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Harvesting water lilies in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
Lily skills
The five dancers in this delicate water ballet are waist-deep in a hard day's work. Those spiralling skirts are really water lilies that they're carefully rinsing and bundling for sale. Going back generations, women from communities around the Mekong Delta take part in the lily harvest each year. As southern Vietnam's rice fields flood and the plants proliferate, these workers pilot traditional wooden boats to gather lilies from the muddy shallows. The lilies fetch a price not only for their lovely blossoms of pink or white, but also for their stems, the key flavouring in a local sour soup.
Lily skills
The five dancers in this delicate water ballet are waist-deep in a hard day's work. Those spiralling skirts are really water lilies that they're carefully rinsing and bundling for sale. Going back generations, women from communities around the Mekong Delta take part in the lily harvest each year. As southern Vietnam's rice fields flood and the plants proliferate, these workers pilot traditional wooden boats to gather lilies from the muddy shallows. The lilies fetch a price not only for their lovely blossoms of pink or white, but also for their stems, the key flavouring in a local sour soup.
Are we witnessing some kind of synchronised water dance?
© Abstract Aerial Art / Digital Vision / Getty Images 2026-09-11 08:45:51 :