2011, DEC 9: VIETNAM, HANOI-D

Our next stop was the Ethnology Museum with displays about the life and traditions of the 53 ethnic minorities which inhabit the nation’s hinterlands.

The displays include pictographic script;...

...funerary shrines;...

...cultural practices like paying respects to ancestors;...

...typical homes and their supporting pillars with symbols of fertility like breasts;...

...home interiors;...

...carts;...

....and implements like handlooms, spinning wheels, ...

...earthen stoves, and...

...musical instruments.

A number of young students were at the museum. Some of them were curious about us, and did not mind posing for pictures for us.

A college girl from Haiphong followed us through the museum for quite a while before over-coming her hesitation to initiate communication with us in broken English.

We returned to the Old Quarters, for a few minutes of souvenir shopping. It was followed by a packed performance at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theater.

The evening starts with a performance by the theater orchestra.

Using bamboo poles, skilled puppeteers extend puppets from behind a curtain up through the surface of a small pond to present ancient tales as well as vignettes from daily life in Vietnam’s countryside.

The last performance related the story of the Emperor Ly Thai To, who upon his arrival at Hanoi saw a golden dragon among the clouds. So he named the city “Thanh Long” meaning “a soaring dragon.”

After dinner we returned to our hotel.