Summer is here. The rice is almost ripe. Let’s go to Mu Cang Chai, the home of terraced fields, to admire ripening rice.

Here are some pictures of Mu Cang Chai in the time of ripen rice:

On the road to Mu Cang Chai – the peak of Khau Pha hill.

Terraced fields.

La Pan Tan – a mountain village of H’mong, around 15 kilometres from Mu Cang Chai. Before 1996, this village was the land of poppies. All families planted poppy. All people were poppy addicts. The local government had to implement a special policy to gradually rub out poppies.

In the first year, each old person was allowed to keep 100sq.m of poppy field. The area of poppy for each old person was reduced in the second year, and poppy was banned completely in the third year.

At present, rice has replaced poppy in this land.

Local H’mong people now have a better life. La Pan Tan has been recognised as a national landscape in 2007.

Terraced field in La Pan Tan.

Cu Que Nha, a commune in Mu Cang Chai.

Ethnic minority women harvest rice.