Travel Info

Theatre

Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre (57 Dinh Tien Hoang St., across the street from the shores of the Hoan Kiem Lake; tel. +84-4-824-9494, fax +84.4.824-5117).

A visit to the water puppet theater is a real highlight of a trip to Hanoi. Live musicians accompany folk legends from Vietnamese history, told with wooden men, women and dragons, dancing and splashing on the face of the water. The narratives are sung in Vietnamese, but a list of titles is available in several languages.

Tickets are 40,000 and 60,000 dong. There are several performances throughout the day, but it's virtually impossible to buy tickets for the same day, and most performances for the following day will be sold out as well.

Camera passes are an extra 15,000 dong, but whether you buy one or not is purely on the honor system. Don't worry about getting wet, but the seats are very small, and visitors with above-average height will have to squirm a bit.

Free Tour

Hanoi Free Tour Guides is a social non-profit organization founded and run by a group of students and ex-students since January 2010, which provides free tours around Hanoi for foreigners.

Cinema

Megastar— is on the 6th floor of the Vincom City Towers, 191 Ba Trieu. The tickets range from 50,000 to 80,000 depends on the movie and the show time. The movies are relatively updated, perhaps one or two months later than in the U.S. The movies are not dubbed. There is subtitle so non-Vietnamese speakers can still enjoy the movies while the local people can also understand what is going on.

August Movie Theater (Rap Thang 8)— is on Hang Bai street, five minutes away from Trang Tien Plaza and the commercial area, such as Pho Hue, Hai Ba Trung and Trang Tien streets. The price ranges from 15,000 to 30,000.

Gym

If you want to do some mild weight training on a budget, head to 88 Hang Buom st, a short walk from Hoan Kiem Lake. The cost is 20,000VND per session as of November 2009. A local tells me he pays 130,000VND per month. Be aware however the gym is in very poor condition. The floor is hazardous and no one will spot you whilst benching so ensure your last rep you are able to place the bar back or go with a friend. The front of the gym is full of scooters and the rear wall has pictures of Uncle Ho exercising back in the day! Drinks are 10,000VND.