Aaaah, got to feel for the Scousers eh? Still, Barnsley was always going to be a tough fixture even at Anfield. No need to mention the United result, I think they did all the talking last night…

Although we stayed up to watch the football we did actually get up in time to visit the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum complex and a most impressive sight it is.

Set in God knows how many acres, the mausoleum sits in an enormous tarmaced courtyard which itself is surrounded on all sides by perfectly manicured symmetrical grass squares. It was drizzling miserably as we queued up with the thousands of Vietnamese visitors and tourists but the line moved briskly enough and we were inside before too long.

The only problem I had was that I had got it into my head that the whole scene (with it’s grey, fortress-like tomb set in a magnificent open courtyard full of marching soldiers, guards at the mausoleum entrance and armed guards surrounding the glass walled coffin) would be the perfect setting for a heist section in a film – it definitely killed the moment. I could imagine the voice-over as the camera moved through the interior, the soldiers and the courtyard:

OK Oceans, here’s your first job. An art-collector friend of mine is after a VERY special item – but it won’t be fackin’ easy….

I just couldn’t get it out of my head once it was there. Also, I appreciate that 30+years of annual re-embalming will probably take the shine off anyone, but Ho Chi Minh himself looked really, really fake.

He looks like a waxwork Disney World or Madame Tussauds installation and I almost expected his arm to raise mechanically while a voice from a little speaker said: “Hellooo, I’m Ho Chi Minh. Born in 1890 and considered by many to be the father of modern communism, I ruled Vietnam until my death in 1969. Have a nice day….”

The hand lowers, you walk around towards the exit and then, as the next group enters behind you, you hear: “Hellooo, I’m Ho Chi Minh…”

It was good though, glad we made it before leaving Hanoi. Tomorrow we travel to Halon Bay.