Phong Nha & Dong Hoi – 23rd June

On Wednesday 23rd June Captain Caveman had planned to cycle to Phong Nha in the morning but he wanted to go on the shopping trip with me at 8.30am. We were up early and although we were speaking there was still no apology and I couldn’t help but feel a bit shit about the fact that Captain Caveman isn’t happy with me not getting out and about.
In the news there was finally some vaccination praise in Vietnam, who have been very slow to start vaccinating in large numbers, unlike the UK and Turkey, more info here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210623/ho-chi-minh-city-citizens-eagerly-participate-in-its-largestever-covid19-inoculation-campaign/61689.html
Bich picked me, Captain Caveman and Veronika up from Elements Collection about 8.40am and already had 2 Phong Nha Farmstay customers in the car. Tree Hugger was already quite busy, when we arrived, we sat downstairs and bumped in to a Phong Nha friend or two. Captain Caveman ordered his usual egg sandwich, I had veggie fried spring rolls with peach tea then we wished our friends good luck as they headed to immigration and we got ready for a shopping bonanza!

Our shopping trip this week was full on, starting at the Co-op Mart, where our bargain of the day was a whole pumpkin for less than £1 (prices below are in VND).

Co-op Mart
1 notebook 18,000
Lettuce 18,180
Tomatoes 18,250
10 eggs 25,500
Onions 29,738
1 (huge) pumpkin 32,084
5 bananas 33,717
Washing up sponges 39,000
6 aubergines 41,832
Potatoes 56,713
3 walnut milk 81,000
Sensodyne toothpaste 84,600
2 packs of chicken 90,000
2 bottles of mouthwash 92,000
250g butter 107,500
10 mangosteens 114,856
3 packs of bacon 194,400
24 cans of Huda beer 234,000
Dates 256,000

We love the Organic shop and it’s always a surprise as to what they might have in stock, that shop was next.

An Nong Organic Shop
Asparagus 48,510
1 bag of limes 54,725
2 trays of mushrooms 92,000
2 red dragon fruit 61,100

Our next shop was another supermarket, the VinMart, where our bargain of the day was some ready chopped aubergine.

VinMart
1 tray of chopped aubergine 6,994
1 baguette 9,000
2 peppers 27,050
3 cans of diet coke 28,500
200g mushrooms 35,500
2 tubes of Pringles 65,000
3 almond milk 69,500
4 Strongbow ciders 70,000
2 orange juice 88,000

There was still another supermarket we hadn’t been to and our Hanoi guest was keen to buy Tequila (I liked this guy already) but even the wine and spirits shop didn’t have any. Because Captain Caveman had no tours at the moment money was tighter than usual so we decided to forego the booze shop, which was difficult, while our new friend bought 3 bottles of Bombay Sapphire gin at a very reasonable price.

We did go in to the Red Supermarket for a few more items, we were still hoping to get popcorn kernels, which they were out of at the moment. I was thrilled to find that they had started stocking Orgran gluten free plain flour and, despite its expense, we bought 2 boxes so that I could make proper pancakes! Captain Caveman even found Jiff lemon!

Red Supermarket
1 Jiff lemon 46,000
2 grapefruit drinks 110,000
Walnuts 159,000
2 boxes of gluten free flour 258,000

All in all it was a very productive shopping day where we didn’t buy any wine, but still managed to spend 2.8m vnd (£87). Unfortunately we couldn’t get any suitable memory stick or SD card either so my blog posting was being delayed and was sat queuing to be published.
What’s missing from the shopping, what would you have put back on the shelf and what do you think is missing from our basket or trolley this week?

On returning home from the shopping trip Captain Caveman and Veronika both jostled for space to fill the fridges with the shopping while I took the non-kitchen items upstairs then got in to my swimmers to cool down.
I took the ready chopped aubergine and put it in a bowl with oil and pepper then popped it in the oven to roast so that Captain Caveman could make Baba Ganoush later. For lunch I had a ham sandwich (no butter) and then I went for a White Russian (or 2) with the almond milk and they are a real winner – tastes a bit like Bailey’s. Unfortunately that was the last of the vodka and Captain Caveman finished off the rest of the gin. Even though we both were in or around the pool I made an effort to not speak much and Captain Caveman was happy to be on his phone in a deckchair. The moon was a day away from being a full moon and I managed to get a photo of it. Captain Caveman decided he would cook us a breakfast for dinner so I had bacon, mushrooms, potatoes and onion with brown sauce and it was tasty. We got a message from a mate, back in England, who’d managed to get himself in to one of his ‘world’s stupidest man’ situations which made us both laugh so much and really cheered me up. Finally, Captain Caveman explained why he had started the argument on Monday and that he hadn’t meant to. He wants me to be happier and is concerned I’m not (I was fine) but the main thing that had cheesed him off was that I had tried to railroad him in to organising something. He said he was sorry that he upset me but I shouldn’t tell him what to do (I thought I was helping but obviously wasn’t) and he wanted to make friends with me again. He didn’t want me to leave but just wished I was happier which was rather ironic as I thought I was happy before all this came about!
In other news, after 24 days of having my passport, had finally got a photo of my visa stamp; there was no ‘XC’ meaning I might have to leave on the 9th July so I was good to stay until then and I planned on applying for another visa extension from the 1st July. We agreed to pick up my passport at Victory Road Villas the next morning.