Hanoi Trip Day 3 – Back to Hanoi and Shopping!

Woke up just before the rutterning of the engine could be heard, had a hearty breakfast and enjoyed the last vestige of the bay before docking. Saw and heard more sights and sounds of Halong city as they call it, but I think we were only in a small part of the place. The city as it was, did not appear that big from where I was at. Drizzled slightly too, so that put a dampener on to things.

Upon reaching Hanoi, we went for the water puppet show which lasted for about an hour, and cost about RM8. It was err, interesting initially as I was trying to figure out how it was done. But after a few minutes, managed to sushed about the technique, and was subsequently a little bored. I think I nodded off half way through. To pass the time, I was analyzing the musicians and came to the conclusion that they were “syok sendiri” with one or two looking absolutely bored. I couldn’t feel the rapport with the audience, which would have helped, and I wonder how many times they had to “perform” in a single day. Overall, it was pretty good had it lasted only about 15 minutes and no more.

With the onset of dusk, the night market came alive, and some of us shopped like nobody’s business, bargain hunting. I noticed one or two travel mates hardly buying anything but were eager to pit their bargaining skills with the locals. In any case, Malaysians can be quite loud, especially of the female species, and when it came to bargaining, the loudest tended to prevail in this case (which is a good thing – especially getting a bargain). But when I looked around, there were onlookers staring at us. Shy...