Hua Pe Hot Springs

Late in the afternoon, the road crosses the Mường Thanh Bridge and runs 5 kilometers to Thanh Luông commune. There, hot water rises out of the ground. This is Hua Pe Hot Springs.

Earlier in the day came 320 steps up D1 hill, a dark tunnel on A1 hill and 644 graves of fallen soldiers. Now it is nearly evening. That distance is a drive of 10 to 15 minutes, and Hua Pe is the hot spring closest to the center of Điện Biên Phủ city.

What sets Hua Pe apart from many other hot springs is its temperature. The water stays at about 60 degrees Celsius all year round and does not change with the seasons. Sixty degrees is still hot, too hot to dip a hand into the source. But a small amount of cold water mixed in brings the bathing tank to about 40 to 42 degrees, a comfortable temperature for soaking.

The Ú Vá springs lie 10 kilometers away. There the water reaches 85 degrees and needs much more cold water to cool it. Hua Pe is easier to adjust, and it suits first-time bathers better.

Not every hot spring in Vietnam has what Hua Pe has. The Institute of Labor Medicine, Hygiene and Environment tested the water and confirmed that it meets chemical hygiene standards for drinking water and everyday use. So the water is considered drinkable, though at that heat it must first be left to cool. It is not tap water and not bottled water, but hot mineral water flowing out of the earth. Few hot springs in Vietnam are recommended for drinking this way.

In a mineral tank at 40 degrees, the tiredness of a day of climbing and walking slowly melts away. Muscles loosen, joints ease and the mind goes pleasantly empty. A hotel spa cannot copy this, and the reason is not that the spring is more luxurious. This is simply more real: water from the ground, mountain and forest air, no background music, no colored lights.

All around lies the Mường Thanh plain, the same ground where the Điện Biên Phủ campaign was fought. That was the 1954 battle in which Việt Minh forces defeated the French. The spring ran quietly through those years, and nothing about it changed. The temperature was still 60 degrees, and the water still rose from the earth. While history changed on the surface, below it the hot water kept flowing up.

The road from Hua Pe back to the city runs across the Mường Thanh plain, the largest rice-growing area in Điện Biên. If the rice is ripening in the afternoon, patches of gold stretch along both sides of the road. It is a sight far from the battlefield. Here the eye moves from the numbers of history to the real ears of rice of today.