We had a great city tour today with our guide, Hoan. Our first stop was the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, a monumental marble building that is a mecca for the Vietnamese. Although his desire was to be cremated and have his ashes spread in the north, central, and south of Vietnam, the government decided to to put his embalmed body on display. Word has it that he is sent to Russia once a year for ‘annual maintenance’ and cynics say that Madame Tussaud has the contract. The viewing of his body takes place in the early a.m. only. We joined thousands of Vietnamese (very few foreigners) in a line that snaked past guards regaled in snowy-white military uniforms. Seeing his body was quite an experience. When you enter the viewing area you feel as if you were in a deep-freezer. In fact, they have his body on display for a couple of hours only in the morning, after which he descends into a refrigerated room for the rest of the day. The macabre spectacle of his embalmed body with wispy white goatee is not to be missed!
Afterwards we learned how Uncle Ho was influenced by Lenin and Stalin. We toured a stilt house where he lived from 1958 to 1969. It was next to a pond with giant gold-fish swimming among lotus leaves. Just next door was the Presidential Palace which is still in use today.
Huan then brought us to the One Pillar Pagoda, designed to resemble a lotus blossom. From the eleventh century is was revered as a symbol of purity. Unfortunately, one of the last acts of the French before leaving Hanoi in 1954 was to destroy the original One Pillar Pagoda. It was eventually reconstructed by the Vietnamese government.
No trip to Hanoi is complete without a visit to the Temple of Literature. It was founded in 1070 by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong, who dedicated it to Confucius in order to honour scholars and men of literary accomplishment. The Temple was a spectacular sight – made up of five courtyards with the central pathways and gates between them reserved for the king. We were fortunate to see a musical presentation when there. We were happy to sit and watch, as well as escape the oppressive heat for a few minutes (daily highs of sunny, 95F with 100% humidity)!
Although seeing Uncle Ho was the highlight for the day, our visit to the Museum of Ethnology was a close second. It was especially meaningful as we had spent five days with hilltribe people in Sapa whose homes were among those on display in the open air museum. The exhibits gave us great insight into the many different hilltribes that exist throughout Vietnam.
We were thrilled to go to Koto for lunch. Koto (Know One Teach One) is a cooking school where street kids are trained to work in the food industry. Bill Clinton and Laura Bush have both been there on separate occasions. I had a mango salad with sesame encrusted prawns – delicious! Joe chose fettuccine. Ryan indulged in a schnitzel and Brendan had beef with noodles. We were all over the moon with our selections and left happy and with full bellies.
Afterwards we learned how Uncle Ho was influenced by Lenin and Stalin. We toured a stilt house where he lived from 1958 to 1969. It was next to a pond with giant gold-fish swimming among lotus leaves. Just next door was the Presidential Palace which is still in use today.
Huan then brought us to the One Pillar Pagoda, designed to resemble a lotus blossom. From the eleventh century is was revered as a symbol of purity. Unfortunately, one of the last acts of the French before leaving Hanoi in 1954 was to destroy the original One Pillar Pagoda. It was eventually reconstructed by the Vietnamese government.
No trip to Hanoi is complete without a visit to the Temple of Literature. It was founded in 1070 by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong, who dedicated it to Confucius in order to honour scholars and men of literary accomplishment. The Temple was a spectacular sight – made up of five courtyards with the central pathways and gates between them reserved for the king. We were fortunate to see a musical presentation when there. We were happy to sit and watch, as well as escape the oppressive heat for a few minutes (daily highs of sunny, 95F with 100% humidity)!
Although seeing Uncle Ho was the highlight for the day, our visit to the Museum of Ethnology was a close second. It was especially meaningful as we had spent five days with hilltribe people in Sapa whose homes were among those on display in the open air museum. The exhibits gave us great insight into the many different hilltribes that exist throughout Vietnam.
We were thrilled to go to Koto for lunch. Koto (Know One Teach One) is a cooking school where street kids are trained to work in the food industry. Bill Clinton and Laura Bush have both been there on separate occasions. I had a mango salad with sesame encrusted prawns – delicious! Joe chose fettuccine. Ryan indulged in a schnitzel and Brendan had beef with noodles. We were all over the moon with our selections and left happy and with full bellies.
We also came across a war events memorial at the edge of the lake in central Hanoi. It was a statue of a surrendered USAF pilot that had crashed in the lake in the American-Vietnam War. It commemorated none other than the capture of John McCain, who 40 years later would run for president of the US. Wow.
As it turned out the climax of our visit was a visit to the water puppet theatre. It was fantastic. Art, music, culture tradition and drama were all on display as we watched the dragons, phoenix, turtles, fish, oxen, men and women paying homage to the 1000 years of Vietnamese history though song and dance.
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