Craig Davis was having a leaving party on Friday 9th July at his home at Bolero homestay. Shannon and Mark had agreed to share a car which made it easier but Duyet wasn’t available, like last night, so we had to book a taxi at a higher cost of 200,000vnd each way. This is one of the reasons I very rarely go out in Phong Nha, unless it’s an organised trip with Phong Nha Farmstay to The Villas, because it’s just too expensive for a short journey here. Captain Caveman had made himself breakfast before going on his first Son Doong tour in a while, he gave me some money and told me to go to the party and not to worry about money so much, we would cope! I had toast for breakfast and caught up with the news in the UK and Vietnam.
There was good news for vaccinated people in the UK who wanted to leave and return, without having to do quarantine. It was not great news for people coming back from a country where they had got a vaccine which had not been given by the NHS. More here:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-57763173
This meant even though I might have had my vaccinations by the time I go to England, I would still have to quarantine because I’d have had them in Vietnam, or Turkey (or both).
In Vietnam there was more concern in Saigon for people trying to go anywhere as more rules and restrictions were put in place, more here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210709/coronavirusfree-requirement-restricts-interprovincial-travels-in-vietnam/61968.html
For lunch I had a Momma D’s sausage roll out of the freezer, which cooked lovely in Veronika’s oven then before I knew it, it was time for the party.
The driver picked Shannon up first, then me and then we picked up Mark. When we arrived at Craig Davis’s place two of the cavers were already there so we went to say hello. We had a tour of Mr Davis’s home which is really lovely and it’s very sad that he has to leave Vietnam. Momma D was managing the party event and the staff and her were there setting up the bar and getting the buffet ready. I had a can of Saigon beer and we chatted to Andrew and his family as he and his son got in the guitar shaped pool. The buffet was good and plentiful including some homemade chocolate brownies which were a massive hit and there were quite a few people turned up to the party which was great because Craig Davis is such a nice bloke. It was good to see old friends, Uy and Chung, for a while too. When we were leaving our host insisted we take a plateful of food home too and had really treated us all well – Phong Nha would miss him!
joloyolo 