Day 20

Tuesday Tyler and I set out to see the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. It is only open from 8-11 so we left around 9 only to find the longest line I’ve ever seen in my life. Not so much the time it took to get into the mausoleum but just the sheer mass of people. We took the motorbike and drove next to the line and it just kept going and going. Then we parked and walked and it continued to keep going and going. Eventually we found the end. I bet the line was like 8-9 city blocks long. Total estimate (I’m really bad with distance estimates) but it was an incredible line. Hard to imagine that that many people line up each day to see a man that died 30 years ago. Of course, no cameras allowed so nothing to share of Ho Chi Minh himself, but just imagine a huge mass of people, loud and pushing, and then entering the Mausoleum people remove their hats, become quiet and stare as they walk past. Interesting. Then we visited the Presidential Palace grounds. Ho Chi Minh chose to live in a house on stilts as opposed to the palace.

Afterwards we visited the Army Museum where we saw pictures, army gear and US airplanes and tanks. Weird to be in a foreign country and see US military stuff. Tyler mentioned that in like a 9 year period the Vietnamese shot down something like 30,000 planes. Amazing.

Later in the afternoon we just hung out – did some reading, shopping, etc. Also went to the fabric market – totally overwhelming. Haven’t really been in the clothes shopping/making mood so think I’m going to skip the tailor. Then we met up with Mar for a coffee at a café overlooking Hoan Kiem Lake before we went for dinner at an Italian restaurant. Then back to stuff wedding invitations!

Here are pictures from today.