Planting Season in Vietnam (7 pix)

[Comanche]

Though I am back home now, I had one last series of photos to post. As always, cc welcome.

Photo galleries of Việt Nam almost always have pictures of peasants working in the fields. I suppose such pix are a bit of a cliché, but of course, everyone needs to eat, so the photos are also accurate representations of life in Việt Nam.



Most farmers own their own land, but villagers cooperate rather than compete with each other. They work hard, though I noticed they seemed to be having a good time giving the westerner with the camera a welcoming but teasing hello.

They arrive at the fields by bicycle, though many of them walk. These fields were quite large, but I could see three villages in the area – nobody would have had a terribly long walk to get to work. Of course, working in the fields requires tools, and it mattered little if they brought tools by bicycle or on a shoulder.







Obviously, they are not working in rice paddies. The Vietnamese diet includes a lot of vegetables, so these farmers were planting veggie fields like these.




They should be able to get two harvests a year. The younger folks do the heavy work, such as hoeing the plowed rows and doing the stoop work of planting seeds or young plants.




That leaves the less arduous work of applying fertilizer to the older folks.




Of course, age is relative – I saw one lady using a hoe who seemed to be about my age, and I’m no kid.


So, the next time you see a shot like this of a Vietnamese farmer in a conical hat working in the field, remember that its not quite as much a cliché as you might think. After all, most peasants in cliché pix aren’t wearing pink pants.



I used my EF 28-135 f 3.5-5.6 IS on a Canon 30D for all these shots. It was one of the best days I had for photography, and it was still partly cloudy and hazy.

[bburton]

Even back home, your Vietnam photos are excellent.

[engstrom]

I agree with Bruce. Excellent photos - I especially like the first and last pictures.

[lhdvies]

Good work,Doug and thks for all your entries.-Leon

[golden11]

Interesting pictures and commentary. Thanks for sharing.

[pziasd]

I saw some photos of Vietman on another website taken in 1966-1967 other than being in black and white I see no difference in the life of rural Vietnamese.

[Comanche]

Originally Posted by pziasd

I saw some photos of Vietman on another website taken in 1966-1967 other than being in black and white I see no difference in the life of rural Vietnamese.

Pziasd - you would be quite wrong to assume life is the same. True, life is still hard, but economic growth has come to the countryside of Vietnam as well as the cities.

As an example, you probably saw pictures of rice paddies from 1966-67. Of course there are still rice paddies in Viet Nam, but there are other ways to farm as well. Here is a shrimp farm - just part of the new acquaculture countryside economy. Notice the high power lines.



The shrimp ponds are all operated with electric pumps, not hand labor.

Speaking of rice paddies, most likely you saw pictures of farmers walking behind a water buffalo to plow their fields. This is how its done today.



Back in 1966, the peasants threshed all the rice harvest by hand, but today its quite different.



If you saw any pictures of people's houses from 1966, most likely you saw a hut with a dirt floor and "wattle" walls made of a kind of mesh woven from palm fronds. While there are a few of these left, the vast majority of countrside homes are made of concrete, and all have electricity.



And, of course, you didn't see a TV set back in 1966.



Don't get me wrong - Vietnam is still a poor country, but far greater change has taken place in Vietnam over the past 40 years than here in America.

One last picture - this man is attending a funeral. He is dressed in traditional mourning clothes (the white gauze over his normal clothes) and he is taking a picture of me with his cell phone. Its a good picture to illustrate the transistion Vietnam is making.