Mai's Travel Journal: Chapter 3 - Dien Bien

7 September, 2004

10:00 am

I had left the town of Sơn La in a rush, feeling a certain fondness for it. “What have I done so far”, I wondered. It seemed like my thoughts were still very immature and impractical. I thought that I could travel to the farthest villages as long as I was determined. Yeah, I was very determined yet I could not achieve my goal. With that said, I have not given up or been discouraged at all. I am still very excited and determined, but I now can estimate my time and strength better. I understand that my results are attached to the whole journey. It’s not that I’m trying to defend myself, but don't we have a saying "to cut one's coat according to one's cloth" for a reason?

3:00 pm

The beautiful and clean city of Điện Biên Phủ welcomed me with a rain shower. I guessed that it was trying to tell me not to visit any minority village in this weather, but I had made up the following rules for myself:
- To get a distance of between 50km and 100km from the centre of the province
- To visit the model commune of the district, depending on the weather conditions
- To visit minority villages of different minority groups
And this would be how I would overcome the Điện Biên rain and the northwest area.

4:00 pm

Arrived at the village of Điện Biên's provincial party office. After listening to other people's suggestions, I chose the district of East Điện Biên and decided to visit the commune of Lân Rói. The last bus to Na Son, the centre of East Điện Biên, had already left. I was lucky enough to able to see the Điện Biên Phủ square at night.

8 September, 2004

4:00 am

I woke up early to get ready for the trip to East Điện Biên. It had rained all night. I went to the bus stop by myself, with my backpack on my shoulders. I had to admit when I looked at my shadow in the puddles on the roadside, I could not recognize that undersized girl as myself. I felt sorry for the girl and wished that there was someone to accompany her. Ah, ah.

Because of the rain, very few people were going to East Điện Biên; I had to wait for almost two hours. To take advantage of the time, I bought a pack of sticky rice to fill me up. According to the sales person, it was "fragrant sticky rice that is both delicious and done exactly to a turn". But it was just a selling point; I had to try really hard to finish that hard and crunchy rice. I consoled myself, that right now I’m out of luck, but surely I’ll meet with good luck later.

6:00 am

The bus started to move, but there were still not enough passengers to fill the bus even though we stopped over at a second stop at Bản Phủ. Our bus passed through the field of Mường Thanh, a straight road with two rows of conch trees on each side of the road and the greenery of the rice field was very refreshing. I missed home at this sight.

Some passengers asked whether I know why Mường Thanh's rice tastes better. I answered, "Perhaps because of the rich soil". They continued to ask what the specialty of Mường Thanh is. I could only smile then but now I know why. Mường Thanh is a resting place for countless heroes, the cream of the society from the battle of Điện Biên. So, when we eat its rice, we also gain the spirits and the genius of our people. Mường Thanh's rice tastes better because of that reason.

The road to East Điện Biên began to zigzag more, going up and down. It was almost 7:30am but we had not passed the district of Điện Biên. It was time for the young children from the villages to go to school. The rain had made the distance between the villages and the school seem farther apart. The ethnic H’mong children had to swim across the Ma river, from Muong Nha to school in Lua Ngam. I saw that and kept thinking about their extraordinary efforts and interests. Some passengers on the bus told me that it was normal here (to swim to school) and when it rained, the children had to stay at home.

9 am

Reached the headquarters of East Dien Bien Youth Union. Even having been informed of my arrival, people were still surprised to see the small girl with a big backpack, which was me. I learnt a lot from the young people of East Dien Bien. They impressed me with their enthusiasm, openness and willingness to share with local people their difficulties. They were mostly ethnic minority people, though some came from the lowland. They learnt the local languages, lived with ethnic people and helped them out of hunger and poverty. I felt I grew up a little.

I changed the plan and went to Keo Lom and Na Son instead of Lan Roi due to the bad weather. Once again I learnt that distance here had less to do with the number of kilometers by road than with the weather conditions.

10 am

I arrived in Keo Lu village, Keo Lom commune, where about 103 Kh’mu households resided. My first impression was of the friendliness and hospitality of the villagers. Just a greeting, a smile or a wave of hand and we felt like old friends already.

However, I could not help being concerned about the living environment of the villagers. Cattle and poultry were either free running or kept under stilt houses. There was no sewage system, litter was found everywhere and the rain created mud, making it dirty and slippery. The distance between houses in the village became greater.

Mr. Phanh, a young person of the village, said: “Health workers have persuaded, explained, and have sprayed (disinfectants) several times, but it only works for a while before things go back to their old way. People here are used to their habits. Our family used to live in the lower part of the village, but has now moved uphill because of the smell and the hygiene conditions”.

I asked him “Why don’t you persuade young people in the village to clean up the village and change the living environment?” He just smiled shyly without saying anything.

Suoi Lu village was still very poor. The upland fields in the village had been worked for many years and households here either had just enough to eat or were short of food for several months of the year.

Mr. Phanh’s family was one of the better off families in the village. He confided “We are better off because we are hard working. But I know we have to try harder. As we are now, there is just a little left for saving.”

Suoi Lu was also a village with many children not going to school or dropping out early. Teachers often had to go to the village to persuade families to send their kids to school. They even bathed the kids and did their laundry. But that did not keep the kids long in school.

Suoi Lu village also had a high incidence of drug addicts. Mr. Phanh said there were more than 10 drug addicts in the village, but later 3 of them died and there remained 6 or 7 of them.

Some families in the village believed that smoking (tobacco) helped against malaria. Thus they dried thinly sliced tobacco leaves for everybody to smoke, including children and the elderly in the family. They believed that it was better than taking medicine and vaccination.

I feel that there is still a long way to go on the road to changing people’s lives here.

2 pm

Left Suoi Lu, passing through Keo Lom gorge, I returned to Na Son village. Here there are two villages of the Thai minority people, called Na Son village A and Na Son village B. These two villages are separated by a river. Rain makes this stretch of the river a lot further and more difficult than it usually is. Because of this, a number of pre-school children haven’t been able to get to their school on the other side of the river.

Both of these two villages are really short of clean water. The people here have had to dig their own wells. A number of the better-off houses have put up rain water tanks for themselves.

It has to be added that Na Son villages A and B are very close to the main district center. Hopefully it won’t be too long before water will be able to be piped to the village to meet the daily needs of the families.

4 pm

Returned to the headquarters.

Friday, 9 September, 2004

7 am

Continuing the journey over the other side of Keo Lom commune, I arrived at two Hmong villages, Tia Ghenh and Huoi Mua A.

Hardly any of the farmers in Tia Ghenh has enough to eat all year. Every year, there are a few months when there is not enough to eat. The village head said, “the last two years, the weather has been unusual and the fields haven’t got enough water, so many of the crops that had been planted have died. A number of families, like that of Ly A Vu and Vu Nu Po, have fallen into a situation where they don’t have enough food.

Huoi Mua A village is better off than Tia Ghenh village, but regard for the village’s public property is not high. Last year, the government invested in constructing eight water tanks and pipelines to get water to the village’s approximately 62 families. But now, there’s only one tank left that can be used. The village head lamented: “we tell them and remind them but it’s hard. On the first of September just gone, there were still two tanks but that night thieves came and stole six pieces of the water pipe, each six meters in length, so now there’s only one useable tank left”. The journey to get water for the villagers is once again just as difficult as it was before the tanks and pipeline were constructed.

11 am
Returned to the headquarters

3 pm
Got on the bus to go back to Dien Bien.

6 pm

Chapter 3 - Dien Bien - Photo Gallery

Photos: Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai
(select image to enlarge)

1. The road go to Na Son
2. Suoi Lu mountain village
3. House at Suoi Lu mountain village

4. Slicing tobacco for smoking
5. Mother and children at Suoi Lu mountain village
6. Children at Suoi Lu is studing together

7. The road to Suoi Lu