Last day in Hanoi, we left only few hours to visit Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Temple of Literature. For Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, you have to go early because it is open from 9am to 11am only. It was better to leave your bags, Ipad, handphone or any other electronic products at hotel. Those things are not allowed to bring into the central hall of the Mausoleum. There is a place at the entrance for you to keep your bags but they close at 11am. We gave only a passing glance at things. We were worried that we were not able to collect our bags on time. The Mausoleum is quite big to explore.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

What can you see there? The embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh (who died on 2 Sept 1969) and his vestige in the presidential palace area! It is amazing! I saw Ho Chi Minh body lies in a glass case with dim lights. We lined, walked silenty and paid our respects to him. Photo and video are not permitted inside the mausoleum.

Food, food, more Vietnamese Food… I do not know what these are but they are nice! Vietnamese dessert? However, if you look at the way the hawker make those foods, you may not want to take them anymore. The lady counted money with her hands. Then, she rolled the rice balls with her hands without washing. It was a little bit dirty and non-hygienic.

The Temple of Literature

Next, we took a taxi from Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum to the Temple of Literature, once you hook up a taxi, standard fare is 9000 VND. The distance between two places is quite near and it costs us only 12000 VND. There were lots of beautiful Vietnamese girls there wearing Vietnamese National Costume “Ao dai”, so pretty!