Village yard, Red River delta

I took this photo while sitting in the cramped living quarters of a village rice trader and her husband who is a construction worker. L began trading in 2004; previously she was a poor farmer. The couple's one-room accommodation has been divided off from his parents' house - it is their bedroom, living room and warehouse and is about as big as my kitchen in Sydney. The outbuilding is the kitchen and bathroom block. That's my moto parked in the corner, but they do have one too, parked behind the piece of sacking that keeps the sun out. For transporting rice she uses the xe tho, the modified bicycle with a platform built on one side to carry a few bags and an arrangement of poles for steering and maintaining balance as you walk alongside. They use this to collect paddy from the villagers. For transport to her main customer - a wholesaler a few villages away - she hires a tractor-trailer with a capacity of just over a tonne. It is small-scale stuff, but much better than being a farmer. Maybe in a few years they'll be able to build their own house.