Stilt villages like the one shown here have been a defining feature of life along the Mekong for centuries. Built above the waterline to cope with seasonal flooding, these communities developed a way of life almost entirely organized around the river — fishing, trading, and traveling by boat rather than road. The Mekong itself is one of the longest rivers in the world, flowing from the Tibetan Plateau through multiple countries before fanning out across southern Vietnam into the broad delta region. The communities here have historically sustained much of Vietnam's rice and freshwater fish production.

The rainy season brings the river to its fullest and most dramatic, but the dry-season months from December through April offer calmer waters and the clearest light for seeing this landscape at its most vivid.