Farm couple, Hai Duong

Here are the owners of the pigs in the previous photo, standing in front of that year's crop of cooking fuel. I have noticed that Vietnamese farmers are happy to greet visitors in their work clothes, but invariably put their good clothes on over the top for the photo. We were visiting because Ms X is part of a basket weaving collective that sells basketry to an export company in Hanoi. We had visited their place of work and Ms X invited us to her home. Basket weaving isn't a highly remunerative occupation, but it helps to keep them going between rice crops. Looking after the livestock is also women's work. Men, on the other hand, have a lot more leisure time.