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Hanoi water puppets. Photo: Nguyen Duy |
I just want to say that, if you'd like to watch the water puppet shows, in the center of Hanoi, there are two places where to specialized water puppet performances, namely:
Vietnam Puppet Theatre
Address: 361 Truong Chinh - Thanh Xuan - Hanoi - Vietnam
Phone: (+84.4) 3853 1333- 3568 2386
And
Thang Long (Dragon Up) Water Puppet Theater
Address: 57B Dinh Tien Hoang street, Hoan Kiem distric, Hanoi, Vietnam
Phone: 84 4 39364335 – 39364334 - 38255450
Initially, these theaters were called the water puppet theaters, but then, they have added the terrestrial puppet shows, therefore they have changed the names become: puppet theater (general)
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A water puppet performing female artist. Photo: Nguyen Duy |
In addition, on the outskirts of Hanoi, now also a few old villages still preserve some stage to perform water puppetry and a few villages are still manipulating these water puppets. That are the ancient villages in Thach That district, Dong Anh district...
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However, the majority of foreign tourists visit Hanoi usually go to the water puppet theaters in downtown to watch the water puppet performance programs.
Among the two theaters, the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre is a place has many tourists choose, because it is located very near the Hanoi Old Quarter and Hoan Kiem Lake. From a hotel or hostel in Ma May street, Ta Hien street, Hang Buom street, Hang Bac street, Cau Go street... to this theater only about 200-600m.
But Vietnam water puppet theater is located approximately 7km from Thang Long water puppet theater. So there are very few tourists want to come here.
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I also say that, if you go to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city) so you also can go to watch water puppet show at Thao Dien village or the water puppet theater in Saigon.
One of the places you should choose, that is: Gold Dragon Water Puppet Theatre
Address: 55B Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Phone: +84 8 3930 2196
But you should note that the origin of the water puppet shows in Saigon is what is included from Hanoi. Northern Delta itself was the cradle of the water puppet performance art. Water puppetry is a pastime of farmers in northern Vietnam for thousands of years.
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They are the water puppet performing artists of Thang Long Puppetry Theater, Hanoi |
Hanoi water puppet show times
At the Thang Long water puppet theater: start at 15:00 - 16:10 - 17:20 - 18:30 - 20:00 on weekdays. Particularly on Sunday, have added a morning performance at 9.30 AM
Thang Long - Hanoi water puppet theater ticket prices
About 3-5$ for a ticket
Vietnam puppet theater
Each day there are two performances. The first performance begins at 17:00 and ends at 17:45. The second performance starts at 18:30 and ends at 19:15 - [Hanoi weather]