In Vietnam we finally we became (dong) millionaires

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Salut mes amis,
everybody's doing alright we hope ? Life is treating you well and you're having a lovely time. Today's sunday, we assume youre taking a breath in the Haengematte, enjoying a good deal of ice-cold Gin Tonic.
We had a perfect finish in Shangri-La, a place which is very rich in myths and legends. There's a saying that this holy piece of land used to preserve the youth, actually it contains loads of magic vibes and power. I can recommend the story "Lost Horizon" if you wanna get into it.
Nevermind, shortly before got invited by the high lama to reach nirvana, meaning giving up all obsession, possessions and passions in order to receive wisdom, we saddled our horses and headed down south to Vietnam.
We intend to travel southwards, started in Sapa (nice but very touristic place in the mountains near the chinese border which is known for its minorities), we dropped by at Hanoi, spent a day in Ninh Binh where the Ha Long bay onland is situated and continue to Lang Co tonight.
Our impression is that the beauty of the country lies between the hotspots which are getting over-commercialized by the time and of course due to the endless hunger and demand of the tourismus industry and their clients. What appears very refreshing to us compared to China is a more open mind and freedom of opinion.
More on our pros and cons during our stay in Vietnam to come soon.
Best of luck and love to all of you from Irina and Tony

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Photos

street life in Shangri-La
One of our last days in China ended with this nice company in the old quarter of Shangri-La. We enjoyed good talks, some great deal of beer and loads of grilled food on the bbq like grashoppers and frogs.

biggest prayer wheel in the world ?
We stumbled over this huge thing in a monastery in Shangri-La.

Tiger Leaping Gorge
Legend has it that a tiger jumped the 25 metres across the Yangzi in order to escape a hunter, granting the gorge it's lyrical name. Well, nobody knows, maybe it was just a ordinary rabbit ... we enjoyed this place anyways, although I still do not like trekking very much.

The hunt is on (or better, it's over)
We didn't come across a tiger on the gorge, but by chance we saw and killed some stupid yaks which didn't wanna go out of the trail. Well done with potatos and beer the dinner made our day.

Hali-Hola-Halong Bay onland
Since we were longing for some action again, we decided to climb the limestones in the Halong area nearby Ninh Binh. What should we say, even if one dunnot care for views, the scenery shall attract you.

Time for a bath
Swimming with the dolphins is dead-boring, what excites much more is a cold bath with Emma the water buffalo.

Comments

[Anne]

I don't know if it's me
But we don't see at all yoru pictures anymore. all black squares. Nice black though ...

[Mahe]

The World is not Enough ?
So you folks finally went down under, so did you folks not go via HK ?The picture taken on the limestone with iri in the foreground is amazing !!please let us know how the grasshoppers tasted and which part of it was the most tasty ...;-)are you folks still in an alien land which does not have a small chip called a SIM ? ;-) do let us know where you could be reached... keep collecting all the small change from all yourdifferent part time jobs ;-) luv you folks mahe