15 years that 's quite a long time... lots of changes... Welcome back Vietnam!
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We reached Dien Bien City around noon time. Had lunch at relative's house. Took a nap. Then my relative guided us around the City.
Well, Dien Bien, or Dien Bien Phu is very well known place with the name of Dien Bien Phu Battle, where President Ho Chi Minh with his General Vo Nguyen Giap defeated the French in 1954.
Dien Bien Phu Battle has made Vietnam to be well known by the world then.
You can do a quick search on internet if wanting to know more about our glorious victory at Dien Bien Phu.
A brief map about Dien Bien Phu valley:
First we visited the De Castries Bunker - It's the heart and so called un-defeatable of French base in Dien Bien Phu that time.
Here's very historic photo of the victory moment when Vietnam Army won the battle:
Let's see how it looks now:
Entrance of the bunker:
Inside the bunker:
Not far from the bunker, there is stationed a remain French tank:
It's quite small compares with the modern one, or even with the Russian tanks in the Reunification Palace in Ho Chi Minh City.
See, smaller than my SUV:
Then we visited the center Dien Bien Phu Martyr's Cemetery, one of some Cemeteries around the place.
There is now a very big bronze statue of Dien Bien Phu soldiers on the hill, nearby A1 hill:
Muong Thanh valley (Dien Bien Phu) from the bronze statue station:
There were many other historic places (i.e. General Giap's bunker, Muong Thanh airbase, Muong Thanh bridge, A1 hill, etc...) but we had not enough time. Let's reserve to my next trip by motorcycle.