Have you ever seen a puppet show? How about one presented on
a stage filled with water? Well, now I have! Today I got to experience a
traditional Vietnamese Water Puppet Show.
My morning/early afternoon involved skyping my fam jam, tea-time
with Patrick, picking up my visa extension and reserving tickets for the show –
THEN I went to teach at my middle school until 5pm!
Patrick got a weird stomach bug though, so unfortunately, he
had to miss the 6:30pm Water Puppet Show. But it was definitely worth it. Despite not being able to understand much
because it was Vietnamese, I think the plot is not the main attraction – it is
the art of water puppets. It was
visually appealing and definitely piqued my curiosity – how do they do it?! The
puppet design was beautiful and the live music played by a mini ensemble (who
also did all the voices of the puppets!) was perfect for each scene, setting
the mood and pace. It even transcended
language with its comical edge (i.e. silly voices, chase scenes and playful
gestures).
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Anyway, my dish of the day is equally interesting – and equally
bizarre! This is called Hot Vit Lon
(aka. Balut in the Philippines),
which is a Fertilized Duck-Egg. Balut is also eaten in the Philippines, Cambodia,
China and some other Asian countries.
When I ordered the egg, I had NO idea, that it was a duck
egg, nor that it was already fertilized (and thus, that the duck embryo had
already begun to grow!) In fact, the vendor and I had a major communication
barrier going on, more so than any other vendor I’ve ever bought off of in
Vietnam. Often these duck eggs are eaten
while still runny, so I was lucky that it was already boiled quite well. The
idea of eating a growing embryo is disturbing and I don’t think I would have
ever had the courage to order this on purpose, knowing what I would be
consuming. But as I said, it was a
complete accident. And to be honest, I was quite hungry (and about to start
teaching a lesson)... so I had no option, but to give it a try!
I also ordered fried corn (fried in oil with herbs, onions,
thai basil, sugar and a touch of tomato.
I have to admit, the flavours and textures were much better than I
expected. I expected the balut to be chewy and runny, but it wasn’t at all! I
challenge you to give it a try!
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