A mighty proposition

(This post is also in my travel blog. I am pasting it here too as an introduction. All other posts will be specific to this blog.)

Last February, after an unsuccessful border crossing from Southern Vietnam to Cambodia, where I was to visit a dear Khmer friend of mine in Kampot before finally reaching Thailand, I swiftly resolved to fly back North to Hanoi in order to pick up my brand new passport from the French Consulate and then fly again from there to Bangkok. Not going to knock you out with details about my extravagant passport stories here. However, I can of course assure you that I had just made a pretty reluctant decision as I had been determinately trying not to fly for over half a year! And of course, it was also a big disappointment not to visit my friend, although I did have enough time to take a few days before my flight, so as to reach a not too remote pilgrim site, unhurriedly, and climb a magnificent sacred hill overlooking Cambodia. So instead of passing through Cambodia, I merely and merrily waved at it, so far as possible. 

While I am usually rather relaxed about plan changes, little did I know that this particular plan change would lead me to the extraordinary offer that was about to come! Let me explain.

I landed in Hanoi 24 hours ahead of my next flight. Like most winter days in Hanoi, it was cold, damp, grey and smoggy, without one ray of sunshine whatsoever. After collecting my passport and despite being exhausted, I decided to head off to the museums I had not had time to visit over my previous stay. First, the Woman’s Museum, near the French Consulate. Then a Grab bike ride to the Ethnology Museum, further away, in Cau Giai District. I had only heard extra positive comments about Vietnam’s Ethnology Museum, the biggest and most beautiful one in South East Asia. I can now confirm : it is a gem! And obviously, the water puppet show inside the gorgeous garden of the museum was one of my priorities. I had already been to two very dashing indoor water puppet shows in Hanoi, but water and puppets are two things I cannot ever get too much of! Although I knew this show was smaller than the two other shows I’d seen, I was particularly excited about it being outdoor, therefore in a more natural setting. 

To my great disappointment, the theatre receptionist told me that the shows were off on that day, because it was right before Tet (Chinese New Year), so the crew were spending the day cleaning and preparing the place for the big upcoming celebrations.

As I was about to leave, as reluctantly as I had previously left the Cambodian border, the manager suddenly appeared right in front of me. Looking very concerned, he kindly appologised for the absence of performances today. He asked me to come back in a couple of days. I told him I was off to Thailand the next morning but that I would pass through Vietnam again, on my way back to China, a couple of months later. Upon hearing this, he scribbled something onto a flyer which he then handed to me. The note stated I would be able to see the show for free once I come back. 

We continued chatting and I when I explained I was a travelling puppeteer, he immediately offered to show me around.

We soon landed in the backstage pagoda where the puppeteers, seven fifty-or-sixty-something-year-old quietly gleeful men, were casually enjoying tea and bamboo water pipe, laughing, joking or sleeping, just like the cheerful puppets resting there, on dry land, by the pond. I was told that there were also seven musicians in the troupe. They served me some freshly picked and heartly brewed medicinal herbal tea (from voi leaves, I will describe this in another post). The manager explained to me that all of the artists here were in fact farmers and lived in their village for the most part of the year, so it goes without saying that none of them spoke a word of English. The manager explained to them that I was a puppeteer too, and we exchanged a little about my practices. Then, to my ample surprise, the manager suggested that I come back to work and train with them for a few months! “What a dream-come-true offer!” I thought, in complete disbelief... Being in love with both water and puppets, and fascinated by Vietnamese culture, I had originally come to Vietnam (after years of anticipation) with the secret wish of learning water puppetry! After being told by other water puppet theatres that it was not possible to have a masterclass, I had sincerely come to this troupe without any such expectations, and I hadn’t even dared to ask if I could try dipping into the water with the puppets for just a few minutes. And here it was, somehow out of the blue and to much of my bewilderment, a mighty and completely improbable proposition! What’s more, one of the puppeteers handed me one of their fisherman’s waterproof jumpsuits and accompanied me inside the pond for what was to be my very first tutorial! 

In the next post, I will tell you about how the technique of this 1000-year-old water puppet tradition used to be kept secret and the punishment that would be inflicted upon any puppeteer revealing anything of it (besides, I am being told I am the first foreigner to be taught this art form extensively).