Dicing with death on the rivers of Vietnam and Laos (video)

Bamboo harvesters navigate rapids on rafts while Lao fishermen risk death casting their nets into a roaring waterfall.

There are two staples of Vietnamese life: rice and bamboo for its many uses.

The province of Thanh Hoa has one of the largest bamboo forests in Southeast Asia, with over 80,000 hectares of natural bamboo forest and 71,000 hectares of planted bamboo.

In just three years, the plant can grow up to eight metres tall.

With the global market for bamboo expanding, the bamboo industry contributes to Thanh Hoa's growing economy and sustains the livelihoods of thousands of small-scale farmers.

"Cutting the bamboo is very tiring work but it's the only we can make a living," says a bamboo labourer. "We go to the forest, cut the bamboo and carry it down to the river."