Lang Son City: Famous for their BBQ Duck

I was in Lang Son City which is on the border of China and located in a northeastern province of Vietnam. I was there for about 6 days for work and the mission went pretty well, especially since we had a really good interpreter which can make or break a project.

The trip started off with the hotel assigning my Canadian colleague and I the same room, because they just assumed we were a couple (which i quickly informed them we were not). Murray is a 52 year old man, happily married with 3 kids. However for the rest of the trip, the third question the locals kept asking me was (1st question, where are you from?; 2nd question, how old are you?) is he your husband. So really the whole town pretty much thought I was his mistress no matter how many times I told them I was there working with the City and their mayor.

We were working with the more senior officials, the chairman of the People's Council, as well as the chairman of the People's Committee. I kind of felt like we were in the mafia - the government cars are black with tinted windows and we were picked up and driven everywhere and escorted throughout the whole trip. Everytime we visited a site, the chairman would just give the ticket person a look and we would get waved in. I felt like VIP!

The population of Lang Son City is approximately 100,000 and even to me now seems like a small city. A lot of people who can't afford motorbikes, ride bicycles and I wanted to get this experience. So I asked the hotel if they knew where I could rent a bicycle and the hotel staff didn't have any idea, but the receptionist offered to go home and bring her bike and let me use it for the rest of the week. I thought that was pretty nice of her and got up early for a couple of the mornings and went for a bike ride through the city. Many people think I am crazy for the distances I walk and are always offering to take me by motorbike. For once I felt like I could blend in when I was on the bike and felt a little more Vietnamese.

One of the neat places we got to visit was the Friendship Gate which is the border entrance to China. We were only allowed to walk to the neutral zone but we could see part of the Great Wall on the other side - not sure if it was brought there or if it was actually built there.

Photo: Group at the Friendship Gate entrance

This picture is taken from the 0 Km line. Vietnam's main highway is Highway 1 which starts from this point and run from the very north of the country to the very south passing through Hanoi and Saigon.

Photo: The Underpass to China

There is quite a bit of Chinese influence here. When you go to the markets, all the items are from China and the vendors are Chinese who speak some Vietnamese. There was a 2-week war back in the late 70's (I may be wrong on the timeline) when China invaded Vietnam and it was this province that they destroyed. So much of the houses and buildings are relatively new since they have been rebuilt during the 80's and 90's.

We ate really well and if I did lose any weight while I have been here I definitely gained it back! One of Lang Son's famous dishes is its bbq duck which happens to be one of my favourite meats (just behind lobster). I gorged and ate half by myself while the interpreter and Murray barely finished the other half.

Photo: Furniture making business

On our way back to Hanoi, the Lang Son people arranged for us to visit an industrial village that was created in 1990 near Bac Ninh City that produces furniture. This was pretty eye-opening to see. All this furniture is done by hand and completely done by labor. There are no manufacturing shops or machinery creating the furniture, just people's bare hands, with a saw and sandpaper. This village exports a lot of its furniture around the world, so next time you see wood furniture made in Vietnam, it was probably made in a town like this.

Photo: When you buy furniture, people examine it pre-stained and pre-lacquered so they can examine the quality of the wood and craftmanship.

It was a pretty educational trip overall since I was able to participate in the mission and get to see Lang Son with local guides and oh course, have my bbq duck, which I bought one and brought to my office as a treat for lunch.