I certainly wasn't about to go hungry but that rice suddenly represented a safe food supply for the foreseeable future. The only thing I can liken it to is getting your salary check in the mail. You're okay for a while - you'll be able to meet your needs, pay your bills. It was the first time I began to understand what rice meant to the people of Asia. This is because the Mekong in the south and the Red River in the north are indeed rice baskets, producing vast quantities of grain that feed the rest of Vietnam.
Rice is life.
In many areas rice is money - it is the traditional currency. There are two principal ways to grow rice - in wet paddy or on dry hillsides. The paddy rice yields a high tonnage per hectare but requires more labor. The dry rice is usually planted by poor farmers who have no access to water or live on slopes too steep to terrace. Flood the paddy.