Entree Kibbles: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (Exterior Only) @ Hanoi in Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum - final resting place of the founding father of modern Vietnam and said to be the "must visit" for every tourist on their first trip to Hanoi.

We also went although none of us is a fan of history. Nevertheless, aside from Lock, all of us have been to Ho Chi Minh City which was named after the great man affectionately known as Uncle Ho amongst its citizens.

In front of the mausoleum was an expansive plaza comprising of 240 green squares that's 320 meters by 100 meters! Why 240 squares? I wonder if there is a numerology / feng shui reason for the number.

For a practical Singaporean coming from a country with limited space, I can only lament the waste of space for such a big piece of manicured land that's off limits to everyone.

I don't even dare attempt.

Of course, I am also law abiding.

To be frank, we were somewhat lost as we didn't know where the entrance was! I was half thinking if I could just cut across the patch of 24 green squares to save time, and energy. At least from the above photo, we gathered people were walking towards our direction and had to retrace our footsteps.

Another giveaway, the direction of the queue going into the 21.6 meters high and 41.2 meters wide mausoleum which was formally opened in 1975, almost six years after Uncle Ho's death.

But one sight was a great dampener; the long, snaking queue going into the mausoleum. We wonder if we should proceed since the main aim was only to see the embalmed body of Uncle Ho, and for someone who blogs, I understand I am not surprised to take any photos, even without flash.

Demotivating it sure was.

This should be the correct entrance but you know what?

We decided to give it a miss.

As we ventured further down, we saw crowds everywhere and I wondered if that entrance I assumed to be the entrance, was indeed the correct entrance. And there seemed to be groups of school children in the compounds.

Looks like you can buy flowers from this florist and pay your respect of Uncle Ho at the mausoleum. Curious me wondered why some of the wreaths had the letter O in the middle.

Pedestrian walkway was jam packed of people waiting to get into tour buses! To be fair, in addition to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the area was also the sites for Ho Chi Minh Museum and the iconic One Pillar Pagoda.

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