I paid a visit to Ho Chi Minh’s grave after becoming an overnight fan of his work. He actually wanted to be cremated and have his ashes spread across the three regions of Vietnam (the North, South and Middle Bit) as a gesture of unification. The population thought that his body was too iconic for that, so he is buried in a mausoleum in the capital city of Hanoi.
The huge grounds surrounding the burial spot are well-guarded and security is tight! One young woman started walking through an unfenced part (an innocent mistake) when whistles started blowing and a military man charged towards her while shouting. Checking in at the main gate was like going through airport security, and some of the guards even wielded machine guns.
You are not allowed anywhere NEAR the entrance to the mausoleum, which is guarded by six men in full uniforms of white, taking turns to do that silly march that they do. I wonder if that’s all they do every day. I also couldn’t help but wonder what might happen if you were to suddenly charge towards the entrance. Public humiliation and/or execution? There is also STRICTLY no chewing of gum! Signs for that were everywhere.
I passed the Military Museum unexpectedly on the way there and gave that a self-guided tour. That’s what I love so much about simply walking around new cities and places; you never know what you might find! The museum has an impressive amount on display, including entire tanks, planes and other large war machines that had seen some action. Many had shredded tyres and bullet holes on them.
My final day in Ha Noi ended with another free private tour with a student, which was categorised as a “Culture Exchange” tour. We chatted over a coffee and light lunch before visiting a school and the First University of Vietnam. She didn’t quite understand all my questions, but it was very pleasant overall.
In the evening I did some sort of tai chi dancing with some grannies near the lake. I had to stop to hide my laughter when the next song was by the Venga Boys. The lyrics from this musical masterpiece include, “boom, boom, boom, I want you in my room!” There was also a weird “United Kingdom & Northern Island Festival” happening – celebrating 30 years of… friendship I suppose.
Exiting Ha Noi was hilarious. It was one of those experiences where everything goes wrong. The first hurdle was trying to pay at the hotel. I was convinced that I had already paid for my 1-week stay online (as I ALWAYS prefer to get that sorted in advance), but this wasn’t the case after spending a good while looking through my banking history. My debit card was then declined, so I had to fish around for my credit card. Precious time wasted.
The reception man very kindly ordered me a taxi at a cheaper rate than my Grab app offered. Along the way he called the driver. He had mistakenly given me the receipt that had my signature on it, so we had to pull over to photograph and send that. Roadworks were happening, which delayed things further. Finally at the airport, I rushed to do a bag drop as the last person to arrive.
Hurtling toward the boarding gate, there was no one left in the queue and the gate was blocked by material tape. I frantically waved my ticket and passport at the women dressed in beautiful blue. One approached me calmly and said that boarding was running behind schedule and hadn’t actually started yet. I slumped in a chair and wiped the stressed sweat off my face.
When it was my turn to check in, they flagged my boarding pass as suspect and I was told to go with them. Apparently there was an issue with my checked in luggage! A long, escorted walk took us into the back of the inspection area where my abandoned backpack lay. I was asked if there was a phone in my bag. It was my spare phone that hadn’t been switched on in years! It was the first time that that had ever happened, and I dutifully removed it.
I RAN back towards the boarding gate, but had to go through a second security check. The bag in front of mine was suspicious, so they had to take time to thoroughly look through that. Then the large man in front of me beeped loudly as he walked through the scanner. There was a lot of him to manually scan. Once through, I kept on running while trying to put my belt back on while my pants were beginning to fall down. The boarding gate happened to be the second furthest one away, but I got on the plane feeling sorry for the nose belonging to the person who shared the aisle with me. Fortunately, there was an empty seat between us and he was fast asleep.
Just before take-off, I realised that something far worse had happened. I had left my packed lunch on the hotel reception desk…
Next: Vietnam #10 – Something in My Eye
Previously: Vietnam #8 – The Legend Ho Chi Minh
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