Hey there folks, I hope you have been enjoying reading about my time in Hanoi so far. As I had been out a bit late on Day 6 and there wasn’t really anything pressing, I slept in quite late, not actually leaving the room until 2:15 PM.
Using the Moovit app, I plotted a route to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, and I was already waiting for the E07 bus at 2:19 PM. I had considered getting some food, but I had eaten rather late last night, so I thought it would be fine to wait until 5:00 PM.
The E07 arrived shortly thereafter (2:25 PM), and I paid my 12,000 VND ($0.45 USD), which can be paid either by QR code (Moreta app for tourists) or cash. As had generally been my experience in Hanoi, the bus was comfortable, quiet, and not at all crowded.
As directed by Moovit, I was off the E07 at 2:41 PM and just three minutes later was already paying my 10,000 VND on the E08. Once more, there was no crowd, and the bus was comfortable and clean. The short ride ended at 2:57 PM as I got off the bus very close to the entrance of the museum.
Having learned from my earlier museum experience, I was ready at 3:00 PM when I saw that the 40,000 VND ($1.50 USD) could only be paid in cash. Lacking further information about the best way to approach the museum, I decided to head upstairs first and then work my way down.
As the name suggests, this museum is all about different ethnic groups of Vietnam. However, looking around at the displays, I had my doubts about how much of the information reflected current reality vs. historical data. As of 3:15 PM, the information had primarily been about the Cham (178,000), Hoa (749,000) and the Khmer (1,319.000).
Shortly thereafter I moved into information about the Raglai, Ede and Churu. There was a lot of printed information in Vietnamese, English and French. However, they also had a good number of actual objects on display. I was particularly interested in the clothing which was made from bark, and I wondered how they made that.
I quickly stopped paying close attention to which information corresponded to which ethnic group. I suppose that this attitude undermined the whole point of the museum, but it was just too much information to absorb. Also, the potpourri arrangement of the displays did a good job of showing diversity, but at times made it hard for me to keep the differences straight in my mind. As such, I just focused on particular items which stood out more for me, such as the termite trap, which I saw at 3:30 PM.
There was also an audio guide available, but there was already so much written information available, that I didn’t see the point. In summary, there are a lot of different groups, and if any of these pictures are of interest, I would definitely encourage you to do some more reading about the ethnic diversity of Vietnam.
At 4:00 PM I went downstairs. I realized that there were also several guided tours going on in both French and Vietnamese, so it probably would have been easy for me to participate in one of those had I wanted. However, as evidenced by the many people getting their pictures done in contrived “traditional dress” many people like me just come to see (and be seen) rather than to have an in-depth educational experience.
I think perhaps my favorite display was the one about folk toys.
This museum was definitely way more popular than the history museum I had been to a couple of day earlier. Despite my rather casual approach to it, I did still learn some notable facts. The most important is of course that the Viet or Kinh people make up 85% of the population of Vietnam, and throughout history they have been heavily influenced by Chinese, Indians and Europeans. In addition to the Kinh, there are 53 additional ethnic groups in Vietnam. As they are relatively close to one another, it was also not that surprising to learn that there are Tai-Kadai people both in Vietnam and in northeast India. Finally, there was a fairly comprehensive map of ethic distribution, but most of this information was from the nineties, so I suspect there have been a lot of changes as the country has “modernized”.
I could easily have spent several more hours inside, but given the information overload, at 4:30 PM I decided to check out the area outside.
As mentioned earlier, the main draw of the gardens and reproductions outside seems to be the dress up pictures. These were mostly solo women, but there were also male-female couples. The buildings themselves were reproductions of different traditional dwellings and village buildings from Vietnam. As an added plus, the sound of the birds in the gardens was also quite nice. I did however wonder how the people who live right next to this think about the whole affair. Do they find it odd to always see all these reproductions and people getting professional photo shoots, or do they just appreciate the gardens?
At 5:23 PM I reflected on the whole experience before heading out. One could approach this whole installation with a bit of cynicism. Like me, most visitors here don’t seem to get much out of the “ethnological education” purpose of the site. However, for 40,000 VND they also get some very nice gardens and great backdrops for their pictures. In summary, not everyone has to come here for the same purpose, and I think it is great that so many people seem to enjoy this little oasis of nature and calm in a rather busy mega city. And for those eager to spend more money, there are even a couple of nice-looking museum shops at the exit.
Seeing that time was on my side and reasoning that there would be a lot of interesting things to see along the way, at 5:30 PM I decided to walk from the museum to the venue of my evening show.
I arrived just outside Hanoi Central Circus at 6:56 PM. As I had not yet eaten anything the whole day and I still had time, I decided to get some food at one of the restaurants which are located right there. The fried corn (some sort of lightly breaded deep fried corn kernels), fried rice and Hanoi beer I had for 183,000 VND ($7.00 USD) wasn’t particularly fancy, but it met my needs. As I was the only customer, they were watching some local pop and boy band on Vie Channel while I was eating.
I paid at 7:38 PM, and by 7:41 PM was in the general theatre area. I noticed that several people inside the building, but not in the theater room itself were eating bread and oranges. So, I reasoned that I did not have to worry too much about being under dressed. Then at 7:44 PM I was inside and seated. I was happy to see that I seemed to have a good seat, but the relatively small theatre seemed to be well-designed, thus ensuring a decent experience for pretty much anyone in attendance.
Despite of course not really understanding most of the show, I was very happy about overall experience, and I would recommend other visitors to try to catch a show at the Central Circus. Regarding this particular show, as best as I could understand, there was a king and a prince who decided to become a monk after his fiancée was killed in a failed invasion. Of course, I may have completely misunderstood everything, but it was certainly wonderful entertainment.
Pictures were permitted, but neither they nor videos could really do it justice. Again, if you get a chance, consider trying to see a show here while you are in Hanoi. Still, here are a few videos as well to give you more of an idea: video 1, video 2, video 3.
Shortly after leaving, at 10:03 PM I realized that there was some sort of a massive, I think free, pop street concert going on. The crowd was huge.
From there I continued walking back towards my hotel and was able to see a bit of the night market.
Everything was very interesting, but at 11:10 PM I decided to get a blueberry smoothie and a brownie for 100,000 VND. As was common here, I ate it at a table basically right out on the main street.
From there, I picked up a couple more bottles of water and was back in the room by 11:35 PM.
So, wow! I had first learned about Vietnam’s ethnic diversity. Then I had the privilege of attending an outstanding musical and theatrical performance at Circus Theatre. As if that were not enough, there was also a massive street concert and the colorful street market. In short, it was another amazing day in Hanoi!
Travels with Jay 