Half day in Dien Bien Phu

Like many other northern mountainous provinces, Dien Bien has many natural attractions to explore . But this place is also associated with the historic Dien Bien Phu campaign and has unique relics that visitors can spend a whole day exploring.

Dien Bien airport is closed for renovation so we choose car as our means of transportation. It takes a whole day if you go from Hanoi , but along the way you can visit Son La prison and stop at Pha Din pass to enjoy the scenery and local products.

The giant works

The first destination of the day is the largest bronze monument in Vietnam, named Dien Bien Phu Victory, located on D1 hill, which allows visitors to see the whole city and the distant cloudy mountains.

The monument depicts soldiers waving the flag of victory and holding their guns firmly to protect peace - symbolized by a baby in Thai traditional costume held high in the soldier's hand. When observed directly on site, the 13.25 m high work (excluding the pedestal) exudes a majestic, solemn beauty and is a unique highlight of the city.

The Dien Bien Phu Victory Monument is difficult to see all the details when viewed with the naked eye. Photo: NMNhà

However, the dull color of the statue certainly affects the aesthetics as it prevents visitors from clearly observing the details, especially in the backlight on a cloudy day like when we arrived. Not to mention the cracks and green rust that can still be observed with the naked eye on the statue's body.

The next destination was the Dien Bien Phu Victory Museum with its truncated cone-shaped architecture, decorated with diamond-shaped stripes simulating the camouflage net helmets of our soldiers during the Dien Bien Phu campaign. The entrances were designed in a downward direction, reminiscent of the trench system on the old battlefield. Perhaps because I had just returned from the monument, I had the feeling that the building should be a little taller.

Re-enactment of the artillery pulling scene in the Dien Bien Phu Victory Museum. Photo: NMHa

The museum displays many valuable and important artifacts, but the oil painting depicting the entire battle is also an important highlight that attracts visitors. It is also because of this painting that the entrance fee to the museum will increase from 25,000 VND to 100,000 VND from August 2022.

The grandeur of the 360-degree panoramic work, presented in a continuous, simultaneous manner, covering the entire second-floor wall of the museum, must be seen with one’s own eyes. The Dien Bien Phu Campaign painting, measuring 132 m long, 20.5 m high, and 42 m in diameter over a total area of ​​3,225 m², is a powerful testament to the “power” of epic realism.

This is reasonable because it is known that the museum spends nearly 2 billion VND each year on painting maintenance, of which electricity costs have reached more than 1.3 billion VND (3.7 million VND per day). According to European standards, paintings must be preserved at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius and humidity below 70%. Therefore, with Dien Bien's weather, the air conditioning system must operate almost continuously.

The painting is divided into four sections. The first is “The whole people go to battle” which depicts groups of soldiers and porters carrying goods, climbing mountains and wading through streams to provide food for the front line.

Next is the epic Prelude with the highlight of the Him Lam battle as a preemptive strike against the French army, affirming our artillery power. Section 3 of the Historical Confrontation describes the trenches, barbed wire, hand-to-hand combat and the explosion of 960 kg of explosives on Hill A1. Section 4 of the Dien Bien Phu Victory shows the contrast between each group of French prisoners of war and each group of our troops rushing to occupy General De Castries' bunker.

Excerpt from the panoramic painting in the Dien Bien Phu Victory Museum . Photo: TL.

The work depicting more than 4,500 characters on a vivid and emotional mountain and forest landscape, created by more than 200 artists in nearly 3 years, is one of the 3 largest panoramic paintings (on the theme of war) in the world. Last year, the work was awarded First Prize at the Vietnam Fine Arts Association Awards.

Visitors are arranged to visit the paintings in batches, each batch probably only lasts about 20 minutes. The paintings will be illuminated in sections with explanations. After that, visitors will once again view the paintings to the music and freely observe them for a little longer before having to leave to make way for the next group of visitors. Surely everyone, like me, feels that the time to enjoy the paintings is a bit short. Not to mention everyone wants to take pictures of this special tour…

In general, to explore the museum as a whole, you should spend an hour or more. If I were to name a few of the most impressive artifacts, it would probably be the wooden and bamboo wheelbarrow of farmer Trinh Dinh Bam (Thanh Hoa). The A-shaped cart is 206 cm long, with 75 cm diameter wheels, assembled from three different pieces of wood, one of which is gilded with red paint and taken from the family altar.

The vehicle could carry up to 280 kg at a time. For 4 months, every 3 days with a distance of more than 20 km, Uncle Bam transported nearly 12,000 kg of food to serve the Dien Bien Phu campaign. Another notable artifact is General De Castries' bathtub. Even though he had to stay in a bunker in the middle of the battlefield, he still wanted to live as lavishly as possible...

Red phoenix hill A1

Leaving the museum, just a few minutes later we started climbing A1 hill. The hill is low and gentle, but it took our army 39 days with many sacrifices and losses to regain it. It is estimated that 2,500 of our soldiers remained here. Even the soil color here is deep red, not the orange color commonly seen in other basalt areas...

Tourists capture images of early blooming royal poinciana flowers on top of A1 hill . Photo: Hoang Lan.

The hill had many tall trees but they were far apart and early in the morning before we arrived, Dien Bien had suffered a heavy storm, including hail. That must have been why many trees had their tops broken and were left standing. It reminded us even more of those fiery days 69 years ago.

Near the top of the hill, several royal poinciana trees are still in full bloom, their branches hanging down within reach of visitors. It seems that instead of reaching up to the sky, the trees want to reach down to the ground, forming an umbrella over this land that has witnessed many sacrifices. Next to it is the common grave of four soldiers who had the merit of destroying enemy tanks. The remains of the tank are also nearby.

Traces of an explosive crater on hill A1. Photo: Luong Anh

The trace of the explosive explosion was a hole shaped like a small volcano. To place the explosive right next to the enemy, our soldiers had to dig a 33m underground tunnel in 15 arduous days and nights. At exactly 20:30 on May 6, 1954, the explosive was detonated, as a signal for our troops from all directions to attack the A1 stronghold and completely control it by 4:00 a.m. on May 7, 1954. The entire front switched to a general attack and won total victory just 13 hours later.

Road up hill A1 on the morning of April 29. Photo: NMNhà

The city's attractions will close at 11am and reopen in the early afternoon. Because we had to continue our journey to A Pa Chai, we only had time to stop by Muong Thanh Bridge - a bridge transported from France, and stood looking at the De Castries tunnel through the fence. An elderly member of the group said that 10 years ago when he came here, there was still a large banyan tree next to the tunnel, creating a beautiful landscape. But then, because they had to build a roof for the tunnel, they cut down the tree.

Dien Bien Phu attracts visitors with its hospitality and fresh, delicious food. A restaurant at the foot of A1 hill even offers a 20% discount on the total bill during the holiday instead of overcharging like some other places. The city also has a variety of products such as rice, honey, herbs, etc. for tourists to shop freely.

However, there was one thing I never wanted to bring back. Those were the large wooden objects displayed and offered for sale everywhere. We also had breakfast in a lim wood stilt house that was said to be the largest in Vietnam… They explained why many of the high hills in the area were bare.

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