Tonight's lullabye

"Speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tonight we went to a private ca trù performance, many thanks to Lam who took it upon himself to organize it for the whole group. Ca trù, like many things here, is an ancient cultural practice and now recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage that deserves protection. The experience could only be described as serene. We entered an ancient but overlookable building sandwiched into a street that bustled with convenience stores, western restaurants, and everything else that graces every other street here in the Old Quarter. After passing through a courtyard we were greeted with tea and bean cakes, both of which were remarkably delicious. I still think it is impossible for me to become a coffee drinker, but I might let myself be wooed by tea in Vietnam. Performers sat on stage behind a bamboo curtain, and as they began to play the curtain was slowly rolled up. A young woman sang and played a percussive instrument, another woman played a stringed instrument, and a man beside the stage played a drum. With each song, a new set of performers graced the stage. The lyrics are classical poetry and the instrumentation is improvised. At intermission we were treated to a second round of tea and cakes and were given a brief history of ca trù. We were also invited to try our hands at any and all of the instruments. Music not being my forté, I went for the drum. It turns out there is a very specific way to hit the drum with the stick (there is probably a more proper term for it) in order to achieve the target resonance, and it turns out that I had a knack for it. Yay! The show proceeded and the first song after intermission was my favorite of the evening. At the end I bought their CD.

I am feeling very good about my (still limited) Vietnamese today. At dinner I ordered a dish in Vietnamese and was understood without having to point to the words on the menu or even repeat myself. On the way back to the hotel I paid another visit to the night market. I bargained independently and successfully for a pair of much-needed shorts and was on a post-bargain high when I spotted a pile of shoes. After last week's practical shoe purchase, I indulged in a pair of adorable heels that are low enough they might qualify as practical. I didn't use my bargaining skills for these because my Vietnamese reading skills informed me that the stall's sign said 'no bargaining', but at just $3 I was happy to accept the sticker price.

 

This weekend we are going on a cruise in Ha Long Bay, a famously beautiful part of Vietnam.