Ho Chi Minh, My Enemy My Friend, and Lacquer Lessons…

In the AM we visited the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum. Located in Ba Dinh Square, the site of the 9/2/45 declaration of Vietnam independence from the French. Very much like our Capital Mall but decorated in early-Lenin…

The site was filled with crowds of uniformed school kids smiling at us and yelling “hello, where you from?”

We viewed Ho’s 79 year old body which has lain in state since ~1969. He looked like power, and was pretty well preserved. Apparently he’s been sent away to Russia to be re-embalmed every year and they close the mausoleum for three months. Q suspects it’s just a story and the body is a wax sculpture (he said this very quietly).

Changing of the Guard

The site includes the Parliament, the Presidential palace, and Ho’s mountain “stilt-home.” Ho refused to live in the luxury of the colonial Palace.

Next, JuJu and I spent an hour in the Hanoi home of Hong My, a national hero of Vietnam. He was one of the only North Vietnamese MIG 21 pilots to shoot down an American F4 Phantom in the war (he also shot down an F101 Voodoo reconnaissance plane).

He was later shot down himself by Dan Cherry – who retired as a Brigadier General. He is now close friends with both pilots and the subject of a book “My enemy my friend” by General Cherry.

What a character! 80 years old, dressed like a gangster, totally ripped, and a major flirt. He walked us through his training in Russia, the dog fights and strategies. His chute failed resulting in two broken arms, three crushed vertebrae and the North Vietnamese peasants searching the jungle for days for his recovery.

Pho on the street. Amazing but a bit hard on the knees.

Next stop, art lessons with Mr. Tuan – a renowned professor and lacquer artist. After a tour of his studio and some lessons on technique, we were coached through some lacquer painting. I think JuJu killed her Peaks photo but you be be the judge.