HO CHI MINH'S MAUSOLEUM in the tradition of Lenin and Stalin before him-and Mao afterwards is a monumental marble edifice.Contrary to his desire for a simple cremation ,the mausoleum was con-structed from materials gathered from all over Vietnam between 1973 and 1975.The roof and perestyle are said to evoke either a traditional communal house or a lotus flower,though to many tourist it looks like a concret cubicle with columns.Set deep in the bowels of the building in a plass sarcophagus is the frail,pale body of HO CHI MINH.The mausoleum is closed of about,two months each year while HO CHO MINH'S embalmed corpse goes to Russia for maintenance.
 |
| HO CHI MINH |
The queue,which moves quite quickly,usually snakes for several hundred metres to the mausoleum entrance itself.Inside,adopt a slow but steady walking pace as you file past HO's body.Guards,regaled in snowny while military uniforms,are posted at intervals of five paces,giving an eerily authoritarian aspect to the slightly macabre while hair.
The following rules are strictly applied to all visitor to the mausoleum:
People wearing shorts,tank tops and so on will not be admitted.
Nothing (including day packs,cameras and mobiles) can be taken inside.
maintain a respectful demeanour at all times:no talking or sniggering.
it isforbiddend to mut your hands in your pockets.
hats must be taken off inside the mausoleum building.
