Hanoi, Playland and the Water Puppet Show

Hanoi was a bit of a disappointment from a sightseers perspective. There are outstanding sights surrounding Hanoi, such as Halong Bay, but Hanoi itself left something to be desired. So to fill the time we sought some fun things for the kids... a little carnival.

Don't know if this area is always here, but they were celebrating the lunar new year, Tet as it is known in Vietnam...
Jump castles are always a hit with the kids
The bumper cars was a wild area. There "barriers" were less obstacles and more suggestions as they did not actually stop the cars from going through. Give a kid the keys to the car and watch a wild ride...
See this line for the bumper cars? It's encroaching into the driving area. Every once in a while a kid with a lead foot and unable to turn came right for the line and people scattered...

This little video shows us on the bumper cars. Unfortunately the camera was on Tally and me when Adayla attempted to hit the people standing in the line noted above. But it does show her hitting a car with people getting out of it and just having fun. Her 16th birthday isn't far enough away...

Ryann was tired of being carried and Morgan was tired of fighting her. The result? Ryann was the dirtiest kid at the park. I'm sure the locals were impressed with the only obviously-foreign family there. You may or may not be able to see, but her feet were black and her legs were dark grey.

Tally has the most expressive face. Whatever she feels is expressed on her face...

I loved the train with the large Vietnamese flags on it... just added to the atmosphere.

The Water Puppet Show

These water puppets are uniquely Vietnamese. The art dates back over 1,000 years, developing as rice farmers sought to entertain themselves when their rice paddies flooded.

Now it's housed in a theater that seats a couple of hundred people and the multiple shows each day are all sold out.

These were high on our list of things to see in Hanoi and we were very impressed with the show.

The actions the puppets were capable of were quite entertainingThe people behind the puppets... a very entertaining evening.