In which Layla and Roz revel in hipster coffee, vegetarian food, and fab shows in Melbourne

By Layla

Since I am about to go to Hong Kong without my lovely wife for three whole months, it is obviously essential to fit in a cool holiday first, to distract us from the imminent separation (and three months where I can’t take any holidays at all…). But where to go? With our Tokyo home sweltering in revolting humidity, we sought winter, and flew south. Destination: Australia.

Our home for the first four days of holiday was to be Melbourne, a city of such cool reputation that we’ve been meaning to visit for years. We booked a ridiculously stylish AirBnB apartment in the hipster locale of Fitzroy, and upon rolling off the overnight plane (and showering in the airport), settled down for a delicious breakfast at Addict, one of our most local hipster coffeeshops. And then we explored the area. A little more grungey than we’d hoped, Fitzroy was sprinkled with bars and restaurants and boutiques and bookshops – and slathered with hipster coffeeshops. We popped into the very cool LGBT bookshop Hares & Hyenas, and browsed in another one, as part of our stroll around the neighbourhood (and a dash home to don ALL the clothes we had packed – Melbourne is chilly in August!).

That afternoon we took a bus into the city centre and had lunch in a delightful café in the Victoria State Library, then we took a slightly rainy free walking tour of the city. We learned a little about its origins, peered at Ned Kelly’s jail, wandered the cool graffiti-lined lanes for which Melbourne is known, admired a million cafes and arcades, and then hopped on a tram home to glam up for the night we’d been looking forward to for ages: The Moth! I put my name in the hat to perform in this famed storytelling show but alas I wasn’t picked out. So Roz and I had to content ourselves with enjoying 10 stories in an exceptionally cool Brunswick venue, Howler, with some craft beer and delicious sweet potato falafel. (In fact our main enjoyment in Melbourne has been relishing the thrills of finding a delicious array of vegetarian food everywhere we glance, in stark contrast to the miserable food desert that is Tokyo.) At the end I got to briefly pop onto the stage. Much fun.

We glimpsed a bit of sun the next morning so headed off to explore the Royal Botanical Gardens, which were quite pleasant, and culminated in a fab little terrace café overlooking a pretty lake and offering an array of delicious vegetarian lunch options. My only sorrow was that I ate so much I couldn’t manage the delicious-looking scones on offer… After the gardens we walked across the Yarra River and into town. A brief tea stop, then onwards to an exhibition about women who write video games, and a little play, though the exhibition wasn’t very extensive and soon we were on our way again. But not before visiting yet another hipster coffeeshop. Obviously. When in Melbourne… The highlight of our day was upon us: Holey Moley minigolf. Obviously Roz and I both have a penchant for any minigolf, but Holey Moley was something special. Very hipstery (a Melbourne requirement, apparently), but also cool and arty, and witty and well thought out. We played the full 27 ridiculous and cool themed holes and I won by a single point. Roz was duly bitter, and we headed home to eat pasta and glam up for that evening’s big treat: Jerry Seinfeld!

We’d known he was in Melbourne and had tried to get tickets but the show had been sold out. Then, on Monday night, a few tickets were released and Roz, whose finger is always on the pulse, leapt for them before I could protest at the extravagance. And that was it – we were going to see Jerry! I grew up watching Seinfeld and getting to see the comedian himself was embarrassingly thrilling. We settled in with 5000 lucky audience members and he was funny and silly and charming and interesting and Roz had even bought me a Twirl chocolate bar. What a fantastic night. We tried to go to a bar on the way home but most were closed, so we ended up buying a bottle of local wine and taking it home to enjoy in our uber-stylish flat. What a fun day.

The reportedly best bit of inner city bush in Melbourne was just a mile or so from our flat, so when we woke up and saw the sun shining, we bundled up, acquired an avocado-and-hallumi-sandwich picnic, and headed out to the Yarra Bend Park boathouse to begin a little hike (I spied they sold scones, but I’d just had my breakfast and couldn’t think of a good justification – I started to fear I was cursed to never have scones). The walk was beautiful – along the riverbank, in beautiful trees and grass and prettiness for a few hours, and then, oh joy, we circled back to the boathouse and at last I got my scones. Hooray.

From the park we took the bus to our next port of call: lovely Cinema Nova in the Italian area of town. This is a fantastic arthouse multiplex and before we went to see The Viceroy’s House (about the last months of the UK in India) we went to Readings, named one of the world’s best bookshops, and an adjacent Gelateria, which I’m happy to proclaim served me one of the world’s best gelato… The film was good, the cinema was a charmingly decorated delight, and afterwards we walked home to brush our hair for another quintessential Melbourne experience: dinner in an impossibly hipster restaurant. We chose Transformer, which was all concrete and greenery in an old lighting factory, and served innovative vegetarian cuisine. Fabulous.

Our last full day in Melbourne involved quite a bit of pfaffing, with both me and Roz having to do work things. But we also managed a walk through pretty Fitzroy Gardens and into town for some pottering in the arcades, and the Melbourne International Film Festival, where we saw Newton – a film about the election process in a jungle in India. Clearly an educational India theme to our cinema going this week! Afterwards we went home for pasta and a little more work, before we polished off the evening with wine and cheese at a cute little wine bar called Liberty, just next door to our house.

And then on Friday morning we woke early, packed our bags, and headed to the airport. Our next destination: Uluru, aka Ayers Rock!

In which Roz and Layla give 5 snapshots: Washington, New York, mid-Atlantic, London and Barcelona

Our latest adventure isn’t a typical one for us: it’s been a combination of visiting our old homes (Washington and London) and our home-away-from-homes (New York and the Queen Mary boat) – plus a Layla-only jaunt to Barcelona.  So we thought that our best bet would be to give you five snapshots of our holiday. 

Snapshot One – Washington (Roz)

Since the start of this trip was a day of work calls, which felt very much like my DC life, in some ways my snapshot of the trip should be this.  And we’ve also discussed the snapshot being the moment when we came to 14^th Street and saw the Pride parade coming by, with both my Embassy and the Canadian Embassy marching and knew that our efforts in my last job had been a factor in making both happen. Or we could make it the joy of seeing a plethora of friends in a very timetabled way and eating delicious food without all the trauma that going to a restaurant in Tokyo brings. 

However, in the end the snapshot of DC we’ve chosen is of paddleboarding round Roosevelt Island with our friend Gita.  When we lived in DC, paddleboarding was one of our biggest loves.  We lived a 7-minute walk from the Potomac River boathouse, and went out on the river most weekends.  This time, we went paddleboarding upriver on Saturday morning and loved it so much we decided to go again on the Sunday.  But come Sunday morning, on the spur of the moment we decided to paddle round Roosevelt Island: a place we’ve walked round a lot, but rarely paddled round.  And it was so lovely – all the monuments slightly unexpectedly, popped into sight when we rounded the island and our hearts sang and sobbed in equal measure at the sight. 

Snapshot Two – New York (Roz)

This snapshot could well have been both of us making our story performing debut at the New York Moth at the lovely Housing Works Bookshop. Or our wandering around Greenwich Village as we stayed in the same apartment in which we honeymooned eight years ago. Or our delightful mooching on the High Line Park and in Central Park.

But I think the snapshot that best sums up our New York trip is in fact a visit to the theatre to see Indecent. When we came up with our plans for this holiday, one of our priorities was to see the theatre that we so desperately miss living in Tokyo. I diligently did my research of what was on in New York, making shortlists for Layla’s consideration.  I had my doubts about Indecent – it sounded like a play within a play (which I usually dislike). However, it had been nominated for a TONY and had both lesbian and Jewish themes, which seemed an irresistible combination. 

And so it proved to be. Arriving at the theatre it was fun to see a pretty much full house and not one entirely made up of tourists. (Of course we are tourists, so my lack of enthusiasm for this genre of people is entirely two-faced. But I guess I really mean I lack enthusiasm for the giggly tourist accompanied by a large number of chocolates that’s so pervasive at Broadway shows.) Indecent is a fabulous play about the true story of a 1907 lesbian play written by a Polish author and is notable for not ending with the two lesbian characters regretting their ways, or being punished in some way.  In the 20s, it played to packed houses across Europe and off-Broadway but was banned on Broadway for morality reasons. This production combined terrific acting and a strong – if sad – story. And it was the first time that I’ve really appreciated the staging of a production: the ambition was to give a sense of an underground / illicit production and they really succeeded. As we left the theatre slightly teary, we remembered absolutely why we prioritised a theatre focussed holiday and why we miss living in English-speaking countries. 

Snapshot Three – Queen Mary (Layla)

We first went on a Queen Mary 2 voyage from New York to London at the end of living in America and were traumatised at how much fun we had (and the associated implications about the types of vacations we enjoy…). This was only consolidated by an amazing week repeating that same trip this month. There were many things to love about the Queen Mary 2 experience, from the numerous and eclectic talks from diverse experts and celebrities that made us feel like we were at a university summer school, to the charming balls for which everyone dressed and danced, to that magically rare, free feeling of being truly disconnected from the rest of the world and living absolutely in the moment for seven charming days. But for this particular snapshot, I will pose the actors from RADA, who ran acting workshops, put on shows, and performed poetry to a soundtrack of live jazz.

For our Queen Mary snapshot, three of the RADA actors are perched on stools in one of the ship’s bars, while we attentively sip our cocktails in the company of a diverse audience. It is newly 10 o’clock (from the latest at-sea time change), and we have all gathered to enjoy what has been billed as a ‘bedtime story’. Unexpectedly, they begin reading aloud the first half hour of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Such a quirky, engaging choice, and they perform it really beautifully. Afterwards we pop into the buffet for a sneaky pre-bed cookie, and out to the deck, with the wind in our hair, to debate the optimal bedtime story choice, and to feel rooted in the vast, deep blackness of the Atlantic Ocean at night.

Snapshot Four – London (Layla)

London means all sorts of things to us. It is our home, but not currently or recently our home. It is where we met and married. It is where we laughed and cried. We sometimes pine for it and wonder whether it pines for us. But then we stepped off the train and it enveloped us and we glowed in its special mix of majesty and edginess; its diversity and energy; its opportunities and many, many temptations.

Part of me wants to make the snapshot that moment of walking past the recent terrorism memorial on London Bridge and into lovely Borough Market where the sun is shining and the stalls bulge with a wealth of vegetarian options and cheery chat, and we whisper to London that we love it (and demolish falafel sandwiches). Or playing Scrabble at a National Theatre cafe (particularly when I win with the word quavery). Or seeing lovely friends in lovely bars. Or going to a queer art exhibition at the Tate Britain and weeping upon reading a downtrodden message from a Japanese trans person.

But really, my snapshot is a sunny Thursday afternoon and we are perched on cushions in the stalls of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, which is completely full, and we are watching our favourite theatre company, Knee High, perform an old play with new verve, bursting with style and inspiration, while bubbles drift over the wall from a South Bank busker, and playfully twirl around the audience and the actors. We will later see the bubble-blower, standing near the spot where once upon a time Roz gave me an engagement ring, and his audience will laugh joyfully in the sun.

Snapshot 5 – Barcelona (Layla)

Leaving Roz to make her way back to Tokyo, I flew away to Spain to meet my parents and brother before a Barcelona conference marks the end of my holiday. The last time this particular set of people met in Barcelona was over a decade ago. Our lives look very different now with some new spouses and jobs and children and countries and history, but on a warm Saturday night we sit down together at a convivial outdoor restaurant in a charming square in the middle of Barcelona. Busker music fills the air as we all eat paella and we pour sangria from a jug and we talk and laugh and laugh and we are all magically transported back to that moment when my brother and I are teetering on the cusp of adulthood and it is just the four of us, but now it is richer and better from everything that life has added since we last laughed together in a Barcelona square. And it is somehow unexpected and glorious that we are there. 

And with that, farewell to our holiday - it's time to get to work!

Books we read

Roz: The Valley of Fear by Conan Doyle (10/10), Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (8/10), Black Water by Louise Doughty (8/10), Theft By Finding by David Sedaris (9/10), Curtain Up by Noel Streatfeld (10/10), New Boy by Sally Vickers (10/10) and His Last Bow by Conan Doyle (9/10). Plus good progress into Eucalyptus by Murray Bail.

Layla: The Sympathizer by Viet Thang Nguyen (7/10), Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (10/10), The End of the Day by Claire North (9/0), The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (8/10), You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (4/10), The Girls by Emma Cline (8/10). Plus some progress into Theft By Finding by David Sedaris and Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney.

in which Roz and Layla hike all around Hong Kong and eat so much food

By Roz

We woke up on Friday morning and felt fear. We had been promised sun and yet there was none. However, we had come to Hong Kong for the hiking and so were determined to get in a few hiking trips. Especially me, since I have a feeling that my autumn is going to be spent looking at photos of Layla in Hong Kong where she is looking smug having been on beautiful hikes and eaten delicious food whilst I weep in Tokyo - so I may as well try and hike and eat all I can whilst here myself!

Consoling ourselves that at least it wasn't raining, we headed out, picking up lunch and coffee en route. We were off to do a hike on Lantau Island, making our way from one tiny port (Discovery Bay) to another on the other side of a mountain (Mui Wo).  The ferry trip to the island was brief and cheery, but we felt properly remote as we landed in Discovery Bay, home to rich Hong Kongites. Our initial way took us through the back streets of the area through almost shacks (presumably home to staff working for the rich. It was both fun and felt a bit intrusive (though it was clearly a proper walking path) so we were both relieved when we were through this bit and onto the mountain / large hill we were planning to climb. This relief was obviously only temporary since it then required us to start climbing (never a favourite). We passed by a trappist monastery (and felt bemused they would put themselves at the top of a large hill voluntarily) and then finally headed downhill, with fantastic views across the island and out across the sea and Hong Kong itself. We found ourselves arriving into Mui Wo more quickly than we had expected (It was because I'm so fit - Layla) and so mused on our options over a drink. Unexpectedly, we ended up deciding to do a second hike, this one much smaller and flatter to a waterfall. As we did so we mused on all sorts of things (are our urban biking days over?) though primarily we discussed the great joy of the recent photos we have been receiving from our friend depicting our dog Kaseki in all sorts of countries.

When we got back to port, we had ice creams whilst we awaited our ferry. Back home, we hopped into the shower and at this point we discovered that I was massively and unexpectedly sunburned. Though we hadn't seen the sun, my neck and shoulders had. Layla was as peely walley as ever. Bizarre.

Cleaner and a bit sorer (in my case) we headed out for pre dinner drinks and cheese in our local, Classified, before we went off to dinner at a place called Pawn. This is a bar and restaurant in an old building that doubles as a cool art venue, and has some kind of British connection. Both food and setting were excellent. Though Layla was deeply dismayed when she realised she was so full that she hadn't got room for sticky toffee pudding (and I was almost more sorrowful since I had planned to steal some of her dessert). So we headed off to the delightfully named Jolly Thinkers club, which is a slightly terrifying but adorable board games venue. One of the nice staff selected a range of games for us to play and then patiently taught us the two we selected (Lost Cities, then Jaipur, for the boardgame nerds), and he kindly tried to hide his genuine pain when I made fatal mistakes that lost me all the games. It was a very jolly evening all in all.

Next morning, we awoke to a blazing sun and a blue sky. Hooray (though this was not what my sunburn said). We leapt up early and headed back to the pier, destination Lamma Island: another beautiful island nearby. In an ambitious fashion we were planning on two hikes on the island, one up a mountain and a second "family" trail to another port. The first hike proved to be ambitious (by which I mean super steep) but there were beautiful views of Hong Kong, of the beaches and of the sea. We ate lunch in convenient hut with a bunch of excitable locals - and felt very happy that everyone was so cheery and lively and jolly. (This is probably one of the things that I like most about Hong Kong - people have vim and passion and enthusiasm and express it seemingly at all times.)

The second trail was much more crowded than the first, perhaps unsurprisingly because it was pretty flat and hugged the coastline in a scenic fashion. We felt disconcertingly fit that it was our second hike of the day...until we realised our faces were pinker than everyone else's and we certainly didn't look fit. We stopped for a drink half way along, and a read of our books. Delightful.

The ferry ride home was disappointingly quick (by which I mean we both fell asleep and then awoke to find everyone else getting off the boat). As we caught the metro home we debated our dinner options for our last night. I can't remember a trip where I have had so much lovely food (or perhaps that is just how it feels because Tokyo is such a grim struggle on this front). In the end after we had showered and packed we decided to go to Pico, the delightful Italian we had been to last Saturday, since both food and ambience were so lovely. A second visit can be a risky affair, but on this occasion it was just as good, but with the added bonus for Layla that she managed to find room for her first - and last - dessert of the holiday, a tiramisu. We then had a nightcap and made friends with some adorable poodles (and missed our own dog). Back home, we watched Netflix before going to bed early to allow us to leap up early in order to squeeze in one final hike on our last morning.

As such, we were up unpleasantly early to catch a bus to take us to the starting point for today's hike, known as Sir Cecil's Ride. Sir Cecil was a former governor of Hong Kong and we were unclear on the merits of his taste in horse riding paths when we began the hike - the guidebooks don't mention it, but Google had implied it was awfully convenient. Initially we were anxious as the hike seemed less than delightful. However it turned out that we had got on to the hike through some weird extension, and soon we were on a delightful Country Park path, clearly much beloved by locals. The views were amazing - the Hong Kong skyline in all its glory, as though it were posing for a postcard. And the path was mainly downhill. What could be better?! Well, since I hadn't had coffee because of our early start, one thing could have been better... But all too soon (well 2 and a half hours after we had started) we were finishing the hike, and I swiftly steered us to a delightfully hipster coffeeshop where I drank flat whites with glee (and ate toasted banana bread with even more glee, were that possible).

After this delightful interlude we hopped on the metro and were soon back in our hood. We did a final tidy up of the flat, before having a delicious lunch in Beef and Liberty. And then we were headed to the airport (albeit with one final farewell stop in Marks and Spencers). I cannot express how envious I am of Layla for being about to live here for three months (in the autumn, to do a fellowship). They have the best public transport system I have ever seen, amazing hiking, easily available terrific food, copious flat whites and a population with a passion for life. But I am glad that her fellowship will mean that I will be back if only for a visit.

In which Layla and Roz, bounce, perform, and hide from the Hong Kong rain

By Layla

Most of our films at the Hong Kong International Film Festival have been at Metroplex, a cinema in an outlet mall just outside town which also houses something else... A trampoline park! On Monday evening, pre-film, we donned our extra-grip socks and bounced forth into a world of trampoline fun. We were magnificent (well, we slowly jumped bravely up and down) and it was a ridiculous amount of fun. Which is more than can be said for the dreadful Houston, We Have a Problem, the mockumentary that followed and contained zero laughs. Rather, it was just like watching a serious, but entirely inaccurate documentary! We drowned our sorrows with cheese and prosecco at Classified near our house afterwards...

The next day started in jolly form with an animated film about the Hiroshima bomb in Japanese with English subtitles (ironically we cannot watch Japanese films in Japan as they lack subtitles!) in the rather cool arthousey Cinematheque Broadway. There's some deal here which means that senior citizens can get cinema tickets for $3 / £2 during the day and they flock to films as a result - as we learned from am elderly and friendly Chinese man who was a former English teacher who also spoke annoyingly good Japanese. It certainly led to a jolly holidayish vibe (which was rightly absent from the film). And from there to lunch in the adjacent Cafe Kubrick. It's such a delight knowing there's always going to be something vegetarian on any menu here so we can eat in all the cool places. Afterwards we dashed through the rain to the Science Museum which was a bit rubbish but delightfully interactive and I infuriated Roz by beating her on a virtual reality game. She still hasn't forgiven me... That evening we went to yet another cinema, Sky, and saw an array of mostly rubbish short films, before returning to our neighbourhood for a superlative meal at Spanish restaurant 22 Ships. Mmm delicious.

On Wednesday it was STILL raining: infuriating for two people with two plans for Hong Kong: films and hiking. Luckily a local storyteller who I had come across had sent me a rainy day plan so we intrepidly followed it.  We ventured into obscure buildings filled with hip art galleries, up the famous giant moving stairways and escalators that convey Hong Kongians up and down a giant hill (Hong Kong seems to be all about giant hills), and lunched in PMQ, a hipster's dream of cool building and design shops and cafes. We hid from the rain in Fine Print, a coffeeshop where Roz had her best flat white so far in Hong Kong and we lamented Tokyo's paucity of this fine beverage, ubiquitous in other world cities.

We headed home to glam up because tonight was a big night: my first performance at Hong Kong's storytelling show, aptly named Hong Kong stories and housed in the historic and cool Fringe Club. But first, outstanding Mexican food in the nearby steampunk-ish Brickhouse restaurant. The story event was cool - an audience of about 80, some great stories, and I did the closing story (the one about how Roz and I got together, which I first performed at the huge 9:30 Club in Washington). This proved a grand (and possibly alarming) introduction to me for the Hong Kongites.

Yesterday we'd wanted to hike but the weather said no so we kicked off the day at the AMC cinema with a film about Holocaust deniers. Sticking to the jolly film theme, as you can see... (Note from Roz: both this and the Japanese anime were very good notwithstanding the less than holiday vibe.) We headed up a big hill for a delicious lunch at Mana cafe, then hopped on the train to... I'm almost to shy to reveal it... A second trampoline park! Ryze at Quarry Bay felt less cool than Bounce at the Metroplex but soon we were gleefully bouncing and resolving to find more local trampolining when we get home! Roz (eventually) learned to jump from one trampoline to another and we felt - ridiculously - like Olympians as we bounced from one to another. Entirely exhausted by all that excitement, we finished off the day with outstanding Indian food at nearby Himalaya. And went to bed with the promise of mere cloudy skies. Will today be a hiking day? We are hoping yes! 

In which Layla and Roz are thrilled by Hong Kong and climb lots of stairs

By Layla

When we first planned to come to Hong Kong for this year's International Film Festival neither of us had any idea of (a) how good the city is, and (b) that I'm going to be living here for three months. But within an hour of arriving, Hong Kong had charmed us.

First, amazing public transport. Next, a station full of British food places like Pret a Manger and Marks and Spencer, crammed full of delicious vegetarian food as though it were not a freakish delicacy requiring special research and expeditions to track down (I'm looking at you, Tokyo). Then delightful streets (Star Street, Sun Street, Moon Street) crammed with our very favourite types of hipster cafes and restaurants. Everyone dashing past with cute dogs and yoga mats. Views of the harbour and the hills. Everything in English. And an adorable little AirBnB apartment for us to live in. Never mind that the apartment was up four flights of stairs or that the weather forecast said rain for our whole stay. We could already tell that Hong Kong was going to be our kind of city.

After stocking up on M&S food in a manner reminiscent of a gleeful supermarket sweep, we dashed home in the torrential rain with our spoils. Then went out for dinner to a random restaurant brimming with delicious vegetarian options, then hopped on a subway train and a bus. It was time to head to the obscure destination of Metroplex for our first film festival film! It was animated shorts. They were okay but depressingly themed...  Afterwards we had prosecco at a charming Italian restaurant under our apartment and rejoiced in lovely Hong Kong.

The next morning we realised Roz didn't have her wallet and briefly felt wrathful about Hong Kong. But we decided to overlook it and go on a free walking tour which was really interesting. We learned all about how Hong Kong came to be British, and then no longer British. Fascinating stuff. All while strolling along harbourside parks and admiring the famous banking buildings and fancy shops and clusters of maids from the Philippines clustered in impromptu picnics on their day off, all at the Central area of Hong Kong Island.

After a huge vegetarian lunch we popped home to change into warm clothes: that cinema the night before had been freezing! But before we entered today, we asked at the cinema front desk and hooray: they had found Roz's purse, complete with money and cards! We did a jubilant dance and celebrated by buying her a pair of heavily discounted Vivienne Westwood shoes from an adjacent shop, and going to two films. We messed up the times and missed the first half of Window Horses which was very good, about Iran and poetry and family. Then we saw our best film of the festival so far, Our Finest, a British and surprisingly feminist film about making a film about Dunkirk during the war. Don't miss it.

After our cinema extravaganza, we gathered our things, returned to our neighbourhood, and stood in a long line for Pica, a very popular local Italian restaurant. It was a beautiful night and the whole street was convivial and we were drinking more prosecco and when we finally got seated, the food was amazing. Hooray!

The next day's weather looked unpromising but it was time for a hike so we headed to  one of Hong Kong's most famous hikes: Dragon's Back Ridge. Initially a massive queue reminiscent of Disneyland to get the bus, we were delighted to find ourselves hiking in the surprising quiet, over undulating hills with fabulous harbour views, and a Pret a Manger picnic to round it off! A beautiful hike. The rain didn't start in earnest til we were near the bus stop, and soon we were back in town, settling down in a lovely cafe called Elephant Grounds. They had ice cream sandwiches and I was very happy indeed.

That evening we dined in Beef and Liberty - yet another hip, brilliant place brimming with veggie options. Then headed to The Grand, a cinema in west Kowloon, to see a film about Emily Dickinson with Cynthia Nixon  that turned out to be pretty rubbish. But we recovered the evening back in our neighbourhood at Classified cafe where Roz had a cheeseboard, I had a sticky toffee pudding, and we mused on how fat I'll get when I live here...

To combat the expanding waistline, today was another hiking day. We walked through Hong Kong park (which I say looks like a miniature golf course) and then took a very fun, very steep funicular train (aka tram) up to Victoria Peak. As is often the case with our scenic expeditions, the view was obscured by dense white mist. Nevertheless, we set off on a hike on the Victoria Peak Loop, then merged onto the Morning Loop, and walked for a couple of hours amidst lush forest and sort-of harbour views and dogwalkers aplenty til we were spit out... At exactly the building that I'll be living in from the end of August! This was most exciting (well, til I realised it is perched at the top of a large, steep hill) and we pottered around Hong Kong University til we found the train back to Central. We then walked up many more steep hills to Soho and delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and halloumi in a charming cafe, before catching a bus home to rest our weary calf muscles. 

In which Layla and Roz revel in the hipster coffeeshop haven of Ho Chi Minh City

By Layla

Ho Chi Minh City. Aka Saigon. Aka our final stop before our holiday is over, I go home, and Roz flies to the UK for work. We sped through the nighttime streets from the airport to our hotel, climbed many flights of stairs, gasped at the increased heat and humidity, set the aircon to its lowest setting, and spent the rest of the night with teeth chattering in Arctic conditions. 

The next day a rare treat: no alarm clock! (Though Roz will note that I woke her at 8am with an accidental exclamation of "Gosh!" - I was just expressing surprise that it was the latest we had slept all holiday!) The morning at leisure, we strolled around, getting the feel of the city. I'd compare Hanoi and Saigon to San Francisco and Los Angeles. Hanoi is beautiful and charming, but Saigon feels more dynamic and exciting. If you want to go places in life, it feels like Saigon is a destination for that. There's a special energy there. The city is particularly teeming with motorbikes and hipster coffeeshops. So many hipster coffeeshops. I've never seen anything like it. So in order to soak up the local atmosphere, we felt it wise to spent the morning coffeeshop-hopping. The Workshop was my favourite. 

After a hipstery lunch in one of said coffeeshops, we met up with a Saigon Free Walking Tours guide and spent the next couple of hours walking around town in the blazing heat admiring fab French architecture: government buildings, the cathedral, the opera house, and an impressive post office. We passed the building famous for the photos of evacuation by helicopter at the end of the Vietnam war and went round the fancy Reunification Palace, admiring its stately rooms and emergency bunker... and dreaming of ice cream. 

Our dreams soon came true in a little cafe in a park, where people had gathered to hang out, sing together, and play badminton. There was a collection of contemporary sculpture. It was all lovely, if a bit hot... so we went back to the hotel for some of that Arctic aircon. 

That night we headed out, via a cocktail, to a cool indie-feeling cinema where we had excitingly bought tickets to a random Vietnamese film with English subtitles. It was both scary and rubbish so we took our leave and strolled instead down a pedestrianised, bustling street lit with neon flowers to a fancy and nice vegetarian restaurant called Hum for dinner and cocktails before bed. 

We are always sad on our last day of holiday, so to distract ourselves, we've taken to booking a tour. Today we hopped in a minibus to the Mekong Delta, the point where the huge river, having traversed Tibet, China, Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia finally meets the sea in Vietnam. It's the quintessential daytrip from Saigon. We started by visiting a temple with some fab Buddha statues. Then proceeded by motorboat across the river to various islands where we got to taste the local produce: honey, various weird and wonderful tropical fruits, and coconut candy. We then got into little canoe-type boats and were rowed along narrow watery passages with an arched ceiling of palm leaves. It was all rather cool. 

We had an extravagant, beautifully vegetarian lunch on one of the islands, then headed back to the hotel. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing Scrabble (I won) in Tractor Coffee, then again in L'Ursine (I won again) before a final dinner and the local craft beer from Pasteur Street Brewery. Reluctantly we ordered some banana cake for the road and tore ourselves away. It was time to go home. 

So, Vietnam is a fabulous holiday destination. It is delightfully cheap, interesting, beautiful, diverse, brimming with great food, and for an Asian country, gosh, it's so easy. People speak English, there's a great tourist infrastructure, and there are masses of sights to see and activities to do. I know everyone else already knew that... but after 10 years in the planning, it was great to have my suspicions confirmed!

Books read on this holiday (sorry we have different rating systems!)

Layla - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (5/5), When the Floods Came by Clare Morrall (4/5), Hagseed by Margaret Atwood (5/5), a little way through The War of the Worlds. Y HG Wells, and three quarters of The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin. 

Roz - The Lost Language of Cranes by David Leavitt (9/10), When the Floods Came by Clare Morrall (8/10), We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (8/10), The Marvellous Adventures of Ingrid Winter by JS Drangsholt (8/10) and The War of the Worlds by HG Wells (9/10). 

In which Roz and Layla paddle through palm groves and cook a very, very large meal

By Roz

There's something strange and yet quite fun about arriving into a new city late at night. And all the more so in Vietnam, where there is a commendable enthusiasm for going to bed early, meaning the streets are deserted by eleven at night. So arriving into the town of Hoian at midnight, we felt like we were swooping into a ghost town. But one which was beautifully lit with lanterns and felt strangely magical. 

The feeling of magic continued when we arrived at our hotel. Our taxi drew up at a strangely palatial place, with doormen, a facade and a general impression of luxury. In notable contrast to our hotel in Hanoi, which had had a lobby full of sleeping staff when we arrived. I prepared to explain to our taxi driver that he had taken us to the wrong place when I realised that he hadn't. In a happy turn of events we'd accidentally booked a fabulous hotel for hardly any money. I suspect that this is the first and last time in my life that this will happen. We fell into bed - having drunk our free welcome cocktail - with a giggle of glee. 

Next morning we woke feeling just as cheery, and jigged our way down to a delightful breakfast (cornflakes, fruit, pancakes, oh my!) before heading into town. The main street - arrived at through the old Japanese covered bridge, which is like no Japanese bridge I have ever seen, but is otherwise very pretty - is full of old buildings and cute shops. We pottered in, buying the odd picture and such like and then resolved to go for coffee. But before we made it to coffee, I got lured into a tailor's shop and found myself ordering a spring jacket and choosing fabrics before I could really think twice. And it turned out to be such fun, musing on the respective merits of different materials, linings and styles. Over coffee and then a delicious lunch at the lovely Roastery we marvelled at my impulsiveness (and indeed enthusiasm for clothes shopping - I haven't actually been into a clothes shop since moving to Tokyo almost a year ago) and generally felt very cheery.

After lunch we went back to the hotel to slather on sun lotion ahead of something I had been dreaming of for weeks: paddleboarding. In Washington, of course, we went almost every week from spring to fall. But it's not so easy in Tokyo - paddleboarding really isn't a thing, unless you go to the ocean or to a tiny artificial lake. So it has been a reaaaally long time since I've been paddleboarding and I have missed it. Our guide picked us up from our (fancy) hotel, and drove us and some kayakers to their out of town base. Moments later we were hopping on our boards, and paddling towards, and then into, a watery forest of coconut palms. Oh how I loved it. Our lovely guide attempted a little guiding, pointing out grim deserted homes (deserted as a result of flooding over the last few years) and local fishing methods but soon we got down to the serious business of tranquilly paddling towards town (with a stop off for a board based beer). It was particularly lovely to find ourselves arriving in town as the sun began to set, and the lights began to come on. 

Having bade farewell to our nice guide, we went for an ice cream and a slow mooch through town before returning to our hotel to get changed and ready for the evening. We'd made a reservation at a restaurant that everyone had recommended -  Morning Glory - and I looked appropriately smug as we swept past others queuing to get in. Pleasingly - perhaps I even mean surprisingly - it did actually live up to its press, and the food was a terrific combination of delicious, tangy and innovative. Also cheap. Hooray all round!

Next morning, after another fabulous breakfast, we borrowed hotel bikes and headed out to follow the advice we received earlier this week from some nice Colombian fellow Halong Bay trippers, who'd been to Hoi an before us. We headed out on an unpleasantly busy road to an area famed for its Coconut Palms. Once the roads had cleared a bit, this proved an excellent, scenic plan. And then we followed a sign for a basket boat trip (much to the distress of a local boy who had taken it upon himself to be our gigolo and tour guide) and organized ourselves a waterey tour in a giant basket made of reeds. Our tour guide was a cheery wee lady, who was mainly preoccupied by her amazement at our incompetence with an oar, our horror when she caught a crab and by making us "jewellery" out of palm leaves. 

Back on land, we had a drink before continuing on our way on a beautiful path that eventually led us back to town. Hooray for Colombians and their advice! After a lunchtime avocado toast experience (the shame!) we headed back to the hotel for a delightful afternoon of which we are both thoroughly ashamed: swimming and a spa. We assured ourselves we are absolutely not the kind of people who do that kind of thing on holiday. It's too decadent and extravagant. But it was cheap, excellent and delightful and so we did... After a pre dinner cocktail we headed to dinner at an Indian restaurant (which was notable for not being as good as the rest of the food we'd had - retribution for straying from the Vietnamese path) but otherwise felt very cheery. 

This morning, I was woken by the alarm (a disappointingly regular feature of holidays with Layla...!) before a final delicious breakfast in our hotel. We then headed out to a nearby island to join a cooking class. We'd originally had plans to tack a bike tour on to the end of the cooking class but  I rebelled at the last minute before we paid (a rebellion I was consistently and unpleasantly smug about for the rest of the day, since it unexpectedly ended up pouring with rain pretty much all day).  This kerfuffle over, we headed out on on a boat with the rest of the group to the venue of our cooking class. The class turned out to be super fun, with a plethora of courses, and a cheery local teacher and non-annoying fellow students. The only cloud marring our otherwise excellent experience being the volume of food cooked and our inability not to eat everything we made. We thus staggered back to town somewhat green from too much food (though obviously my smugness at avoiding a cycling-in-driving-rain situation was a great consolation to me) and settled down in a succession of coffee shops to hide from the rain, consume much liquid and avoid thinking about tofu. We nerdily used the time to plan a storytelling workshop for Layla to run in Tokyo (to help breed more storytellers) and to read. We shunned dinner - a first - and headed to the airport early evening wondering if we'd ever be hungry again... Next (and final) stop: Ho Chi Min!

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