Things to See in Ho Chi Minh & Zone 5 Military Museum in Da Nang

Ho Chi Minh’s Stilt House

Behind the Zone 5 Military Museum, visitors will find the Ho Chi Minh’s Stilt House (or Uncle Ho Stilt House). This building and its surrounding gardens are exactly the same as the original one in Hanoi capital. It was where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked during most of his time as leader of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (shortly North Vietnam) from 19th December 1954 to 2nd September 1969. The Da Nang’s model was built from 12nd September 1976 to 19th May 1977, after the country was unified.

The Ho Chi Minh’s Stilt House at Da Nang is a humble, black wooden house. It has a vernacular architecture typical to Vietnam’s northern mountains where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked from 1941 to 1945. After going upstairs, visitors will see his bedroom and working room, all simple. There is no dress code required to visit this place.

The path leading to the Stilt House is lined with cay dam but (or Chinese rose, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) which has red petals, orange anthers, and green leaf. This plant traditionally is growed to create the fence around houses in Ho Chi Minh’s home village.

In the front of the Stilt House, there is an oval-shaped pond where he raised fishes. By the pondside, there are cay but moc or ‘old wiseman tree‘ (bald cypress, Taxodium distichum) which has roots growing upwards, instead of downwards as usual. For that reason, Vietnamese people give it a name ‘old wiseman’ (who appears from the ground to help people).

In the garden, visitors can see a giant banyan tree, a plant which has many roofs. The largest banyan tree in Da Nang today is Son Tra Banyan Tree, rising up to 22 meters, spanning 85 meters, and it has lived for 800 years.

On the other side, milk apple tree (cay vu sua), starfruit tree, or coconut tree are also seen in this place. They come from South Vietnam, and are planted here to show the president’s desire for a reunification between North and South Vietnam.

Zone 5 Military Museum

The Zone 5 Military Museum (Bao Tang Quan Khu 5) is the museum devoted to Ho Chi Minh president, history of armed forces and army in the military zone, and Vietnamese resistance war to foreign invaders in the past. It’s inaugurated on 7th October 1982, with an area of 8,820 m2.

This regional military museum has indoor and outdoor exhibitions. The outdoor display spans 5,450 m2, and shows real artifacts collected from battles during the Vietnam War, such as airplanes of US air force, howitzers, tanks, bombs, guns, mortar,…Information about each one of them is introduced with detail, and in both Vietnamese and English. By that, visitors can know better about them, including the event they’re associated with. For those who are interested in the Vietnam War, or military, this part of the Da Nang War Museum is a must see. It’s also good for taking pictures.

To see indoor exhibitions, visitors need to enter the building behind war artifacts. After that, it’s needed to go upstairs and follow instruction signs to see everything. There are 12 exiting rooms in total. Main subjects are important military location and revolutionary tradition of Vietnamese people in the Fifth Military Zone, first armed forces of the zone and how they contributed to the August 1945 Revolution, the first Indochina War (or Anti-French Resistance War) lasted from 1946 to 1954, the Vietnam War (or second Indochina War, American War, Resistance War against America to Save the Nation) lasted from 1955 to 1975, ‘Special War’ from 1961 to 1965 in which the American wanted to reduce the number of Americans in the battles and use Vietnamese soldiers instead or ‘use Vietnamese to fight against Vietnamese’, ‘Joint Warfare in South Vietnam’ or ‘Americanization’ lasted from 1963 to 1965, ‘Vietnamization’ plan lasted from 1968 to 1975, Ho Chi Minh Campaign leading to fall of Saigon and reunification of Vietnam in 1975, stories about Ho Chi Minh with people in the region as well as history of Vietnam’s People Army and all Vietnamese resistance wars to foreign occupation. All explanations (from Vietnamese perspective) are available in English, to allow foreign visitors to understand the context, reasons, events, and results.

Ho Chi Minh Museum & Temple

Ho Chi Minh Temple (or less formal Uncle Ho Temple) is behind and to the left of the Stilt House. It’s built to honour and worship Ho Chi Minh president, the great leader of Vietnamese people and army to fight against French colonists and then the resistance war against America to unify the country. He was borned on 19th May 1980 in Nam Dan district, Nghe An province, and passed away on 2nd September 1969 at Hanoi capital. His body has been preserved now in the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.

Behind the altar to worship Uncle Ho, visitors will see exhibitions about him, including lots of information, pictures and demonstrations. Both Vietnamese and English languages are available to read. In the area, this is the best place to learn about him, from a Vietnamese local perspective.

In important anniversaries, such as Ho Chi Minh president’s birthday (19th May), day of death and Vietnam’s independence day (2nd September), Vietnam communist party’s establishment day (3nd February), Vietnam’s invalid and martyr’s day (27th July) or New year festival, local authorities, citizens, solders, students and veterans come here to commemorate.