hoa Binh is a good
stopover for meals or
refresh before delving into
the hill tribal daily life
in the Muong, Zao and Thai
villages close by or
continue the mountain way to
reach Mai Chau
Son La
Located
320km northwest of Hanoi,
Son La town is often used as
a half-way overnight stop on
the way to Dien Bien Phu.
There is not much to remark
the town except a prison
built in 1908 by the French
colonialists to incarcerate
the Vietnamese political
criminals. However, from Son
La to Dien Bien Phu you will
see lots of minority
villages – Black Thai, white
Thai, H'mong, and Muong –
some close to the road.
Black Thai women wear black
sarongs, and tightfitting
blouses with rows of silver
or metal buttons down the
front attached tightly to
the neck. The blouses are
usually bright green, blue,
or purple. A woman coils her
hair in a topknot, covering
it with a black turban
embroidered with
multicolored thread. After
marriage, Black Thai women
wear a silver hairpin. Some
800,000 Black Thai and White
Thai (white-bloused Thai
people) live in the
Northwest
Tuan Giao
From
Son La, your road will pass
over Thuan Chau and starts
climbing to cross Pha Din
Pass at 1,300m before
reaching Tuan Giao, which
breaks the distance of 180km
from Son La to Dien Dien. If
your destination is Lai
Chau, you can skip the turn
to the west heading to Dien
Bien and carry straight.
White Thai villages lie
along the route between Tuan
Giao and Lai Chau, with
pretty women wearing white
blouses with silver jewelry
Dien Bien Phu
This was the scene of the
siege in 1954 that finally
broke the back of the French
war effort in Vietnam. In an
attempt to halt Viet Minh
(Vietnam Independence
Association) incursions into
Laos, the French commander,
Navarre, decided to
establish a "super garrison"
at the top end of a valley
called Dien Bien. This was
to police the strategic
cross-roads between Laos to
the West, Son La to the
South and Lai Chau to the
North. He believed that with
this base firmly established
in the Far Northwest, he
would be able to launch
sorties against the Viet
Minh, and greatly reduce
their strength in the area.
He was to be proved terribly
wrong.
The Viet Minh commander, Vo
Nguyen Giap, finally saw an
opportunity for an open
confrontation with the
French and started working
towards it. By mid 1953, the
base was completed and
regarded in French circles
as virtually impregnable.
With twelve battalions of
French, Morrocan and
Algerian soldiers, two
airstrips, a heavily mined
perimeter and surrounded by
a number of smaller
defensive positions, named
Dominique, Elaine, Claudine
and Huguette. These were
named, supposably, after the
four mistresses of the base
commander Colonel Marie
Ferdinand de la Croix de
Castries. The troops within
the compound slept fairly
soundly at night! The French
even went to the extent of
flying in an entire brothel
of French women to keep the
soldiers happy!!
For Giap and his comrades,
however, the struggle had
hardly begun. They embarked
on an incredible logistical
feat of dragging up, in
pieces, various heavy field
guns that were then hidden
in caves and dense forest
cover in the hills
surrounding the Dien Bien
Phu base. By early 1954,
Giap had over 40,000 men in
the hills, completely
surrounding the base. It was
estimated that just to keep
Giap’s men fed, over 250,000
porters were used to ferry
food.
For the French it was their
ignorance amongst other
things that led to their
downfall. Though they knew
the Viet Minh had some
troops in the surrounding
hills, nothing was done
about it, until it was too
late. On 10 March 1954, to
the horror of the French,
Viet Minh shells started
landing on the airstrip.
Giap possessed a
comprehensive plan, first if
which was the neutralisation
of the airstrips, thus
completing the siege. The
French were taken completely
by supprise, and after the
first day of shelling, an
assault was made on
Gabrielle. By midnight 13
March, Beatrice had fallen.
The fighting was fierce,
with the Viet Minh often
following up hours of
shelling with human wave
tactics, incurring shocking
casualties. At times the
fighting was hand to hand
and always chaotic, with the
French utterly frustrated by
their inability to hit
Giap’s well-concealed guns.
Within five days, both the
airfields had been
completely destroyed and the
garrison could only be
re-supplied by airdrops, an
increasingly perilous
pastime, proven by the
wrecked planes on the
ground. As the Viet Minh
edged closer and closer in
trenches, the airdrops
increasingly fell into
Vietnamese hands. The
position was becoming truly
desperate.
At the start of April there
was a lull in the fighting
during which Navarre
parachuted in some of his
crack troops adding to his
garrison now totalling about
16,000. Giap also brought in
his reserves, edging his
forces up towards the 50,000
mark. The French were
desperate and they appealed
to the US for assistance,
preferring bomber strikes
from their bases in the
Philippines. By this stage
the US was funding 78% of
the French war effort, so
they hardly had unstained
hands. They came back with a
proposal for limited
tactical nuclear strikes on
the Vietnamese positions
along with a series of
strikes on China, fearing
‘another Korea’, all of
which would be performed on
French behalf. Thankfully
this insanity was avoided by
the British giving the idea
a big no and congress
getting cold feet. In the
end there was nothing
forthcoming from the US.
For the French, the end was
near. On 4 May following a
series of attacks, the Viet
Minh attacked with a force
previously unwitnessed and
by 8 May the garrison
finally surrended. By this
stage the conditions within
were unimaginable, with
maggots in the wounds of the
injured and an incredibly
demoralised fighting force.
It was estimated that during
the battle 7,000 French and
close to 20,000 Vietnamese
had lost their lives. This
loss finally caused the
French to withdraw from
Vietnam
Dien Bien Phu now bears few
scars except for the
occasional scattered tank to
bear witness to its
horrendous past, though it
is still one of the remotest
areas you could visit. The
hilltribes living around the
area of Dien Bien Phu make
up 70% of the regions
population, and the ethnic
minority groups include the
Black Thai, Nung, Meo, Loa
and others
Sapa
Sapa is the most popular
place to go in the Far
Northwest amongst budget
travelers and packages
tourists alike. By using
Sapa as a base you can hike
off to more remote
‘traditional’ hill tribe
villages and sometimes you
will be offered a bed in a
village for the night. Sapa
was originally built as a
hill station in the early
part of this century and, in
winter, gets bitterly cold.
If you are going to be
visiting Sapa in winter do
not forget the winter
woollies
Sapa is preparing itself for
the continuing tourist boom
considerably well. Behind
Sapa, towards Phong Tho is a
high pass forming part of
the Hoang Lien Mountains
that were known to the
French as the Tonkinese
Alps. This range includes
Fansipan, the highest
mountain in Vietnam at
3,143m, which view at dawn
could be spectacular
There is a weekend market in
Sapa during which the town
fills up with hilltribe
people selling their wares.
If you want to see these
tribes as they
"traditionally" live (as
opposed to flogging jackets
to tourists), either go for
a hike or head over to Dien
Bien Phu from Sapa. This
stretch has the most
traditional people you will
see in the whole of Vietnam.
It seems that most tourist
groups pile into Sapa during
the weekend for the market.
However, travelers have
reported that during the
week is a much better time
to catch a glimpse of the
real Sapa avoiding from a
big hassle of tourists
You can hike in the
surrounding area and visit a
number of fairly traditional
predominantly Mong hilltribe
villages. Further afield is
the colourful Red Zao, Dzay,
Tay and Xa Pho people. A
home stay in the Tay village
would be unforgettable
experience
