The northern parts of Bắc Kạn Province offer karst landscapes like this,
heralding the proximity to Cao Bằng
Mostly the landscape retains a gentle mixture of
terraced fields and stilted houses The previous page had photos from the south of Bắc Kạn Province, here this journey through the north of central Vietnam continues towards Cao Bằng with photographs from the northern part of Bắc Kạn. Now karsts start to be a major feature of the landscape and the crops change: tobacco fields appear amongst the familiar paddy, corn and vegetables. The karsts, so dominant in the landscape further north, are starting to appear regularly - often covered in lush jungle. Ba Bể Lake, already introduced, dominates this part of the province, so below the photos seek to compliment that major landmark with a diversity of aspects of the province. The next page ends this 'Collection' with a visit to the hidden area to the west of Ba Bể Lake.
Fields...
...terracing and...
...small hills - the key landscape elements
Tobacco and karsts
Tobacco leaves the size of a motorbike seat
A ready flooded field, between tobacco, awaits its paddy...
...that field in context; a fine karst range invites
A lost locust, but beautifully shaped in disguise as a head of corn - not so good if it likes tobacco on which it was found!
Sheltering from the rain - a dreich village street.
Below, as the rain abates, people slowly emerge
Nearby a motorbike stops, and we are made an offer at an unrepeatable price for this carving - which we gently declined
A damselfly's colour marks it out from its background - easy prey?
Buffalo graze along the roadside...
...a calf keeps careful contact
Streams like this belong in the north of Vietnam; their rocks giving that tinge of
light blue so noticeable in Cao Bằng
Water wheels such as these, which lift the water from passing streams...
...to the higher level of the fields beside them, are seen in many parts of the country, also
for instance
in the north-west
Such complete forest cover is not common in Vietnam, the deprivations of the American war and its aftermath left much of the land denuded, so scenes like this, in a fully tropical country, are rare, but this surely deserves the title jungle - a truly wonderful sight, and equally delightful soundscape
Moving north the mountains get higher and steeper...
...and corn is commoner
Farming on
precipitous
hillsides becomes the norm...
...and clothed karsts dominate the landscape...
...until we are in country that belongs to
Cao Bằng in all but name
Trailers...
The next Picture Posting page
passes a little way to the west, and to the flooding of an area by a new reservoir in Na Hang District.
The next page
of the Mosaic Section
is headed 'Gaia'.
Or go to the contents Go to the contents of the Mosaic Section. of the Mosaic Section. Monitors can keep the layout, which phones may need to discombobulate.
Go to a page on the karsts of Cao Bằng
...guide to this site