Today We Bicycled Through a Slice of Heaven

Although rain was forecast, 4 of 11 on our tour who signed up for a farm bicycle jaunt decided to brave the elements. We got totally soaked but it was totally worth it. One of my top highlights of the trip so far. The rice fields have dikes that have paved pathways, so we didn’t get too muddy, just drenched. They were 1 speed cycles but the terrain is mostly flat here. 

Water Buffalo are no longer used due to mechanization, Most farmers view them as pets, so they are not killed, but die of old age and are buried with honours. 

Three rice crops can be grown each year, but here it’s now usually just one, due to the depressed price. Flowers are a better cash crop. This lily pond has tons of snails which can ruin a crop. The snail eggs shown are rampant in the lily pond next to the rice fields. So ducks are brought in to the rice paddies and they control the snail population. These snails are not good for eating as the sludge in the pond is in their stomachs. But their tongues are a delicacy. During Covid when Vietnam closed its borders, our guide who designed this traveller tour and had no clientele caught and cut out snail tongues to sell. They are a delicacy. He also raised ducks and sold them to the rice farmers. 

This prawn farming pond is brackish water, a combo of salt and fresh. Aerator machines keep the water amenable to the prawns. “Seaweed” is used to feed them. Not real seaweed as the ocean is six km away, but river weeds. After the crop is harvested through traps, the pond must be drained, the poopy muck removed, and then refilled with brackish groundwater for the new crop. Our guide said he eats the seaweed because it acts like viagra!! We never figured if he was kidding.

After the war ended in 1975, soldiers were offered free land if they farmed it. A family got 100 square metres per family member and had to farm organically, as there was no fertilizer available. Seaweed is still the fertilizer. A mixture of garlic, chilli and rice wine is sprayed on the crops as an organic pesticide. The generations have continued the practice. The following pictures are all in Tra Que farm community. We cyclists became farmers.

This woman is 88 years old. She is collecting and carrying seaweed. We all had a go at the yoke. That wood was kind of heavy. 

More on the next post, as I’ve reached the max number of pics. Have followed instructions but videos won’t upload.