Buddhist nuns near statue of Ho Chi Minh
       
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Ho Chi Minh's will called for cremation and low profile, but he is embalmed under glass in a huge mausoleum in Hanoi where thousands of people file by daily.

Changing of the guards is high military ritual. Inside, guards demand absolute quiet; one even told me to walk with my hands by my sides, not folded in back. The nerve!

Vietnamese still prefer the name Saigon rather than Ho Chi Minh City. The south Vietnamese don't like Ho Chi Minh as much, or communism. Saigon used to be bigger than Bangkok before it became communist. Now it's smaller and losing ground.