Day 386-387 Mua Roi Nuoc

Today we got a bus to Hanoi which is Vietnam’s small, elegant capital lying in the heart of the northern delta. Our tour guide recently added up our travel time (ie bus, trains etc..) and it will be 135 hours plus by the time we finish the trip, not too shabby! Once again it’s a place full of life, full of fumes and traffic!!! You tend to get use to this though because it’s just part and parcel of everyday life here. We explored a bit of the city before having lunch in a nice little café called Papa Joes.

At the heart of Hanoi lies Hoan Kiem Lake, around which you’ll find the banks, airlines and main post office, plus many hotels, restaurants, shopping streets and markets. The lake lies between the cramped but endlessly diverting Old Quarter in the north, and the tree-lined boulevards of the French Quarter to the South.

On our way back to the hotel we spotted a PS3 gaming café so we had a quick game. We haven’t touched a PS3 in ages and we played our old favourite Pro Evolution. I have to admit not missing it as much as I presumed I would but you can’t beat a good competitive game of Pro Evo! Tonight we finally got the chance to enjoy a bowel of one of Hanoi’s specialities, the ubiquitous pho noodle soup. I tried it with pork and it was very filling for just over $1. The Pho was washed down by a beer and we made our way to the Thang Lang Water Puppet show (Mua Roi Nuoc)!

I don’t think that any explanation is required…it is simply puppets that dance on water, a uniquely Vietnamese art form that originated in the Red River Delta. We squeezed into our seats and enjoyed 45 minutes of pure puppet-ness (I just made up that word; it doesn’t actually come up on spell check but who cares). Some of us were sleeping during the show. We don’t know what the puppets were saying or doing but it looked good. Apparently it depicts rural life or historic events. Puppeteers stand waist-deep in water, manipulating the heavy wooden puppets attached to long underwater poles We also enjoyed some traditional Vietnamese music during the show.

A good sleep in was had by everyone and we explored more of the city the following morning. We witnessed a big crash between two motor bikes and a mini fight broke out. We are not surprised by the crash, the roads here are ridiculously busy and the Green Man might aswell pack his bags and go home because no one cares about him here, whereas he is the big boss man back home! I got my haircut…well the back and sides of my head because the Cambodian gentleman who cut my hair in Ankor Wat made a meal of it; the sides were actually longer than the top. This Vietnamese gentleman took over an hour to do the back and sides. To be fair to him he did a great job, its looking sharp!

Next up was something that totally disgusted us. We ventured into a Market and in the food section we were left shocked. Turtles were all piled into a tiny cage. They were still alive and the poor things were trying to get out of the cage. A few of them had cuts and bruises from doing so. It wasn’t a nice sight. Fish were also subjected to the same treatment. That night we ate in a fancy restaurant that allowed you to draw on the tables. The crayons were already on the table so we all tried our hand at drawing Michael Jackson; Dips drew the best one by a mile. Sandra, Bee and Steph enjoyed their last night with us as they are departing the tour after tonight. We wish them all the best in their future travels. Thus the group is now down to 9 and it really is like Big Brother.

Queue Big Brother theme tune,

Gary