thang long water puppet show

i am just going to talk about the water puppet show in this post....just to keep it short. haha...you know how long-winded i can be when talking about day trips.

so tonight, we went to watch the aclaimed  water puppet show. i have heard mixed reviews about the show before going....so i was curious to see how i would perceive the show myself.

the hotel helped us to get the tickets. we bought 100,000 vietnam dong ticket. they have cheaper one at 60,000vnd. the difference is in the rows you will be sitting. it does not really matter which row....unless you get the first or second row. so you can save and just get the 60,000 one. the theatre is small.

we went for the 8pm show and each show lasts 45 minutes. i think they have 4 show times and the last one is at 9.15p.m. the above is the itinerary of the show.

so there is an accompanying traditional musical instrument orchestra which everyone could see on the side stage. the puppets moved according to the music and they also have narrations of the folk tales and songs. unfortunately, i couldn't understand a single word and there was no subtitle given during the whole show.
hence, it made the show quite boring and i saw people leaving the theatre just after the first few folk tales. my friend next to me had even fallen asleep halfway through it. and psss...i was playing candy crush on my phone too and just lifting my head to see the next puppet that would come out once one folk tale ended. how sad. it could have been so interesting to know what they are singing about and the folk tales.
they only have to put an electronic board on the roof of the house showing the subtitles or background stories of all the folk tales. it would definitely make us, foreigners understand and then learn to appreciate the tales.

the applause from the audience was good and everyone who stayed till the end really appreciated the show.

the musicians on the left and the puppeteers came out to take their bow at the end of the show.

one video of one of the folk tales. see if you can understand anything ;)

would i recommend this puppet show to visitors to hanoi? well, if you have patience and are curious, why not? but you don't have to buy the most expensive ticket. and at the entrance, when they ask you if you want to buy another ticket to allow you to use your camera during the show....you can act 'duh' and just walked past as if you did not hear anything. they did not really check who bought the ticket and who didn't. just snap away as the show progresses. no one is there to check. so you can save 20,000 vnd.....which is equivalent to rm3.20.