Son La

Riding toward Son La you pass over small steams and see little wooden bridges and road side huts that lay out to dry their locally grown garlic.

Son La prison was establish in 1908 at the center of town on the top of Khau Ca Hill. Nicked named ´Hell on Earth´ due to the brutality dealt out by the French Colonialists on the Vietnamese prisoners. In the winter season it was isolated and cold and all round life must have been bleak and worst then hell. Partly demolished, dam and eerie prisoners here where shackled in cramped windowless cells and often met their end with beheading. Entrance costs: 10,000 dong.