Day 2 ( 22 June 2013)
Ho Chi Minh Museum
Address: 19 Ngoc Ha, Ba Dinh, Ha Noi
Opening hours: Everyday except for Monday and Friday, from 8:00-11:30 and from 14:00-16:30
Entrance fee: 15,000 VND (USD 0.75)
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Do note that they close 2 hours for lunch. It is one of the most resourceful museums in Hanoi and undoubtedly in the country, Ho Chi Minh museum is conveniently located in the Ho Chi Minh complex. It can be combined in your day trip to visit Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, One-pillar Pagoda, Ba Dinh square and the War Memorial.
The Ho Chi Minh Museum chronicles the life of Vietnam's father figure, offering far more bombast than dignity in the telling. The museum is designed to take the visitor through Ho Chi Minh's life and times, via a series of consecutively viewed exhibits. Each separate exhibit represents a single phase in the man's development.
Next to Ho Chi Minh Museum is the The One Pillar Pagoda. The One Pillar Pagoda (Chùa Một Cột in Vietnamese) is a Buddhist temple in the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex near Ba Dinh Square, a replica of an older temple that was built in 1049 and destroyed by the French in 1954.
The Pagoda has a unique design that is meant to evoke a lotus flower rising out of the water. On this flower sat the goddess of mercy, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, who was seen by the Emperor Ly Thai Tong in a dream handing the latter a baby boy.
The day was really hot at 34 deg C and humid. We were too tired to go to the War Memorial and did not want to join the queue into the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.
To enter the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, you'll have to join a snaking queue of locals and tourists waiting to enter. The queues to visit the inner sanctum can get quite long, and the wait can be interminable - visiting the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is a highlight for many locals' visits to the capital, and very few Vietnamese visiting Hanoi pass up a chance for a pilgrimage to the father of their country.
Tourists are expected to surrender bags and cameras before entering the mausoleum; if you're part of a tour, you'll hand them over to your guide. Then you wait as the line slowly files through the door into the inner sanctum. We did not want to go in just to see the body and the hassle to go through all these formalities and inconveniences.
We went back to the Old Quaters for lunch. We found this 4 storey eating house at Hang Manh which sells barbeque Vietnamese pork nuggets with fried spring rolls.
The above meal costs 210,000 VDN ( about USD11) for two including 2 cans of Coke.
After lunch, we walked back to our hotel to have a rest.
After a good 3 hours of rest, we venture out again to do some shopping. Hang Gai is a good shopping street which sells nice clothing, scarfs, pottery, paintings, etc. Hang Gai has all the little boutiques, most of which also offer tailoring services. Bargaining is a must, as prices could be more than 200% higher than the real prices.
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We had a simple breakfast at the hotel. Had pho beef noodles, Vietnamese coffee and fruits.
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| Hotel's breakfast menu |
Plan to visit the Ho Chi Minh Museum.
Checked with the hotel staff on taxis in Hanoi. Apparently only 2 taxi companies offer the best rates. The most reputable cab companies are Hanoi Taxi, Taxi CP and Mai Linh Taxi. There are many other taxi companies in Hanoi and their rates are more expensive even if they run on metre. Some can be very high. So beware. If you use other taxis, agree on a rate first before you board.
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| Hanoi taxis |
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| Hanoi taxis |
Ho Chi Minh Museum
Address: 19 Ngoc Ha, Ba Dinh, Ha Noi
Opening hours: Everyday except for Monday and Friday, from 8:00-11:30 and from 14:00-16:30
Entrance fee: 15,000 VND (USD 0.75)
View Larger Map
Do note that they close 2 hours for lunch. It is one of the most resourceful museums in Hanoi and undoubtedly in the country, Ho Chi Minh museum is conveniently located in the Ho Chi Minh complex. It can be combined in your day trip to visit Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, One-pillar Pagoda, Ba Dinh square and the War Memorial.
The Ho Chi Minh Museum chronicles the life of Vietnam's father figure, offering far more bombast than dignity in the telling. The museum is designed to take the visitor through Ho Chi Minh's life and times, via a series of consecutively viewed exhibits. Each separate exhibit represents a single phase in the man's development.
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| Ho Chi Minh Museum -entrance |
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| Guests must first climb a series of stairs culminating in a grand staircase heading up to an anteroom at the top floor where Uncle Ho's bronze visage gazes down on the visitor. |
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| Uncle Ho's welcome into his museum |
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| Each exhibit contains a piece or two of installation art that encapsulates the developments in Vietnam and in Ho's life, along with Ho's personal effects and other materials from the period. |
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| The personal items and photographs do the best job of showing Ho as a person |
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| With a floor area of over 107,000 square feet, the Ho Chi Minh Museum provides plenty of space for Ho Chi Minh's legacy - not just display space, but room for a library, storage, movie viewing, conferences, and restoration work, too. All this floor space is contained in a Soviet-style building emblazoned with a relief of the hammer and sickle facing the entry gate. |
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| Furniture used by Uncle Ho |
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| More of his personal items |
Next to Ho Chi Minh Museum is the The One Pillar Pagoda. The One Pillar Pagoda (Chùa Một Cột in Vietnamese) is a Buddhist temple in the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex near Ba Dinh Square, a replica of an older temple that was built in 1049 and destroyed by the French in 1954.
The Pagoda has a unique design that is meant to evoke a lotus flower rising out of the water. On this flower sat the goddess of mercy, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, who was seen by the Emperor Ly Thai Tong in a dream handing the latter a baby boy.
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| The One Pillar Pagoda is a wooden structure, three square meters in area, which sits on a concrete pillar rising above a pond. A stair rises from the lip of the pond into the pagoda, where a steady stream of pilgrims and tourists queue up to pay their respects. |
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| Inside, a richly-adorned altar with burning incense awaits your sacrifices. Women are supposed to enjoy better fertility after a visit to the One Pillar Pagoda. |
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| The One Pillar Pagoda is located halfway between the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Museum. It is open from 8am to 5pm every day, and seeing it is free of charge. |
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| You can also enjoy the sight of the Pagoda without joining the queue; a snack stand sells refreshments nearby, making the One Pillar Pagoda an ideal rest stop for visitors in transit between the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Museum, and the Presidential Palace. |
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| Good resting point for the tired traveller and the heat of the day. |
The day was really hot at 34 deg C and humid. We were too tired to go to the War Memorial and did not want to join the queue into the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.
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| A pleasant walk to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum |
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| Walking towards the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum |
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| The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum holds the embalmed remains of Ho Chi Minh; this massive granite structure looms over Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi, Vietnam. |
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| Had Uncle Ho's will been followed, though, the construction of the Mausoleum would never have come to pass: in his will, the founder of the modern Vietnamese state specified that his body be cremated, with his ashes scattered over the north, center, and south of his country. |
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| The door of the mausoleum is guarded by armed honor guards. In the mid-morning, a showy changing of the guards ceremony is performed partly for the benefit of the tourists in Ba Dinh Square. |
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| The Vietnamese government did the absolute opposite of his wishes. Instead, they gave him the Soviet leader treatment (same as Lenin, Mao, and Kim Il-Sung) - embalming his body and installing it in an imposing concrete-and-granite block that stands before a vast square. |
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| Ba Dinh Square in front of the mausoleum is noteworthy as the site where President Ho declared the independence of Vietnam on September 2, 1945. The square is composed of 240 patches of grass divided by intersecting concrete pathways; visitors are heavily discouraged from walking on the grass. |
To enter the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, you'll have to join a snaking queue of locals and tourists waiting to enter. The queues to visit the inner sanctum can get quite long, and the wait can be interminable - visiting the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is a highlight for many locals' visits to the capital, and very few Vietnamese visiting Hanoi pass up a chance for a pilgrimage to the father of their country.
Tourists are expected to surrender bags and cameras before entering the mausoleum; if you're part of a tour, you'll hand them over to your guide. Then you wait as the line slowly files through the door into the inner sanctum. We did not want to go in just to see the body and the hassle to go through all these formalities and inconveniences.
We went back to the Old Quaters for lunch. We found this 4 storey eating house at Hang Manh which sells barbeque Vietnamese pork nuggets with fried spring rolls.
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| Accidentally found this eating house with many customers eating inside. We need to climb up all the way to the 4th storey for a table. |
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| Vietnamese spring roll - with pork and veges |
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| Comes in a set - meaty soup, spring roll, rice noodles, and plenty of green veges to go with the meal |
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| the sweetish soup with plenty of bar-b-que pork patties and meat. |
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| Generous helping of Vietnamese rice noodles and green veges |
The above meal costs 210,000 VDN ( about USD11) for two including 2 cans of Coke.
After lunch, we walked back to our hotel to have a rest.
After a good 3 hours of rest, we venture out again to do some shopping. Hang Gai is a good shopping street which sells nice clothing, scarfs, pottery, paintings, etc. Hang Gai has all the little boutiques, most of which also offer tailoring services. Bargaining is a must, as prices could be more than 200% higher than the real prices.
View Larger Map
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| Hang Gai - Shopping. Bought 3 shirts here. Prices are very reasonable and shop owners are honest. |
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| Hang Gai - Shopping |
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| Hang Gai - Shopping |
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| Hang Gai - Shopping |
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