Then the big tractors came out to wallow in the muddy fields. I'm not really sure what they're doing, maybe flattening out the bottom or compacting the mud down.
One of these tractors got stuck in the field across from our apartment. He had to have a bulldozer come get his tractor out (the one above is not stuck). All the mud around lately has reminded me of being little and playing in the mud at the edge of Grandpa's garden with John and Kim. Maybe that's why rice planting looks like fun to me.For awhile I kept missing the actual planting. I'd go to school and a field would be water. By the time school was out, the same field would have baby rice. With all the water-filled fields, it has looked like we're surrounded by lakes.
The rice was being planted so quickly that I thought they must have lots of people helping. Ahh, so naive, because then one day I finally saw the specialized tractor they use, which explains why the rows and plants are so perfectly spaced. It plants probably 7 or 8 rows at a time so it gets a field planted extremely fast. Fast enough that I've still not been able to get a photo of the tractor. One day when I didn't have my camera with me, William and I watched one for a little while. It's pretty cool but we're not sure how it works exactly. It seems like it would shred the baby plants.(I'll try to post about Hong Kong soon.)
