The farming village of Mai Chau, in north-western Vietnam, is located in a valley¹ with plenty of rice paddies, here seen from the the 470 meter high mountain viewpoint² on Road Nº 6 (QL6/AH13), the main entry road when coming from Hanoi.

In fact, the name Mai Chau (Mai Châu) means ‘Morning Valley’, the point in time when these pictures were taken. Mai Chau district has around 50,000 inhabitants, which beside the Viet or Kinh, includes several ethnic minority groups, such as the (White and Black) Thai, Hmong, Dao, Muong, Tay, and Hoa.