Go backpacking to Lang Son city in fruits season

Published: 09:56 Friday - September 27, 2013

I like custard-apple, you like kaki. And it is not difficult for us to take a backpacking trip to Lang Son province by motorbikes in the fruits season of this place “Dong Dang has Ky Lua street”.

Baskets of custard-apples

At present, fruits in Lang Son city are in the harvest season that custard-apple is at the end of its season and kaki is in the first season of harvesting. The next seasons of these two kinds of fruits are the seasons of mắc coọc, cardamom, tao meo. Whenever we go, we also feel the mature perfume of fruits.

Eat custard-apples in basket hanged on ropes and penetrate difficult stories of making living

Drive without hesitation from Hanoi to the National way 1 for 2 hours, we presented in Chi Lang district-the centre of Lang Son province. Custard-apples in Chi Lang are famous because their tasty favor and strange in the way of harvesting.

People say custard-apple trees only need planting right on layers of rocks to grow. However, to make branches leaden with delicious fruits, the planters must regularly use fertilizers, pollinate for their plants.

The process of artificial pollination consumes much interest: taking flours of small flowers, putting a head of plastic pipe into them to make balance putting of powders into pistils in big flowers.

Familiar images under Rocky Mountains in Chi Lang district, Lang Son province

Sitting under luxuriant branches of custard-apples and being presented a sweet-smelling fruit, I heard a Nung man tell that: “using fertilizers for custard-apples four times a year but trimming branches and making pollination must be done from lunar March.

He also told that: “His family grows at least 500 custard-apple trees, maybe up to 2 thousands. To take care for the whole gardens of custard-apple trees, we must continuously climb the mountain. With the strength of a young man, a day is enough for trimming for 10 trees and making pollination for 80 flowers at maximum.

Custard-apples are “hanging on ropes” to go into the mountain foot.

Right in the season of custard-apples, when reaching to Lang Son province, you will be given a chance to fresh your eyes by tents selling them by the road. Custard apples are sold in many communes, districts like Huu Lung, Chi Lang.

Cables to bring custard-apples into the mountain foot are the two pieces of strings in-parallel molded into bicycle rims. They are fast transported into the mountain foots which are 100 meters away from its top in vertical.

In the way to Lang Son province, people often see selling tents by the road like this

Dong Banh custard-apple market is an interesting tourist destination in Lang Son in these days.

Places of kaki Nhan Hau, mắc coọc and flowers of aloe vera

Season of kaki in Lang Son is nearly at the same time of the custard-apple season. Together with brittle grainless kaki Bao Lam, Vanh Khuyen kaki, Nhan Hau kaki is also the specialty there.

Kaki trees are grown in any spaces in the gardens and between foots of the tree or pathways. In the season of mature, hidden in roofs of green leaves, birds are flickering to eat fruits; Lang Son province is quiet and settled in strangely beautiful moments.

Nhan Hau kaki is still immature in its tree

In early mornings, along with the way to the town, motorbikes of the Nung couple carring baskets of yellow kaki are familiar images of the local people.
Tourists can come to Dong Kinh market, Ky Lua market, Gieng Vuong market (in Lang Son city) and stop before stalls of thousands of mắc coọc fruits, Lang jujubes brought to home as the gift for friends.

The Nung woman is procuring Nhan Hau kaki in Dong Banh market.

After discovering Dong Dang station, passing over a crossroad from Dong Dang district to Lang Son city, the leader suddenly pointed on the sky and asked us to find out the strange smell in the air.

I recognized this smell available in the Hanoi bowl of Pho but I can’t count its name. The leader “said” that it is the smell of flowers of aloe Vera. We were surprised that we were driving motorbikes through one of hills which grow this secret smell in the air.

The attraction of Lang Son province is not only characterized by busy streets with the biggest retail market in the South but also curve ways around mountains.