ATTRACTIONS - Ethnology Museum

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VIETNAM MUSEUM OF ETHNOLOGY
Easily Vietnam’s best museum (‘Bao Thang Dan Toc Hoc Viet Nam,’ in Vietnamese), this 320-acre complex (open since 1997) is worth the hassle to get out of the center to see. Inside the two-floor building are two floors with an in-depth look at Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups, with subtitles in English and fascinating videos. A lot to capture kids’ imaginations too. Highlights inside include a bike carrying 800 bamboo-fish traps, a video on making a non la (conical hat) at Chuong village near Hanoi, and a Tay religious ceremony video run by a hilarious old lady who cracks up her group with her antics. But the best is in the outside gardens’ collection of minority houses you can climb into and have some tea and candies in. The favorite is the 19m-high communal house from Kontum, reached by logs with step-like grooves, plus the Ede longhouse, Tay stilt house and the (very phallic) Giarai tomb. (If you go early, see the outside first, ie before school groups come.)

The museum is 7km west of the center. Bus #14 stops 500m north of the museum (at Hoang Quoc Viet and Nguyen Van Huyen Sts), but you’re better off taking a taxi – about US$4 one way – or arranging a motorbike taxi to take you. There’s a taxi stand outside the gate.

Tel 04-756-2193; www.vme.org.vn; Nguyen Van Huyen St, btwn Hoang Quoc Viet & Nguyen Khanh Toan Sts; admission US$1.50; open 8.30am-5.30pm Tue-Sun