When we got to Hanoi, it was VERY busy. There were cars and scooters 2 inches away from our vehicle. Lots of people sell things on the street. Even if you say no, they offer for you to taste or look. This worked on dad who ended up with a bag of donut holes. Our biggest challenge was crossing the road. The strategy is to keep a steady pace and don't make abrupt starts or stops as you walk right through the traffic. I like to put a subtle hand out just in case, but my dad told me to hold it low so I didn't look rude. For drivers, green light meant go, yellow light meant go, and red light still meant go. The traffic would just flow around you with constant honking as you crossed.
Our first night in Hanoi, we did a food tour to explore the food and the city. Our guide, Ruby, loved her job giving tours. She was a real foodie. She'd just visited her aunt in LA and showed us her list of food musts in the US, including s'mores, Tostitos, and rice crispy treats.
Ruby surprised us with our first stop at train street. We had to rush to the tracks to be on time. B and Davey and I thought we were grabbing the train, but when Ruby arrived in her car, she told us to sit down on narrow little stools alongside the track. She told us to tuck in our legs and arms and heads as much as we could. All of the sudden, I heard the train approaching with a choo choo and it blew by us, missing us by inches! The train was long enough we had to sit still for a minute or two while it passed. Mom and B were huddled behind me, and I could hear them yelling, "why are we doing this?!?!" Ruby told us that locals used to gather on train street to watch the train go by, but now tourists come too. I thought it was really cool because when do you ever get to almost get crushed by a train?
All the food we had was amazing.
Poppy's favorite was a rice pancake with pork inside called a Banh Cuon Nong.
And Dad loved the egg coffee. He said it was more egg than coffee!
-- Grayson
One night, Grayson's tummy hurt so he and dad stayed home, while me (Poppy), mom, Davey and B went to the Hanoi water puppet show. The puppets all had their own clothing and different personalities. There was usually one person on each puppet unless they were very complicated movements and needed more people. The people stood behind a curtain and moved the puppets with long sticks under the water. Each scene told a different story about Vietnam. Musicians played interesting instruments on the sides of the stage.
I interviewed B and Davey about the show.
Poppy (what scene was your favorite from the puppet show?)
Davey ( my favorite scene from the puppet show was the scene when the husband and wife who are raising ducks.I liked it because there was a lot of action when the fox came in to try and steal one of the ducks! The narrator also taught us about what it was like to work in the rice Fields.)
Poppy ( how did you like the music?)
Davey ( I really loved the music during the puppet show. There was a whole ensemble of instruments I never heard or seen before the music felt ancient, but also perfectly written for each different scene in the water show.
Poppy (what was your favorite puppet?)
Davey ( my favorite puppet was the Phoenix puppet it had this long neck it would rise up and down. It also had this beautiful plumage coming out of the back there was a male and female phoenix puppet. They had an egg together, and then the egg turned into a baby Phoenix.)
Poppy ( thank you! Bye bye! Now I will interview B!)
Poppy ( hi B! My first question for you is what do you think was most interesting about the water puppet show?)
B ( I thought the most interesting thing about the water, puppet show was the music and the way that they told folklore through puppetry the way that they moved the puppets in the water and a lot of the puppets like spit water or fireworks and things like that and I could not imagine how they made all of that work.)
Poppy ( What was your favorite scene in the puppet show?)
B ( my favorite scene in the puppet show was of a couple who owned ducks, and they had to protect their ducks from a fox that came by to try to eat the ducks and they splashed all around, trying to catch the fox and kill the fox and the fox was so sneaky and it caught one of the ducks and ended up in a tree and I couldn’t imagine how they got the fox in the tree out of the water.)
Poppy ( was there anything that surprised you about the puppet show?)
B ( there were a few things that surprised me about the puppet show. One was all the different music that went into it, and it made it. The music really went along with what was happening in the puppet show, and there were so many many different musicians and instruments that I’ve never seen before. It was really cool and then the second thing that surprised me was that some of the puppets like spit, and had fireworks and so the way that they were able to like interact and move the water and then there was also a lot of steam that came out and it made it really really foggy and surprising and kind of mystical. I was also surprised at the end when we saw how many people were working behind the scenes. Usually there were only like 2 to 4 puppets that were out and being played with at one time, but then it seemed like there were maybe 12 or so people that were working behind the scene so it must’ve been a lot of work back there.)
Poppy ( Thank you. That is all the questions I will be asking you. Bye-bye!)
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