Two-tone terraces

The disparity in tint between these stair-stepped rice fields is the difference between young and old. Recently planted green grasses, which won't bear mature rice grains for a few months, contrast with the yellow crop that's fast approaching its appointment with the sickle. Although most of Vietnam's rice production occurs in the low, flat Mekong Delta, more than a thousand acres of rice terraces rise in this pocket of northern Vietnam. Ingenious irrigation networks designed by local Hmong people keep the paddies good and soaked until harvest time, even here at 3,200 feet above sea level.