30
November, Dien Bien Phu to Tuan Giao, 78km
Hong Ky Hotel & Cafe 300,000VND
We were woken at 03:00, for the third morning in a
row, by the screaming, screaming, screaming of a pig being slaughtered below
our guest house window. Screaming, and then a merciful silence. Real Silence of the Lambs stuff and a thoroughly
disturbing way to begin a day. We left Dien Bien Phu feeling a little jaded,
therefore, but soon put all horrors behind us. It was a misty morning and as we
left town we cycled the tail end of a celebratory procession, the celebrants on
scooters flying flags either red or green – celebrating what we cannot say.
Then into the hills and east to Tuan Giao. It is difficult to capture the
essence of lovely days like this. For the cyclist: a road in good nick;
manageable climbs; one excellent downhill run to the halfway point. For
everyone: green, green hills with rivers running through them; some karst
outcrops towering above the rustic homes at their base; muddy water buffalo in
rice paddies already harvested and tan – late in the afternoon the buffalo seem
to see themselves home, walking at a stately pace down the centre of the road;
kids yelling “hello” and grinning, white teeth in soft brown faces; road-wise
chickens with their chicks and ducks with their ducklings, scurrying across the
macadam when it is safe to do so and slowing to a more dignified pace the second
they reach the opposite verge; hilltribe women, mainly the TaiDam in their long
black velvet skirts, their hair fastened in a topknot with a silver coin or
hidden beneath an embroidered scarf, transporting wood on the back of their
bikes, or walking home with a hoe over their shoulders; rickety bamboo bridges
and cassava (manioc) root laid out to dry and bright yellow flowers decorating
the roadsides...
Dien Bien Phu
Between Dien Bien Phu and Tuan Giao
Between Dien Bien Phu and Tuan Giao
Between Dien Bien Phu and Tuan Giao
Between Dien Bien Phu and Tuan Giao
Between Dien Bien Phu and Tuan Giao
Between Dien Bien Phu and Tuan Giao
Between Dien Bien Phu and Tuan Giao
Between Dien Bien Phu and Tuan Giao
Between Dien Bien Phu and Tuan Giao
Between Dien Bien Phu and Tuan Giao
Between Dien Bien Phu and Tuan Giao