Journal Day 35 - Honoi & The Water Puppets!

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Arrived in Hoi An about 7am after an unusual night's kip on the night sleeper bus from Na Trang.
I'd only 3 hours to explore Hoi An so had some breakfast and had a little walk to appreciate a little of the quaintness of the old and well preserved buildings that I'd read about. Pity I didn't have more time but a reason to return I guess.

So taxi to Danang airport to get my Jetstar Pacific flight to Hanoi.
The flight wasnt much more than an hour and I slept like a baby, probably due to the rubbish sleep last night on the bus. But once down in Hanoi airport I sat in a cafe and read up on my lonely planet book to find out what the craic is with the place.
Glad I did it there because I was subsequently able to avoid being scammed by the taxi drivers who congregate outside the hotel and will whisk you away to a hotel that has the same name as the hotel you ask them to bring you to, but is in fact a pretend, fly-by-night hotel with the same name, where they'll agree a price for a room and at the end charge much more...!?! There seems to be no lengths that these scammers will not go to!
So I opted for the safer $2 bus to the city instead!

The bus dropped me off in the old town where I had to heave my luggage around for quite a bit before finding the area where I had decided to position myself for the night.

I found a great little hotel near the Hoen Kiem Lake called the 'Lakeview Hotel' where I got a room that's actually too big for $15, and with the smiliest, friendliest lady manager you could imagine. I was able to get what seems like a good deal for my Ha Long Bay trip for Sunday and Monday from her too. $37, a lot less than the $75 I nearly paid for the same trip around the corner.

Left stuff in room and explored the Old Quarters of Hanoi for the evening. Each of the 36 streets has a different name relating to the trade that used to be sold there. For example the road called 'Hang is where they traded cloth, 'Hang Da' where they traded Leather, 'Hang Huong' for incense etc!
Very bustling and lively streets overflowing with produce and craftwares and anything else you can think of.

I then headed to the famous Water Puppets theatre. My mate Colly had been there last year. Before I started my travels he'd shown me some photos of his adventures. Photos of Buddhist temples, ancient ruins at Angkor Wat, motorbike trekking pics etc. But when he got to a pic of the 'Water Puppets' I remember asking him "what the hell is that??"
He explained it's weirdness to me so now i was here i had to check it out for myself.

The Water Puppet theatre is basically a form if theatre that developed as an art and form of entertainment amongst the workers in the paddy fields who had to work in the murky knee to waist high water of the rice paddies.
The stage set evokes the grandeur of a Buddhist temple and the stage is muddied water upon which the wooden crafted puppets are able to walk, dance and splash upon, all to the sounds of a traditional Vietnamese group playing ancient near forgotten tunes on authentic traditional instruments. Controlled from below by puppeteers by long rods and cables the puppets are able to tell the story of the peasants and their life in The Paddy fields, working, playing, praying etc. My favourite was the coconut gathering scene, based on an famous old Vietnamese folk painting. Interesting and fun evening out is also particularly good for little kids, even 31 year old ones like me.


Finished up the night with some lemongrass chicken, rice and a couple of local beers in a cafe overlooking the Hoan Kiem lake.

Got back to hostel to find out about the Tsunami in Japan which happened earlier today which. Watching the news and it's hard to believe. A lot of unusual natural disasters this year so far. And it's only March. All sounds very devastating.

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