Museum Looks at Ho Chi Minh Trail

HANOI —  Vietnam has no shortage of museums commemorating its wars against France and the U.S. But the latest one, the Ho Chi Minh Trail Museum just outside Hanoi, makes a valuable contribution to the history of the wars and has attracted more than 100,000 visitors since opening a year ago.

Although the two-story museum suffers from a dearth of English translations, it offers an excellent collection of photographs and items that range from trucks to field radios and uniforms used on the heavily bombed network of jungle roads that North Vietnam built to move troops and supplies into South Vietnam. The curator, Tran San Huyen, a former North Vietnamese colonel who spent months on the trail, is a wealth of information. The museum is near the town of Ha Dong, a 40-minute, $6 cab ride from Hanoi. It is open 7:30 to 11 a.m. and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. every day except Mondays. Admission is about 70 cents.