Before deciding to go to Vietnam, I could have told you little to nothing about the man known as Ho Chi Minh. I knew he was once a chef and spent time overseas before returning to his home country and ushering it into the modern and Communist age. But until turning up at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi and touring his former home, I didn’t know why he was so important.
Born Nguyen Sinh Con, the man who became Ho Chi Minh traveled to France in the 1900s, where he worked a variety of odd jobs. From there, he continued on to the United States, where he lived in New York and Boston, working at the Parker House Hotel.
He continued working in the United Kingdom before returning to France, where he first became involved in politics with the Socialist Party of France. He returned to Vietnam in 1941 to overturn French rule of the country.
He became president of the Communist North Vietnam, which was headquartered in Hanoi. Many fled South and others who spoke out against the regime were sent to work camps and gulags. He frequently traveled to meet with foreign leaders like Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. Even into the Vietnam War, Ho remained a figurehead, despite lacking official political power.
By all accounts, Ho Chi Minh was not a man of the people, but rather one of the upper class, as he had a taste for nice cars and was educated overseas. But instead of living in the lavish French governor’s mansion (the yellow estate pictured above), he lived in a simple house built on stilts with an outdoor dining space and only two rooms upstairs. It’s been preserved to how it was when he lived there.
After seeing where he’s interred and where he lived, the third stop on the tour de Ho was the bizarre and deluded Ho Chi Minh Museum. The large museum has information on Ho Chi Minh’s life, how he got his start and the time in which he lived. It contained some exhibits that I found to be rather far-fetched and bordering strongly on propaganda.
Ho Chi Minh died on September 2, 1969 of heart failure, but news of his death was withheld for two days because it was bad luck that it fell on the anniversary of the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
His “cult of personality” continues on today, much in the same fashion of Atatürk in Turkey, with his image found everywhere from the bills of the dong currency to t-shirts sold at the markets. The city of Saigon is officially known as Ho Chi Minh City to honor him, although most refer to it by its former name.
Getting to Know Ho Chi Minh
The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum requires conservative dress and is only open from 8 to 11 am. It’s closed on Mondays and Fridays, as well as two months out of the year when the body is sent to Russia to be re-embalmed. Photography is prohibited inside.
The Bảo Tàng Đường Hồ Chí Minh (Ho Chi Minh Trail Museum) is located at the far end of the Presidential Palace complex and requires a separate entry fee.
The Phủ Chủ Tịch (Presidential Palace) includes access to the garage holding Ho’s cars and the Nhà Sàn Bác Hồ (Uncle Ho’s Stilt House) where he lived during his reign. You can also see the French-style governor’s mansion on the grounds.
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