View from the roof

Mr L of Khuc Thuy has extended his house upwards. It's the only way to go when residential land is so scarce. This is the view from the roof terrace on top of the third floor. North Vietnamese villages are generally surrounded by a bamboo hedge - a thicket that would have been impossible to penetrate in days when local defence was needed. These days they're a bit patchy, so the roof offers a view of recently harvested paddy fields and the lines of eucalypts in the distance planted for timber along all the roads and main irrigation ditches. Self-sufficiency is the name of the game - everyone has fruit trees, pigs and chickens, a haystack for cooking fuel and a well. Whatever can be fitted into your plot of land!