January 8, 2006

Today was spent taking a guided tour of Hanoi. Our first stop was Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, where we saw Ho's preserved body. The rules of conduct were very strict - no cameras, no bags, no talking, no hands in pockets, and walking in single-file straight lines. Guards pulled people aside and searched them while others barked at people to keep moving and shoved them along, all of which some of us experienced. This intimidated me quite a bit, being that we are in a communist country. While I knew security was heightened because of our location, I wondered if it would be like this to some extent everywhere we went. It was also very interesting to see Ho Chi Minh as such a celebrated figure, as "Uncle Ho." His face adorns all of the Vietnamese paper money and billboards all across Hanoi. Quang even told us that as more and more information about Ho is released, Ho gains respect among many Vietnamese.

Also on the grounds of the mausoleum was the Presidential Palace, now a communist party guest house. Ho refused to live there, saying it belonged to the people, and chose to live nearby in what's called the House on Stilts. The house consisted only of two rooms and was elegantly simple.