Nice Day for a...White Wedding...

The Museum of Ethnology is a great place to spend a lazy Sunday in Hanoi. The exhibits are well curated and describe in great detail the day to day lives and cultural practices of Vietnam’s ethnic and indigenous groups. Everyday objects and ceremonial artifacts are displayed thoughtfully, accompanied by dioramas, life-size models, audio-visual segments and excellent descriptive narratives. It's definitely "edumacational".

In addition, the museum gift shop is a branch of Craftlink, which is a fair trade organization that ensures that local artisans are fairly compensated for their craftsmanship (or shall I say, “craftspersonship”?). There is also a branch of Baguette et Chocolat, a not for profit coffee shop that employs disadvantaged youth and trains them in restaurant management and the culinary arts (the café au lait is quite good, as are the pot au chocolat and opera cake, if you happen to drop by). All things said, money spent on the museum grounds is “well spent”, since it benefits youth and artists in a fair and equitable manner. Everybody wins!

But perhaps the most entertaining part of Sundays at the Museum of Ethnology is pretending to be a fly on the wall and watching young Vietnamese couples have their wedding pictures taken. The well manicured grounds, complete with little streams and ponds and bridges, offer an attractive setting to snap pictures.

The sheer volume of couples taking wedding pictures here on any given Sunday is quite amazing. Everywhere you turn, you are most certain to screw up somebody’s wedding pictures.

Most photographers come complete with make-up artists and wardrobe specialists. Some even come prepared with props (which usually entail the groom pretending to serenade his bride with a fake violin or guitar holding a rose between his teeth). Other photographers get really into it and ask the brides to jump on their groom’s back (‘the action shot’) or to pose in very awkward looking positions (‘climb the rock and put your face in your hands and think about how seahorses make you feel’).

Highly entertaining, this is value added fun for the price of admission to the Museum.