The Ho Chi Minh Experience*

Workers pull weeds in front of the massive Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Theme Park* in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Thanks to Vietnam, I can now check visiting one of the great communist propaganda mausoleums of the world off my to-do list.

Ho Chi Minh (his nom de guerre meaning “Bringer of Light”) was the revolutionary leader of Vietnam’s struggle against the French, and after America got suckered into their lost war, America and the unpopular South Vietnamese government it supported.

Much has been written about this legendary figure, and I do encourage readers to check out more about him. What struck me, while visiting him in his final resting place though, was the amazing contrast between his life and death.

A simple man of great conviction to freeing the Vietnamese people, he lived in spartan dwellings and, by all accounts was humble and thoughtful. I believe it.

Uncle Ho, as the Vietnamese sometimes refer to him, has a statue, street and museum in his honor in basically any town of any size. In Hanoi, there is an enormous citadel devoted to him where he is kept. You see, even though he died in 1969, he is still on display in all his low light glory, tucked into blankets and incongruously wearing a suit, embalmed for as long as it is useful for the powers that be in Vietnam to have him there.

He had wanted to be cremated and spread across Vietnam. He said that it was a waste of farmland to build funeral monuments, as is the Vietnamese tradition. His wishes notwithstanding, he spends 9 months of the year on display and 3 months ‘vacationing’ in Russia where the world experts on dead communist leader preservation give him an embalmers’ spa treatment.

Unlike most other cultural attractions in Vietnam, it is free to see Ho and anything related to him. I suppose you can think of it as propaganda supported activity, similar to google’s ad supported services.

I waited in line for about an hour to see him. Guards in perfectly pressed uniforms ensured (twice) that no one had cameras or cell phones in the building. They hushed us so as to ensure the proper reverence for a man of his stature. The line moved into a massive granite cube, up some stairs and around Ho on three sides before spitting us out into a wonderland of Ho-artifacts.

I have to say, it was impressive to be in the room with such an important figure in our modern history. It was also, frankly, a little creepy.

On my way to the garage of one of the greatest men of the last century

Outside, the Zen-landscaped, park-like setting is dotted with ‘do not enter’ signs directing the visitor in a seemingly random and sometimes discontinuous path. It was actually quite a lot like a theme park, except instead of rides called ‘Twister Coaster’ or whatever there are things like ‘Garage of Ho Chi Minh’s Used Cars’ and ‘Ho Chi Minh’s Wooden Stilt House’ and, of course ‘Giant Hideous Stone Cube Containing Small Dead Man.’ Think Six Flags with bayonets, honor guard and a VIP corpse.

Uncle Ho's Cabin: A no-frills office in his two room house. Note the Karl Marx portrait above the desk.

So there it is: a simple two-room wooden house with a couple bookshelves and pictures of Communist greats where he lived compared with a cold grey monolith where people come to worship his body. Honestly, it is hard to reconcile the Ho Chi Minh of life with the Ho Chi Minh of death.

Random P.S.: If, within just a generation, such an exaggerated representation can be made of a modest man, I really have to wonder how realistic our centuries-old views of other great people of history, like leaders and especially religious figures can possibly be.

*There is not really a theme park about Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum. I totally made that up. But if there were, it would be called 'The Ho Chi Minh EXPERIENCE'