Dien Bien – Hai Phong, Day 3: Dien Bien Phu

I hardly slept on the coach. It reached the Pha Din Pass around 3 AM. I looked straight forward and it made me a bit scared. I admired that the driver could skillfully navigate the directions when the fogs limited my vision to 1 meter or so.

We reached Dien Bien Phu City around 6 AM. We checked in a hostel opposite to the bus station. After relaxing a bit, we walked to Muong Thanh Bridge and De Castries’ Bunker. We saw many white flowers along the streets. Such a beautiful scenery!

When we passed by the A1 Hill, it was closed for lunch break. So we had lunch at a place nearby (where I tried “sữa chua nếp cẩm” for the first time and thought it was not different from the yogurt with black sticky rice I used to make), then went back in the early afternoon.

Unluckily, the A1 Cemetery seemed to be closed. We didn’t dare get inside.

On the way back, we walked up to the top of D1 Hill where there was the Statue of Dien Bien Phu Victory. Then we walked back to the hostel around 4 PM.

In the evening, we went grocery shopping at a small supermarket.