Cruising and Water Puppets

Today was the first day for no morning excursion. We were on the eastern side of Hanoi and needed to get on down the river. The scenery was much more pleasant without all the sand industry and barges and having more agriculture.  Interestingly, we saw several Catholic churches in the distance, one quite large with a humoungus statue on top.  To give us something to do we were given a quick tour of the lower decks where the kitchen, laundry, crew cabins, and inner workings are housed. Back up on the main deck we stopped by to see the wheel house where the captain was steering us safely downstream.

It wasn’t until mid-afternoon that we anchored and went ashore. The road along the river and then a left into town is all concrete and in great condition. Thanh Ha village is quiet with expansive rice fields. Of course, there is a market which was busier when we were on our way back. In town there is a small sweet factory where teams compete against each other to see which one can make the most mung bean and sugar concoctions in a day. The workers seemed to enjoy our interest and would let us take their photos. One girl was particularly fast at wrapping her treats; it was a bit of a blur!

The water puppet show was more interesting than I thought it might be. We sat on the shore with the pond in front of us. Out at a distance was a deck with the band and narrator on a side extension. Hanging down from the floor to the water was a bamboo curtain behind which were the puppeteers. There were various folk life stories with puppets either coming out from behind the curtain or snaking up from underneath. The stories told of various aspects of the culture with making the silk, rice harvesting with rain from above, the fight of the water buffaloes, fishing challenges, etc. There were even spinning fireworks!

Water puppetry was started about eight hundred years ago by the monks. Many generations of hardworking farmers have a passions for this art and have refined it to make it fun and entertaining. Most of the performances are for the passengers taken there especially for the water puppet theater, giving them more opportunities to entertain than the few special occasions for the villagers during their year.

At the end we the crew came to visit us by boat and served green tea to welcome us. One puppeteer and Tifo showed us how they work. Bill got to hold a puppet and found it extremely heavy. The support of the water as they work them helps but it still must be quite a tiring process. Then the school children arrived! They are about ten years old and like to practice their English with the boat tourists. We were asked our names, where we are from, our age, do we like Vietnam, our favorite animal, and to write our names and nationality in their notebooks. All of them were so polite and eager to practice. I know a few children who could learn from them.

Eventually, we headed back to the center of town.  On the way we passed a rice processing machine being used right on the side of the road by the rice field.  Then we meandered further on taking photos around the market and finally returned to the boat for dinner.