Currently I am in Vietnam meeting with other Drama teachers from around the region. We spent today sharing lesson and technology ideas as well as planning the annual Drama festival. All good stuff. As well picking up some very good ideas to improve my lessons I also learned how to cross Ho Chi Minh City roads.
What?
A friend of mine told that their reliable source reckons there are 37 million motorbikes in Vietnam, a country of around 75 million people. And those 37 million are much in evidence in this city. There are many rules of the road, but in reality there appear to be only a few that you need to know: drive on the right; the larger the vehicle the more priority you have and don't stop. Consequently crossing roads here is not an activity for the faint hearted. Earlier this evening my colleague from the Ho Chi Minh City took fellow Drama teachers to see the Water Puppets show and then followed that up with a walk and road-crossing lesson. The rules were remarkably simple. Watch for a gap in the sliver of two-wheelers and then cross, but don't stop. Fighting every urge in my safety conscious brain I took her advice and it worked. Despite having riders scoot past me and at me they all managed to go round me and no injuries were sustained. Countering over 40 years of learned behaviour is tricky, but then learning new skills is apparently good for one?
Water puppets have apparently been entertaining the Vietnamese since the 1100s and this evening they entertained this UK Drama teacher too. Six musicians played and sang their way through a range of Vietnamese songs while on top of a large water pool various intricate and highly decorated puppets did their stuff. Operated by eight unseen puppeteers the puppets included boats and boatmen, fish, farmers, turtles and a pair of mating chickens complete with egg and then hatched chick. The show culminated In a fire breathing dragon just before the soggy puppeteers took their bows. It was both charming and curious at the same time.
One more piece of good news. The hotel serves bacon, real bacon, for breakfast. Marvellous.