Saturday, May 29, 2010

Shopping for love in Vietnam's mountains

Once a year, with his wife's blessing, Lau Minh Pao gets to have a guilt-free tryst with his ex.


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The love market village of Khau Vai is seen from the top of a mountain in Vietnam's northern Ha Giang province, 500 km (310 mi) north of Hanoi May 9, 2010.

Ethnic San Chi girls giggle while attending the "love market" in Khau Vai village in Vietnam's northern Ha Giang province, 500 km (310 miles) north of Hanoi May 9, 2010.
Hmong girls wait for their lovers at the Khau Vai 'love market' in Vietnam's northern Ha Giang province, 500 km (310 mi) north of Hanoi May 10, 2010
















Ethnic Hmong wait for their lovers at the Khau Vai 'love market' in Vietnam's northern Ha Giang province, 500 km (310 mi) north of Hanoi May 10, 2010. 













A Hmong girl goes to Khau Vai 'love market' in Vietnam's northern Ha Giang province, 500 km (310 mi) north of Hanoi May 10, 2010

Their rendezvous' have played out more like strolls down memory lane than salacious flings, but they are part of a treasured tradition in this mountainous corner of northern Vietnam that may challenge some more linear concepts of love.
"In the past, we were lovers, but we couldn't get married because we were far apart," Pao simply as he waited for his date on a dark night in the village of Khau Vai in Ha Giang province.
Now when they meet, he said, "we pour our hearts out about the time when we were in love."
They are not alone. continued on reuters>>

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