Hanoi - Her Past Remembered

Hoa Lo Prison Museum

The Hoa Lo Prison Museum is a stone's throw away from our hotel. Originally built by the French, the prison was nicknamed the 'Hanoi Hilton' by American POWs imprisoned there during the war.

Ly Thai To

This is Emperor Ly Thai Tho, founder of Hanoi around 1010AD. Man, he looks like a bronzed giant and yet confucius like.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

A strange thing about tourist sites in Hanoi - Most museums and places of interest with an entry fee opens early at 8am. They close at 11 or 11.30am and reopens at about 2 until 4pm. The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum however, opens at 8 and closes at 11. The last entry is at 10.15am.

Imagine the difficulty in getting up early and going to the Mausoleum on time! We managed to hurry to the Mausoleum at about 10am but the cab driver dropped us off at a different entrance point. And like in the Amazing Race, we rushed into the huge grounds of the mausoleum complex. There were no signboards to lead the way and directions given by the guards standing around were wrong.

When we finally got to the Mausoleum, we had to handover all our cameras, phones and bags, and proceed to queue to enter the complex. We had just made it just before closing time! Tourists and locals were all made to walk in a single file line into the mausoleum and up the stairs where Uncle Ho sleeps. More guards everywhere ensuring that no one makes a sound. The square room was cold and quiet. Uncle Ho is embalmed and resting in a glass coffin surrounded by 4 guards looking ahead with another 4 guards ensuring that the single file of visitors walk quickly by - they won't allow anyone to stop to talk or gaze, so there can be no waving or saying hello to the man who established communist Vietnam.

Apparently Uncle Ho wanted to be cremated. He wrote "Not only is cremation good from the point of view of hygiene, but it also saves farmland." I wonder how he feels, having his embalmed body on display to everyone... from the who come to pay respects to their hero to those who come for curiosity's sake.