Went out for dinner last night to a place called KOTO (know one, teach one), a restaurant which trains street kids/kids from remote villages. They go through 2 years training before graduating to working in the restaurant or teaching at the school. Had a fantastic meal - Tess had fish n chips (not very Vietnamese but the fish was amazing), Lewie had pork with a kind of bbq/nutty sauce and couscous in filo pasty and I had chicken & lemongrass skewers with kaffir lime rice. The food and service was amaxing, they should maybe send some of our waiters/waitresses to similar school!

Went to 'Le Pub' to watch the football - a very small and very hot tavern like pub. Lewie became an instant hit with the waiters as he was wearing his Messie top then he started playing Angry Birds on the iPhone while waiting on the football to start and the staff were totally intriqued and taking turns to play with him. The girls all loved Tess - one girl took her outside to meet her dad and played with her every 5 minutes (I hope the boss wasn't in the pub as I guess the staff should have been working a bit harder, mind you we are going back tonight so maybe they are trained to be super nice to encourage people back..on saying that we are now finding out that all the people are incredibly nice and helpful, Lewie gets shouts of 'hey Messie..or hey Torress when he walks down the street!). Got spectacularly lost on way home, ten minute walk took about 45 going up and down and round in circles. Stupidly took the wrong map with me but made it back in the end and the kids weren't fussed at all, was quite funny eventually (well when we saw the hotel a block down we managed to see funny side)

Got up this morning at 8 and had the fantastic pancakes with bananas and honey for breakfast then went a walk down to the lake. Getting quickly used to the maddness of the small old quarter streets and the scooters everywhere - they pack the tiny roads, well lanes really, and while there are pavements you can't walk for far on them as everyone parks their scooters on the pavement!

It is very very very hot today. No clouds in sky and we just sweat as soon as we go outside. Opened the balcony door this morning and the kids shouted 'close the door you're letting too much heat in'! Bought fans on way to lake which helped a bit, for me the heat is fine - I can see the lbs pouring away already but Tess may end up a small puddle eventually. Making sure the kids are drinking plenty of water and coke and sprite and fanta..as much liquid as possible! Stopped at Fanny's for ice cream - very famous parlour here. I had sushi shaped ice cream with chocolate dipping sauce, Tess had a sundae of raspberry, strawberry and lime sorbet and Lewie had a little boat of ice cream and cream.

Just waiting on our cyclo tour at 2pm, kids upstairs watching disney channel and cooling down. I've been talking to some of the staff at outside terrace - but they don't speak English so it's very funny trying to talk in sign language.

Went for 4 hour cyclo tour - had 3 cyclos, one for me, one for kids and one for our guide. We went to lots of pagodas, temples etc and Ho Chi Minh museum. Got to see lots of the city from the cyclo - the drivers/cyclists are crazy, dodging in and out all the scooters and the few cars. Great way to get around though. Was really hot but found ourselves saying that it was nice that it was much colder than this morning - even though it was still 36! Had dinner in a really nice restaurant, it was a set menu as part of the tour and they just seemed to bring us more and more food, the table was completely covered! After dinner we went to see the water puppet show which was really good then back to Le Pub for the football. It was mobbed tonight with lots of England fans. The staff recognised us and managed to squeeze us in right down the front of the crowds. Lewie was a bit worried that we might have to chher for England but when Germany scored first almost the entire bar erupted - turned out there were far more Germans in than we thought and all the Vietnamese were supporting Germany too. Was a great atmosphere though and Tess became official camera woman taking vids of the Germans singing and managed to catch one goal on film. Really good night. Didn't get back to hotel until 12 and have to be up for tour to Halong Bay at 7 tomorrow.