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was rewarded when he was called to Moscow in 1923 to begin a career in international revolution, and a year later he found himself posted to southern China as a Comintern agent. Within a few months he had set up Vietnam’s first Marxist-Leninist organization, the Revolutionary Youth League, which attracted a band of impassioned young Vietnamese eager to hear about the new ideology. But in 1927, Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Chinese nationalists, turned against the Communists and Ho was forced to flee. For a while he lived in Thailand, disguised as a Buddhist monk, before turning up in Hong Kong in 1930 where he was instrumental in founding the Vietnamese Communist Party. By now the French authorities had placed a death sentence on Ho’s head, for insurrection, and while in Hong Kong he was arrested on trumped-up charges, released and then re-arrested before finally escaping with the help of prison hospital staff, who managed to persuade everyone, including the French police, that Ho had died of tuberculosis.

Ho disappeared again for a few years while the fuss died down, before reappearing on China’s southern border in the late 1930s. From here he re-entered Vietnam for the first time in thirty years, in early 1941, wearing Chinese-style tunic, rubber-tyre sandals and carrying just a small rattan trunk plus his precious typewriter. He was aged 51, had dysentery, malaria and tuberculosis, and was about to embark on the most momentous task of his life. In the mountains of northern Vietnam, Ho, now finally known as Ho Chi Minh (meaning “He Who Enlightens”), was joined by Vo Nguyen Giap, Pham Van Dong and other young militants. Together they laid the groundwork for the anticipated national uprising, establishing a united patriotic front, the League for the Independence of Vietnam – better known by its abbreviated name, the Viet Minh – and training the guerrilla units that would eventually evolve into the Vietnamese People’s Army. But events conspired against Ho: in 1942 he was arrested as a Franco-Japanese spy when he crossed back into China to raise support for the nationalist cause, and he languished for more than a year in various prisons, writing a collection of poetry later published as the “Prison Diary”.

Meanwhile, however, events were hotting up, and when the Japanese occupation of Vietnam ended in August 1945, the Viet Minh were ready to seize control. Ho Chi Minh, by this time seriously ill, led them to a brief period in power following the August Revolution, and then ultimately to Independence in 1954. For the next fifteen years, as President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Uncle Ho took his country along a sometimes rocky socialist path, continually seeking reunification through negotiation and then war. But he didn’t live to see a united Vietnam: early in 1969 his heart began to fail and on September 2, Vietnam’s National Day, he died. Since then, myth and fact have converged in a cult placing Ho Chi Minh at the top of Vietnam’s pantheon of heroes, true to Confucian tradition – though against Ho’s express wishes.

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The central provinces - Part 2 | Ninh Binh and around |

Practicalities

Ninh Binh’s pint-sized train station and the refreshingly well-organized bus station both lie on the east side of town, a short walk across the Van River from the post office. Open-tour buses drop you at their affiliated hotels and guesthouses, all of which can help with information, tours and transport; staff at the Thuy Anh, Thanh Thuy and Xuan Hoa hotels are particularly knowledgeable about the area, with tours of the main sights starting at around $10. The going rate for motorbike rental is around 75,000đ and 20,000đ or less for a bicycle per day. You can exchange cash (dollars and euros only) and traveller’s cheques at the Incombank located on the main strip, Tran Hung Dao, where there’s also an ATM.

The central provinces - Part 2 | Ninh Binh and around | Practicalities |

Accommodation

The standard and range of hotels in Ninh Binh continues to improve, and the increased competition means it’s