6th June - Hanoi

In the morning Matt had fun trying to print off some posters to advertise the bike while flooded the bathroom. This wasn't at all intentional but was quite funny. I think I've mentioned the 'bidet' type attachments that they have in Asia, which are basically trigger-operated pressure hoses to be used instead of a toilet brush and also in the absence of toilet paper. Unfortunately, the pipe of the one in our bathroom had persished and sprang of very powerful leak which shredded the hose further and left me soaking wet, gasping for air and wondering what I could do from a remote back room of the 4th floor with no telephone down to reception. Luckily, there was a stopcock on the shower that did the trick and I got changed out of my drenched clothes and traipsed down to reception to report it.

We spent most of the rest of the day searching the many bag stalls for a Timbuk2 bag that Matt had spotted on our way past as we headed back to our hotel yesterday. Though he maintains that he didn't imagine it, we couldn't find it and so Matt started the first of a series of negotiations regarding a different one that he quite fancied.

To keep myself entertained, I considered buying some doughnut-type things from one of the very persistent woman who walk around with baskets of them hung around their necks. She tried to charge me $5 and I was just in the process of bargaining when we were surrounded by a bunch of Malaysians all trying to talk to me, her and each other. It got very confusing and when Matt turned around -  it looked as if I'd started a bit of a riot. I ducked out, had a quick chat about Malaysia with a nice couple from the group and the bag-search continued.

The next few hours were spent discovering the joys of 'bia hoi' in a very cheap place in the old town. I'm sure one of us has mentioned it before but if not, it's a beer that is brewed fresh every day and served at outdoor stalls. We were paying 5000 dong per glass (about 30p) and it is just perfect for hot weather - it's not too strong, very pleasant and occasionally very cold. It's also about half the price of water!

A nice man in the the bia hoi place helped me learn some Vietnamese words and how to pronounce them. They have 6 'tones' in Vietnamese and it's very easy to get it wrong and say something completely different to what you intended. He also showed us a picture on his phone of a big English guy who had drunk a staggering (to this guy, not so much to English people) 17 beers. I'm hardly surprised when it comes to less than the price of a pint back home!

Later that day, we watched a lovely sunset over the lake then popped back to our hotel for a quick change (stopping in each direction for Matt to haggle with a bag-shop owner of course) before heading to the Water Puppet Theatre.

Water puppet theatre originated in the rice paddies of Northern Vietnam over 1000 years ago and puppeteers were originally male (they feared that women would take the knowledge away to their husband's families) and trained for a minimum of 3 years in the art form. 11 puppeteers and several musicians make up the one hour show.

We were lucky enough to get a seat in the middle of the 2nd row, next to an interesting Swiss surgeon who was in Vietnam volunteering for Operation Smile - an international organisation helping children with cleft palattes.

The 'stage' was set with a house perched on a body of water and the orchestra played their bizarre looking instruments for a while before a man came out and banged a gong to signal the entrance of the first set of puppets. I had read that the puppets were very realistic and since the man had a big papier mache head (in the style of Frank Sidebottom), I was initially very impressed by how life-like he was. When the tiny puppets appeared in the water in front of the house I realised my mistake.

The puppet show depicted typical events from the lives of rural people, including catching a frog and collecting coconuts, and was accompanied by music and singing. The show culminated in the puppeteers emerging from the house with lotus flowers and a big chinese dragon lit by black light. It was all very pleasent and was very much enjoyed by the few Vietnamese children amongst the many Western tourists.

Final price wars were undertaken on the way back to the hotel and Matt emerged the victorious owner of a $10 geniune Jack Wolfskin bag. We'll soon see how long this one lasts him!