Weekend in Lang Son- Part I

I apologize for the lack of posts on my blog. Last time I was in Vietnam I had plenty of time on my hands to write entries. This time I have very “busy”. I put busy in quotes because my social life has been very, very full. Last weekend was just one example of the wonderful time I am having.

I met a student two years ago who was an English major. She was sitting next to the “old people’s” volleyball game and was watching me make a fool of myself. We started talking—she wanted to practice her English and I wanted to be able to communicate with ANYONE!! That short conversation has evolved into a wonderful friendship. Huong and I have keep in touch when I was back in the US and she made me promise that I would go with her to visit her hometown in northern Vietnam when I returned. Below is a photo of Huong and me at her parent's home.



So last weekend was the big trip! We took what Huong called a “comfortable bus” from Hanoi northeast towards the China border. When I say “bus” –think MO-X shuttle van that runs from Columbia to the airports. Same van—but different ride. They stuff as many people into this vehicle as possible. I lost count at 25…and we kept stopping along the road to pick up more people along the way. But everyone was polite and cheerful—even if you were sitting on your neighbor’s lap. The trip was about four hours (95 mi) and the cost was $3.50 each way.

The ride to Lang Son is very interesting. Departing Hanoi we crossed the Red River and drove along the river’s flood plain for quite awhile. Once you cross the river, basically you are in an agricultural area with mostly rice paddies on both sides of the road. Small villages were along the way…but the interesting thing is that there are people everyone…working in the fields, selling bread, fruit, clothes—anything along the roadway or just hanging out by the sides of the road. As got closer to Lang Son the flat river bottom gave way to huge karst (limestone) mountains that literally rose out of the land—beautiful and majestic looking.



We rolled into Lang Son about 6:30pm and were dropped off at Huong’s parents house. It was wonderful to meet her parents and as you can expect, having a “westerner” as a guest was a pretty special event!



The family consists of Huong who is the oldest—(23-and who took the photo above)and a younger sister (21) and brother (19). I believe her parents are in their early 50’s. Age is important in Vietnam because it tells people where you fit into the social structure. They use different terms for how you fit into the family. At first they were calling me grandmother! GAK. I told them I was not a grandmother—but rather the “elder sister”….which caused them to evolve into a great deal of laughter!


Huong’s mother had cooked a wonderful Vietnamese meal. Chicken, noodles, duck, sweet corn and a variety of other dishes. In fact, I ate so many different foods over the weekend that it is hard to remember what we had at each meal. The one thing I do know is that the food was wonderful!

Because the whole family was home this weekend, beds were pretty much taken up by family members. Huong was also concerned that I would be uncomfortable on their beds….and she was right because they sleep on boards with a pad on top. So I was taken to a local hotel. The first hotel we stopped at cost a whopping $8 per night…but the only room was on the 6th floor-no elevator and we were pooped just climbing up to look at the place. Plus….it was somewhat “marginal” in quality. But no problem, we hopped back onto the motorcycle and tried another place. Much nicer….2nd floor room on the quiet side of the hotel. Two big beds…nice clean sheets…big bathtub, etc. Cost $12.50 per night! As you can imagine, I slept like a log!

The next day was full of activity. Vietnamese often eat out for breakfast…so we stopped at a restaurant – basically a long alleyway—that served these GREAT rice type of pancakes with an egg , pork and onion rolled into the middle. Two of those and I was really full!





We hopped back on the motorcycle and headed off to the hospital to visit Huong’s Grandfather. He was the nicest man and was so happy to meet me! He had some serious health problems and was recovering. He straightened his room and put in his teeth for my arrival! He was a clockmaker and good with machines. During the war with the French, a gun or something blew up in his left hand and it was pretty badly mangled. But he was able to continue his work and seemed to do pretty well despite the loss of many fingers. Initially I was worried that he was wounded during the “American War” and was somewhat relieved to learn that it was the French…not US that was the cause of his wounds.



After the hospital visit we putt-putt-putted over to Huong’s father’s office. He is a dentist and has an office on the main street of Lang Son. I visited with him and his nurses. He looked at my teeth- wanted to see American dentistry. I was amazed when I saw their prices. Just dollars to get a tooth filled! He also did implants and they were very reasonable too! Many of the minority people (Hmong, Dao, etc) living in this area have gold-rimmed teeth and I am sure he could fix me up with some “rims” if I wanted!




We headed back to Huong’s for lunch…the whole family gathers for the mid-day meal. Most people in Vietnam head home for a meal about 11:30am followed by a nap! Then around 1:30 or 2pm head back to work until 5, 6 or 7pm. It is a very civil schedule. We all bedded down for a short rest and after about 45 minutes everyone was up and off again to work.

To be continued……….