Golden dragon puppet show in Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon.
After a day wandering round the city, tag-teaming to the see the War Remnants Museum and letting the boys nap and have Netflix and down-time back in the hotel we were ready to go and do something fun for them in the evening.
It is a more traditional show to see in Hanoi but we didn’t have the time so decided to try and get to one in HCM. We had picked up tickets for the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Show at the War Remnants Museum earlier on the day for the 6.30pm showing, they were about $17 a ticket, we didn’t pay for either of the kids and just had them on our laps.
We didn’t really know what to expect when we walked into the small, dark theatre but it was beautifully air-conditioned and very welcomed after negotiating our way through the crowds of people outside to get in.
The whole show was entirely in Vietnamese with traditional music and singing being played throughout. There was a leaflet that explained in english a little bit about each scene, which was all about daily Vietnamese life – fishing, riding the water buffalo and traditional tales. The puppets came up and down in a tank of water, in and out some doors and there was lots of splashing and chasing going on which was great entertainment.
There wasn’t really much point trying to fully understand what was going on, just to appreciate it at face value and enjoy it for the show. The boys were mesmorised, absolutely loved it. They kept shouting out ‘woah – did you see that!’ which I don’t think the couple next to us really appreciated but they were enjoying themselves and genuinely enthralled from start to finish.
I’m not sure it is something we would rush back to see again but I’m glad we went to see something traditional and that the boys loved it so much. They were talking about it for days and asking to go back again, so a definite hit for a 4 and 2 year old!
We also visited the Cu Chi Tunnels whilst in Ho Chi Min and the War Remnants Museum and here are some of our thoughts of the city.
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