Hon Khoi Salt Fields

The salt fields on the Hon Khoi peninsula north of Nha Trang are worked in the dry months, when sea water is let into shallow pans and evaporated, and the harvest is done by hand: workers, mostly women, rake the crust into cones and carry it out in baskets on shoulder poles. It starts around four in the morning and finishes by nine, because by then the sun makes the work impossible - which is also why the photographs everyone takes here are of a low sun and long shadows. Photographers arrive in numbers in season, and the arrangement with the workers is informal and should involve paying them.

What you actually see

• Salt raked into cones - on shallow evaporation pans.
• Carried out on shoulder poles - in baskets, by hand.
• Work from four to nine in the morning - stopped by the heat.
• Photographers in numbers - in the harvest season.

When to go

January to June, arriving before sunrise. Half a day.

Honest expectations

This is hard, badly paid physical work and photographing it without paying is exploitative - the local convention is to pay. It is over by mid-morning. The fields are hot, bright and without shade. Access is informal.

Nearby

Doc Let beach is on the same peninsula; Nha Trang is south.