Dien Bien province

Extremely mountainous, Dien Bien is one of the newest provinces in Vietnam, having been split off from Lai Chau further to the north. The provincial capital, Dien Bien Phu, is best know for the battle of the same name which pretty much marked the beginning of the end -- or more like the end of the beginning of the end -- for the French involvement in Vietnam.

Some of the remnants of that battle are on display in the form of old military hardware mounted at strategic places (strategic for viewing, not for using), a museum chronically the event, some bunkers used by the French command, and in particular, one of the key hills taken from the French, which has been restored to the state it was in before the Viet Minh blew it up, constituting the world's largest, open-air diorama in situ.

The province features some of the most exhilarating mountainous terrain in all of Vietnam. Winding along the rugged road that is Highway 6, one deep valley is followed by another, often with rice paddies dug in steps along the sides of the hills, reaching up to incredible, and seemingly inaccessible heights. But look close, and you may spy a lone figure climbing up a 70-degree slop with a full load of firewood on their back. It's easy to see why the Montagnards were such a critical asset in transporting supplies and equipment during both Indochinese wars -- they'd been training for it since birth.

Much of the province remains undeveloped and seldom-visited, perhaps because so much of it shares a border with Laos, and decent through-roads linking the two countries have been a long time in coming. The border crossing at Tay Trung (Sop Hun on the Laos side) is open for business and foreigners can now pass through here.

An effort is underway to improve Highway 6 as it passes through the province en route to Hanoi, and construction-in-progress makes it one of the most challenging roads to travel by any means in all of Vietnam.