Grazing buffalo on horseshoe terraces with karsts for background
This page adds to the set of pages on the north-eastern province of Cao Bằng in Vietnam. (For more pages
see contents.
) Other pages have shown
rocky karst slopes,
placid waterways,
and communities including the
provincial capital,
here a range of images underlines the diversity of this most inviting of provinces.
Villages at the foot of a karst with fields around
In the higher areas of the province the rocky ground is challenging. Here farmers have stacked up the stones to clear small fertile patches of soil
Neat lines of maze between the rock and stones
A typical upland valley with its rocky fields like those
seen in
the high hills of Hà Giang
Among the hills but at less elevated levels the fields are more manageable
A family working in their fields in a lower, and less rocky, mountainous area
The oncoming car, possibly wanting some of the road...
...but not too much of it, and we continued to follow
Paper collection - Cao Bằng style
More fields at a lower level with the patterning of paths...
...and irrigation ditches that occur throughout Vietnam
A three bar fence protects the fields. What might be kept out or in - possibly pigs?
And now down to the low levels where the slopes are fertile and the valley bottoms rich
The original dense jungle of the lower slopes - Cao Bằng is just within the tropics
White blossom
Most trees in Vietnam are evergreen, although there are seasons here in the north just as in non-tropical regions. This is probably part of the great attraction the Vietnamese feel towards these spring blossoms that appear before the leaves. The earliest blossoms are used at the new year celebrations much as pines are used in northern Europe
Again with karst as backdrop
...etherial air, like groups of spirits in conclave
These haystacks take on an altogether...
Bright blossom standing out against the dense jungle background
Houses with their banana trees
Papaya plantation
Workers tending the plantation
Stilted storage and maze field
Maze in the rich soil of the lower ground
A summary picture of Cao Bằng: gentle rich wooded country with a background
of jagged karst hills Trailers...
The next page
goes up to the northern border of Cao Bằng where Hồ Chí Minh returned to his country in 1941.
The next page
of the Mosaic Section is headed 'Edinburgh is north of London'
Go to the contents of the Mosaic Section.
To countryside in Tamil Nadu
To a the Moffat Water in south Scotland
