We woke up at the Belafonte very early, and extremely thirsty, on Thursday 5th August – I had a terrible hangover, Captain Caveman was fine. After a drink of water at the kitchen table with Stu, who was up bright and breezy because he doesn’t drink alcohol, we decided to walk home before it got too hot – I wish I’d brought my sunglasses. I’m sure I would have appreciated Captain Caveman’s discovery of a shortcut much more if I wasn’t feeling so fragile as we wandered on paths that cut through the rural countryside. We even saw MAG (Mines Advisory Group) in the area, clearing unexploded bombs, workmen building an archway at a school gate, and a woman ploughing her field with a cow.
When we got to the Phong Nha Farmstay we needed breakfast and so we had a pitstop where we found out people were worried about us because they hadn’t seen us again since last night, even the Elements staff were concerned we hadn’t gone home, according to our waitress. We had messaged Veronika to tell her we weren’t coming home so she could lock the door, but nobody asked her where we were. Captain Caveman ordered one of his favourites for breakfast, Eggs Benedict and an iced coffee, I had my favourite of Pho Bo (beef noodle soup) with lemon juice. It was incredibly windy which I noticed every time I tried to get my soup on my spoon and it blew off, what I did manage to eat was very tasty.
When we got back home I got a message to say my passport was on its way to Dong Hoi by taxi and could I pay the taxi fare of 500,000vnd (£16) return which of course we agreed to but it was probably a good job it was the last one – we couldn’t afford any more extensions. I asked for the progress on the visa situation with immigration and I was told I would have my passport back on the 9th or 10th of this month – less than a week to get it back would be an absolute first ever and made me wonder if I would even be given a full month’s extension this time! We didn’t really do much for the rest of the day, mainly because of the hangover situation. For lunch we had hotdogs and I had a couple of cookies but, obviously, was ill straight away. We played it safe for dinner by Captain Caveman doing me a gluten and dairy free meal, mushroom risotto. He was still fine from his 2nd Astra Zeneca vaccination but just a bit more tired than usual and was asleep straight after dinner.
joloyolo 