Hanoi may be more famous for its traditional water puppet performance, but no visit is complete without viewing its seedier cousin. The secret water puppet show will not be mentioned in any guide book, or indeed any government pamphlet, but hang around in the tourist section north of Hoan Kiem lake for long enough and you will probably be hassled by a tout advertising “sexy puppets” or “naughty puppets”.
With pornography banned by the Communist government, paddy field workers in need of a little titillation turned to their water puppets, adapting them to create this rather hilarious wooden soft porn. In some of the more comical scenes, even the animals are involved.
The entrance is usually in some little hideaway alley off Dinh Liet Street, to which your ticket seller will escort you. It last around an hour and should cost around 50,000 dong.
Warning: this is not suitable for children, no matter what the tout says.
North of Hoan Kiem lake
Yes, I saw the puppet porn when I was in Hanoi a couple of weeks ago. The ticket sellers approached me when I was standing by the lake, and it was a penis-shaped ticket - not what you expect in a Communist country. Most of the show was like a Carry On film, lots of bras being accidently set on fire or eaten by dogs, but the last scene was one of the most scary things I've ever seen, even though it only involved puppets. Let's just say it gave a whole new meaning to the biblical phrase 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush'. A great night out.
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