The ploughman

Sanja took me out on his motorbike again to see if we could find rice being cut - so with me riding demurely side saddle we set off in the opposite direction from the plateau to the hilly western exit from Pokhara (the route to Lumbini where the Buddha was born). Rice is planted on the steep hillsides slightly later than on the plateau and we were in luck finding a family prepared to let me photograph them at work. Later we found this farmer ploughing a rice paddy that he'd recently flooded so that it was easier to work. His oxen were very docile and trying their hardest to obey the shouted commands and the waving of sticks but when their yokes slipped off during a tight turn they immediately filled their mouths with succulent foliage from the bank. Don't you just love the fact that although the ploughman is barefoot he is wearing a waistcoat and smart nepali hat?