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V I E T N A M
My 1st visit to Vietnam was to Saigon. That was very long time ago.
I was a child... all I could remember was my Vietnamese-borned Chinese aunt is very pretty... like
one of those Hong Kong movie star. Truly... she's the most beautiful aunts I've ever had!
& it's her who taught me how to appreciate Vietnamese cuisine. It's also her who taught me about high
fashion in Hong Kong. She's very fashionable & dresses well. Even now...
Yet, I've heard about how the Vietnamese people became refugees & had to cross the stormy seas to find
freedom then & perhaps now to a lesser degree. My aunt didn't have to do that. Her family was rich & she
had always been living in Hong Kong & now in Canada. Still, her dad suffered huge financial losses in his
assets & business & more importantly his will to start again. No, they were still rich even after all that's lost.
But he simply didn't live long after that.

It's this uncertainty in life that had taught me to live in the moments. To enjoy what's available now than to
postpone one's dreams & wishes for a steady source of income. I don't know what will become of me
ultimately, but I do know I'd never want to live in regrets... that I could have done this & that... but didn't
because I choose to work for a living & to invest in the future!
Hanoi water puppet entertainment
WATER PUPPETS

The art of puppetry begins for me back then in Indonesia.
There is the Wayang Kulit & many other kinds of puppetry
in Indonesia (Wayang Golek, Kuda Kepang, etc, etc...). As
a child I was very fascinated by the beat of music that
accompanied such puppet shows. It is something which I
feel children today missed out on. Simple pleasure.

So, when we found out that there is a type of puppets that
dances in water, it immediately caught our attention. Here,
in Hanoi, we found Múa rối nước. It took me awhile to get
used to the Vietnamese music that accompanied the hour-
long water puppet show. It was, however, a very interesting
performance which no one who intends to visit this area
should miss out on! Go see it! If u are heading Indonesia,
check out its Wayang Puppet Theater (a masterpiece
proclaimed by UNESCO).
Highlights
Fact File - The World Factbook
  • Capital: Hanoi.
  • Area: 329,560 sq km.
  • Population: 84.40 million.
  • Nationality: Vietnamese.
  • Ethnic Groups: Kinh (Viet) 86.2%, Tay 1.9%, Thai
    1.7%, Muong 1.5%, Khome 1.4%, Hoa 1.1%, Nun
    1.1%, Hmong 1%, others 4.1%.
  • Languages: Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly
    favored as a second language), some French,
    Chinese, and Khmer; mountain area languages (Mon-
    Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian).
  • National Holiday: Independence Day, 2 September
    (1945).
  • GDP Per Capita: US$2800.
  • Currency: Dong (VND).
  • Internet TLD: .vn.
  • Country Calling Code: 84.
  • Provinces: 64.
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