I continued my ride down the pitted road through the open fields and the views were absolutely gorgeous. At first, I was stopping every few hundred yards or so to take photos. I finally convinced myself that I'd taken enough pictures and that I should just settle in and enjoy the ride uninterrupted.
Laos is clearly a very fertile country. But, crops come as a result of a lot of backbreaking work. I don't recall seeing a single piece of machinery being used in the fields. It seemed that everything was being done by hand.
The Laos farmers practice what's called slash and burn farming. In the second photo, you can see a group clearing the brush and trees using machetes and then they'll burn the debris in order to clear the land. Quite a painstaking, labor-intensive process AND, unfortunately, it's not very "green."
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