Phong Nha – 20th November

It was Teacher’s Day in Vietnam on Friday 20th November where the school teachers get given gifts to show appreciation from students and parents. My favourite teacher at school had been Mr Hoy who was slightly eccentric but amazing. I still remember him letting us act out the violence of Maxwell’s Silver Hammer by The Beatles in a drama class at the age of about 10!

My first excitement of the day came with Captain Caveman donning his lycra and his rather snug cycling jersey before going up and down the cluttered steps to find various cycling paraphernalia for day 1 of his cycling event. I was going to go to see the Saigon Children’s Charity cycling event start at the Farmstay but I couldn’t be bothered and instead wished him luck and went back to sleep. By 8.30am I was having toasted sourdough with raspberry jam and jasmine tea for breakfast. I was just about to get in the shower when I got a call from Veronika who wanted to know if I could make myself available for the morning to work at short notice as a model on a photo shoot. I barely had chance to ask the details when wine was mentioned and so I (obviously) agreed, showered and selected a brightly coloured top to wear.

At 10am Duyet ran me up to the Farmstay in the rascal where Veronika and I were tasked with sitting by a fire, sharing a bottle of wine and some nibbles while posing for promotional photos. It was hilarious, very hot with the fire on and we were both shit-faced before midday. All while those poor cyclists were cycling to Dong Hoi and back in about 30°C, for charity! I decided to post a lycra clad Captain Caveman photo on my Facebook with a link to the charity page in an attempt to get some last minute donations and it worked – I even got a second donation from a friend who asked me to not show him any more lycra!!!

I’d not been home long when Captain Caveman arrived back and had chance for a shower and a beer before it was time for The Villas’ pizza night. As all the cyclists were invited to all you can eat pizza we got picked up a bit later, which meant we had sobered up. At The Villas a returning Farmstay guest and amateur musician, Matty, joined us for a few drinks and a feast. The pizza, as always, was so good and most of us went with the all you can eat pizza option. Some of the cyclists ordered off the usual menu too and despite it being a busy night the staff were fantastic and I certainly left feeling full.

Day 1 of the Saigon Children’s Charity cycle event video by Ben is here if you’ve not already seen it. This is what Captain Caveman was doing while I was having wine before lunch on my first gig as a model:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ji9w8eLfoo