24/5/25
Another morning, another round of circular wheat treats. We got back into watching The Resort. For some reason it was more enthralling this time. Seb came over to meet us again. We were off to see the man himself, Ho Chi Minh.
It was another rainy morning. We were surprised, and delighted, by how often it was raining. The outside was cool and enjoyable. We walked for 20 minutes. Soon we were passing soldier guarded embassies. Then the huge National Assembly building of Vietnam came into view. Directly opposite was a small, squat pillared building. The mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh.
It was a long walk to get all the way to the other side where security was. There were guards, each hiding under a gazebo cum umbrella, posted all the way across the desolate grass. As we approached security Seb pulled his shorts down over his knees. His baggy green silk shirt hiding his waist. When we arrived at the booth, Jonathan and Frankie pulled out trousers and a jacket respectively. Modest clothing was demanded here.
Our bags were scanned. We walked the long way back towards the mausoleum, parallel to our previous track. Lots of people were standing outside taking photos. We also obliged. Then tried to find an entrance to see the body. We quickly realised that it was closed and a quick online perusal revealed it was a morning only opportunity.
We visited the museum instead. Cheap to enter, 40k, it was several floors. We climbed the stairs to the large bronze statue of the man himself. Then entered the intriguing exhibition. It was a circular one way system. The first display was a maze of glass and mirrors, overlayed with advertisements from the Industrial Revolution. All from Germany or England. It was a little confusing.
It didn’t get any less confusing. The exhibits continued to be extremely abstract. Bordering on the indecipherable. Some of them appeared to be random collections of tools and looked like they’d been thrown in a pile. Only a mere description provided. Some of the exhibits were explained. A tribute to Guernica. The famous anti war painting by Picasso. The next was bizarrely claimed to be Coc bo cave, Ho Chi Minh’s headquarters, presented in the form of a human brain.
It was all very intriguing but disappointing. We would have liked an insight into his life in France and Britain. But maybe there is no clear interpretation of how his learnings led to his thinkings. It would probably seem very odd to him that he had a museum dedicated to him.
We were getting hungry and decided to find a meal. The restaurant was down a small dark alley. Loving Hut is a franchise. It was founded by Ching Hai. It’s almost a cult. She’s a very random personality. There was a television beaming in images of beagles interwoven with randomness we couldn’t read. But it was vegan food. We ordered ‘banh xeo’, Seb got that too, and we also requested a sweet and sour dish.
It took a little while to arrive. Seb had brought playing cards. A German adaptation of a game called Wizard. We’d never played before, but Frankie had played something similar. We played a couple of rounds before our food arrived. Banh xeo is a Vietnamese pancake. A mix of rice and tapioca batter which is fried, bean sprouts and meat within. This is then wrapped up in rice paper. It was very tasty. The meat was just soya based instead.
We received a package update. It said that customs had started and further information was required. That was frustrating. All the effort we’d put into correctly filling out the forms and somehow it wasn’t sufficient. It wasn’t clear where the parcel even was. It could be in Vietnam but the email also stated the customs process could start prior to arrival.
After dinner we carried on playing cards. It was a lengthy game. We played for a couple of hours. It was dark when we left. Seb didn’t really understand our desire to go home and sleep. He liked to stay up a lot later than us. Slumbering at 3am was not our cup of tea at all. We passed the north gate of the citadel. Then bid farewell to Seb and marched in the rain past a well guarded military base. It was late when we got home. We snacked on dragonfruit and watched an episode of Code of Silence.
Surly They Won't Make It 