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Region: Northwest Vietnam> Province: Son La>Location: Son La

Son La sights and attractions

Son La prison - A monument to the struggle

Description
French Prison Museum
This stop is highly recommended for those headed to Dien Bien Phu to see A1 Hill. Hoa Lo prison in Hanoi offers a better view of prison life, partly because the one here was twice shelled and is mostly in ruins -- once by the French as they were pulling out of Indochina, and again by the Americans during the 'second Indochina war.'

The prison was built in 1908 by the French, and expanded in 1930 and 1940 to accommodate the ever growing number of political prisoners generated by the Viet Minh liberation movement. Nicknamed 'the grinder', it was notorious for being the most miserable place in the country to be incarcerated. One observer described it as 'an open coffin waiting for dying prisoners.' Inmates reached the prison via a 13 day forced march which was designed to cull their numbers before arrival. For the ones that made, they came to a place where malaria was rampant, and the conditions were even worse than Hoa Lo -- in fact, the more 'incouragable' prisoners from Hoa Lo were sent here to be 'ground down,' thus the name.

Of course, herding together so many revolutionaries had the opposite effect the French had hoped for. Strong Viet Minh cells formed within the prison walls, held meetings, deliberated, and communicated with their comrades outside. If a prisoner wasn't a communist when they entered, they were by the time they left. One key leader of the movement, To Hieu, who eventually died in the prison, is memorialised with signs indicating which cell was his (now mostly rubble), the peach tree which he planted (that miraculously survived the bombings) and his makeshift tombstone is on display inside the prison museum.

The museum, with a small display of photos, hand and leg irons, and the like, sits in what was a guard house sitting above a rank of underground cells below, and these have survived the bombing in tact. It's horrific to imagine human beings spending years of their lives in these dank, tiny chambers. In summer, they must have been like ovens.

This place was a lot harder to escape from the Hoa Lo, partly due to the remoteness of the location, but also because of the 'incentive' program set up by the French. They made a deal with the local ethnic minorities to pay out half a kilo of salt for delivering up the head of an escapee -- reminiscent of the practice of paying for scalps implemented in the French-Indian War in America.

The prison's reign of infamy came to an end during the Second World War, when France was losing it's grip on it's far eastern possessions. There was a half-baked plan to use the prisoners as soldiers in exchange for their release, but the transport process was mishandled, and they all managed to escape. This place is where much of the determination that lead to the Vietnamese victory at Dien Bien Phu was born, which is something to think about when you visit A1 Hill.

There's also a small hilltribe museum in the People's Committee Headquarters building just behind the ticket booth. Ironically, the tribal-wear on display is pretty much exactly what they still wear, and can more sensibly be viewed by simply walking down the street with your eyes open.

To get here, head across Cau Trang Bridge up Dien Bien Phu, and the prison is on a hill to the right. There's a pretty informative booklet about the prison in the gift shop at the ticket booth, in Vietnamese and English, for 15,000 VND.

Opening Hours: Daily 07:30 to 11:00 and 13:00 to 17:00

Hot Springs - For those with time on their hands

Description
Hardly worth mentioning are the 'hot springs' 4km outside town to the west. Dozens of White Thai families have set up shop offering a bath in some geo-thermically extruded spring water for 10,000 VND per person per hour. Some of the tubs are sunken concrete affairs, big enough for two people. We heard that there was a communal option where you could bathe for free, but on our visit the locals insisted there was no such thing. No worries in any case -- one of the owners ran the tap for us to test the water, and it wasn't hot, it was luke warm. Maybe they needed to run the take longer.

To get here, take Dien Bien Phu and take a left at the prison, and the road winds 4km on to the village. You can't miss it.

Lookout Point - Good views

Description
There's a lookout point above the town, accessible via a set of stone steps -- it's a stiff 20-minute hike to the top, but you'll get a good view of the surrounds. There are no services at the top, so bring your own water. You can access it by following the road to the right of the Trade Union Hotel -- the first couple of hundred feet can be done on a motorbike in first gear, and once you get to the last house on the road, you'll have to park and you'll find the stairs to the right.