A day at the Museum

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So where were we? Hmmmmm in Hanoi and we have been to a village and school. Ah yes, the museum day. We were meant to go on a city tour but to be honest there really wasn't anything interesting that we want to see. Hanoi is just a really dirty place. So our guide decided to take us to the Museum of Ethnology. The inside was just artifacts and information. So trying to keep HB interested was kind of hard. It is difficult enough taking a child to an interesting museum where there are things for them to do (I'm all about interactive museums, not only fun for the children but me too). There was an outside to this place, which is where all the fun happened. They had lots of different huts from some of the 50 odd tribes that are in Vietnam. First of all we had to play a balancing game from one tribe. See, much more fun than looking at statues. Well this balancing game involved a long thin circular piece of wood that was attached, at one end, to a pole. At the other end it was suspended from some rope. Basically the further you went out the tricker it became to stay on it. So the point is to get from one end to the other without falling off. I managed to get most of the way across before I fell off. Luckily I fell on my feet, not my arse. I mean it would have been hilarious if I had fallen on my backside. It would have been funnier if I had broken a leg. Well not at 1st, that would hurt, but it would be one funny story afterwards. Could you imagine the call home; 'Hi Mummy, got some good news and some bad news. The good news, you get to see me before May! The bad news I broke my leg falling of a log.' As my best friend once told me:- It's not funny till someone gets hurt, then it's hilarious. Come on let's face it, how many of us have seen those home movie show? The funniest ones are always the onew where they hurt themselves. That's not cruel, that's a fact of life. Anyway, the point is that nobody hurt themselves. I did have to point out to Mrs G that I bet if you put a Chinese gymnast on it they would do flips the whole way down.

Our first hut was from, ummmmm, I have no idea where it came from. It was a hut. All I remember here is a) having to take our shoes off to go in the hut - what where they worried we would get dirt on their dirt floor? and b) being surrounded by locals trying to talk to HB. Yeah good luck with that. She doesn't talk to anybody. I have to be a mediator and get it out of her and then pass it on to the person who had asked the question. It's hard being the middle man. I have to say I was very impressed with there language skills. I think there English was better than most English people. I wont bore you with the details of the other huts, they were huttish, plus nothing minorish (yes I know that isn't a word) happened. The only 2 things that are worth mentioning are the other game we had to play and a hut. Okay, well this hut was rather funny, but we will get to that in a second. Well the other tribal game we had to play involved HB, F, our guide and me holding onto this poles that were pushed through a pole in the ground that turned around. Then you had to run around and around in circles. Sounds like something I would make children do when I am bored. And what is the point of this game? It is a game for teens to play while they are courting. I can only imagine it is used to stop them doing something they shouldn't be doing. An imagiative way to get rid of that excess energy 😉 The other hut, well, ermm, it looked like a normal hut with statues around it. That was until you got closer to the building, then it became blattenly clear what these statues where. The statues were in pairs, one was female and one was male with a very long willy. This hut was the love hut - probably where those teenagers would end up if they didn't have that running in circles game to keep them busy. HB didn't ask any questions - ah the innoncene of youth.

Well that concluded our visit to the museum other than the visit to the shop to get some post cards, which I have written but failed to post (sorry to all those that are wanting postcards - they are in my bag :P The rest of the day was pretty dull - spent in the hotel room watching the Disney channel. No not for me (although I liked watching it), I was not in control of the remote, I was busy packing for the next adventure.

To be continued ...

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Photos

A bike
There is a bike under all that stuff. That is how much fish traps they carry on their bikes (on the main roads!)

Educational
HB and Cwock watch a video on how to make hats.

Balancing act
Cwock tries his luck balancing on the beam.

Failed attemp
After I fell, although at first glance it looks like I'm walking on it.

Circle games
How to keep teenagers busy - make them run after each other while holding poles going in circles. Keeps them busy for hours. Or they may end up in the love hut.

Comments

[Susan]

OMG Anita!! I have a new appreciation for Vietnamese men. ;)