Hanoi Shows and Workshops: Water Puppets, the Quintessence of Tonkin, Lacquer, Silk and Coffee Classes

Mua roi nuoc began in the flooded rice paddies of the Red River delta a thousand years ago: puppeteers stand waist-deep behind a screen and work lacquered wooden figures on long rods across a pool, to a live band of drums, flutes and the one-string dan bau, telling farming legends and the story of the returned sword. The Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre on the north shore of Hoan Kiem lake runs several 50-minute shows a day; it is touristy, it is also genuinely the only place to see a tradition that exists nowhere else, and children love it. Seats near the front get splashed.

Tinh Hoa Bac Bo is a 60-minute open-air spectacle staged on a lake at Sai Son, 20 km west of the city, under the Thay pagoda mountain: 150 performers, many of them local farmers, on a stage that rises out of the water, with lights, water puppets, folk song and a recreation of village life. It runs on selected evenings, is seen from a hillside amphitheatre, and needs transport, which is why it is sold as a package with pickup and sometimes dinner. Impressive, and cold in winter.

Hanoi's craft villages make the workshops real: Bat Trang, the ceramic village on the river, where you throw a pot on a wheel and paint it; the lacquer studios where a small panel takes an afternoon of layering and sanding; silk painting and embroidery classes; conical hat (non la) making with palm leaf and bamboo; and coffee workshops that cover robusta, the phin filter and egg coffee. Most run two to three hours for USD 20 to 45 and you take the piece home, except pottery, which needs firing and is posted or collected.

With children: water puppets and Bat Trang pottery. For an evening: puppets at 18:30 then dinner in the Old Quarter, or the Quintessence of Tonkin with dinner as a half-evening out of town. For something to bring home: lacquer or silk. A Hanoi street food walk pairs naturally with the puppet show, since the theatre is at the top of the Old Quarter.

Water puppet tickets are sold at the theatre and online; weekends and holidays sell out by afternoon, so book a day ahead. Shows are in Vietnamese with a printed English synopsis, which is all you need. The Quintessence of Tonkin runs from about 19:30 and the round trip with the show takes four hours. Workshops are booked with the studio or through a tour and are usually private or small-group; aprons are provided and hands get dirty.