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Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

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     Hanoi, Vietnam
    +84 4 942 1061
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Editor Pick

1 Minute with Dead, Cold Body: HO CHI MINH MAUSOLEUM

  • July 17, 2008
  • Rated 4 of 5 by bettybetty10 from Dallas, Texas
I had never seen a dead person on ice before so I HAD to visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum! We walked over there, which took about 30 minutes. We also visited on a Saturday morning, and when we got there, the line was extremely long. We were worried because it was about 10am, and we knew that it closed at 11:30 for lunch.

We got in line, and as mentioned, there are tons of people waiting in line to see Uncle Ho – both Vietnamese and foreign tourists. The Vietnamese LOVE their Ho Chi Minh! There are many military personnel around to keep people in check and I made sure I followed orders accordingly.

Everyone has to go through security, primarily because no photographs are allowed. All cameras are confiscated and checked, and you can retrieve it after your visit. Also, everyone must dress conservatively (sleeves and long pants/skirt) and all hats must be removed. One woman was wearing a tank top and someone had to give her a long sleeved shirt to wear over it. One man put on his hat before leaving the complex and a guard asked him to remove it.

We waited in line about 45 minutes, but it wasn’t so bad because we got to look at the complex, the staff who worked there, and people watch in general. Also, we could commiserate with the other tourists who thought the wait was way too long.

Once we got in, we were required to walk in two lines up the stairs and into the mausoleum. There were guards stationed every few feet to physically push people along if they were slowing down to rubberneck, or if your hands were not completely down at your sides and in view. I was roughly manhandled twice because I was walking in the outside line and slowed down to get a better look at Ho Chi Minh. The entire walk through took about 1 minute.

The visit was much like waiting in line for rides at Disneyland – super long queue, but a really short time with Mr. Ho himself. It was a surreal experience and kind of weird, but something you definitely have to do.

From journal Quirky but Delicious Hanoi

Editor Pick

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Grays

  • April 4, 2008
  • Rated 5 of 5 by SeenThat from Tel Aviv, Israel
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Grays

"What’s this?" and "Where am I?" were my first reactions. The classical boxy building certainly did not belong to South East Asia. The orderly line of people awaiting the entrance could not possibly be the same serial killers driving and riding the "motos" at illegal speeds (and mostly on the wrong direction) around the congested city.

Communist Cemeteries

Visiting cemeteries is a worthwhile activity for intrepid travelers in many places; the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires is an excellent example of a cemetery transformed into an historic type of attraction. However, in certain places this has taken eerie dimensions.

Communist regimes did present themselves as atheists; they praised valueless societies, but never considered that the vacuum they created artificially would be filled by false idols. No other societies in human history made a point of embalming symbolic leaders and afterwards showing them off to the people as the Communist did.

They never tried to explain this weird – if not sinister – practice. The USSR had Lenin. In Beijing, Mao Zedong can still be appreciated. Hanoi still displays Ho Chi Minh. Nobody remembers why. The crowds are probably the same ones rushing afterwards home with a pirated copy of the last horror film. "The Body Snatchers IX" would its title probably be.

Unintended Symbol

Communism made a point of destroying ancestral customs and religions. It was a matter of historical justice that their tyrants were prey to their own medicine. Ho Chi Minh stated in his will and last testament that he wanted to be cremated and his ashes to be scattered across the country.

"The same way you didn’t respect your ancestral traditions, we are not respecting your will," is the subliminal message of the site.

The Shrine

The pseudo-temple can be visited during the mornings. A long queue awaits the visitor. At its end are booths were bags and cameras can be left; though my recommendation is not to bring them at all. Officially, the visit is free of charge, but the policemen taking away the bags request an unofficial fee; moreover, there is a serious risk the bags – especially pricey cameras and phones – would get lost. Modest clothing is required for entering the place.

The queue enters the mausoleum and surrounds the embalmed body by three sides before exiting through a different door. The corpse is separated from the crowd by a thick glass; the room is heavily refrigerated creating sharp contrast with the steamy streets of Hanoi. Strangely, the similar mausoleum in Beijing is heavily heated; however, in both cases the air within the glass is controlled so that the body is better preserved.

Ho Chi Minh lies on a platform, only his head and hands exposed; on a regular basis he is send to Moscow for maintenance procedures. The small, inert body is a live (dead?) metaphor regarding the impossibility for tyrants to win their fight against human rights. There he lies, his last will publicly violated. "You violated us, we violate you," the crowds are silently whispering.

On The Surrounding Grass

A line of conical hats floating over a field of electric green grass was the unusual sight waiting me outside the mausoleum; the women were tending the grass and provided the most human sight in the area.

Hope was in the air, their hats and culture would survive all vicissitudes.

From journal Hanoi: Red River Blues

Editor Pick

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex

  • October 24, 2003
  • Rated 3 of 5 by ShannonBrooke from Somerville, Massachusetts
Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex

The Ho Chi Minh mausoleum grounds are quite large, and landscaped with gardens. In this area, you will find the Ho Chi Minh museum, the mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh's mansion, and Ho Chi Minh's house. You will find old historic pagodas, like the One-Pillar Pagoda. There are numerous vendors here hawking t-shirts and ice cream. It is simply a pleasant place to explore if you have an afternoon in Hanoi.

Unfortunately some parts of the complex are guarded and cordoned off, and it's hard to find your way around. For all of our searching, we never found Ho Chi Minh's house. Luckily, English signs helped us on our way to the One-Pillar Pagoda, a popular spot for Vietnamese to visit. The One-Pillar pagoda, built in the middle of a pond supported by a single pillar, is a beautiful site and we felt caught up in the joy of the other visitors.

Visiting the mauseleum is serious business. You must be appropriately dressed (no hats), and you must leave your camera at the entrance. With our expensive digital SLRs, we weren't going to take any chances and thus missed our chance to see an embalmed Uncle Ho. The architecture of the Mausoleum is quite startling, a square grey building rising incongruously from gorgeous green parkland.

From journal Asia Sampler: Hanoi Rocks

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum

  • October 7, 2001
  • Rated 4 of 5 by Heather F from Heywood, Australia
One of the most macabre and eerie experiences is visiting Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. The sight of the tiny, embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh with its rounded face topped with longish tufts of white hair and a small goatee beard below, entombed in glass, is almost spiritual. Aided by subtle lighting, complete silence and the regimentation of entering makes one aware of the high esteem in which this great man is held.

Leaving cameras behind, visitors (predominantly Vietnamese) must walk in single file across Ba Dinh Square to climb the red-carpeted stairs into the mausoleum.

From journal Hanoi Highlights

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