Visiting with Uncle Ho

It was still wet when I woke this morning. Ho hum. Hanoi wet and cold. I had decided to go and visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. So armed with a good map I strolled through the old quarter and past some huge military buildings with smiling guards {"no sir you can't go this way"}. I finally found the place and the entrance after some abortive tries. The mausoleum was somber and very serious. Uncle Ho is laid out in state he looks like all his photos if a little whiter. I then walked through the gardens to his garage with all his cars (3) and his house. Then to his house on stilts. Very interesting. He led a very austere existence, very simple and very low impact. The more I learn about the man the more I am impressed by his character. Despite what people may say about him being a communist dictator the reality is quite different. He was completely and totally committed to the Vietnamese people especially the oppressed working classes under the yoke of the imperialist French and the "US aggressors". He never sought benefit for himself nor did he support corrupt behavior. I bought his "testimony" a paper he wrote shortly before his death. In it he asks specifically that when he dies that his body be cremated and his ashes spread on 3 hills. One in the north, one in the south and one in the centre. At each site he wanted an open house to be built where people may rest in the shade. He also asked that people visiting him plant trees and get the local old people to care for them. That way there will be timber available in the future. What a guy!!!! I think it is so sad that the people could not do this and that they had to build this huge mausoleum where people have to travel far to come to see him. Such is life. It really makes no difference to him. he is dead now and as I always say that the end of it.