As we drove past the long lines waiting to get in, Bun said it looked like it would only be an hour wait to get into the mausoleum. That comment was not well-received by the group, as our interest in seeing a dead communist leader was extremely low.
Bun and Sonny (our local guide) adjusted on the fly. Instead we walked around to the front of the mausoleum area and looked at it from afar.
Most of the people waiting in line were school children, dressed in their school uniforms. We got to watch them go streaming in, past the honor guard. We also got to see the changing of the guard.
Between Lenin's Tomb, Mao's Mausoleum, and Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, communists are really into showing off their dead leaders. It would be as if Americans could view the bodies of American greats, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Ronald Reagan.
I'm not trying to diminish what Ho Chi Minh did for his people. They had a yearning for freedom (although communism offers a false freedom) out from under the French, and Ho Chi Minh delivered that. Then they fought with the fierceness of tigers to unify the North and South under communist rule. While Minh died before that happened, it did occur. Heck, they even named one of the most famous trails in the world after him.
That said, as proven time and time again, including in the reeducation camps of Vietnam and the Killings Fields of Cambodia. communism deals with its opponents by jailing, torturing, and killing as many of them as they can, so I didn't mind not getting to pay my respects to Minh.
After we watched the changing of the guard, Sonny took us around the area, pointing out the world's ugliest parliament building (at least that I've ever seen) and then French-designed/built President's Palace, which is a beautiful building. Of course, when you don't get to vote for your own parliamentarians, having an insipid building for your national legislature is not something you care about.
Anyhow, Carol wandered off to a tree near the fence of the mausoleum and promptly decided to desecrate Ho Chi Minh's memory by throwing up just outside the fence. Being in the presence of a dead commie made my wife ill. Even in her sickness, she had the presence of mind to NOT lean over the fence and throw up on mausoleum property. She would be sick on and off for the rest of Vietnam, and a little of Cambodia.
Even with her illness, Carol saw a bright side when she quipped, "Throwing up at Ho Chi Minh's grave would have made my father proud!" Robert Farquhar was staunchly pro-freedom and a strong anti-communist.
Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. Note
the honor guard at the bottom.
School children in line to pay their respects.
The honor guard
And the kids at the front of the line head in.
The next shift of the honor
guard head for the changing.
We saw a LOT of people in Vietnam
wearing masks, and lot NOT wearing
masks. Our theory is that it has to do
with the poor air quality, not COVID
fears. But I've been wrong before.
If you know of an uglier parliament building,
send me an email to let me know.
On the parliament building. Remember,
the politburo chooses the parliament
members, not the people.
A much more beautiful government
building because, of course, it was
built by the French. This is the
home of the president of Vietnam.
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