Day 7: Lining up for Ataturk (Thursday, July 3)

Arriving in Hanoi on an overnight train at 4:30 a.m., after a long uncomfortable night in which the air con pumped cold and old cigarette smoke into the compartment all night, makes for a sleepy day. I wandered out of the station and was happy to have a place to go to rest until the city woke up. Although, as we drew into town, I had seen a huge market off to the side of the railroad tracks that was lighted and full before 4, bustling in the pre-dawn, but I had no idea where that was. I went to the hostel and sat and dozed in the bar until breakfast time. Even there I wasn't alone because the place had been full last night and two guys and a girl had spent the night on the wooden benches. It made me feel that my night hadn't been so bad.

My goal for this morning was to see Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. I think I really wanted to go through because I'd gone to Anitkabir so many times. (Anitkabir is Ataturk's mausoleum in Ankara, Turkey. It has great grounds even though you're not allowed to even bring a book in since you might end up sitting and thinking of something other than Ataturk. The guards wouldn't even let my girl bring her doll in when she was 3 or 4. But there are lot of fascinating things in the museum attached to Anitkabir like Ataturk's rowing machine, some of his cars, one of his favourite dogs, carefully preserved and my favourite: a plaque from Haile Selassie. )

On the museum grounds they had Ho Chi Minh's cars, his place setting in the dining room, his office with pictures of Marx and Lenin above his desk, and also the stilt house he is supposed to have spent some time in in contemplation every day. I didn't go into the Presidential Museum, so I didn't see the gifts from dignitaries, but I'd like to imagine there was a big gaudy plaque from Haile Selassie there, too.

But the most incredible thing about Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum by far was the line. The mausoleum is only open from 8 - 10:30 or so several days a week and every day there is a line stretching for over half a kilometre! It's not the length of the line that is most impressive, though; it's the orderliness. I'd bet a million dollars that no where else in Asia is there a line like this. The people walk quietly one by one until the guards tell everyone to line up two by two at which point there is suddenly two distinct and straight lines. This goes through one visual check (to make sure you don't have too big of a bag and that you have enough skin covered) and two security checks (to make sure you don't have any electronics with you.) No one cuts in front of anyone else; no one talks; children are kept orderly. Apparently you're not allowed to have your hands in your pockets inside the mausoleum and you're not allowed to keep your hat on, either.

The line wanders along shaded sidewalks, moving pretty quickly since there's no bunching up or dawdling allowed. Once inside the air con hits you hard. You walk up two flights of steps and go around a corner to the left, and there Ho Chi Minh is under red lights. The walkway is slightly raised and has pretty high railings. There is a sunken area around the coffin where four soldiers stand. He's slightly propped up in a glass-sided coffin with his hands laid straight on a satin blanket. You can't stop and look because the guards keep the line moving. It was very interesting to see. The guide book says that his body is sent back to Russia three months out of the year for maintenance. If I get to go back to Hanoi, I'm definitely going to go there again - it's quite an experience.