The Water Puppet Show–a sight to see

(click on any picture to see it well)

The AWA does NOTHING if they don’t put together a well rounded vacation.  We trekked, we massaged, we shopped, we relaxed and next we got to go to a village to see a Water Puppet show.  Where we were was where this age-old art originated.  I believe the name of the village is Hai Du’ong (from looking at the theater picture at the bottom of this)

It is QUITE the thing, and from what we understand there are competitions all over Asia.  The puppets are wood and are lacquered to protect them from the water.  The puppeteers stand in waist deep water behind a screen to maneuver their puppets which are on long sticks.  Here’s the thing…they can’t SEE when they are doing this and there are many puppets in the water at the same time…so it is quite the feat of choreography. At any one time there could be ten or twelve puppets in the water!

Before the show we ate in the village, once again, it was a yummy meal. This gentleman is our host.  He crafted the puppets he is holding.

 

After lunch we toured the village. We saw mostly older people.  They were friendly and waved.  I tried to be respectful and not get too close.

 

If you haven’t guessed by now..there is a TON of work that goes into the rice..here a woman is drying it…she’s pretty good with the “flip” action huh?

 

Everyone is always working.

There was a school right next to the theater (ok..the lagoon with stadium style seating).  The kids waved to us, and as the performance started, local villagers came out to watch…everyone likes a show.

 

(yes, she has black teeth, they are stained by choice!)

Here is the “theater”: See how big the water area is?  They use it all!

Not soon after the show started, the sky opened up and it started to POUR!

We huddled under a strategically placed tarp.  Here’s a pic of  the puppetry and of us trying to stay dry.

I am SO sad I don’t have better pics of the puppets.  We were invited back stage, but the thunder made that thought just a little dangerous, so we ran to the bus and headed back to Hanoi.

Once we checked into the hotel, Diane grabbed a seat and the remote.  I went online…we were back to what we were used to!