Ho Chi Minh's revenge

2 Feb
Over exuberant eating in my first few hours in Hanoi was a mistake - it was probably the crab soup - should have known better, but the outcome was more time spent in bed (and the bathroom), rather than at the other city sights.
Anyway, still made it to Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, on the back of an old boy's motorbike. "Uncle Ho" lies in state for public viewing, when he's not being carefully re-embalmed in an annual trip to Russia.
After passing through security checks, you join what is probably the most orderly, respectful queue in Asia. Two by two, the people are shepherded into the mausoleum to shuffle around the glass cabinet. If you're caught with your hands in your pockets, you get a tap on the shoulder from one of the many guards...respect is the order of the moment!
HCM is very much the national hero in these parts. Liberation from French and then American interference clearly set him up for immortality.
Interestingly, many of the temples here relate to national heroes from earlier times, and they're the focus of many of the peoples' worship, with rituals which look (to me) pretty similar to those practised in Buddhist temples in Thailand.

In the area surrounding the mausoleum there are a number of other buildings of interest...difficult to interpret the meaning of much of this stuff...the English transcripts aren't always helpful but the architecture and symbolism is interesting.

Click here for some pics (cameras not allowed in the mausoleum)....

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/scuba50/HoChiMinh?feat=directlink