15.11. The President and halfway through the journey

Once again, we arrived at our destination in the middle of the night, around 4:30 am. Fortunately, we were able to leave our luggage at our hostel overnight so that we could go in search of a flower market that was supposed to close at 6 am. Unfortunately, we didn't actually find the flower market, but we continued on to one of the many lakes in the city and witnessed a different "spectacle" there. The entire lake was surrounded by city residents who were all engaging in some form of exercise. There were joggers, people using various objects for pull-ups and similar exercises, and groups of people dancing and moving to music with various accessories. It was a funny experience to sit on a bench and watch this extraordinary scene at 6 am, which made up for not finding the flower market.

After that, we continued to explore Hanoi, visited a Vietnamese Catholic church, and eventually arrived at the Ho Chi Minh Museum.

Upon arriving at the museum, we had to leave all our belongings and join an endless line of tourists. To our surprise, the line was constantly moving forward. We wondered what could be so fascinating about a museum about one man that could rival the line at Versailles? Since it was much faster than at Versailles, we made steady progress, and the entire line of people was led into the mausoleum, which we had already seen from the outside on our previous visit to Hanoi. There were white-uniformed guards everywhere, both inside and outside the mausoleum, constantly reminding people to be quiet, not to take photos, and not to step out of line.

Inside the mausoleum, we were actually greeted by the embalmed body of the highly revered President Ho Chi Minh, which explained all the commotion. This man is considered the "father" of all Vietnamese people and still holds a special place in their lives.
After the mausoleum, we had the opportunity to walk around the grounds where Ho Chi Minh spent his time as the ruler of Hanoi. It was beautifully laid out, but it was probably the most crowded place we visited on our trip, so we quickly moved on to find some peace and quiet.

The last stop on the grounds was a museum about the former president. We were greeted by a large statue of the man before entering the actual exhibition room. Alongside the typical museum displays, the room was filled with metaphorical decorations depicting Ho Chi Minh's life, such as giant waves symbolizing the beginning of his journey to France over the sea. Upon his return, he founded the Communist Party of Vietnam, which still exists today under a different name. "Uncle Ho," as he is often called by children, also joined a revolutionary movement against French colonial rule, where he rose to a leadership position through his charisma and leadership qualities. Together with his troops, Ho Chi Minh temporarily liberated the country in 1945. However, this state of affairs lasted only until 1946, when France once again occupied Vietnam, leading to the nine-year Indochina War. And if that wasn't enough, the Vietnam War immediately followed the end of that war. Ho Chi Minh operated from North Vietnam against the French and later against the Americans, sometimes openly and sometimes underground. Unfortunately, he did not live to see the end of the terrible war that devastated his country, nor the realization of his dream of a united Vietnam, as he died of heart failure in 1969 at the age of 79 here in the current capital of unified Vietnam, Hanoi.

It is obvious that Vietnam owes a great deal to President Ho Chi Minh, as without his political skills and leadership, things would undoubtedly be very different in this country today. That is why this man is still highly revered, and many Vietnamese still refer to him with the title "President" to show him respect.

I hope the historical part was somewhat interesting and not too boring, but I found it fascinating to learn about the man who is so important here and I tried to focus on the essential elements.

After the museum, I returned to the hostel briefly as the changes in climate over the past few days weren't great for my head, so I took a rest and felt better afterwards. Therefore, we headed towards a cinema because we had made up our minds to see the newly released film "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald". We bought tickets for the evening show and since we didn't feel like walking 40 minutes back to the hostel and then another 40 minutes to the cinema later, we spent the afternoon at a nearby café. Going to the cinema in Vietnam is not much different from going to one in Germany, except for the price (3.80 euros). Plus, they have popcorn in cheese and caramel flavors, although we didn't dare try the cheese flavor. Nonetheless, we had a lot of fun watching the movie.

Today, in mid-November, marks the halfway point of our journey. We have noticed that our roughly planned route is working out very well, and if we were to stay longer, we would have to travel to another country after Christmas. Therefore, I am taking the opportunity to fly back to Germany on December 24th to celebrate Christmas with my family and later New Year's Eve with my friends. I am really looking forward to it because after a while, you start to miss many important people, your guitar, and your cat in your life away from home, and you are excited to see them again.
However, this doesn't mean that I don't feel comfortable here! I am having the time of my life here, and I will definitely use the semester breaks in the future to go backpacking again. Because it's just fun, and there is so much more to see in the world...