Among the most charming of the routine tourist sights in Hanoi is the Thang Long Water Puppets.
Basically the Thang Long Water Puppets have taken a Red River (northern Vietnam) cultural activity--people living on the rivers entertaining each other with puppets controlled by dowels under the water rather than with strings--and made it a colorful and splashy indoor event. The puppets act out folktales and other stories: farmers harvesting crops, a student returning home, and a dragon dance, among others. It's a colorful and splashy event. Very plinky-plunky. The puppeteers are not visible until the end when they come out from behind the curtain that hides them, but the musicians are visible throughout.
Whenever I have been to a performance in Hanoi, the audience seemed to be made up of mostly Western tourists, and when I asked (especially early in my visits), I was told the cost (maybe $%?) was too expensive for most Vietnamese. BUT in Ho Chi Minh City, the audience in the newer water puppets venue in District 1 (basically HCMC's Manhattan, give or take) seemed to be a mix of locals and tourists, possible evidence of the rising Vietnamese middle class.
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