When Ho Chi Minh died, his people did unto him as they had done to his fellow Communists Stalin and Lenin before him: they embalmed him and put his body on display in his mausoleum. It's basically modern mummification. What is there not to be fascinated by? I may be a while before I make it to Russia to see Stalin or Lenin, so I thought it'd be interesting to see Ho Chi Minh.
The catch is that his mausoleum is only open from 7:30 a.m. until 10:15 a.m. I had also read that there usually is a long line, but that it moves fast. I got up early and got ready to go, but when it came time for Pallavi to get up, she decided that it wasn't worth it just to see only Ho Chi Minh. Off I went by my lonesome. As I walked, I realized that Hanoi is a morning city. Everything seems to be alive and buzzing with interesting things in the a.m. That I was out by 8:30 a.m. meant I was a bit late. I walked past the Army Museum, past the Hanoi citadel, until I finally arrived at Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. I came at it from the front, took some pictures, saw the line, and went to go and find the back of it.
I swear the line was a minimum of 1 km long. It snaked around in various forms of being covered by wood, covered by tents, and uncovered. That's alright. I had my sun umbrella for the uncovered bits. I went ahead and got in it, passed security, and stood in the throng of Vietnamese people. I figured it would take 30 minutes to an hour.
I hadn't factored in the rain.
I may have been under cover, but that mattered not! People under the covering still opened their umbrellas to prevent water from dripping in on the sides. They didn't factor in that their umbrella then dripped on the people on the inside. However, the guards managing the lines don't let people in or they don't let the line move (cause of the uncovered bits, which option it is, I'm not sure), and the line stood still. The first rain passed after 15 minutes, and, relatively dry, the line moved. Perfect. I had started to look for an escape, only to realize that once you are in this line, there isn't really any escape. The line continued moving. By this point, it's been an hour, but I'm coming around the very last turn. Of course it was time for it to rain again. Only this time, my tent covering didn't save me. Swamp in my shoes! Soaking wet pants. Good thing I put a plastic bag around my stuff and had my poor abused sun umbrella to protect me.
It's at this point I realized that the Vietnamese are line cutters. So many people with ponchos started to cut the line. After watching 50 people cut, I decided it's my turn. I haven't been waiting in this line for an hour and a half only to let these people wait for less time than me!
Finally, 30 minutes later, I made it to the mausoleum for my 90 seconds with Ho Chi Minh. Impressions? He looks just like he does on the money. Except dead and not smiling. Other than that, it's pretty amazing how they've been able to preserve his body. Every finger nail and every piece of hair is kept in perfect place. Was it worth the 90 minute wait? Maybe not. But the experience definitely was.
Went back to the hotel and used the blow dryer on my shoes. After changing hotels, we explored a bit more around the city and started to arrange our next few days. Along the way, I made Pallavi stop so I could try 'egg coffee.' That's right - it's coffee with egg in it. It was like egg nog meets coffee. It was SO good. I really think Vietnamese coffee may be my favourite coffee in the world. It's so thick. It's so creamy. It's so deceptively strong. I loved it!
All things sorted, tomorrow we head for Halong Bay in the north.
The catch is that his mausoleum is only open from 7:30 a.m. until 10:15 a.m. I had also read that there usually is a long line, but that it moves fast. I got up early and got ready to go, but when it came time for Pallavi to get up, she decided that it wasn't worth it just to see only Ho Chi Minh. Off I went by my lonesome. As I walked, I realized that Hanoi is a morning city. Everything seems to be alive and buzzing with interesting things in the a.m. That I was out by 8:30 a.m. meant I was a bit late. I walked past the Army Museum, past the Hanoi citadel, until I finally arrived at Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. I came at it from the front, took some pictures, saw the line, and went to go and find the back of it.
I swear the line was a minimum of 1 km long. It snaked around in various forms of being covered by wood, covered by tents, and uncovered. That's alright. I had my sun umbrella for the uncovered bits. I went ahead and got in it, passed security, and stood in the throng of Vietnamese people. I figured it would take 30 minutes to an hour.
I hadn't factored in the rain.
I may have been under cover, but that mattered not! People under the covering still opened their umbrellas to prevent water from dripping in on the sides. They didn't factor in that their umbrella then dripped on the people on the inside. However, the guards managing the lines don't let people in or they don't let the line move (cause of the uncovered bits, which option it is, I'm not sure), and the line stood still. The first rain passed after 15 minutes, and, relatively dry, the line moved. Perfect. I had started to look for an escape, only to realize that once you are in this line, there isn't really any escape. The line continued moving. By this point, it's been an hour, but I'm coming around the very last turn. Of course it was time for it to rain again. Only this time, my tent covering didn't save me. Swamp in my shoes! Soaking wet pants. Good thing I put a plastic bag around my stuff and had my poor abused sun umbrella to protect me.
It's at this point I realized that the Vietnamese are line cutters. So many people with ponchos started to cut the line. After watching 50 people cut, I decided it's my turn. I haven't been waiting in this line for an hour and a half only to let these people wait for less time than me!
Finally, 30 minutes later, I made it to the mausoleum for my 90 seconds with Ho Chi Minh. Impressions? He looks just like he does on the money. Except dead and not smiling. Other than that, it's pretty amazing how they've been able to preserve his body. Every finger nail and every piece of hair is kept in perfect place. Was it worth the 90 minute wait? Maybe not. But the experience definitely was.
Went back to the hotel and used the blow dryer on my shoes. After changing hotels, we explored a bit more around the city and started to arrange our next few days. Along the way, I made Pallavi stop so I could try 'egg coffee.' That's right - it's coffee with egg in it. It was like egg nog meets coffee. It was SO good. I really think Vietnamese coffee may be my favourite coffee in the world. It's so thick. It's so creamy. It's so deceptively strong. I loved it!
All things sorted, tomorrow we head for Halong Bay in the north.
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