Water Puppet Show - From Hanoi City only

Once picked up at your hotel in Hanoi Old Quarter, then leave by coach to Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre.

Vietnamese water puppetry is a unique variation of the ancient Asian puppet tradition. Water puppetry showed the daily life of Vietnamese farmers (cultivating, tending buffalo, catching fish), communal entertainment (swimming contests, dragon dancing), ancient Vietnamese legends, myths, and history. Most shows also feature the famous Legend of the Restored Sword of King Le which tells the tale of Hoan Kiem Lake and the giant tortoise. The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered.

The shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A large bamboo rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by no more than eight puppeteers, who are normally hidden behind a screen, to control them, puppeteers work in harmony with one another to create magic on stage. Thus the puppets appear to be moving over the water.

The water puppet program is an extremely attractive spiritual specialty. It can say that the appearance of plays with various forms and types has contributed to respect for Vietnamese water puppetry, which deserves to be Vietnamese cultural quintessence.