My time in Hanoi will be short and I want to make sure to try and get a couple of things in.
Is Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum currently open? I could go on Friday May 11 or Saturday May 12. My book says it should be open starting at 7:30am, but during my last trip to Hanoi it was closed for renovation. Think there's any chance to get there and see it before having to head out on a pre-booked trip to Halong Bay?
Is it necessary to get advance tickets for the Thang Long water puppets? If so, do you know how I can book? I can only go May 11 or May 13, and don't want to miss them.
thank you.
mopotato
1
normc
I have only been to see Uncle Ho around December and January and he has always been there waiting for me. Dont know about May though. Hongha should know the answer to that question.
I dont believe you will need to get advance tickets for the water puppets. Go there when you first get there and see whats available - they have several shows a day. I dont think you need to buy the expensive ticket as there are only 40 rows in the theatre and the back 20 are almost as good as the front 20.
2
mrmookie
Norm's right about the puppets, just get your tix in th emorning of the day you want to go; and Uncle Ho should be there in May. However, the Mausoleum's only open Tues-Thurs and Sat-Sun mornings.
4
normc
Tickets when I were there were 20,000 Dong and 40,000 Dong - dont know if that has changed since.
5
panayoti
Tickets (in February 2007) were 20dand 40d. If you go late, as I did, you can still get tickets but you may be limited with choice - I went about 30 minutes before the show started and they had ran out of the $40d tickets so i ended up with the $20d tickets. No complaints about the 20d tickets since the place is rather small anyway (besides $20d = two bottles of beer).
6
hongha
As some other posters said, the Mausoleum is often closed on Monday (every week), and between early Oct until early Dec (every year) for renovation. I don't think you will have any problem with visiting it in May.
7
jakartaboy
<blockquote>Quote
<hr>I dont think you need to buy the expensive ticket as there are only 40 rows in the theatre and the back 20 are almost as good as the front 20.<hr></blockquote>
Well, I was lucky enough to get front row seats, when a whole group cancelled at the last minute. I think they were well worth the little bit extra: the puppets are actually quite small, and it was great fun being able to see the hands of the people actually manipulating them ... Depends what's available, and well worth seeing regardless ... but a silly time to decide you want to save two bucks per person ...
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