25th August, 2012.
Hồ Chí Minh (1890-1969) led the Viet Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-ruled Democratic Republic of Viet Nam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. He officially stepped down from power in 1955 due to health problems, but remained a highly visible figurehead and inspiration for Vietnamese fighting for his cause – a united, communist Vietnam – until his death. After the war, Saigon, the capital of the Republic of Viet Nam, was renamed Hồ Chí Minh City.
Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum is located in the centre of Ba Dinh Square, where “Uncle Ho” read the Declaration of Independence on September 2, 1945, establishing the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam.
Contrary to his desire for a simple cremation, the mausoleum was constructed from materials gathered from all over Vietnam between 1973 and 1975. The embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh lies in a glass case in the cooled, central hall of the mausoleum, which is protected by a military honour guard. Lines of visitors, including visiting foreign dignitaries, pay their respects at the mausoleum every day.
Rules regarding dress and behaviour are strictly enforced by staff and guards:
- Legs must be covered (no shorts or miniskirts).
- Visitors must be silent, and walk in two lines.
- Hands must not be in pockets, nor arms crossed.
- Smoking, drinking, eating, photography, and video taping are not permitted.
- Hats must be taken off.
- A respectful demeanour must be maintained at all times: no talking or sniggering.
We managed to comply with all these rules and walked respectfully past. Uncle Ho looked like a figure in a waxworks.
In front of the mausoleum are 79 cycad trees, symbolizing Uncle Ho’s 79 springs of life. Bamboo groves on either side whisper in the wind to commemorate the President.
The gardens surrounding the mausoleum have nearly 250 different species of plants and flowers, all from different regions of Vietnam.
Right next to the mausoleum is the Presidential Palace. Between 1901-1906, the palace was built by the French colonialists, for the General Indochina Governor. In 1954, the Vietnamese Government took over this Palace to house the President. However, Uncle Ho refused to live in such an ornate building, so it has been used for high-ranking diplomatic meetings since then.
Being too good for Uncle Ho, it was also too good for visitors – we just got to look at it from the outside. You can see how French it looks, and yes, it really is very yellow.
Ho Chi Minh’s Residence. Refusing to live in the Presidential Palace, President Ho Chi Minh lived in a normal electrician’s house nearby.
We are further down the queue.
Looking through the window into Uncle Ho’s first house. (The marks on the walls are actually reflections of the trees outside on the glass of the window.)
Ho Chi Minh’s House on Stilts. In 1958, the Government had a simple and nature-oriented environment constructed for him to live and work in, surrounded by a peaceful fishpond and gardens full of fruit trees. Most people in the queue have just come from the Mausoleum, so are still walking very respectfully.
Ho Chi Minh’s House on Stilts.
“The house has two floors. The ground floor was the meeting place, consisting of 12 chairs around a large table. Upstairs, there is a bookshelf used as a wattle between his study room and bed room. The lowest level of the shelf is laid a small typewriter for him to type himself. His bed room is very simple with a single wooden bed, a small blanket, a rush mat, a fan made of palm leaves and a bottle of water. Visitors can see a cotton bonnet he used to wear when alive. Some books periodicals he was reading are left on the table. The beloved President lived here from 1958 until he passed away in 1969.” From http://www.vietnam-beauty.com/cities/86-ho-chi-minh-complex-the-heart-of-vietnamese-people.html
(I’m not really sure what a wattle is!)
Ho’s Politburo ordered the construction of a nearby bomb shelter, later dubbed House No. 67.
Outside Ho’s bunker, we were chatting to the young girl with the yellow backpack, a Chinese student in Viet Nam on a school excursion.
Ha Noi is a city of over seven million people, so we thought it was quite amazing when we ran into her again three hours later in another part of the city, so we took photos of each other to mark the occasion.
I found out later that in most coastal east Asian nations, making this "peace" sign is an indication of cuteness when being photographed. We saw it a lot.
Inside Ho’s bunker. The green door leads to the underground bomb shelter.
The green door leads to a bomb shelter under the mound planted with bananas.
Legend holds that Uncle Ho refused to use the shelter as a home, preferring to confer with the Politburo in this fortified bunker but to sleep in his stilt house.
Fruit trees in Uncle Ho’s garden.
The Ho Chi Minh Museum, inaugurated on May 19th 1990, Uncle Ho’s 100th birthday, is built in the shape of a white lotus flower.
More than 2,000 documents and show-pieces are displayed, systematically reflecting President Ho Chi Minh’s life and revolution cause since the late 19th century.
The One Pillar Pagoda is also within the Ho Chi Minh complex. This Buddhist temple is regarded alongside the Perfume Temple as one of Vietnam's two most iconic temples.
The temple was built by Emperor Lý Thái Tông, who ruled from 1028 to 1054. According to the court records, Lý Thái Tông was childless and dreamt that he met the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, who handed him a baby son while seated on a lotus flower. Lý Thái Tông then married a peasant girl and she bore him a son. The emperor constructed the temple in gratitude for this in 1049, having been told by a monk named Thiền Tuệ to build the temple, by erecting a pillar in the middle of a lotus pond, similar to the one he saw in the dream.
The temple is built of wood on a single stone pillar 1.25 m in diameter. It is designed to resemble a lotus blossom, which is a Buddhist symbol of purity, since a lotus blossoms in a muddy pond. In 1954, the French Union forces destroyed the pagoda before withdrawing from Vietnam after the First Indochina War. It was subsequently rebuilt by the new government.
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