One Hundred Flying Water Babies
Trip Start
Oct 02, 2012
1
39
52
Trip End
Ongoing
What I did
Hanoi, Vietnam
Saturday, November 24, 2012
So we fill the first of our rest days with a leisurely walk around the lake, before booking tickets to see a water puppet show for later that evening. Water puppetry is a traditional form of Vietnamese entertainment which originated in the water flooded rice fields. The puppets are controlled from underneath with mechanisms that are hidden from view by the water. The performance tells the story of the Vietnamese people, their culture and traditions. The puppets dance and move to live music and singing from non-puppet performers in the wings. There is also a written commentary on large monitors so foreigners like us can follow what is going on. The show kicks off with what is the traditional belief of the birth of the Vietnamese people. According to legend, the first Vietnamese descended from a dragon (Lạc Long Quân) and a heavenly angel (Âu Cơ) who looks like a peacock in this show. They married and had one hundred eggs, from which hatched one hundred children. The show only has one massive egg though and out of it burst a load of dancing babies. They fly across the water, doing somersaults and jigging about. It is brilliant and very funny. The show lasts about 45 minutes and although we are seated behind a man with a freakishly large head and a girl who spent the whole time talking, we still enjoy ourselves and manage to see most of what is going on. We step out into the warm night air and head off to the nearby night market. It is heaving. After walking about for a while we finally tire of being trodden on and shoved, so head home for coffee and rest.
The next morning we decide we haven't quite had enough of being trodden on and shoved, so we walk about a mile to the indoor day market. On the way we get lost. Obviously. So we walk down pots-and-pans street, toy street, kitchen sink street, flower street... After walking for an eternity, we eventually find the market and head inside. We stay for about two minutes. We don't like it. We keep getting trodden on and shoved.
We head back to the lake and chill out on a roof terrace. It's misty in Hanoi today and it sits on the lake like a fluffy blanket. Our night train is at 9pm so we head back to the hotel to pack a bag for the next three days (the hotel has agreed to hold onto the rest of our stuff). We will be trekking in the moutains and want to travel light, so we empty the bricks out of our rucksacks and pack just a change of clothes and our pack-a-macs. Ian is feeling very ill and Anna is becoming bored of his whinging. Maybe a bumpy, sleepless train ride and a day of hiking will fix him. Time will tell.
