Phong Nha – 4th February

Things were getting even more concerning over Corona here in Vietnam as the government responded quickly to any new cases. On Thursday 4th February the news of medical staff who were doing the massive amount of testing were being overworked, here’s an example:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210203/medical-worker-collapses-on-duty-in-covid19-epicenter/59140.html
But the leaders of the country were firm in their actions and were able to give the go ahead to take measures to prevent a further spread.
Captain Caveman had gone to Oxalis early for breakfast, Veronika had gone to the beach and I’d done some blogging. An old friend of Captain Caveman’s was passing through Phong Nha, Hung and his wife Ivy were driving from Ha Tinh that morning and going to stop off for a quick hello at Phong Nha Farmstay before carrying on to Danang and eventually back to Saigon. I met Captain Caveman by the pool at the Farmstay and Veronika was already there after her beach trip. Hung and Ivy were really nice people and it was too short a visit really as they got whisked off to look at the accommodation at the Farmstay, ready for next time. Luckily we did have time to ask Maya the receptionist to take some photos of us all together. We had pho for breakfast and, as the weather was nice, we sat outside for our lunch. Captain Caveman went wild and had a pizza (the day before pizza night!) and I had some fresh spring rolls. I filled up by having 1 slice of Captain Caveman’s salami pizza and 2 glasses of white wine. Back home I portioned up the masaman curry in to 6 containers and popped 2 in the fridge and 4 in the freezer (ideal for a rainy or ‘no spending’ day). That night we were going to stay in but Bich was cooking a lamb shank soup which Captain Caveman really wanted to try so we headed back to the Farmstay that evening. Captain Caveman, Matty, Ben and some customers were in the sauna and swimming pool while I joined Veronika who was chatting to a lovely couple from London, June and Steve. We clicked straight away and from the first laugh with June I don’t think we stopped. They knew Seamouse, lived in Danang and were staying at Victory Road Villas so with a bit of wine for the ladies and beer for the men, we went inside to try the soup which went down a treat. Steve tried the Bang Xeo and June had the smoked duck salad with egg while I had the pork clay pot – all the food was outstanding and the conversation was flowing, in fact we had such a great night we said we would see June and Steve tomorrow at The Villas.