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Cambodia & Vietnam Trip – Day 17

Pictures from Hanoi

We woke up after 8am, after a, terrible, nights sleep. Brendan kept kicking, and I was up and down to the toilet.

We had yet another” fabulous” breakfast; they ran out of orange juice, so we had to have lemon. They serve it hot and terribly over sweetened!

Was advised our larger room would be tomorrow night! David sent an email to TNK Travel to complain.
Walked around, for a bit, and wound up at the markets. It is nothing like Saigon; Not friendly, or asking you into the shop, but actually ignoring you! After stopping off, for some medication, and getting some lunch from a restaurant overlooking the lake, five stories up, we headed back to the hotel.

We ventured out again, after 4pm, to see about getting tickets to the water Puppets. It is located just opposite the bridged entrance to Ngoc Son Temple. They had a show right then, with some front row tickets, still available, so we went straight in.

Brendan enjoyed it, immensely! He bought one of the puppets, a dragon that had been used previously, for US$15

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Water Puppets

Water Puppet Theatre is a traditional Vietnamese art. During the rainy seasons long ago, people created this kind of theatre. It is played in the water! Puppets are moved with long wooden sticks and play scenes from rural Vietnam as well as the most common legends – for instance the one about Hoan Kiem Lake. Nowadays, this sort of theatre is about to die out, were it not for Hanoi’s Water Puppet Theatre which is known to be one of the most professional groups. It is very popular with tourists and nearly every visitor of Hanoi goes there.

It’s accompanied by live performers. Listen to how a “Dan Bau” (string instrument) is plucked for the mew of a cat or how a “Sao” (wind instrument) is blown to imitate the cries of a bird. Quite fascinating really

We walked back via a supermarket and some small shops, and had dinner at the same restaurant, as last night.

It wasn’t so crowded, tonight, so we sat outside, near the lake. I had to use the toilet; Yuk! It was so smelly.

I couldn’t fit my dinner in, and all of us were very full, we drank more than we ate. It was 7:30pm, but it was still 29degC, at the waters edge.

Back at the hotel, we booked a city tour, for tomorrow, pick up at 7:30am. So we have to be up, very early!

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