Blogs from Dien Bien Phu, Northwest, Vietnam, Asia

By the time I got a nice break in weather in Sapa, my Vietnam visa was just a day away from expiring. My natural exit point was Dien Bien Phu, a small city that looks like little more than a town in a field ringed by mountains. Historically though, this town was the scene of an event, a battle actually, that perhaps shaped more recent world history in this region than any other. And since you're more or less at my mercy by reading this, I'm going to tell you all about it. The First Indochina War was fought between the French Expeditionary Corps and the Viet Minh in mostly northern Vietnam, but also a little in Laos and Cambodia. Basically, when France tried to re-establish its presence in its colonies which had been overrun by ... read more

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu There is a book in the Kinsley Kansas library called The 20 Most Decisive Battles in World History, or it might be called The 20 Most Decisive Battles in Vietnam. I can’t remember which is true. Whatever is true, I am amazed that I was personally involved with two of these battles in my relative short military career. The two battles I was associated with were the 2nd Battle of Bau Bang in Operation Junction City and The Battle of Snoopy Nose in the early phase of Operation Coronado. All the battles were brutal, fierce, ferocious and decisive. Another battle talked about in the book includes all of these things and was truly decisive. That was the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. The Setting: The Vietnamese are no strangers to ... read more

Viet Nam Lo ginge es in Điện Biên Phủ, die Hauptstadt der Provinz Điện Biên in Nordwest-Vietnam. Sie liegt im 20 km langen und 6 km breiten Mường Thanh-Tal, nur 35 km von der laotischen Grenze entfernt und somit meine erste Stadt die ich im Viet nam besuchte nach meinem Aufenthalt in Laos!. Die Stadt ist jedoch eine der beruehmtessten im Vietnam, wegen seiner Geschichte. Sie hat 25 000 Einwohnern. Die Bevölkerung besteht nur zu etwa einem Drittel aus ethnischen Vietnamesen (Kinh), den Hauptanteil stellen Thai, in geringerem Maße Hmong, Si La und andere. Im französischen Indochinakrieg war der Talkessel vom französischen Expeditionskorps zu einer Festung ausgebaut worden und Ort der französischen Niederlage am 7 Mai 1954 (Schlacht von Điện Biên Phủ). Noch heute erinnert ein großes Mahnmal sowie ein französischer Soldatenfriedhof an die entscheidende... read more

Dien Bien Phu - the town which gave its name to the decisive 1954 battle between the besieged French colonial garrison and the Viet Minh forces which signalled the end of French colonial rule in Indochina. Stay tuned to hear about Hil and Lock's change of direction, and our venture into market capitalism on a street corner! That's right, we sold our bikes! Goodbye Cruncher (Hil's bike) and Poirot (my black bike - still a mystery to me after 2 weeks). Also stay tuned for a culinary (mis)adventure and danger averted... :)... read more

Stay tuned for the excitement of Hil and Lock's long bus ride from Lai Chau to Dien Bien Phu - roadworks ahoy! Plus... 38 mobile phone shops, but is there an ATM in this town???... read more

First I would like to thank sweet baby Jesus, sweet infant Jesus for allowing Linda and I to make it from Sapa to Bien Dien Phu alive! Oh my God what a trip. We left Sapa at 8am for a 7 hour bus ride to Dien Bien Phu. This is one journey I will never ever do again. We booked tickets for a bus, what comes to pick us up? A mini van! This shitmobile was on its last legs. So we throw our bag into the back which the guy had to kick and pull to try open. So on our way we go. Not even 5 min down the road, the boot opens and bags fly out. This was going to be one hell of a ride. Anyway, the driver seemed to be on ... read more