Everyone here in Norway says that the weather has been terrible this summer, but we've seen nothing of it. Sunny, comfortable: no more 36C/90% humidity. (Apparently athletes in Osaka have been collapsing at 33C/78%, so no wonder the running was hard!) We ran five times this week, which may be overdoing it a little but it's so tempting. As I write, I'm looking out at the sails on Oslo fjord. Maybe B will post a picture later, but the truth is that we haven't been anywhere on this trip that is more beautiful than Norway.

1. Most beautiful landscape: in Vietnam, between Sapa and Dien Bien Phu.

2. Noisiest: Hanoi.

3. Friendliest: Nong Kiow, Lao.

4. Furthest from anywhere: Gobi desert, staying with nomad families.

5. Most awesome city: Hong Kong. Not sure most other places are really cities.

6. Most peaceful escape from city: Beijing parks. The city is noisy and busy, but the parks, while full of people, are amazingly relaxing.

7. Worst (and only) sunburn: kayaking in Halong Bay, Vietnam.

8. Places we most want to return to: Laos, Beijing, and Mongolia, in that order.

9. Place we least want to return to: Izmaylovskaya park, Moscow. Or Russia, in general. At least not until we speak Russian.

10. Next major trip: probably the Black Sea.

11. Favorite hotel: Beijing Lotus hostel west of the Forbidden City. It had soft beds, a beautiful courtyard, was outside the main tourist areas, and we had our own shower and A/C. It was just such a blessing after Russia! And after days on the train and in Mongolia with no shower. Second place: the Madison Hotel and Sportclub in Düsseldorf, which also had wonderfully comfortable beds and friendly staff. Third: the five-star Langham Place hotel in Hong Kong with the most excellent views from Mong Kok.

12. Least favorite hotel: Lane Xang, Vientiane, although we didn't end up staying there. Second place: so-called "Old Quarters" hotel in Hanoi, which didn't even exist and had the rudest staff I have ever encountered at a hotel.

13. Least paid for a night's lodging: $5 for a room with own bathroom and scoop shower in Muang Khua (most expensive room in the guesthouse).

14. Cheapest meal (sit-down restaurant): Indian food in Vientiane, where ordering far more food than we could eat and drinks galore left us with a bill of $3 each.

15. Cheapest meal: fried skewers on the street in Beijing. Delicious! I came back from the trip determined to eat less pasta and bread, but am already falling back into wonted habits. I'm making delicious som tam almost every day, but green papaya costs 10EUR/kg in Norway so we've tried to develop a cabbage version which is actually quite good. We also were able to get hold of mangosteen, but they're even more expensive.

16. Most pleasant flight: Air China from Beijing to Guangzhou. Close second was the flight from Bangkok to Tehran, although we were nervous. Very friendly flight attendants on Mahan, although not perhaps the most experienced.

17. Least pleasant segment of the trip: overnight train from Hanoi to Sapa; let it be forgotten and sink into deserved obscurity.

18. Biggest difference everywhere we went from home: the proximity of animals. We've both meant to post on this, and we still might (we'll continue blogging at least until settled in Germany). Even behind my house, you don't have far to go before you encounter horses and cows grazing outside in the summer. But I could easily live much of my life without coming into contact with any animals, especially if I avoided the pasture on the way to the lake. But for most of our trip, that was not an option no matter where we were or what conditions we were staying in. In Russia, wild/stray dogs and cats are everywhere, and you don't have to get far into the countryside before cows are wandering close to houses that may also keep chickens, depending on the area. In Mongolia, the goats were impossible to avoid. My

19. Favorite animal of the trip: the goat that climbed into B's bed after having cleverly gotten through the barrier B had erected. Even in the center of Beijing, it was clear that animals were being raised for food, and we were never very far after that from chickens, goats, water buffaloes, and other animals that live side by side with people. It certainly made it very easy to see how people get bird flu, whether that ever turns into a pandemic or not. I'm also not used to animals just being allowed to graze where they wish, but it makes sense in less-trafficked areas that there is little reason to keep the animals from finding their own sustenance. And drivers are usually prepared for the water buffalo around the corner--it's probably one of the reasons there's so much honking in Vietnam, but maybe people just like noise too...

20. Scariest moment of the trip: dogs in Izmaylovskaya park in Moscow. (How does this keep coming up again?)