March 4th Day 26 - Dien Bien Phu to Sapa

Before I post about today's drive through the mountains of northern Vietnam, I want to share with everyone another of these amusing notices we see when we travel. This time it was in our room at the Muong Thanh Hotel in Dien Bien Phu. The notice had all the rules that guests were advised to conform to. Rule 8 was one I haven't seen before!



We left the hotel at just after 7am and followed the road book directions around the town. Dien Bien Phu was the place where the French were defeated by the Viet Minh in 1954 and there are reminders of this great victory all around the city centre. First, we saw the bunker where General de Castries signed the surrender.

Close by was this memorial to the battle marked by a tank and a propeller.

We then drove by the memorial to the French,

and finally to the Communist forces who had died.

As we left the town we started to see women dressed in national costume. Wonderful headdresses and colourful clothes.

As we continued north we were continually reminded of our drive through China in 2004. Vast areas of green paddy fields, water buffalo and roadworks on a huge scale!

A typical scene: an old lady carrying a huge load, using a strap across her forehead.

Following Paul & Jayne Wignall through a disinfecting control post.

Our drive was now leading us up into the mountains. We had two long passes to climb, with the second the highest pass in Vietnam at 6,559ft. Both passes had sections of major roadworks which made the going quite slow at times. Diggers were grading the mountainside and falling rocks made some sections quite hazardous.

We went past one village with new houses. Apparently these have been built for the people who have been displaced by the construction of a large reservoir. The houses were amongst the best we have seen in rural Vietnam.

We rose higher and higher with wonderful views back down the mountain pass.

It was now 11am and we saw lots of school children coming out of school, dressed in lovely traditional clothes. They made a great photo.

An example of the old and the new Vietnam.Driving through the town of Sin Ho we saw this group of woman sitting by the side of the road. The women on the left were wearing a different style of headdress to those we saw at the beginning of the drive.

Driving past David Dicey, Ahmad and Reza Fakhr having a break by the side of the road.

The mountain scenery became more and more impressive as we neared the top of the second mountain pass.

Once we had reached the top of the pass, we only had about 20 kms to go to reach Sapa.

We were delighted to meet up with some very good friends of ours touring Thailand and Vietnam. Geoffrey and Veronica Poxon, Ian and Vanessa McGowan and Charles and Ann Boughton-Leigh had travelled by overnight train from Hanoi to stay at our hotel. It was great to see them all and we ended the day with a very enjoyable meal at the hotel. They are travelling back to Hanoi tomorrow and then on to southern Vietnam. We wish them a safe onward journey.

Tomorrow we drive the 400kms to Hanoi. Just five days to go of the tour. It is amazing how quickly the time has gone.