Barun Roy: Cities that came in from the cold

ASIA FILE

Who says tourism can't be built around temples and history? The recent growth of Siem Reap in Cambodia and Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam clearly demonstrates that even such sedate attractions can become huge tourist-pullers if the packaging is right, the facilities are in place, the selling is professional and there is the extra something that visitors always look for.

Even five years ago, Siem Reap was nothing more than a sleepy little town and one guide book had described it thus: "There's a small market, some banks, a cyber café in a side street off the main road, some discos, and some very good restaurants."

Today, it has all the trappings of a boom town and the way it's growing, it could very well emerge as Cambodia's largest city after Phnom Penh.

The reason is simple. Siem Reap is the gateway to the famed temple ruins of Angkor and Angkor is fast becoming one of Asia's top tourist destinations.

Almost everybody who visits Cambodia visits Angkor and camps at Siem Reap. It's only 8 km from the temple complex and three hours from Poipet on the Thai border that has suddenly flowered as the casino capital of south-east Asia. Bangkok is another half a day's drive away.

There are 50 hotels in Siem Reap already and 20 more are on their way, including a Meridien due to open in September, in addition to dozens of guest houses that are as good as two or three-star hotels. This year, a million tourists are expected to visit Siem Reap and new land, sea, and air routes are being opened.

Last December, charter flights from Japan started, raising hopes that regular commercial flights to Siem Reap would follow soon. Come September, Korean Airlines will begin a scheduled service from Seoul to Siem Reap, which already boasts direct flights from Hong Kong, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Phuket, Kunming and Vientiane.

In addition, there are nine domestic flights from Phnom Penh. An air-conditioned fast boat service exists between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap along the Tonle Sap river.

Although not as explosive as Siem Reap, Dien Bien Phu is all set to become one of Vietnam's foremost tourist destinations.

Last month, as part of the celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the historic defeat of the French forces on May 7, 1954, the government ceremonially installed the national victory monument, reputedly the biggest bronze sculpture in the country, on top of D1 Hill, one of Dien Bien Phu's celebrated battle landmarks, adding another reason for people to visit the place.

In 1954, Dien Bien Phu was just a small village, comprising no more than seven or eight houses and surrounded by several low-lying hills, 260 miles northwest of Hanoi and 13 miles from the Laotian border. Around it the jungles were dense where tigers and elephants roamed.

It was there that the French forces under General de Castries regrouped to make their stand, not knowing that Vietnamese guerrillas under Vo Nguyen Giap, hauling in their arms and supplies on bicycles, had secretly occupied the surrounding hills.

There were no roads then in Dien Bien Phu, only pedestrian tracks. Today, its main street is filled with trucks and cars coming from or going to Laos, carrying the burdens of a growing border trade.

And the road from Hanoi brings in an increasing number of tourists, including foreigners, who want to savour the glory of a battle they have read so much about and that has become a legend of modern times.

Now the government is throwing in the extras. Last October, Dien Bien Phu was formally declared a city, and in January, the city and its surrounding districts were given the status of a separate province.

To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the battle, a year-long Dien Bien Phu Tourism Year was launched in March. The airport has been upgraded and a new terminal has been put in. Last year, the per capita income of Dien Bien Phu's 75,000 people reached $600 and tourism made up 37 per cent of the provincial economy.

All over the province, where Thai, H'mong, Khmer, Tay and Nung ethnic minorities form a substantial part of the population, special "cultural" villages have been set up for tourists. They go there to buy native handicraft, like brocade bags, participate in native cultural shows, and enjoy native hospitality.

After a decade of new construction, Dien Bien Phu has become an attractive young city with modern hotels, a 300-bed hospital, a brand new provincial cultural and conference centre, a medical high school, and all the other accoutrements of a prospering border trading post.

By next year, expectedly, the city will have expanded to an area of over 110 sq km, a vast transformation indeed from a puny hamlet lost in the jungle.