The distinction between terraces and fields is a bit artificial, for the purposes of this page the move is away from steep slopes. Fields looking like contour lines on a map, the dots are horses -
they are not common in Vietnam
In places Route 32 rises considerably in height, then paddy gives way to (sweet) corn, here with a karst backdrop
This page continues to present photographs from along Route 32, turning now to photographs of fields. However, the page assiduously steers clear of paddy which dominates Route 32, as it does with so many highways in Vietnam - it receives full attention in future pages. Here, while paddy cannot be avoided, it is other crops and patterns that attract the camera's attention. The steep slopes of the previous page seem to necessitate terracing, as lower ground is reached, a new reason emerges: the complex system of irrigation that is so typical of the landscape, terrace walls become field divisions which act as controls on the flow of water.
Brown stubble on hillside fields contrasts...
...with green vegetables on a lowland plain
The neat rows of a tea farm contrast with some rather...
...scruffy coffee plants - coffee in the north is uncommon
The sight of these tea plantations...
...towards the southern end of Route 32
A figure lends scale
This farmhouse, of a tea plantation, is in typical Thai style with the old tiled hipped roof and stilts which leave storage space below
Here, fields on lower ground offer a contrasting unkempt view
Looking down, through light mist, to the pattern of fields on a valley floor
And in this photo the terraces meet a highland river
These fields are beginning to green, and possibly may not include paddy (unlikely!)...
...but here I cannot resist including an image of the pattern of paddy fields and bamboo
Before turning wholeheartedly to the subject of paddy fields (in the next pages) some shots around water in the fields. Where there is too little fall in the ground level,
wheels
like these are used to raise water to the higher fields - they are powered by the stream's movement. Rainfall in Vietnam is similar to Scotland, which, given the tropical climate, makes it heaven for many plants - if less so for people. Children, such as these girls looking after their family's buffalo, are delighted for the excuse to join their charges in the pool
Animals often seem amazingly tolerant of human children...
...putting up with behaviour otherwise irritating
Leading the buffalo out of the pool...
...a clip of film can take over
Water has other uses besides supporting plants. Fish ponds are ubiquitous, this shop is selling fish traps; the fish swim into the bamboo cylinder...
...and the spikes inside the hole prevent their return
Here a different use of water: the bamboo is pinned below the surface for many months to prevent future rotting
OK there are, of course, hens everywhere
But what is much more entertaining is that there are ducks everywhere as well. This lot look a bit young to be out and about alone
After a page of fields trying to avoid paddy, here it comes. Seen here through that slight mist that is prevalent in the winter months, the landscape is dominated by paddy fields wherever the land is sufficiently fertile
Trailers...
The next Picture Posting page
has photographs of those, surely precarious, narrow paths that separate the fields
The next page
of the Mosaic Section is headed 'Water'.
Or go to the contents Go to the contents of the Mosaic Section. of the Mosaic Section.
To some fields around Moffat in southern Scotland
...guide to this site