Regular readers might start to think I have an obsession with seeing dead bodies: I did, after all, rather enjoying visiting Lenin's Mausoleum in Moscow. And this time round I want to tell you about my experience of seeing another embalmed masterpiece: the body of Ho Chi Minh in the mausoleum in Hanoi, northern Vietnam.

While I was traveling around Vietnam, I didn't feel any irrestible urge to visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum at the end of my trip. But you can't avoid learning more and more about "Uncle Ho" the longer you spend in Vietnam, and in the end, on my final day in Hanoi, my curiosity got the better of me.

Interestingly, just like Lenin, Ho Chi Minh actually did want to be displayed for eternity in a mausloeum. In fact, his final wish was to be cremated and to have his ashes buried in hilltops in all parts of Vietnam, but that didn't sit so well with the communist government, who have created an entire "personality cult" around Ho Chi Minh to help keep the communist dream alive.

The building housing Ho Chi Minh's body in Hanoi is actually modelled on Lenin's mausoleum in Moscow, but since Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum has really been given its own special space, it ends up feeling much grander than Lenin's tomb, tucked away on the side of Red Square. But the procedure to visit is similar: I queued for over an hour in a long line of mostly Vietnamese visitors, and had to check in my camera and bag, and I wouldn't have been allowed in if I hadn't satisfied the dress requirements (no shorts and no sleeveless shirts - important to remember in the sticky heat of Vietnam).

And then I was there, walking in a shuffling line past Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body. Nobody was allowed to stop - guards ensured that the line kept moving at all times. Although this is reasonable enough - if the line wasn't moving, the queue outside might take all day or all week to get through the door - there seems something almost dishonorable to me about viewing a dead body without being able to stand still and consider the moment. Ho Chi Minh looked peaceful enough, waxy as all embalmed bodies do (I'd know, having seen two in my lifetime!), and not really like a real peson at all. For the local Vietnamese, obviously seeing their great former leader had a lot more emotional connection than to me, but I still found it a fascinating experience.