SIMPLY (t)RAVELLING

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, One Pillar Pagoda and Dong Xuan Market

 

28 Oct 2011.

I woke up to the roaring thunder outside my room at exactly 5.30am in the morning, despite the tiring journey to Ha Long Bay the day before. Sunrise is early in Hanoi; of which we quickly performed our morning prayer. Since we only left with one day for a walk around town, rain was bad news to us. I was praying hard that it will stop, but looking on the dark clouds that wrapped up the whole city, I prepared myself for the worst. We kept our fingers crossed and waited, which seemed like forever. Nevertheless, the rain finally subsided  and we rushed for a cab to Ba Dinh Square.

 

The cabman dropped us at the back gate of the Ho Chi Minh Museum at Ong Ich Khiem Street, and on our way to the complex entrance I noticed a tree blossomed with pinkish flowers, which some of them had fallen to the ground due to the heavy shower. The light was right as the morning sun was diffused by the heavy clouds, thus I managed to get this high key photo of the dewy flower against the green grass.

 

My next attention was the fan leaves of the palm trees standing nearby. I like the way the pattern spreading out from the petiole.

 

It looked like it was going to rain again, so we hurriedly to the museum main entrance. Actually I wasn’t keen on visiting the museum at the first place, my intention was to have a quick visit to Uncle Ho Mausoleum and then continue with our excursion around the Old Quarter. But our cabman had misheard us and interchangeably mausoleum turned into museum. Since the tomb is just around the corner and it was about to rain, we guessed the museum would be a good idea for shelter.

 

An orange shrine next to the museum. It was closed for the day.

 

The Ho Chi Minh Museum. Entrance fee is VND10,000 per person, which roughly around RM1.50. Note the Soviet’s emblem on the visage of the complex. Many of Hanoi post-war developments by the communist party were subject to aid and support from the Soviet Union.

 

One of the corridor in the museum, where some photos and items related to Ho Chi Minh are being displayed.

 

The man himself in many expressions.

 

A man looking over the exhibits inside the museum.

 

DH admiring Uncle Ho colossal statue.

 

The museum is more of an art museum to me rather than historical. Besides one or two dedicated galleries about Uncle Ho, the rest are occupied by arc sculptures and what’s not. It somehow lack information on the life and deeds done by its namesake, which to me was quite an irony.

 

They even have Picasso’s art works!

 

 

Found nothing interesting we decided to leave; it was still raining outside thus we had to bought an umbrella and ponchos from the museum shop. While looking for exits, we saw a group of tourists and we tailed them, which lead us to the nearby One Pillar Pagoda. Erected by King Lý Thái Tông in 1049, the pagoda was meant as a symbol of gratitude over a birth of a son. 

 

The lotus in the pond. The pagoda was built to resemble the flower, similar to King Lý Thái Tông’s  dream of a Buddha handing over a son from inside the blossoming lotus.

 

As tourists swarming the small pagoda, suprisingly it had little effect on me. Instead I was more attracted to a secluded, small shrine  close by, which nobody was paying heed to.

 

 The fresh, and colorful roses at the shrine.

 

Another bouquet of roses. The season was already changing to autumn, but a tint of spring were still presence.

 

A lawn ornament of a tiger, covered with striking yellow chrysanthemums.

 

We spent some time at the One Pillar Pagoda compound, mainly taking pictures of the small shrine and a few other trivial objects, and writing a postcard (to ourselves) that we bought from the souvenir booth nearby (the actual reason of writing a postcard there and then was because we want to take shelter from the sudden downpour, and a post box happened to be next to it). 

 

From the pagoda we walked in the rain to a wide pavements running in front a monolith structure, with two men in white uniform standing guard at its door. It was the mausoleum; and being Friday, it was closed for maintenance.

 

 Another guy in uniform standing guard with rain jacket, umbrella and all.

 

A walk passed the mausoleum we arrived at a grand buildings of colonial tastes, the Presidential Palace.

 

Crossing the street in front the Presidential Palace we turned up at the Phan Dinh Phung street, where we stopped for coffee break. The rain was getting heavier, and I was a little concerned about my camera.

 

We ordered ca phe sua da, a vietnamese version of  iced coffee. The servings came together with thin jasmine tea, to kill the extra strong taste of the coffee I guess.

 

We enjoyed our coffee while waiting for the rain to stop, and spent the time observing the passers by. The cafe is so happen located in front of the North Gate of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, another UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

 A lady counting money from the ciggy sales in front of our table.

 

A peep into the cafe back alley.

 

Another code by Dan Brown? Perhaps just a phone number for a certain service offered.

 

As soon as the rain stopped we continued walking again to the end of the road, and crossed over to Hang Giay street. A few minutes walk we arrived at the Dong Xuan Market, a wholesale trading center downtown Hanoi.

 

Daily activities in Dong Xuan. Most of the items are cheap compared to the street vendors, especially if you are buying in bulks. Haggle is a must. After a long walk in the cold rain, I really need to go to the ladies, and to my surprise the toilet here are of the ‘open’ concept. As I was juggling in between a dire need to take a leak and modesty, a lady suddenly came in, unzipped, squatted and did her business in front of me, as if I wasn’t there. After she’s done with her thing, she wiped it with some tissue, throw it in the basket and walked away. And I was left, flabbergasted.

 

I managed to settle my issue (I found out that the ‘open’ concept toilet is specifically for taking leak, while the one with doors and all are for more ‘serious’ business. So in my case I swapped the two. Okay, enough of shitty talking). Upon exiting the toilet I saw DH negotiating over some dried shrimps or Tom Kho, a favourite flavouring agent in most Asean dishes. The shrimps were quite sizeable and of good quality, and the price were not that cheap either. It costs us VND200k for half a kilo.

 

 Rows of dried stuffs.

 

Apart from the dried shrimps and dried mushrooms, I was lost.

 

Leaving the nonchalant dry food section of the market, we entered the souvenir section and were served with the colorful and neatly embroidered table cloth, purse, pouch, bags and everything else that would make any ladies go gugu gaga.

 

 Vietnamese Silks, in all hues.

 

>>Next: The Old Quarter