Phong Nha – 19th May

On Wednesday 19th May Captain Caveman had gone to Phong Nha and I had agreed to chop potatoes and onion so that he could make a Spanish omelette when he got back. Captain Caveman had a shopping list of provisions to collect on his way back and I had dragon fruit for breakfast. I put all my chopped stuff in the fridge and was about to go upstairs when Veronika asked if I was going on the shopping trip at 11am this morning. I didn’t have any money on me so I messaged Captain Caveman to get back in time to give me more or join the shopping trip.
Captain Caveman got back in time but decided not to come to Dong Hoi, Veronika and I got picked up by Ben and he drove us to the Farmstay where there was a switch of driver and we set off to Dong Hoi, just Bich, Veronika and me. Bich decided we would go to 7th Heaven for lunch and I was happy with that choice as the food is lovely there and the menu has lots of choice. Veronika ordered chicken schnitzel, Bich went for bruschetta and Australian beef steak from the specials menu and I ordered a starter of sweet potato fries (they are so good) and then sweet and sour chicken with steamed rice and raw cabbage for my main course. The food was delicious and I was glad I had a spare tuppaware container in the car for mine as I had half left over for dinner later.

Our first shop was the An Nong organic shop where I couldn’t believe my luck – they had cherries!!! I have not had cherries since I was last in Turkey and I love them so much so, despite the very expensive price, I had to have them (and they were the last ones on the shelf)!
Our next stop was off to the Co-op Mart where I got my main supermarket items and then our final shop was at the red supermarket where I found some great mixers for the gin (as I don’t like tonic). I splashed out a bit really but I would later not regret the choices in this shop.

Below is my shopping list, as I know some of you love a nosey at what’s in my shopping basket and a list! £1 is equal to 32,555vnd and the cheapest items are listed first and per shop;

An Nong
Cherries 186,000

Co-op Mart
1 bottle of orange Twister drink 9,800
1 box of freezer bags 22,000
4 bananas 29,332
1 tub of mints 35,000
1 carton of orange juice 38,600
1 bottle of mouthwash 39,000
1 bag of Peanut M&Ms 39,600
1 box of grapes 45,386
6 cans of tonic water 45,600
100g of Edam cheese 47,000
3 cans of Strongbow cider 55,500

Red Supermarket
1 can of ginger ale 32,000
1 bottle of sparkling pink grapefruit 55,000
1 bottle of sparkling peach 55,000
1 bottle of BBQ sauce 125,000
4 apples 140,000
1 packet of blueberries 140,000

The total spend for this week was 1,179,419vnd which is about £36.50 so quite an expensive shop and quite a few treats.
When I got back home Captain Caveman had made the Spanish omelette and had been in the pool so had enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. He was off to work around 5pm at Oxalis Home for his next Son Doong briefing – there may have been a pandemic going on but so far domestic customers were still coming for tours to the biggest cave in the world.
My evening was just getting started as I got prepared for a farewell party with a difference!

The final part of my day on Wednesday 19th May was a massive first in my life – attending a funeral via the internet! I wasn’t sure what to expect and I had the tissues at the ready for what I knew would be heart breaking. I’d only known Graeme since the end of 2019, when I was introduced to him by his husband, Jamie, in Dalyan. I had become good friends with Jamie when I was living in Turkey and we had some really great nights out. When I met Graeme we got on straight away, mainly because he had such a great sense of humour, loved dogs and was brutally honest – things I love in a person! The funeral started at 7pm (my time) and so I got myself a gin and pink grapefruit to drink as we said goodbye to Graeme at his farewell party. I couldn’t believe it when the first song to be played was the famous Lesley Gore hit ‘It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to’ – I laughed and cried at the same time and I even composed myself enough to join in on the second chorus. It was only fitting that even in death, Graeme was still making us laugh and I was so proud of Jamie when he delivered such beautiful words with composure and some humour with his beautiful tribute to Graeme, whom he adored. He told us tales of their life together and it was a touching but, again, funny song which followed; McFly’s ‘It’s all about you’ which I laughed and cried at again! I had a bit of a sing along while thinking of the too few drunken nights out at Lukka Bar with Jamie and Graeme. I liked the hymn ‘All things bright and beautiful’ and the 4th song made me smile; Vera Lynne’s ‘We’ll meet again’. The last song though, had me sobbing and laughing in a bit of a mess; Will Young’s ‘I think I’d better leave right now’. Even at the end of Graeme’s life we would all remember the humour and how he liked to be a little mischievous. One of our geckos, Billie, must’ve been a girl because a new baby gecko appeared – I decided to name him Graeme.

I finished another gin and pink grapefruit, sorted out my face and had a little lay down. I was a bit tipsy after 4 gins and forgetting to eat dinner so I warmed up the leftover sweet and sour chicken with sweet potato fries and ate that. Captain Caveman got back from his briefing and was washing out his flask with boiling water while I was washing up. After shaking up the full flask and trying to pour it in to my washing up water I said no and then it shot out over us and burned the back of my hand. I had to put ice on and go to bed with a proper face on after Captain Caveman tried to say it was my fault for not moving out of the way! He only had to wait for me to wash 1 plate, 1 knife and 1 fork, where are his manners and patience!?

Phong Nha – 17th & 18th May

Today, Monday 17th May, was a big day back in the UK as the next milestone in the relaxing of Corona rules arrived. The main thing I knew about was that 2 households could now mix which meant my parents could go to my sister’s house and would be allowed to see the grandchildren. It was still a week to go until my parents were supposed to be fully covered by their vaccines and my sister and her husband had already had their first jab. With the UK and Indian variants about I still worried for them but was happy they would at last be able to choose to see the family, if they wanted. According to the rules in England hotels, cinemas, restaurants and pubs could all be open and people could now go inside to eat and drink. Sports venues could reopen and international travel was allowed but under a traffic light system of where was permitted.
Vietnam had a lot more cases from yesterday (190) and, unfortunately, death number 37, more information here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/950498/man-with-meningitis-dies-of-covid-19.html
Captain Caveman had gone off to Phong Nha and said he would be back at 10.30am today and then the housekeeping staff were here before 8am so I went to make myself breakfast. It was nice to be sat out in the beautiful garden for 2 hours drinking tea, eating toast and admiring the view but by 10am it was unbearably hot, even in the shade. Captain Caveman came back mid morning and I had a second breakfast; bacon, asparagus and parmesan and it was the best he’d made in ages. By midday it felt like 45°C and I was struggling, even in the pool, so Captain Caveman got on the gin and tonics and I had a white russian. I had rice crackers and 1 Laughing Cow Light cheese triangle but had a bad stomach straight away (they aren’t even real cheese and the milk in the cocktail is UHT)!
At 3.40pm I was laying on the sun-lounger on the balcony when a huge rain shower came down. That evening I cooked us chicken breast with steamed rice and vegetables which was really healthy. Captain Caveman had more G&Ts and I went on to the rum with ice.

We had a bit of an unusual day on Tuesday 18th May. Captain Caveman was up at 6am and woke me up with a sneeze, as he sometimes does. I was crotchety at having been woken up too early so Captain Caveman did us a bacon, potatoes and onion breakfast. He had his with brown sauce and a couple of fried eggs too!
For lunch, because of the heavy breakfast, I made popcorn and had 1 square of 85% dark chocolate. We arranged to meet Tatas for dinner at East Hill, she was taking her motorbike but Captain Caveman and I thought my leg had improved enough for me to have my first stint of cycling on a main road in the dark. We had some lights for the way back but made sure we set off in the daylight so we might see the sunset. Tatas was early and had already ordered a BBQ chicken combo with extra cucumber, those two had Tiger crystal beer to drink and I had Strongbow cider. We had a really relaxing time, the chicken was so good that we ordered another and had another drink while trying to not attract any more frogs (Tatas is scared of frogs and there were loads of them).
After dinner, not too late, we walked down the stairs, which I managed for the first time after dark, with help, to our transport. Bluey was ready to go but I was uneasy about the rough path to the road so I pushed her the 200 metres while Tatas rode slowly alongside me, lighting the way. We joked at how good my leg must be now that I could keep up with a motorbike while pushing a bicycle! I managed the cycle back quite well but had to have Captain Caveman guide me on the left hand turn from the highway. When we got home I had a shower as I was very sweaty but Captain Caveman got in the pool for a splash about!

Photo credit – Bich and Captain Caveman

Phong Nha – 16th May

Captain Caveman went missing on Sunday 16th May, he got up early and went to Phong Nha saying he’d be back soon. I had some brown rice crackers for breakfast and checked the news. The corona cases were even more for the previous day, the most cases in a day in Vietnam so far:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210516/vietnam-reports-whopping-daily-climb-of-187-local-covid19-infections/60973.html
I messaged Captain Caveman but got no reply and so I went in the pool for a bit. For lunch I had a dragon fruit which affected my stomach so I couldn’t eat anything else. Later I made some popcorn and wondered where Captain Caveman had got to. By 3.30pm I had established that he was at the Glass House. I decided I was going to Sunday dinner as I’d not had one for a while and Captain Caveman agreed to come along to the Farmstay too. We went in the new Elements Collection van (Phuong’s old vehicle) with Duyet, who was very proud of his new wheels.

On arrival at the Phong Nha Farmstay, we joined Veronika and decided to take her recommendation on a bottle of Chardonnay. There was a nice sunset, freshly picked chillies were spread out, drying, on the ground and it was very calm and relaxing. I’m not usually one to choose a Chardonnay but the wine was very nice and went down rather too well, so much so that by the time we were eating our Sunday dinner we had to order an extra glass each.

The food was good but the Yorkshire puddings had obviously had the oven door open on them while cooking (being from Yorkshire, I am used to perfect yorkshires, though) and there was no crackling this week! Captain Caveman prefers lamb and I prefer pork so we did swaps on the meat, he also had all of my pasta in exchange for broccoli and courgette, which wasn’t really a fair swap! The meal was delicious, I had definitely missed not having it for a while and the portions are very filling. Captain Caveman had cheesecake for afters and he even let me taste some, I took home the rest of my pork, lots of broccoli and a piece of carrot cake, all of which went in the freezer.

Phong Nha – 14th & 15th May

We were awake at 5am with the loudspeaker announcements on Friday 14th May but it wasn’t a problem because Captain Caveman was excited to be getting his jab. Oxalis had arranged for staff to be registered to have the vaccination and was the Astra Zeneca vaccine given in 2 jabs. Health workers, teachers, people working in tourism and other essential sectors are given priority and a certain amount of vaccines had been despatched to each locality for distribution.
In the news, reports that more vaccines will be coming to Vietnam, which was good news:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210514/31-million-doses-of-pfizerbiontech-vaccine-committed-for-vietnam-this-year-health-ministry/60925.html
It was interesting to see that, like in many other countries, mental illness issues were taking their toll on people:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210514/covid19-pandemic-hot-weather-trigger-rise-in-mental-illnesses-in-ho-chi-minh-city/60937.html
I had a late breakfast of chicken, still good from yesterday and when Captain Caveman came home he said all had gone well at the hospital. I had more chicken for lunch with bread and wasn’t ill.

That evening we joined Veronika, Ben and Matty for pizza night at The Villas, where we got to try some new cocktails which looked and tasted great. We shared a bottle of red wine plus a couple of cocktails. It was a good night and the pizza was great, as always, and my favourite is still the Showstopper; proscuitto, blue cheese, fig jam and spring onion – it is amazing!

Captain Caveman joined Ben on a trip to the beach for some surfing at 4.30am on Saturday 15th May where they had breakfast at a great little cafe, selling prawn and mushroom rice porridge.
I read the news and a very interesting insight in to what was happening in a locked down hospital in Hanoi:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/features/20210514/whats-going-on-inside-vietnams-biggest-isolation-zone/60928.html
For Vietnam there had been a big increase in cases with the 4th wave and the Indian variant did seem to be spreading so much quicker, more info here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/949128/131-new-covid-19-cases-reported-on-saturday-evening.html
The country was sad to hear that Corona death number 36 had happened too, it had been a while since Vietnam had reported a death from the virus – was this going to be the first of more in this wave?
When Captain Caveman got back from the beach he mentioned his arm ached from where he had the jab but he felt fine and he had a short nap while I went in the pool and lounged on the balcony. When he woke up he made us bacon, sweetcorn and spaghetti in a tomato sauce for lunch. In the afternoon there was finally one of the storms that had been predicted and a lot of thunder. That night Captain Caveman and I went to the Farmstay for dinner, he had an Aussie meat pie and chips and I had my favourite Beef in Bamboo with a couple of glasses of red wine. We were home and in bed by 9pm, Captain Caveman not knowing if it was the jab making him tired or getting up during the early hours to go to the beach.

Phong Nha – 13th May

Back in March I’d tried to arrange a soirée that never came off and then again, in April, the get together never happened due to Captain Caveman’s busy work schedule. Now that he had some surprise days off, on Thursday 13th May, we had finally got the makings of something organised for the early evening. Captain Caveman and I decided we would order in East Hill BBQ Chicken and sticky rice for a small group of us.
But first, Captain Caveman went over to Phong Nha in the morning, to get his washing in, turn Watto’s AC on for him at the Glass House and check in on things at Oxalis. He received a few updates from work and one in particular we were very pleased to hear; he would be getting his first Astra Zeneca vaccination tomorrow. I caught up on more writing and checked the news, as I usually do and I just had toast and brown rice crackers for breakfast and lunch as I knew I’d be eating a big meal for dinner. Captain Caveman came back for his lunch of a peanut butter and marmite sandwich and a can of lager (classy), while taking my place on the sun-lounger. Weirdly we decided to look up flights to the UK for later in the year because we knew that flights were available to Singapore and if I spent 10 days in Singapore I could go to the UK without quarantine – a one way flight to Heathrow wasn’t too pricey either. As Captain Caveman had a week off at the end of May we also started looking at more detailed plans in Vietnam, where we hoped I’d get my passport back in time to be able to fly to Saigon and then Tam Hai for a holiday within a holiday.
At 4.15pm Hanh arrived and we sat outside near the garden and had a chat and a drink while we waited for others to arrive. It was at this point I decided I would get more Lindeman’s sparkling white wine down me, which Captain Caveman was very attentive at topping up as almost everyone else started to arrive.

The East Hill BBQ chicken and sticky rice arrived right on time at 5pm, ready for our little get together with some friends. Veronika arrived back from a trip in to town to buy hummus, just as we had finished eating all the chicken so we ordered a third BBQ chicken and rice combo from East Hill who were great and said it would arrive at 6.30pm, in time for Bich coming. While Veronika got her hummus out and joined in a glass of fizz, it was nice to see the Vietnamese guests not drinking and driving, even the kids were behaving well. East Hill delivered the extra food earlier than expected but there was still no sign of Bich yet so we left it in the bag and went upstairs. Hong and the kids got in the pool, Phuong went to the blessing of the van party with Duyet, Hien and Khanh. I made jasmine green tea for the Vietnamese ladies and I had more wine. It was great seeing the kids enjoying the swimming and Captain Caveman made an excellent lifeguard and swimming coach. Captain Caveman and I had more chicken and rice with peanut salt when Bich and the kids arrived, Veronika finally got some chicken but there was still some left over which went in the fridge for tomorrow. It was a great night and it had been lovely to catch up with our Vietnamese friends who we don’t see so often. Captain Caveman made me laugh when everyone had gone, by saying how much he’d enjoyed it and that we should do it every month – it had took at least 4 months to get this one organised!

Phong Nha and Dong Hoi – 12th May

I had a busy and quite exciting day on Wednesday 12th May. Captain Caveman came home in time to join a trip to Dong Hoi with the Phong Nha Farmstay. Ben even brought along a fridge to keep any chilled shopping cold. Our first stop in Dong Hoi was for lunch at Geminai, previously a hotel and restaurant which has now been done up in to a lovely Thai restaurant. Ben and Bich had been before and so had recommended we try it, I had already looked at the extensive menu online so I knew what I could have. When we arrived there were iPads to view the menu on, written in yellow on a purple background. I ordered a prawn Pad Thai, Captain Caveman ordered a beef Pad Thai, everyone else who wanted food ordered and then we moved to an upstairs room to dine in our own private room. The food was excellent and plentiful and I really enjoyed my meal, Veronika said her calamari was very good too. We even tried hibiscus flower juice which was ultra sweet but rather nice. I’d drank my Gastropulgite before I ate, I’d ordered gluten and dairy free food, I’d even left off the chillies or any extra sauces but, nevertheless, I still suffered.

We went to a few different places to shop, it was much easier for me in some ways with Captain Caveman there, but more tricky when I can’t see the shopping list. While Ben and Bich had some other business to attend to in the city the rest of us had a quick visit to Tree Hugger for refreshments. Captain Caveman and I managed a couple of white russians before our fun bus came back to collect us.

Back home, after putting away all our shopping, we had a little swim and it was nice to see Captain Caveman finally being able to relax by the pool with a beer, instead of working. That evening we had a few glasses of red wine, the nice Israeli one given to us by Hung, and Captain Caveman made us bacon and mushroom sandwiches for dinner – we are wild like that sometimes!

For those of you who are wondering what Captain Caveman and I had in our shopping bags, here’s a list:

Prices are in VND, I’ve listed the cheapest thing first in each shop. £1 is around 32,700vnd.

Co-op Mart supermarket
2 onions 9,342
Tomatoes 18,250
1 red dragon fruit 18,564
1 white dragon fruit 21,244
1 packet of sanitary towels 23,700
1 packet of spaghetti 29,200
Mayonnaise 32,200
4 potatoes 36,230
2 packets of bacon 111,000
6 chicken breasts 135,000

Pharmacy
10 Antihistamines 34,000
20 Ibuprofen 60,000
30 Gastropulgite 102,000
3 months contraceptive pill 195,000

An Nong Organic shop
1 bunch of asparagus 24,225
1 yellow dragon fruit 53,900
1 box of brown rice crackers 90,000

We spent just over 1,000,000vnd which is about £31, so we spent less this week on shopping but more on lunch and cocktails.

Phong Nha – 10th & 11th May

Monday 10th May was a great day for me in general as I reflected on how lucky I was considering all the hardship that was going on around the world right now. I woke up early with the tannoy but I didn’t get up and had started using this time in the morning to write blog posts. I did some swimming in the morning sun and chilled on the sun-lounger a short while to dry off before breakfast. I had dragon fruit, grapes and buttered sour dough toast before checking out the latest news.
There was confirmation that Vietnam had the Indian double mutant version of the virus in Hanoi, more info here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210510/indian-covid19-variant-found-in-northern-vietnamese-localities-including-hanoi/60824.html
Before lunch I read that the number of cases in Vietnam was quickly increasing, so much so that this was the first time a noon update had been given on the numbers, since Corona started. More here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210510/vietnam-health-ministry-provides-unusual-noon-update-as-infections-accelerate/60828.html
I had more grapes for lunch and a few of the brown rice crackers which I was starting to like now. There was more proof that lack of tourism in the area was taking its toll still as a Facebook post from The Villas restaurant on their change of opening hours to 7-11am and 4.30-8.30pm each day (previously it was 7am – 10pm). We didn’t know how much longer Captain Caveman would still have tours for, given the 4th wave, and I was very conscious of needing to save money, which I needed for my visa extensions, which were starting to cost more each month. I had a message from the agent to tell me that the visa extension for this month had gone up by 50% because of the length of time I’ve been extending and the Corona risks and I had a feeling it might not be long before I had to think about an exit strategy perhaps. I chopped up some carrots, onion and mushrooms and put them in the rice cooker with the left over Bolognese to simmer for dinner and got back in the pool.
Steve and June got in touch to say their apartment in Danang was a Corona isolation zone and they had to stay home until further notice, after a positive case from someone who lived or worked there. They had been tested once and were negative so far and were keeping calm about the situation.
My extra vegetable-filled Bolognese went well with the rice noodles and a small glass of red wine for a late dinner and then I was early to bed.

I had another lovely day on Tuesday 11th May and I even slept through the noise of the tannoy in the morning! I decided to make a gluten free pancake which I had with dragon fruit and honey for breakfast. I washed up and tidied while the housekeeping staff cleaned our room and then I did some swimming and shade-bathing while catching up on the news. Reports of a school quarantine as authorities fought to keep the virus spread under control, more here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210511/vietnamese-province-places-some-50000-teachers-students-in-quarantine-due-to-covid19-outbreak/60860.html
I prepped more veg and fruit as well as shoving a defrosted portion of masaman curry in the rice cooker for dinner. I ate the last of the bolognese and rice noodles for lunch, this time with a bit of melted cheese on. Captain Caveman got out of Son Doong and was meant to have the briefing for his next tour that night, clashing with his gala dinner, but the tour for tomorrow had cancelled due to Corona. He decided he would go to the gala dinner with his customers and then stay at the Glass House tonight, tomorrow he would go in to the office before coming home. I ate a piece of dark chocolate and then had a couple of bowls of the masaman curry for dinner, but no alcohol! I had a bad stomach for the rest of the evening and there is no gluten in the curry, in fact I’d had no gluten all day!

Phong Nha – 9th May

I made myself a bacon, mushroom and brown sauce baguette for breakfast on Sunday 9th May as I had been awake before 5am again because of the tannoy noise which was still blaring on at 5.40am. By 9am I was so tired but couldn’t go back to sleep as it was too light. Instead I read the Corona news and lolled about watching The Big Bang Theory on Netflix.
The Corona numbers, although seeming to be contained were the highest cases in a day for a while as the latest wave seemed to be spreading at a faster rate, more here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210509/vietnam-announces-record-daily-hike-of-92-local-coronavirus-infections/60817.html
I was glad that back home my parents were due to have their second Astra Zeneca jab today and would finally be free to roam by the 23rd May. After being at home for over a year I was pleased about this for them and hoped Vietnam would progress the vaccine a bit quicker. I put on my Mommy Shark leopard print swimming costume and sat by the pool, had a swim and relaxed on a sun-lounger for the rest of the morning.
For lunch I had dragon fruit and some grapes followed by a pot of jasmine tea and decided to try something new for dinner. I had rice noodles with blognese, instead of spaghetti and although it took a bit of getting used to it tasted pretty good. I had a very relaxing Sunday in Phong Nha, just doing nothing much.

Phong Nha – 8th May

Our friends from Saigon were booked to leave Phong Nha on Saturday 8th May, Captain Caveman had already left for his next Son Doong tour and I was busy swimming in the pool before 9am. I’d had bread and butter and then bread and jam for breakfast (very continental) because it was too hot to make pancakes. In the news there was more information on how Vietnam’s 4th wave of corona had come about, which was interesting:
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/the-gales-that-fuel-vietnam-s-new-coronavirus-storm-4274470.html
Just before lunch Andrea cycled down to Elements and we sat by the pool and had a chat while she had a beer and me a cider. We decided to cycle to the Farmstay taking the longer route so that Andrea could see the rice paddies, the harvesting and take some photos, then we would get some lunch before it was time for her and Rob to go to the airport. When we arrived at the Phong Nha Farmstay we were rather hot and sweaty so decided to have a Jasmine IPA beer with ice and share some lunch. We ordered the fried spring rolls and chicken quesadillas, both excellent dishes, to share and had another jasmine IPA each, none of which had any affect my tum! Rob joined us and he decided to have a drink and a last minute veggie curry, which he had enjoyed at the Phong Nha Farmstay before. I was going to miss these guys and after I’d said my goodbyes I cycled home the short way in 9 minutes 58 seconds and then got in the pool as it was boiling, it was so hot that the pool water was like a warm bath. I always forget how hot the summers are, here in Phong Nha, and the forecast for the week looked hot, hot, hot. I had a shower and a rest, watched something on Netflix and made some popcorn. I was glad of an early night as I was going to be up very early tomorrow morning!

Phong Nha – 7th May

Captain Caveman went off early to Phong Nha on the morning of Friday 7th May having made arrangements to see me at East Hill at 11.30am and he had told Rob the plan too. I messaged Veronika, who had gone walking with Sue, to let them know we would be cycling from Elements Collection at 11am to go to East Hill for lunch, should they still want to come. I also messaged Andrea and she was up for cycling to our place first, with Rob and Anthony and then on to East Hill with us. It was even an added bonus that one of them would ride my bicycle, Bluey, who’d I’d left in the car park at the Farmstay, as Rob’s bike was already at our place.
At 10.50am people were downstairs waiting for me to go to East Hill so I went downstairs, Rob had forgotten the key for his bike which was locked and had cycled back to get it, Sue and Andrea were ready to cycle and Veronika was deciding if she wanted to take her motorbike or cycle with us. We waited for Rob to return, luckily, because he had to borrow Bluey’s pump and then he said he knew the way and he would catch us up because he also needed a mask. By now it was 11.15am and so I lead the way, Veronika had decided to cycle with me, Andrea and Sue but Anthony was going to cycle with Rob.
When we came to the turning off the main road there was no sign, which is normally there, so I cycled past and then realised, so we all had to turn round just as 2 lorries were going each way on the highway. The ladies made it, including the detour, in 5 minutes and 12 seconds where Captain Caveman was already waiting with a shandy. Everyone but me decided they also wanted a shandy but there was no beer, nor would the guy order any and so they shared a beer and two 7ups while I had a coke. We ordered 2 BBQ chicken and rice combos and waited for Rob and Anthony to arrive, which they didn’t. Captain Caveman messaged Rob but no response and Andrea had Anthony’s wallet and phone in her bag. When they eventually arrived they had been to the Pub with Cold Beer (which was closed) and completely misunderstood where we were going! When the chicken arrived Captain Caveman tucked in heartily, as usual, Anthony just had rice as he’s a vegetarian and Rob had a lay down and went to sleep. Andrea found the chicken was too chewy for her, Sue and Veronika didn’t eat much chicken, so it was mainly Captain Caveman and I eating. Rob eventually woke up when there was just a bit of chicken left and had a couple of pieces and the rest of the rice. For the way home Captain Caveman suggested a slightly longer scenic route which Veronika and Sue didn’t want to do and set off the way we came. I also didn’t want to chance Captain Caveman’s ‘better’ way so tried to catch Veronika and Sue up but they were too whizzy. It took me 8 minutes 41 seconds to cycle back in the now blistering heat and when I arrived back Captain Caveman, Andrea, Rob and Anthony were just a couple of minutes behind. All but Rob and Anthony got in our pool and they all had a drink to cool down before cycling back to the Farmstay.

Later that evening Captain Caveman had his briefing while Andrea, Rob and I joined Veronika and Ben for The Villas’ pizza night, which I’d not been to since the 26th March, 5 weeks ago! I managed 6 slices including a ham & mushroom, 2 showstoppers, 1 capture, 1 Momma D’s and 1 veggie – luckily Ben and Rob liked the smoked salmon ones. Andrea and I shared a bottle of red wine and then had an extra glass when Captain Caveman joined us for a drink at the end, once he’d finished work. We got the shuttle bus back with Ben while Captain Caveman cycled his bicycle home.

Phong Nha – 6th May

The loudspeaker was doing it’s thing at 5.09am on Thursday 6th May and so by 6.30am I was on my 2nd gluten-free pancake with banana and honey – it was far too early! It was rice harvesting season in Phong Nha and so when we cycled up to the Farmstay it took me 10 minutes 27 seconds because of having to go over the tarpaulins of drying rice in the road. Bruno had arranged to meet for an early lunch before heading off to the airport for his trip back to Saigon. I was really thirsty after cycling in the heat so I managed to polish off an orange juice and a ginger beer pretty quickly. For lunch I ordered some vegetarian fried spring rolls and a coconut as the group that had been on the Tu Lan 4 day tour spoke about how much they enjoyed it. Captain Caveman had an impressive looking burger for his lunch and there was a discussion about the forthcoming Saigon Children’s Charity cycling event that a few, including Captain Caveman, Andrea and Rob, were going to be doing to raise more money for the charity in July, ending on Captain Caveman’s birthday. After we said bye to Bruno, we cycled back home, it took me 10 minutes 5 seconds and it was so hot that I got a bit of sunburn, even though I had a high factor suncream on. Captain Caveman did his dutiful filming of me riding Bluey and I looked pretty much back to normal apart from still having my seat low so that if I had to stop I can put both feet on the floor.
That evening Captain Caveman and I joined Rob, Andrea, Veronika and Sue (a returning guest from Hanoi) back up at the Farmstay after a 10 minute 28 second cycle, including getting off to walk across one patch of drying harvest. I decided to have mushroom soup for a starter and the duck à l’orange for my main course at dinner, plus a few (4!) glasses of red wine. There was talk at the dinner table of going somewhere nice for lunch tomorrow with our friends and Phong Nha Farmstay guests and I suggested we could maybe see if we could organise a trip to the Pub with Cold Beer, a trip I’ve been on many times. Everyone agreed and would like to go around 11.30am, after Veronika and Sue had completed their walk and the others had finished their morning’s work. It didn’t work out though, as only Sue and I would need transport as the others were happy to make their own way there by bicycle or motorbike. When I checked with Ben he had a trip he could organise which left at 9.30am and returned at the latest by 2pm, by jeep and included a rubber tapping and pig experience as well as lunch at the Pub with Cold Beer for 300,000vnd. Unfortunately the timings and activities didn’t suit our group of 7 on this occasion and we had to decline Ben’s proposal and think of a plan B.
I messaged Duyet for a lift home, leaving Bluey in the car park over night, while Captain Caveman cycled back in the dark. When we got home both Captain Caveman and I decided we would go to East Hill for a BBQ chicken lunch tomorrow at 11.30am, as it was easier for me to get to, and invite people if they wanted to come – a much more simple plan.

Captain Caveman’s video of me cycling from Phong Nha Farmstay to Elements Collection

Captain Caveman’s video of my cycling – my leg much stronger

Captain Caveman’s video of me and Bluey arriving home

Phong Nha and Dong Hoi – 5th May

I woke up at 6am on Wednesday 5th May feeling like I could drink a dirty puddle and did not welcome the leftover Jameson’s nightcap on the bedside table next to my pillow or the amount of daylight streaming in to the room at Phong Nha Lake House. Tatas was still fast asleep, in the bed next to mine, completely under the cover and grinding her teeth. Luckily there was water in the fridge and I had slept in the robe provided rather than my own dress so I drank water then tried to go back to sleep and couldn’t. Tatas had her overnight bag with her because she had planned to stay at mine but I had nothing but a short backless dress to go to breakfast in! Tatas said she would be ages getting ready so I went without her and had a pho bo and an apple juice trying to sort out my hangover from hell.

I remembered that I had agreed to go to Dong Hoi on a shopping trip with Veronika in less than 2 hours! Tatas said she would give me a lift home on her motorbike and when we arrived at Elements Collection the gardening lady, who had seen me go out last night, saw me arrive in last night’s clothes – I’d be the talk of the village again! I went to get a shower but there was a huge spider in the bathroom so I had to message Duyet to come and get it, with his gloves on! I had just a bit of time for a lay down on the bed until 11am when we went to sit outside to wait for Bich to pick us up.

A firm favourite, Tree Hugger cafe in Dong Hoi was our first stop, for lunch. Veronika was tetchy because she hadn’t had any coffee and was being a bit demanding about having her coffee immediately, but the waiter had to come back upstairs to the table to say they didn’t have my chicken salad, only beef salad and she asked he get her coffee now! I shared my salad and some spring rolls with Bich who had a mixed smoothie with extra ice-cream in.

The afternoon was a long one as we went to every supermarket and organic shop in Dong Hoi for the next 3 hours. Medicare, VinMart, Toan Viet Gourmet, Thinh Tien, An Nong and Co-op Mart all with a hangover still and a tight budget, but I managed to get most things on my shopping list. Captain Caveman had returned from his 4 day Tu Lan trip and had gone straight to Chay Lap for the after party that night and so he decided to stay at the Glass House. I had some bread and butter with crisps for my dinner, 2 of my favourite foods and didn’t get a bad stomach! I tried to go to bed early but couldn’t sleep and so I finished watching Below Deck on Netflix.

For those of you who like a list and love to know how prices and produce can vary in a different country, here is what I bought, while hungover and not too focused on what I was doing, on Wednesday 5th May:

Prices are in VND I’ve listed the cheapest thing first in each shop. (£1 is around 32,500vnd).

VinMart supermarket
A baguette 9,000
1kg of carrots 14,504
10 eggs 26,700
2 cans of Strongbow cider 37,000
M&Ms 75,400
270g mushrooms 75,522
250ml extra virgin olive oil 91,300
700g of green grapes 96,466
400g pasta sauce (Bolognese) 122,000
250g butter 137,000

Tuan Viet Gourmet supermarket
1 pack of plain crisps 11,000
Green beans 14,100
Tissues 15,000
500g Rice noodles 25,000
1 red cabbage 33,000
Spaghetti 59,000
Pasta sauce (tomato) 99,000
GF crispbreads 105,000

Tinh Tien supermarket
Wild berry boiled sweets 65,000
2 jars of popcorn kernels 104,000
1 bar of 85% dark chocolate 105,000

An Nong Organic shop
1 small white cabbage 18,560
1 tin of coconut milk 40,000
6 bananas 40,275
1 chicken thigh fillet 87,500
1 box of brown rice crackers 90,000
1 chicken breast fillet 102,675

Co-op Mart
I spent nothing as the only things on my list that I still had to buy weren’t available – BBQ sauce and pickled onions.

The shopping total came to 1,671,867vnd which is £51.83 in English money. My lunch and a coke cost me around a fiver so quite an expensive day but a fuller cupboard and fridge.
How does this compare with your shopping? Did it surprise you that butter is so expensive here?

Phong Nha – 4th May

I didn’t have any breakfast on Tuesday 4th May as I was too busy reading the news by the pool. The schools in Hanoi were closed, more info here:
https://vietnaminsider.vn/vietnam-records-two-more-local-covid-19-cases-two-million-students-asked-to-stay-home/
The news reported that the 4th wave in Vietnam had started, read here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210504/vietnam-records-12-local-coronavirus-infections-in-24-hours/60706.html
In Ha Long Bay a cruise ship had to be quarantined, more info here:
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/182-taken-off-ha-long-bay-cruise-ship-for-quarantine-4272186.html
I had a gluten free pancake with bacon, mushrooms and some of the leftover sausage for my lunch and then got on with some swimming. As I lay in the shade on a sun-lounger I got a message from Tatas to say she fancied a steak at the Lake House tonight so we arranged to do that. My intention was to walk up but then it rained so Tham and Tony kindly came to pick me up. It was the first time I was going out without my support bandage on my knee so I decided to wear a dress which Tatas had given me ages ago. It had been too tight but now it fit a lot better and I even had my hair down, my new glasses on and a pair of sandals (bought for me by Khanh Linh) which I could wear again now my ankle was getting better. When we arrived at the Lake House we chatted with Tony, who had been having it large this weekend, so needed an early dinner and bed. Tatas and I shared a bottle of red wine (or two), had steaks, sweet potato fries and some broccoli. We got chatting to people on the next table who had come for dinner and it so happened that Captain Caveman knew Neil, a keen cyclist and that Charmaine, from Canada, had been on the Hang En tour 6 years ago with Tatas and remembered her! Tham joined our table for more conversation and we had more wine and Tequilas. It got quite messy and we ended up having to stay the night at the Lake House, in one of the nice twin rooms, overlooking the lake! We had a great night and I really enjoyed our steak, wine and tequila night – it made us miss our friends in Danang though.

Photo credit – Tatas, Tony, Tham, the Lake House waiter

Phong Nha – 3rd May

It was Labour Day on Monday 3rd May and so I decided to stay at home and avoid people, this would turn out to be a very wise move as the Corona situation in Vietnam started to take a turn for the worst. I had a gluten free pancake with fruit salad and honey for breakfast, there was no tannoy sounds blaring out and then I checked the news. It was not pretty;
Parts of Danang will close bars and other non-essential businesses today, as Vietnam tries to prevent the 4th wave:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210503/vietnam-s-da-nang-khanh-hoa-close-nonessential-businesses-considering-covid19-scare/60690.html
At the same time some businesses in Saigon and cafes in Hanoi were closing from today:
https://vietnaminsider.vn/hanoi-and-saigon-suspend-many-nonessential-services-over-covid-fears/
There was a big hunt for escaped Chinese from quarantine:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210503/ho-chi-minh-city-chairman-demands-hunt-for-chinese-who-escaped-covid19-quarantine-center/60695.html
Hanoi had reported more illegals found, not far from Hoan Kiem:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210503/hanoi-police-discover-46-illegal-immigrants-presumably-chinese-in-downtown-apartment-building/60698.html
Very worryingly, a doctor at a hospital tested positive and so the entire hospital in the north was locked down immediately:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/939296/vinh-phuc-doctor-tests-positive-once-for-covid-19-entire-hospital-locked-down.html
The Prime Minister of Vietnam sent out a message about extra vigilance being needed by all:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/939184/pm-calls-for-extra-vigilance-against-covid-19.html
Meanwhile a suspected case in a Danang hospital from a worker in Hoi An caused the hospital to be put in lockdown:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210503/da-nang-locks-down-hospital-over-suspected-covid19-case-source/60703.html
Also Danang reacted to repatriation and expert flights coming in from abroad:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/939359/da-nang-reports-one-community-transmitted-covid-19-case.html
Wow, this time last week we had just returned from Danang – how lucky! After my healthy breakfast I got my swimmers on, as it was a scorcher of a day, and I noticed my new glasses had arrived from Quang Optic in Danang. I tried them on and was very pleased with them, even though Captain Caveman had said he thought they were too big when I’d sent him a photo of me in the opticians with them on. I spent the rest of the day in and out of the pool and eating fruit salad.
In the evening I decided to have hotdogs without bread but the sausages weren’t very nice and I had to wash them down with a glass of red wine.

Phong Nha – the 1st weekend of May

On Saturday 1st May I was unable to get to The Villas and so I delegated seeing Caroline and Vee off to Captain Caveman, who was cycling to Phong Nha anyway. The tyre on her Royal Enfield Himalayan motorbike had been replaced and she was leaving from Ho Khanh’s that morning, heading north for the next month!

Poison_I_Vee video by Captain Caveman

After catching up on the Corona news I cycled over to the Farmstay to meet Andrea and Captain Caveman for a late breakfast and I had a pho bo and an orange juice. Bruno and Rob joined us for lunch and I just shared a bit of Captain Caveman’s chicken quesadillas and then had lots of water and a coconut. I said farewell to Andrea and Bruno who were off to Chay Lap then on the Tu Lan 4 day Oxalis tour with the rest of the group the next day. My total cycling time was faster than expected at 17 minutes 3 seconds via the shortest route and I was getting better at keeping my foot and leg aligned.

Captain Caveman and Rob went cycling around the local area for a couple of hours while I put the chicken masaman in the rice cooker for later and added more potatoes and some carrots to it. When Captain Caveman returned home I had a surprise for him; as you can imagine he loves videoing my leg progress and was almost as excited as I was at my first walk down the stairs where I could step one foot in front of the other, instead of bringing one foot to the other on each step. I still had to hold on to the hand rail and the stepping wasn’t very smooth but my knee didn’t hurt at all, just my ankle was very stiff and a bit sore.
We celebrated with a bottle of fizz and the masaman curry which we had to enjoy in the bedroom as it was such a hot night and there is only Aircon in the bedrooms.

Captain Caveman’s video of me walking down the stairs

Captain Caveman was up at 6am on Sunday 2nd May and really excited to be on the same Tu Lan 4 day Oxalis tour as Andrea, Bruno, Johan, Rob and Anthony, even though he was still working he would enjoy having his friends on this trip. I stayed in bed a bit longer and read the latest Corona news which had started to get a little more concerning than usual. A temporary hospital had been set up in Ha Nam ready to start treating new patients if the 4th wave got worse, more info here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/938430/500-bed-temporary-hospital-set-up-in-ha-nam-to-treat-covid-19-patients.html
Worryingly, it was confirmed that the first of the Indian double mutant strain is in Vietnam – people are worried:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210502/vietnam-detects-double-mutant-indian-variant-of-coronavirus-for-1st-time/60677.html
I cheered myself up by making gluten-free pancakes for breakfast and I made enough mixture to save in the fridge for a few more days. I did more writing and then I noticed that Below Deck had more episodes available on Netflix so I just had to watch it. I had fruit salad for lunch and had planned to go to Sunday dinner at the Farmstay but being on a budget and knowing it would be mega busy for the holiday weekend I decided to have veggie rice, a white russian and some walnuts at home – much cheaper and healthier!