With Mao's body preserved in Beijing, we had to knock off another mausoleum with yet another preserved head of state, so off we went to see Ho Chi Minh himself as he was when he died in 1969. We were quickly shuffled through the site and found his star and sickle and hammer draped coffin lying with military guards at attention.
As difficult as it seems at first to navigate the city, Hanoi is a pretty small city in size and we were able to visit all the sites on foot, which included the Temple of Literature, a place where Confucianism was taught.
Vietnam has a storied past with the occupation of the French and then the Vietnam War, so visiting Hoa Lo Prison built by the French to suppress Communist leaders was an eye opening and sometimes graphic insight into the past. The prison also housed downed American pilots (POWs) during the Vietnam War, dubbed "Hanoi Hilton" by the prisoners and included a short documentary showing the bombing of the city along with letters, uniforms, and pictures of the inmates. A famous inmate was John McCain and showed his visit to the prison.
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