Rice fields at Sapa, Lào Cai, Vietnam (© Anujak Jaimook/Getty Images)

Sunlight breaks through drifting clouds and settles on the terraced slopes of Sapa, where rice fields spill down the mountainsides in sweeping layers like a living staircase. Nestled in Vietnam's Lào Cai Province, this highland region is shaped as much by human endeavour as by nature. For centuries, farmers from ethnic communities such as the Hmong have carved and maintained these terraces, channelling water across steep hillsides to nourish each growing season.