The objective today was a late afternoon flight to Hue, which required a 3+ hour drive from Tam Cőc back to Hanoi's domestic airport. But along the way there was some exploration to do. Starting with a brief explanation of the process of rice growing. The gentleman in the first photo and his wife were planting young rice plants in one of the patches of land their family owns (they own 2 sq km in total). Our guide pointed out that it is somewhat unusual for the husband to be working in the rice fields as they are usually in the city working to make cash. In the case of this family that task is being undertaken by the families adult children.

Second on the tourism agenda was a ride in a small boat on a wetland. Being a bit of a gearhead and techo-nerd I found the construction of the boat interesting. The hull is made from a woven bamboo grid covered in liquid rubber and then both inside and outside covered in a thin layer of concrete. You will notice some pink water-lily flowers in some of the photos of the wetland, as well as a very colorful king-fisher style of bird. The pink substance stuck on the reed stem are eggs of a local type of snail.

Immediately after the boat ride we did a tour of the local village in the back of a water buffalo cart. While on the paved roads of the village this was a very sedate ride but got a little more exciting when the eldlerly lady guiding the beast decided to take us on the strips of land between the rice fields; definitely not highway standard.

The big pond after the photo of Nina and Rob in the buffalo cart is part of a farm we visited next. The diversity of this farm was a little hard to get ones mind around. In the pond there is a green plant, which is used as pig food, in addition the pond is the home to ducks, cat fish (up to 10kg) and small turtles. At the far end of the pond is a large chicken coop and pigeon house. Down both sides of the pond are at least a dozen different types of friut trees. At the near end which is not visible in the photos are vegetable gardens.

We had lunch in a nearby restaraunt owned or managed by the same people that managed the farm.

Very industrious people.

As an indicator of how different cultures have different tastes look at the last photo. This is not a church or museum or some other public building but is the private home of a wealthy family. In the past couple of days we have seen a number of private homes as grand or grander thatn this in the same style.\