Regions in Brief

Mai Chau

150km (93 miles) W of Hanoi; 170km (106 miles) E of Son La

Mai Chau makes a good overnight after the shakedown cruise from Hanoi (about a 5-hr. ride). The town center is a rather dull strip of small shops and a few pho and com stands (noodle soup or rice), but there are two White Thai villages just outside of town where both solo travelers and group tours commonly stay. You can take short boat trips on the Da River Reservoir from the pier just near the turnoff road to Mai Chau (best arranged through a tour).

Son La

320km (199 miles) NW of Hanoi; 170km (106 miles) W of Mai Chau

Son La is a small city set in a narrow valley at the foot of low hills. A short walk up to the town's famous hilltop prison or to one of the viewpoints in the hills above gives you a good perspective on the two busy streets that make up downtown. Both accommodations and dining are rather limited, but this is a popular (pretty much essential) stop on any tour of the northeast.

A testament to the wily French colonists and their love of brutal prisons (also see Con Dao and Phu Quoc Island in the far south; between the American and the French prisons, you can, in fact, tour a prison in just about every province), Son La was home to one of the country's worst facilities, the end of the line for Vietnam's early-20th-century dissidents. A letter from French brass talking of Son La Prison's brutal effectiveness says, "The malaria and toil here would break the revolutionary zeal of any man."

Fast Facts -- There's no ATM service in Son La, but the Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (8 Chu Van Thinh St.) can cash traveler's checks. You'll find a few Internet terminals around town, but they're all very slow. Try the few along To Hieu Street near the corner where Route 6 enters the town of Son La. The post office is on To Hieu in the center of town.

Dien Bien Phu

475km (295 miles) W of Hanoi; 150km (93 miles) W of Son La; 80km (50 miles) S of Lai Chau

Toward the end of World War II -- after the withdrawal of all Japanese forces from Vietnam, and the August 1945 reading of the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence and the resultant August Revolution -- the French colonial mission in Vietnam was nearly over. French forces were down to a skeleton crew after years of attrition under Japanese rule in Indochina, but despite international pressure, Charles De Gaulle sent a force of 70,000 to old Indochina under the command of General LeClerc in the 1950s. Efforts at building a French-Vietnamese coalition including Ho Chi Minh were ill-fated and failed as soon as they were implemented. Guerilla fighting and terrorist attacks by the Viet Minh forces throughout the north soon led to the full-scale Indochina War.

First, a massive French bombing campaign of northern supply lines in Haiphong, attacks that killed thousands of innocents, gave way to a long succession of bloody battles and many casualties on both sides. Nearing some truce in the conflict in 1953, the French put all of their eggs (or most of them) in one basket, and chose Dien Bien Phu as the best place to intercept supply lines to rebel groups. Hoping to provoke a classic pitched battle instead of hunting terrorists, the garrison at Dien Bien Phu was surrounded by fire stations, or fortified outposts, in the hills above, supported by heavy air transport and, by 1954, manned by some 16,000 seasoned French Foreign Legion fighters. The impoverished Vietnamese guerrilla forces looked cut off and the French expected to go to the bargaining tables with some real leverage. How wrong they were.

The battle lasted from March 13 until May 8, 1954, with Vietnamese forces surrounding the valley and pummeling French forces with artillery dragged, by hook or crook, over hill and dale from China. The French were completely surprised. Though French expeditionary troops fought valiantly, with some truly fearless French units parachuting in to the crippled encampment long after the runway was destroyed, supply lines were cut and all looked lost. Strategists likened the battle to a fight between a jungle tiger and an elephant, where the Vietnamese tiger strikes at intervals and leaves its larger, stronger prey to bleed to death. Without any official surrender, the French laid down their arms and were completely overrun. The first Indochina War was over, and Dien Bien Phu would forever be a rallying cry for Vietnamese sovereignty.

The town of Dien Bien Phu itself is just a wide avenue lined with Soviet-era construction. There are a few decent hotels, but mainstream tourism is far from overrunning Dien Bien, a town whose greatest moment in history was, in fact, when it was overrun. War memorials, including a good museum, are what attract mostly war buffs and French tour groups to this outpost on the Lao border. The highlights can be seen in a casual afternoon before pressing on to Lai Chau or Sapa the following day.

Getting There by Air -- There are regular flights on Vietnam Airlines that connect Dien Bien Phu with Hanoi. The small airport is just north of town on the road to Lai Chau. Vietnam Airlines has a booking office at the airport (tel. 023/824-692) or in town on Street 5 (tel. 023/824-692).

Orientation -- The city center lies on the eastern shore of the Nam Rom River. The road from Son La and Tuan Giao, Route 12, enters to the north of the city (some of the better accommodations are along it) and the central avenues of Le Trong Tan and Nguyen Chi Thanh make up the busy downtown. The history museum and A-1 hill are on the south end of town, and a few important military sites -- bunkers and abandoned artillery and tanks -- are on the west shore. The airport is just north of town on the west bank of the river, along the road to Lai Chau.

Fast Facts -- Bring cash. There are no ATMs in Dien Bien Phu. You can exchange money at Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (3 Duong 7-5; tel. 023/825-774). There are lots of local Internet storefronts along the main drag. Slow connection is the rule. Better to wait until Sapa unless you're in a pinch. The main post office is on Street no. 3 in the town center.

Lai Chau

180km (112 miles) N of Dien Bien Phu; 45km (28 miles) SW of Sapa

Just a short, low-lying commercial strip off the main road between Dien Bien Phu and Sapa, Lai Chau is set in the valley of the Dong Da River and is surrounded by large communities of mostly White Thai people. The town is the terminus of Route 6 from Tuan Giao, a shortcut over the mountains from Son La and one of the loveliest stretches of mountain road in Vietnam; travelers along the stretch usually call Lai Chau home for the night. It's also a logical stop if you're coming from Dien Bien Phu and don't want to bust all the way to Sapa in 1 day. (Note: If you cross the Tram Ton pass to Sapa too late in the evening, you will likely miss the most spectacular scenery. Many therefore opt to stay in Lai Chau and cross to Sapa the next day.) The little Lan Anh Hotel is your only choice for a home away from home here.

There are no banks or Internet cafes in Lai Chau. You can exchange currency at the front desk of the Lan Anh Hotel in a pinch, but plan to bring cash. The local post office is near the main intersection heading toward Sapa.