Ned: "I like seeing all the animals. In Vietnam, cats are called 'meow'. Vietnamese cows have big lumps on their backs."

Hoi An

Just left beautiful, beautiful Hoi An, about halfway down the Vietnamese coast.  The riverside old-town is traffic-free and full of centuries old Chinese and Japanese style buildings, conical hat wearing street peddlers, and at night it's all lit with brightly coloured paper lanterns.  Cycling around with the boys riding shotgun on the luggage rack we've seen wood-carvers (holding the wood in bare feet while chiseling away), watched Chinese lanterns being made in a dis-used temple, and the boys helped make incense sticks using the pulped bark of a local tree. 
And we've all been very, very childish since discovering that the Vietnese word for happiness is 'phuc'!

Dining with friends

Hmm, which friend should I have fried?

Hue

The boys have felt famous since coming to Vietnam, everywhere we go people want to be photographed with them. In Hue now, close to the famous de-militarised zone. Boys very interested in all the tanks and bullet holes. Took motorbike taxi's (3 to a bike, adults behind the rider, boys standing up between rider and handlebars) to the Nguyen Emporer's Citadel. Suspect the boys will remeber the journey more than the Citadel.

Cat Ba island

Kim: Cat ba island was really awesome. Quiet and peaceful. The cafe's were good, especially the pancakes. The beaches were nice and the island was said to be made from a dragon's ashes. We went cruising round the islands, kayaking and rock climbing. I jumped off the roof of the boat into the water - it was scary at first, but fun, fun, fun.  The rock climbing was really good fun as well, I climbed as high as the roof of our flat in London. I was really impressed with myself.

Ned: I liked the island. We played on the beach and went kayaking and rock climbing. The first climb was as high as our flat, but the second climb was flatter and I went even higher. It was very scary, because when abseiling down I thought I was going to crash into the rocks. But I enjoyed it. I really liked the kayaking and would like to do it again. I even kayaked on my own. I held a live starfish that I'd found in the shallow water.  

Round Three

Our first taste of Vietnam was the cheery chaos of Hanoi. Streets so busy with a tide of scooters, motorbikes, bicycles and the occasional car that it spills up on to the pavements at times. Played 'who can spot the most overladen motorbike', which Kim won, and we quickly mastered the art of crossing the road (walk slowly and let the traffic flow around you).
Tried to visit Uncle Ho, but he was 'on holiday' in Russia for his annual embalming make-over. Not sure what he'd make of the tourist tatt shops that line the route through his home complex?
Prices not as cheap here as we'd hoped, so budget is being stretched already. And LloydsTSB not only blocked my cashpoint card (again), but my Lloyds Mastercard got swallowed by an ATM. Thanks for making things easy guys!     

Hong Kong

Brief stopover in Hong Kong. Nice to show boys where we once lived. Kim says "I didn't really like Hong Kong at first, but might need a few more days to make up my mind."
The skline may have grown (even more buildings, subways and skywalks) but it's character feels like it hasn't changed much in 20 years. Still same currency as pre-handover, and just as many gwailo's and other foreigners. If anything it's even busier.
Rode the Star Ferry and trams, saw the lights from the Peak at night, and ate in McDonald's for old times sake (bad parents!).
Departed to airport 2 hours too early (doh), but just as well because travel agent hadn't confirmed our flights properly and had to argue. Got standby seats 10 minutes before gate closed and had to sprint through terminal. Typical.

Round Two

    

Ueno Zoo, Tokyo

Ah, lunch. Luvverly!

Subuya Crossing

Back in Tokyo, which seems much busier by comparison after Kyoto. By popular request we had to revisit the Pokemon Center, followed by a mooch around the downtown district. Lots of neon, careering cyclists, and people. Subuya crossing (not done justice by the pic above, which only shows 3 of the 8 crossings) is reputably one of the busiest in the world.
By far the noisist and brightest sights are the Pachinko centres, huge buildings full of people playing a strange slot-machine like game, using small silver balls instead of coins to get around gambling laws. We watched for ages trying to figure out the aim of the game, and are still none the wiser.
Boys v. happy after we found a Sega Centre, with 8 floors of video games.

Pampered pets

We're starting to see glimpses of surrealness now. Found a shop dedicated to dog clothes. It included wooly hats, spiderman costumes, Lee jeans and lumberjack shirts, and even a traditional doggy kimono!
We've seen dogs being carried in baby slings, pushed in prams, and Kim spotted a women in the park feeding her dog with chopsticks (in between her own mouthfuls. Eurgh).

Skype

We're loving Skype: calls from Japan to UK landlines for 1p per minute!? Especially as LloydsTSB have a stoopid automated fraud protection thingy that automatically blocks my cards if they're used abroad.
And the most useful non-communication feature of the iPhone so far has been the built-in compass (I'd mistakenly assumed it needed a phone or wi-fi connection to work, but no). Kim has now taken on the role of map-reader.

Nara

Well the typhoon passed by uneventfully (which was a bit disappointing) and we've had mostly sunshine since. Spent two days exploring more of Kyoto, which is a very chilled city. Went to the mountains outside Kyoto yesterday to visit a monkey sanctuary where the monkeys roam free around you. If you want to feed them you have to go inside a hut, where the monkeys are free and you're the ones behind bars.
Today we were in Nara, at the world's largest wooden building which housed one of the world's largest bronze statues (Buddha). The surrounding park had deer (considered messengers of the Gods) roaming free, and more feeding opportunities.
We're still waiting for the 'surreal' Japan experience we were warned about. So far everything's been fairly easy and relatively familiar. Train and road signs are subtitled in English, and we've not eaten anything too odd yet (Kim and I braved the raw octopus in a food hall and I've discovered a liking for eel). They even drive on the left.
Ee tiki mas!

Kyoto

After a few days in Tokyo the jetlag is wearing off. We took a Bullet train to Kyoto (Ned got upset because the scenery didn't blur enough!) and have walked straight into a Typhoon warning. It's due tomorrow morning and Kyoto is going to be the epicentre. Can't decide if it'll be scary or an adventure - either way Annie's banned me from going out.
Whereas Tokyo was a city in a familiar sense, Kyoto has retained much more of the traditional feel, with lots of women in kimono's and streets of old wooden houses. Walked around today and explored a few of the many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.
It's rained a fair bit, but is still warm and we've bought umbrellas each (very Japanese). Wi-fi is still hard to find (surprisingly) but I've managed to track one down to an Irish bar here.....

Tokyo

Made the flight by the skin of our teeth, having been up all night packing the flat up. Found a hotel ok, with traditional style rattan mats and futon beds. Boys not sure about the communal naked hot tub, but after a long flight I welcomed it.
Tokyo isn't as busy as we expected and seems very calm. For a techno-nation wifi access is hard to find, am sending this from the Apple Store. Haven't seen too much yet, only 2nd day. Proper 'touristing' starts tomorrow.