Muong Thanh Hotel Dien Bien Phu

Hallo zusammen,

nach vielen sehr schoenen Tagen in China und insbesondere in Yunnan haben wir vor einer halben Woche China verlassen und sind jetzt in Vietnam, genauer gesagt in Dien Bien Phu. Dort haben die Franzosen in den 1950er-Jahren mal kraeftig eins auf die Muetze bekommen, weil sie, wie spaeter auch die Amis, den Willen der Vietnamesen unterschaetzt haben, schweres Geraet durch den Dschungel zu schleppen. Die Niederlage war dann auch das Ende von ...

Early morning call at Vaungs brother's resturant as we set out for our trip to Moung Lay. A cup of green tea and an earnest goodbye. We are overwhelmed by the genuine and open friendship offered by these people whom we only met yesterday.
As we walked through the village yesterday the constant call of "hello", not only from children but adults. A complete absence of "you buy from me etc". The children still clamour to see ...

Lai Chau Thursday 13/8/09.

This morning we depart for Lai Chau but first the goodbye's. Tommy the owner of the Cha Pa Boutique Hotel is first on the list . We have enjoyed our stay at this hotel . The staff and the food at this hotel have without exception first class and are sad to leave but move on we must. Next is Mr Tom from Tom Travel (trailsofmountain.com) this company has done ...

Im still trying to decide whether the journey from Sapa to Dien Bien Phu was the start of the worst 2 days of my life or some epic travelling adventure. We have now eaten, slept, are dry, and looking back it could have been worse. Our journey to Luang Prabang, laos consisted of taking a mini bus from Sapa, Vietnam to Bien Dien Phu, Vietnam, a regular bus across the border to Muang Khoua to catch a boat across a river, to catch a slow boat to Muang Xay, to catch a ...

... quick eat but apart from the food being horrendous, the cashier wanted to charge us a ridiculous price, I (Jesmar) refused to pay and after a while he accepted half the price. In less than half an hour the bus conductor called us to get on the bus for another 4 hour trip to Dien Bien Phu. Luckily for us he did not share the same death wish of the previous driver and we enjoyed some of the scenic ...

... junction and from there we took a motor bike taxi to Pom Cong; a village of White Thai ethnic minority. The motorbike taxi dropped us at one of the first homestays and even though a bit pricey, the host was very welcoming and we opted to stay there. It resulted in being a good choice cause even though we had very little privacy (actually none at all since our quarters were only separated by a flimsy curtain at one corner of the big ...

Hemos llegado a Dien Bien y la gente es muy simpatica y agradable. La mejor gente que hemos conocido hasta ahora son los Vietnamitas, vale la pena venir aqui solo por el trato que se tiene con ellos. Chapeau! Por lo demas esta pequena ciudad cerca de la frontera con Laos no tiene mucho que ofrecer. Se puede visitar el campo de batalla donde los Vietnamitas derrotaron a los franceses en la guerra de Indochina pero hemos preferido dar una vuelta por la ciudady ha ...

... to Dien Bein Phu, near the border with Laos. We had been warned that these roads would be treacherous at best but nothing could have foretold of the puke fest which would begin in haste as soon as we left Sapa. Sardines in a can never had to deal which such foul smells or sounds. Our Vietnamese travel companeros had obviously never traveled further a field than their own lovely town and as soon as we got a few miles down the rocky and bumpy road all hell broke loose ...