Journey to Hoàng Su Phì (To Vietnam's Terraced Rice Fields) 3 — Scenery Found Nowhere Else

You never really know how good a trip is until you go. Especially when it's an area with almost no information available. Now that internet access is becoming widespread, people tend to think there are no unexplored places left... but there are. Places that aren't on Google Maps, places where the signal doesn't reach. There's an atmosphere and scenery you can only feel by actually going there. Today, swept along by my adventure-loving husband and his friend, we pushed on down rough roads and encountered scenery you can't experience in everyday life. It was just an ordinary country road, but there was life there. My friend said, "Oh no, I forgot my sunglasses~," so we decided, "Let's stop in if we find a general store~." Browsing around. A country general store—they have everything. While searching for sunglasses, I wandered around the shop, and it was full of excitement.

From food ingredients to detergent, shampoo, and all sorts of daily necessities. On the wall, there's something that looks like a big rubber loop.

What could this be used for? My husband thought it might be a cord for tying things onto a motorbike, so he bought one. It's a sturdy rubber band for strapping down luggage, and it's very useful. And then there's the cooking utensil that caught my eye. An aluminum kettle. We didn't have this kind of design back in Ho Chi Minh City~

What a cute kettle, a little pot... You'd brew tea and cook rice with this, wouldn't you? But I'll hold myself back. I'll take a commemorative photo to keep as a sweet memory. And even while I was making that little detour, right now it's just the rice-harvesting season, so all the neighbors are helping one another out with the harvest.

Since it's farm work, naturally they hold sickles in their hands. Sharp sickles curved into a much tighter round shape than in Japan. They came in all sorts of sizes too. There must be a size that fits the hand just right, that feels comfortable to hold. What you should pay attention to is the headgear. When you think of Vietnam, it's the nón lá, but... look closely... it's huge! Or rather, on top of a normal-sized nón lá, they're wearing an even bigger nón lá. The inside seems to be silver aluminum, making it lighter.

And on top of that, such a cute design! In other words, it's a non-la cover, right? It shades you all the way down to your shoulders and also keeps the rain off. It's absolutely perfect for farm work. And the boots on your feet are the soft type that come up past the knees. It seems they've evolved in all sorts of ways to make the work easier. Things like this—you really don't understand them until you come to the actual site. I've started wanting one. But I wouldn't use it, so... A commemorative photo, a commemorative photo... Relocation Life Ranking