Paddy fields framed by jacaranda trees in the setting sun near Việt Trì
This collection of pages (North from Hà Nội) introduces the provinces that are situated in the area to the north of the capital. Hà Nội itself is some 100 kilometres from the sea, and lies in the huge (15,000 square kilometres) Red River plain. Below are photographs, mostly from along the road, showing that plain as it extends north-west towards the provincial city of Việt Trì.
Lower down the page, the last group of photographs concern a very special tree which grows in the area - Rhus vernicifluum. Its sap provides the sticky gum which has been used for many centuries in the production of Lacquer work, an art still flourishing in Vietnam. An attempt at making a picture using lacquer, by the photographer, is appended.
A (relatively) small tributary of the Red River is the River Lô which is seen here from a
bridge on the main road (Quốc Lộ 2 - National Highway 2) to the north-west...
...and on that bridge the footpath is occupied by these boys taking their cattle home. You
can go to
a more aesthetically pleasing shot of the same activity
And a less selective photograph shows the sort of mixture of traffic that alarms foreigners - neither the handcart nor the horse-cart were hit by the oncoming white van
Another, not uncommon, sight is that of the horse drawn cart plodding along in the motorbike lane
A rather too soft photo, attempts to show that the cyclist is transporting a small tree along the highway
The plain of the Red River offers rich opportunities for growing paddy, here the stubble of newly harvested fields
Paddy fields in September, after the harvest
Planting the paddy seedlings -
Go here
for more on
planting along Quốc Lộ 32
Workers prepare the ground after the rice has been harvested; to the right, the stubble after cutting
These two neighbouring fields show: above, serried ranks of graves with little space, and the more...
...common sight of graves spaced across areas where the occupants used to work. Go to
a page
on graves
The sun dropping vertically down across the fields in the 10 minutes or so of
sunsets
that are offered to those in the tropics
The edges of the Red River plain are not far away,
these two photos were taken...
...at the edges of the plain where the rivers and lakes start to meet the gentle rolling country
A reminder that less bucolic photographs are also available -
but even these brick works offer a couple of jacaranda trees Introducing Rhus (now renamed Toxicodendron) vernicifluum
These photos of this small tree were taken on the plain of the Red River. Its sap is used to create high gloss lacquer furniture and paintings.
The rhus seedlings in their plastic sheafs
The nursery area for young plants
Not an impressive tree, but a valuable crop.
The scaring on the...
...trunk shows where it has been cut to release the sap
A cut is made into the trunk to bleed the sap,
and just below it a second cut is made...
...into which an oyster shell (in his left hand) is fitted, to collect the sap as it runs down
A shell, newly in place, to collect the sap
A collecting pot with recently gathered sap
And a collecting pot - simpliciter
A small first venture by myself, but it shows the techniques used. Eggshells are broken up and the minute fragments set onto a board covered in the sap, pigment is added to the sap to give the required colours and applied; the whole is finally sealed with the sap
Trailers...
The next Picture Posting
page takes you east to the neighbouring province of Truyên Quang.
The next page
of the Mosaic Section is to be headed 'Symbiogenesis'.
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.
The previous page had photographs from East Lothian in the south of Scotland
Go to a page on calligraphy - another distinctive Vietnamese art
...guide to this site