Dalyan – 11th November

On Thursday 11th November it was already time for my parents to submit their PLF, a requirement to return to the UK, and from what we had been reading online it might be a bit of a chore. As none of us have a printer our initial plan was to complete it and then go to the stationers, who would print everything for a very small fee, but it would still mean Mom having access to her emails, which she didn’t always have. Our Plan B was even better, Vanessa and Matt had a printer and offered to help us which also meant if we did anything wrong we could easily rectify the situation. I went over to my parents’ so that I could do the 2 PLFs on my phone and Mom had already got all the required documents to hand. Dad was putting me off slightly by pacing up and down next to where we were sitting and my Mom had to tell him to find something to do. The only information needed on the forms are as follows;
Name, uk address, email address,
UK phone number, flight number, flight date, flight seat number, flight landing time, passport number and expiry date, vaccine status, dates arrived abroad and PCR test reference number (for day 2).
I’d worked in insurance and Mom had worked in accounts so we weren’t bad at form filling in, I’d also had experience of completing the Turkish one when I came here, however, the UK one was pretty badly laid out and was over 4 pages when it could have been 1. It was in an illogical order with lots of repetition and took far longer than it should have, but we managed it. We checked each one 3 times before submission and then sent it to our friends ready for them to print later and bring it when we met them for drinks later on. My Mom already had all her other documents printed as we had heard that the check-in queues were sometimes long because of passengers trying to find missing docs on their phone. With that all done, I was hungry as I hadn’t had any breakfast and I suggested somewhere we hadn’t tried this visit yet, somewhere I had avoided eating in the past because of my ‘food allergies’. We took the long walk via the river and walked all the way along to Kaunos tea gardens near the turtle statue. It was lovely and sunny, Dad had coffee and we had Turkish tea which was very nice. It was already 12.45pm so we ordered food, they weren’t doing pancakes so Mom ordered calamari, Dad had a cheese, tomato and sausage toasted sandwich and I had the cheese and sausage one. It’s Turkish sausage so more like a salami but is made from beef and is delicious in a toastie. The food was great and the waitress was super keen and quite good with her English, I tried a little bit of Turkish too. The prices were really good value and Dad noted the beer was about the cheapest in Dalyan (for next time).
We were meant to be meeting friends in the afternoon but I got a message from them to say they were unable to make it today. It might have been a good thing as by the time we had walked back in to town, having tried to find a shop that was open to get some Turkish Delight for my sister, I needed the toilet so urgently that I had to leave my parents and get home quickly.

After having an immediate reaction to my cheese and Turkish sausage sandwich, from the tea garden, I was at home resting up when I got a message from Selahı, asking where I was as he was at Bistro Blue and would be there until 4pm for me to go and purchase some of the lovely wine he had. I went as soon as I could as I really loved the Leona Cabernet Sauvignon which I was going to buy at a reduced price and hoped to buy a bottle of prosecco too. When I got there I was immediately offered a drink, a nice glass of red wine as I joined 3 others plus Selahı. We had a bit of a chat and then as I had almost finished my wine the Turkish men left to go to the barbers and left me with the English chap who’d come to collect some cushions. When Selahı returned he insisted on a top up and then I was almost late to meet the evening gang but had enjoyed the surprise Sunday club.
After dropping off my 4 bottles of wine at home, I arrived at the 2 Charlies bar where my parents, Vanessa and Matt were already drinking and I ordered a wine. I was a bit put out that the print outs had the wrong passport expiry date on for my Mom, even though I read it back to her 3 times, and couldn’t understand how that had even happened but she didn’t seem too worried and said she would chance it. We had another drink then my parents and I said our farewells to Vanessa, Matt and Alan (who had now joined us) as we were heading off for my last Turkish meal with my parents before they left Dalyan. Dad was up for trying a place that had been one of my favourites the last time that Captain Caveman and I were here in winter, River House. There was an outdoor fire so we sat at a table near to that and ordered glasses of wine. The menu is extensive but I found it easy to decide on the chicken casserole, Dad ordered liver and onions, while Mom went with the most unexpected dish from the menu – Singapore noodles! I should have realised she was acting out of sorts at this point but it wasn’t until a couple of hours later that we noticed Mom was acting out of character. Throughout all of their month here Mom had been keeping an eye on Dad and telling him he couldn’t go mad on the drinking and he often wanted to stay out longer but tonight Mom was the one to suggest we go on for a nightcap somewhere else. We ended the night in Lukka bar giving the proverbial ball a right old kick, we even made the bar staff join in with our private party until another couple joined in. We knew we were drunk as I had 3 Bailey’s but my Dad was in utter disbelief as my Mom had twice that amount and kept complaining her’s had evaporated. At one point she started to complain it must not be real Bailey’s, but it was, and she didn’t even care when we got the rather large bill at the end of the night. It was an unexpected end to their month long holiday but it was such a laugh – I suspected both Mom and I would suffer from hangovers and leg twinges from all the dancing when we got up tomorrow!

Dalyan – 10th November

It was the first day after being told I had no food allergies on Wednesday 10th November and I was about to take full advantage of eating and drinking whatever I fancied without thinking about it. Of course I decided to keep on with the probiotic drinks every morning as that can only be a good thing. I also had 2 slices of buttered toast for my breakfast and I knew we would be out for lunch and dinner today. Captain Caveman had replied while I had been asleep to say he still thinks I’m allergic to chillies, gluten and eggs and that I should probably try ruling them out to see what happens. The building site next door was particularly noisy this morning as the acro poles were being put up for support and the concrete staircase was going in. The lira had gone past 13.5 lira to the pound which was great for tourists but not so good for the Turks or people who lived here and had money in the bank here. I went over to my parents’ place and gave my Mom a letter for my English bank to request a new card, as it had expired during the pandemic and I couldn’t do anything about it from Vietnam. Mom was booked in for her hair cutting with my hairdresser, Emrah, who is fantastic, at 1.30pm so we walked round together while Dad waited in for the workmen to come, who didn’t arrive. I’d decided I needed another pedicure so popped to Mimi’s but unfortunately they were not available for a walk-in appointment (I should have booked). Instead, I went in to a shop on the main road and found some sunglasses for 90 lira (£6.65) as I’d inadvertently left mine in Phong Nha. I’d just got home when Mom messaged to say they were off for lunch in Jiks so to meet there in 5 minutes. I had a beer while I waited for them and then when they got there Dad was off the booze because he’d not felt so great. Mom ordered a tuna sandwich and chips, Dad had an omelette and I decided to go for it with a chicken burger. It was really good and came with 2 pieces of chicken breast on my bread, served with chips and salad too. As it was a nice, sunny day we decided to have a walk to a place by the river, Okyanus, where we had a beer and I got to put my new sunglasses on. My stomach started to swell right up like I was about to give birth but I had no other stomach issues. In the evening we decided to go to an old favourite that we hadn’t been to yet, Kordon. Mom ordered a spring roll and some fresh fish, Dad went for cheese rolls and a casserole and I decided to have prawns then risk the steak with gorgonzola cheese sauce. We all had wine and it was a lovely warm night, sat by the indoor fire, as the temperatures outside were quite cold now. The meal was lovely, we all enjoyed what we chose to eat and I had no noticeable reaction to the cheese sauce. As we left to walk home the temperature outside was quite cold and it was nice to get home and under the duvet that night.

Fethiye and Dalyan – 9th November

I was finally going to get tested for food allergies on Tuesday 9th November. I had arranged for Sonuç to accompany Vanessa and I to get the blood tests at the Esnaf hospital in Fethiye. My parents were also coming along and we intended on making it a bit of a day trip, with it being about 1 hour away. We left mine at 9.30am, with Sonuç and Engin our driver, in the comfort of the 6 seater. I was confident that I had eaten enough of the gluten and dairy, which I thought I was intolerant to, for the test to pick those out – I’d only eaten pizza so that I could put it to the test. I also had a dodgy stomach that morning as well as on arrival at the hospital. Sonuç was great as when we got to the international department area there was a big queue so we went to the locals section and got sorted there. I was surprised to see that the hospital was not only big but very busy for a Tuesday morning and I was slightly nervous. Even on the way there and before, Vanessa and I had been trying to predict what the results would say. I’m a fainter so obviously I was worried I might faint but they don’t mess about in the blood taking room. Vanessa was in less than a minute and went first as they shouted her first, then I went in. I shouldn’t have looked at one of the other ‘customers’ because then I saw the needle in him and nearly couldn’t stand up. Sonuç and Vanessa were great and got me out of a side exit before I could faint and then we had to come back at 5pm for the results. The cost of the blood test was 550 lira (about £40 at the time) and we weren’t sure exactly what foods they were testing for. I was still feeling woozy when we got dropped off in the town centre of Fethiye and so we went straight to a cafe for a Turkish tea for me and Vanessa, coffees for my parents.

We had a bit of impromptu shopping in the Turkish delight and tea shop where we all got a bit of something. Next we had a wander down the umbrella precinct area and found it to be almost empty everywhere so decided to go down by the harbour area for a drink. I didn’t fancy wine so I had a beer and, of course, I had a bad stomach so when we decided on having lunch at nearby Address I chose a safe option. Everyone else had pides which looked fantastic but I stuck to a chicken shish because I knew I still had to travel back again after we got the results. After lunch we had wine at a bar, Mom nipped in to Migros for some provisions and then we all walked back to the harbour to meet Sonuç and Engin for a short trip back to the hospital for the results. Vanessa and I were nervous but looking forward to finding out exactly what foods we would have to give up, we even joked about how bad it might be.

While we were enjoying our day in Fethiye our blood was being tested for food allergies. Below is a list of all the things that they tested us for (in Turkish and English) so you can do what Vanessa and I were doing – guessing which ones would be the likely culprits!

Yumurta akı – egg white
Yumurta sarısı – egg yolk
İnek sütü – cow’s milk
İnek sütü UHT – UHT milk
Kazein – casein (protein in dairy)
Buğday unu – wheat flour
Gluten – gluten
Pirinç – rice
Soya fasulyesi – soya bean
Susam – sesame
Yer fıstığı – peanut
Fındık – hazlenut
Antep fıstığı – pistachio
Ayçekirdegi – sunflower seed
Kabak çekirdeği – pumpkin seed
Kakao – cocoa
Portakal – orange
Çilek – strawberry
Elma – apple
Muz – banana
Kivi – kiwi
Dut – mulberry
İncir – fig
Domates – tomatoes
Havuç – carrot
Patates – potatoes
Soğan – onion
Şeftali – peach
Kiraz – cherries
Zeytin – olive
Yeşil fasülye – green beans
Balık karışımı – fish (mixed)
Deniz kabukluları – shellfish
Et karışımı – meat (mixed)
Tavuk eti – chicken

I thought it would be eggs, dairy, wheat, gluten and perhaps onion, tomatoes or banana that I was intolerant or allergic to. Captain Caveman thought I was allergic to gluten, dairy/lactose, sulphites, eggs and possibly banana. Vanessa knew there were certain fruits and vegetables that set her off, in addition to custard.

While we were still in Fethiye I got a call to tell me that my residency card was in Dalyan, so that was quicker than expected – I was happy with that as the official timeframe was 8 weeks, the Muğla immigration officer said 4 weeks and it had been 2 weeks and 3 days.
When we arrived back at the Esnaf hospital in Fethiye to collect the results of our food allergy tests it was about 5pm but when Sonuç went in, there was a delay of 10 minutes. Vanessa and I were really nervous but I knew whatever it was that my body was intolerant to, I would have to give it/them up. I was ready to do that (as long as it wasn’t all alcohol) because I was fed up of never knowing when I was going to be ill and I liked going on day trips to places other than a tour of the lavatories. Ever the joker, when Sonuç came out with our results he pretended to give us news that we were allergic to everything on the list, plus a few more besides! But the real results were shocking; as we sat in the back of the taxi, Vanessa’s were revealed first – she was not allergic or intolerant to any of the foods tested! We were taken aback but could understand that due to Vanessa’s recent health issues that perhaps her stomach problems were caused because of her surgery so it could be possible. She also knew she was allergic to apple and had not eaten one for more than 6 weeks so, again, would account for why apple was rated a ‘0’ on the ‘0-5’ scale. I was next and thought I’d at least get a ‘1’ or ‘2’ rating on some things, however we were all flabbergasted to find I had ‘0’ for every single thing on the list, the same as Vanessa. I was so relieved to find I have no food allergies but, of course, this didn’t detract from the fact that there is something wrong with me – or was I just imagining it!?
The ride back to Dalyan was easy going and when we got back to mine Vanessa went home but my parents and I decided to ‘celebrate’ in Lukka bar. I had a red wine, they had beers, Mom was too full to eat but Dad and I decided to order food. As I have no allergies to food, I ordered something I have not had in years; Mac & Cheese, Dad chose a garlic pizza bread. My food didn’t look like a classic Mac & Cheese but it tasted very good, after half of it I was stuffed and so took leftovers home and put it in the freezer.
I was very pleased to say I had no immediate or short term reaction to the food I’d eaten and so I went to bed thinking I could probably eat whatever I wanted from now on. That would be amazing!!! I messaged Captain Caveman to let him know as he’d not asked how I was getting on (he rarely thinks to ask me) but I got no reply, despite not hearing from him since Sunday. I also messaged my sister, who is Coeliac, she didn’t want to worry me but reminded me that it took her years to get an accurate diagnosis. I had been tested a few years ago and wasn’t Coeliac and I could at least rule that out. So, tomorrow I would be back to the drawing board – writing down every food and every reaction to find out what could be wrong.

Dalyan – 8th November

We had an amazing day on Monday 8th November; my parents, Vanessa and I met at mine and walked to our meeting point for a boat trip with Captain Boris. Today we were joining Basrı and Rebecca with their guests Nanny Kay, Viv and Paul for a trip to Köyceğiz as Monday is their market day. Also on board were the owners of the Caretta Caretta restaurant in the square which was closed now so they were going to be helping out on the boat, which was great. To be honest I didn’t need to go to the market but I love a boat trip and Captain Boris is one of the best boat trips for food and service so I was in!

I didn’t check the Corona heat map which is an app that tells you how risky an area is but I later found out it had some red (high risk) areas where the market is – great! My Dad needed a pair of socks so, luckily for him, he had Mom, me and Vanessa all ‘helping’ him choose some. Then the parents went off and we said we would find them for a drink later after a look around the market and shops. I bought 3 things and spent just 100 lira (£7.50); a cheap ring to replace the one from Marble Mountain, 6 wine glasses and a pair of trousers for lounging in. We were masked up the whole time, even when we bumped in to Sabine and Ray, Dalyan friends who were at one of the restaurants at the water’s edge. We couldn’t find my parents so we had a glass of wine each at a place not far from the boat and then went back to show off the purchases.

We set back off once we were all back on the boat and went to a stunning place on the lake for our plentiful lunch. The food was so tasty and there was so much choice as well as a good selection of wines, I even went on to a blush which was surprisingly good. There was lots of time for swimming in the lake, taking in the amazing views, sharing stories with each other and drinking a little wine – Nanny Kay tried pomegranate wine! We also sent messages to Jamie to gloat that we (his friends) were all together having fun without him, we were also looking forward to seeing him again for more boat trips in the new year.

After the beautiful boat trip, I went to Jiks for one with Vanessa and my parents and I put my purchases on a chair behind me. Obviously, I forgot them and had to go and collect them later when I realised and then I decided to go to Pizza 48 to let them know about the missing chicken nuggets the last time we ordered from there. I accidentally got chatting to a couple who lived not far from Birmingham, they were eating at one of the tables outside and the lady was drinking a glass of red wine. I had not known we could’ve had wine there so I decided to have one, plus a takeaway pizza and we had a nice chat while it cooked.
Back home I ate half of the pizza, watched something on Netflix and then went to bed not realising how much of a shocker tomorrow was going to be!

Dalyan – 7th November

The rest of my weekend was more relaxed, I woke up on Sunday 7th November grateful that there was no building work going off and with a mission to retrieve my Dad’s swimmers from our boat trip on Thursday. I met Hakan, the Captain, at Yusuf’s boat and he went to collect them, they were still tied to the back of the boat where Dad left them and were pretty damp. I felt like I needed a hangover breakfast so I decided to go to Lukka bar for a bit of breakfast but I think I ordered the wrong thing. I was debating whether to have a full English but thought it would be too much and ordered a bacon and sausage sandwich which I had imagined might come on soft fresh bread. When it arrived it was in a hot toasted panini with 2 slices of bacon and a small amount of sausage but was served with a basket of hot potato wedges, which I’m not really a fan of and didn’t realise that’s how it came. For 38 lira (£2.92) it would be a bargain for anyone wanting that meal but I should have gone for a full English instead. On the way back in to the apartment I noticed there were more signs of life on the bougainvillea too which had started to be growing on each of the 3 plants. Captain Caveman was at Chay Lap today and having a day off, meeting up with our friend Phuong and her young son. In Vietnam the pandemic was still very much having an affect on the people and they were still fighting it like they were at war with the virus. It was interesting to see that Cambodia was now allowing visitors with quarantine, Thailand was about to allow tourists under certain conditions and there were talks that Vietnam may trial a set tourist package in the near future.
My UK driving licence had expired 2 years ago and so I applied for a new one (at a cost of £14) then gave my Mom the old one to post back to the DVLA in Swansea, my new one would be delivered in a couple of weeks.
My parents and I ate at Kebapçı Yusuf again for dinner as it is one of our favourites and the food is a bargain. I just had a coke and a mixed pide, with left overs taken home of course, my parents had the chicken and lamb shish and all were very tasty. I was joining Vanessa on a trip to Köyceğiz tomorrow and my parents decided they would also come along as it would be our last Dalyan boat trip this year.

Dalyan – 6th November

It was my parents’ last trip to the weekly market on Saturday 6th November and when I arrived at their apartment they had obviously been discussing what they needed to buy. My dad knew we would be making the most of their last week in Dalyan and that my mom isn’t too keen on cooking so he was saying they didn’t need to buy much, if anything. My mom was still keen to go because she thought they would need some salad stuff so that Dad could continue to make their lunch most days. I was out of olives and potatoes so I needed to get more, it was a lovely sunny day as we walked to the market and we bumped in to Onur, the musician. At the market I bought potatoes, mushrooms, olives, dried figs and dates for a total of 69 lira (about £5.50) so I had an eclectic mix for breakfast which was more like lunch time and I sat outside to watch the building work activities for today.

The columns next door were being poured today and a concrete machine was pouring it in from above while the workmen gave instructions and tried to steer the pouring arm in the right direction. Later, I had a trip to Migros supermarket for a few provisions and more Tupperware, here’s what was in my shopping basket;

1 pack of Turkey ham 3.65
1 can of pink grapefruit drink 3.95
1 pack of smoked chicken 5.50
Bin bags 7.90
1 can of chopped tomatoes 8.25
1 pack of cheese slices 8.50
2 probiotic drinks 8.50
1 sliced loaf 9.95
1 hair conditioner 19.25
2 Tupperware boxes 23.66
1 pack of frozen fish fingers 29.60

Total spent 128.71 lira (£9.50)

I had a 2nd lunch/snack of a turkey ham salad sandwich with pickled red cabbage and I opened a bottle of red wine. I only had a couple of small glasses because tonight the 3 of us had a special night planned.

I decided to wear my poppy dress for our night out, mainly because I didn’t know if Remembrance Sunday was this week or next but also because it is the warmest dress I have and the nights were quite chilly these days. The 3 of us walked up the main street of Dalyan and decided to have a drink at Aşkin’s where we bumped in to a few of the Dalyaners, including Rebecca and Nanny Kay, who I would be seeing on another boat trip next week. We just had the one drink there and then we walked back to Bistro Blue where I had booked a table for the 3 of us. We had a choice of inside or outside but we plumped for inside where it was all cosy with just 3 tables. Annie and Selahı welcomed us as usual and we took our seats ready to peruse the menu. Selahı recommended we have some red wine which he would normally have on the menu at a more expensive price than Tılsım but because this was their last weekend of being open he did us a good deal and only charged us 120 lira (£9) and it was very nice.

Dad and I shared a bottle of it while Mom had a glass (or two) of white wine, Dad ordered liver and onions with bacon but Mom and I had to go for steaks seeing as it would be our last night here this year! Unbelievably, while we were between starters and mains a couple came in and sat down and the man asked Selahı where he gets his meat from, not a usual question but it put the idea in my head that I knew this man from somewhere. It turned out that he was also from Sheffield and had been at a Leo Houlding talk at The Foundry in Sheffield, 8 years ago. He was surprised I remembered but he was a keen climber and we got chatting a bit and they ordered food. Another couple who had quietly been enjoying their meal got chatting too and we were surprised to hear that they had been coming to Dalyan for a long time but this was their first meal at Bistro Blue. The food was incredible, we were really looked after and we ended up having another bottle of wine, then Dad went on to the brandy and lemonades. Işmail, the flower man, came to say hello and Dad asked to buy 2 roses for Mom and I. Mom then had to pay for them as Dad doesn’t have money on him – and they say romance is dead. We had a great night and were pretty drunk when we eventually left Bistro Blue with arrangements made to meet up with Annie and Selahı soon.

Dalyan – 5th November

On Friday 5th November I started the day with my weekly weigh-in and took my measurements, even though I knew it was a bit pointless as I was really not watching what I ate at all. It was just a habit I’d got in to tracking and it did help me to see where I should be doing better and highlighted where I think my food intolerances are. I had stayed the same weight as last week, surprisingly, my measurements were pretty good but it did mean that there were differences in my legs of 1cm for thighs and 0.5cm for calves, which ideally I needed to rectify. I’d been doing much more walking in Dalyan compared to back in Phong Nha but I couldn’t go very far and was still very slow because of the pain in my ankle.
The building site next door was still making for interesting viewing as the preparation for the concrete posts continued with the erecting of the metal casings for the ground floor columns.
I had my daily probiotic drink followed by bread, cheese spread and olives for breakfast and as it was my parents’ last week we were off out to make the most of the river views with a lunch time treat. I’d been to Alegria once before and was really looking forward to going again, this time for my parents’ first visit there. We got a lovely shady spot overlooking the tombs and the river, the sun was shining on such a lovely day. Mom ordered octopus and a portion of chips, Dad chose the quiche with salad and I went mad with a goats cheese, beetroot and walnut salad. Of course there was a nice bottle of white wine to wash it all down with as the very nice waiter pointed out a turtle swimming in the river. We also watched as the cormorants swam and showed us their diving skills while we enjoyed the tranquil ambience. The food was fantastic but I was a bit greedy and we all decided to have a dessert. I knew Dad would have the apple pie and ice cream, Mom had ice-cream which was meant to be lemon and something else but she ended up with vanilla. I ordered a mosaic cake as I’d never had it before but I still haven’t because they didnt have any and I ended up with a fig cake which was very nice but rather sickly with that ‘fake’ cream stuff on the top. My stomach was fine after the cheese and the cake and we took a stroll down to check out another new place by the river, Le Bohème.

Previously this place was Casa Nova but had been renovated and was now looking mighty posh. I’d heard extremely mixed reviews and so we decided to check it out for a drink so we could see what the menu looked like, perhaps for another time. We had a table by the river again and this was the first (and only) place we had been where all the staff were masked up, we realised this is because there were tour groups arriving by boat from other areas of Turkey and it was good to see the staff being careful. The prices were definitely higher but not ridiculous compared to the UK, Dad had a beer, me and mom had a glass of house white wine which was very nice and the bill came to 112 lira (about £10 at the exchange rate that day). I browsed the menu which is huge and it did look a little out of our price range but would perhaps be good for a special occasion.

That night, as is our usual Friday night haunt, we went to Lukka bar for the music bingo quiz and had a good laugh and a sing song. Mom got lucky as she won the 2nd round of the bingo and got a beautiful Maizie Moo prize of a scented candle and a kiss from Mehmet! We had a great Friday and it was a wonderful start to the last full weekend for my ma & pa!

Dalyan – 4th November

I had a day trip planned on Thursday 4th November with Vanessa, Matt and my parents so I had my probiotic drink and then some cornflakes with milk for breakfast. I made sure I had some chicken stroganoff at the ready for when I got back from today’s boat trip out to sea with Yusuf from Amy’s Bar. Yusuf was busy renovating a 6 bedroom villa which he would rent out from next year but he still had time for boat trips while the weather was nice. We all met near Tez bar just before 10am, we were the first on to Yusuf’s boat where Yusuf, Hakan and Murat were preparing for the day ahead. A Turkish mom and her son joined, followed by a well-dressed Polish couple, so 9 customers in total. As we set off down the river and towards the beach there was Turkish tea and homemade cake for everyone, I was conscious that the cake might not suit my stomach so I didn’t have any but I did have 2 cups of Turkish tea. Before we could get to the sea we had to navigate the shallow sandbanks where lots of boats get stuck every day so we were all asked to go to the very front of the boat and sit on the floor. That was easier said than done for quite a few of us and once down I wondered if I would be able to get back up. Hakan is a good boat captain so he got us through without too much fuss and we were on our way along the coastline towards Devil’s Bay. Vanessa and I noticed that there were border patrol boats at sea and these were because of the trouble between Greece and Turkey with migrants trying to get to Europe via Turkey, this was the first time we had seen these and there were quite a few massive boats on the horizon. When we got to our spot at the little Devil’s Bay it was time for swimming. Everyone but me and the Polish couple went in, they were disappointed as they didn’t know the itinerary for the day and thought they were just going on a river trip for an hour or two, so didn’t bring swimwear. I still couldn’t get my healed wound wet so I decided to take photos and then test the beer out, it certainly passed the test for coldness! There was a gorgeous BBQ lunch and we all had a drink before heading back towards Dalyan, where we almost got stuck on a sandbank on the way past the beach. I was sunbathing on the front of the boat and chatting to Vanessa thinking we were finished for the day but then we went to Çandır lake for another stop, we were definitely getting our money’s worth on this trip.

When we got back to land Dad was sad that the day had ended and wanted to be out out, even though we had said we weren’t going out tonight, I’d got a stroganoff to eat and mom was doing tea for them at home tonight. I called at Şok supermarket for some essentials;

1 plastic bag 0.25 (I had forgotten my bag)
Bread 2.00
3 carrots 2.38
1 packet of crisps 4.50
1 pack of ‘lady’ items 14.50
4 probiotic drinks 17.00
1 box of mini magnums 27.50

Total spent 68.58 (£5)

I’d just took my bra off and got comfy when I got a message from Mom to say that Dad had left his swimming shorts tied to the back of the boat, she didn’t want to give Dad an excuse to go back out for more drinking so asked me if I would be able to get them back for him. I messaged Yusuf and Hakan but there was no reply as they were probably settling down for dinner with their families. After eating an ice-cream after dinner, I had a stomach ache and then was ill, this was a good test as I needed to eat more of what I might be allergic to before my testing, although it could be due to the 2 beers I had drank on the boat.

Dalyan – 3rd November

On Wednesday 3rd November, after leftover pizza for breakfast, ma & pa came over around 12.30pm as we were booked in to Bistro Blue for lunch. I’d invited Ann along too, as we all enjoy it there, the weather was nice again so we decided to sit outside and we all ordered drinks and food. I decided just to have a main course but my parents shared some cheese rolls and Ann ordered onion bhajis as a side dish to the main. My Dad and Ann both had the chicken and bacon salad, Mom had a prawn salad and I had a rather filling beef wrap with chips. It was absolutely delicious and I couldn’t finish it all so I took 1 of the beef wraps home for later. It was our last Bistro Blue lunch of this season and we had a great meal with excellent company.

Unfortunately my parents had to go at 3.30pm because they were having some doors replaced and the workman was coming to do the fitting. Ann and I decided to call for a drink at Tez bar on our way home and then ended up having 2, as you do, sat in the sunshine. While we were there two lots of friends arrived who had not been introduced before so we left the 4 of them getting acquainted. I had the rest of my beef wrap leftovers for dinner and then decided I needed another early night, while my parents found that the doors were too short and had gone to Jiks for their dinner. I was asleep by 8.30pm but then the Jazz bar started their live music and I was awake at 10.30pm until 1.30am! Just typical when I had to be up relatively early tomorrow as we had plans.

Dalyan – 2nd November

The building work next door woke me up earlier than I would have liked on Tuesday 2nd November, the lovely sound of hardcore being dumped. My hangover was pretty bad as I’d drank 6 large glasses of wine last night, which is the most I’ve drunk in a long while. It was now officially the winter season here in Dalyan so our pool and garden man had drained the pool, he still hadn’t tidied any of the debris and litter left in the garden borders I noticed, when I went out for lunch with my parents. Dad had decided we would go to Yener’s Place who might be closing soon and the sun was shining again so we could sit out with a river view. We sat outside even though the leaves were falling from the trees quite a lot now but we were catching the sunshine while we still could. My parents went for one of their favourite lunchtime meals, tuna sandwiches and I decided to see how an İskender kebab would go down with this hangover I had, especially as quite a few people had recommended I try the one at Yener’s. It was good but gave me a bad stomach after eating only half so I took the rest home then ate the rest of it once I felt better in the afternoon.

Mom and I went to Migros supermarket for some essentials while Dad had already gone home. At the shop I bought the following items, priced in lira:

1 tub of quark 6.90
2 bottles of Activia probiotic drinks 7.50
1 pack of sanitary towels 10.00
24 toilet rolls 29.92
1 box or washing capsules 47.50

Total spent 101.82 lira (£7.60)

Vanessa had mentioned that she has probiotics every morning to try to help with her dodgy tum so I thought I’d have a go too. That evening Vanessa came over with a bottle of wine and we decided to get a Pizza 48 takeaway. We ordered a salami and mushroom one and a beef, onion, and peppers one on the deal that comes with chips and a can of pop. I also decided to try the chicken nuggets and we paid half each for the takeaway. When we got home they hadn’t given us the chicken nuggets we ordered and paid for but I didn’t have any credit on my phone to message them to let them know. The pizza was good but we couldn’t manage it all and I couldn’t manage much wine either as I’d had too much the previous night. Vanessa and I did have a good laugh putting the world to rights and planning to have some fun while both her and her husband, Matt, are in Dalyan.

Dalyan – 1st November

The month started with cloudy and rainy weather on Monday 1st November and I woke up, feeling chilly, to a photo from Captain Caveman of a cute frog on the window at Elements Collection. I was missing waking up with Captain Caveman and having the weird wildlife to look at in Phong Nha – it had been a while since I’d seen Carrot, the dog, heard the geckos having an argument or seen a beautiful butterfly or dragonfly. I had my cornflakes with milk for breakfast and Captain Caveman sent me the bill for the earthquake and home insurance policy to pay because he has no access to his online banking in Turkey. It cost 1311 lira so around £100 for the year and is just a basic policy. I tried to find out how to get more photo and video space on my wordpress joloyolo blog but it turned out that without upgrading to the business plan I can’t, so I wasn’t sure what would happen with that once the space I had left got used. I finished off last night’s pide and salad as a second breakfast and for lunch I nibbled on cheese, olives and gherkins. I had a couple of visitors in the afternoon, 2 baby pigeons who were actually quite sweet and they just looked at me through the balcony door. My mom had decided she was going to be cooking at home tonight as she had some meat to use up so I made a chicken and mushroom pasta for my dinner which was really delicious, I had 2 portions of it before we went out.

The intention was that we would just go for one drink, maybe two at the most. Because in November lots of establishments will close for the winter, or even for a holiday before they reopen for the winter season, we were keen to visit places before they closed and also find out last dates for those that were closing. I suggested we walk up to Aşkın’s for a drink and when we got there, all dressed in our winter wear, we had a drink and sat chatting. Aşkın let us know that after this weekend he was going to open just at the weekends and we ended up having 3 drinks in there. The wine is good quality and they give free tasty bar snacks, the staff are friendly but not too imposing and they have comfy seats so I like this place. On our way home we accidentally decided to have 1 more (last) drink at Bistro Blue and we sat outside because we were wearing warm clothes. They were also going to be closing at the weekend and so we only had 1 week left of being able to come to one of our favourite bar and restaurant places. There was a couple sat inside and I happened to ask them if they wanted the door open or closed, I recognised their accent and asked where they were from. Would you believe it? They were from Sheffield – the night was about to get a bit more lively!
We had a right old laugh talking to Wendy and Greg and then Tina joined us, after she had been to the quiz night at nearby Wonky’s, to join in the fun. When Işmail, the flower man, came by Wendy even bought Mom and I a beautiful rose, which was such a nice thing to do. Annie and Selahı also joined us and were the perfect hosts, as well as the staff being super efficient and friendly, as always.
I didn’t even remember the next 2 drinks and getting in after 2.30am! I didn’t quite recall booking in for lunch and dinner later in the week, or walking home from Bistro Blue. Apparently, my dad was so drunk and my mom had trouble getting him home to bed. It was certainly one of those nights!!

13 Things I Googled in October

My Google searches in October were far fewer than usual and were all in Turkey. Here’s the list in alphabetical order:

1. Antalya to Dalyan in km
2. Activia probiotics
3. Allergy testing
4. English to Turkish
5. English to Vietnamese
6. Flight Radar
7. Grand Prix
8. Naïve Melody (this must be the place) by Talking Heads
9. Online jobs
10. Trainline
11. Virtual assistant jobs
12. Weather
13. worldlifeexpectancycoronavirus

https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/world-coronavirus-report

Dalyan – 31st October

There was some excitement on Sunday 31st October as I was about to meet up with a good friend from Sheffield, who I’d not seen for almost 2 years. I woke up and was looking a bit better for having slept in and I had my cornflakes for breakfast without any issues. I spoke to Captain Caveman who was doing well in Phong Nha and didn’t really seem to be missing me too much. I was missing him but I played it cool and pretended I’d been too busy to notice even though I was missing his cooking and foot tickles a lot! It was a bit cooler today but it wasn’t raining yet, as predicted, although I did get my warm slippers and the old raincoat out. Vanessa and I had arranged to meet for a Lukka bar Sunday dinner at 2.30pm and when I got there she was already there with a white wine and soda – we were so pleased to see each other and we did have a hug! Mehmet could see that I might need more than a glass of wine and so I got a bottle of red wine while we caught up on quite a few things; family, health issues, Dalyan plans and lots of digressing in-between. We both had the roast beef Sunday dinner and it was really good, this time I managed to eat almost all of it and still have room (after a good rest) for the apple crumble and ice-cream. We both have similar stomach issues and both think we have food allergies/intolerances so when I told Vanessa my plans to get tested after being here 6 weeks, she was also up for joining me. The gravy, cauliflower cheese and Yorkshire pudding are usually a no-go for me but I was pretty good after eating it all.
My parents joined us for a drink, by which time we were merry, Sarah and Katrina had also sat down next to us and I couldn’t finish my wine. We decided to leave Lukka with my wine being saved behind the bar with my name on, Vanessa went home and I said I’d join ma & pa for dinner, even though I was still quite full from lunch.

They had chosen to go to Kebapçı Yusuf again and it’s always excellent service with great food at very reasonable prices. I had a mixed pide but had to take more than half of it home, my mom had a chicken shish and dad had meatballs, we shared some chips and they gave us a complimentary salad which I took half of home too. My parents, who hadn’t been drinking in the afternoon decided to continue their night but I just couldn’t carry on so I took my leftovers and went home. Instead of being out doing anything Halloween related (which I don’t celebrate anyway) I was in bed by 8.30pm reading a post on Facebook that reminded me that, although I wouldn’t have to automatically self isolate in England when I land, if anyone tests positive who have been on any of the same planes, I would have to – that was a bit rubbish as I could see in various Facebook groups that it seemed to be quite a common occurrence!

The end of October had definitely come round very quickly and it was hard to believe that I had been in Turkey for almost 6 weeks. I had been living an almost normal life with less walking than I’d have liked and more alcohol than probably wise. Having said that, I was 0.5kg lighter on the last day of October than I was at the beginning. I’d been lucky enough to meet up with friends and was organising more of that right through to the end of the year. I’d visited more new places and revisited old favourites with the highlight of the month being getting to see my parents again for the first time since 25th October 2019! Of course I wished Captain Caveman was able to be here in Dalyan with me, enjoying all the trips and good times but I also understood that it would not be that easy for him to return to Vietnam and we could not put his job at risk, I just hoped we were lucky enough not to have to wait a whole year to see each other again. There were still things I missed about being in Phong Nha that I had to keep putting to the back of my mind, knowing that coming to Turkey was the right thing to do and had ultimately meant I could become a resident here, in Dalyan. This blog was doing well and had 353% more views this month than the previous one, I was now looking in to ways I could monetise it without compromising it too much, ready for next year. In October the top countries for viewers were UK, Turkey, Vietnam, Netherlands, Australia and USA and it was good to see a couple of new countries popping up on the stats, including a couple of views from Azerbaijan.

People I knew seemed not to be following the Corona numbers any longer, due to various reasons, but I couldn’t shake that habit off and checked daily. Here’s a Corona data October summary for the 3 countries that have an impact on me and the people close to me:

Vietnam:
October Cases 130,367
October Deaths 2,782
October Recoveries 211,503
October mortality rate 2.13%
Total Cases 921,122
Total Deaths 22,083
Total Recoveries 820,334
Total mortality rate 2.4%
Population 98 million

Turkey:
October Cases 850,000
October Deaths 6,557
October Recoveries 880,000
October mortality rate 0.8%
Total Cases 8 million
Total Deaths 70,611
Total Recoveries 7.5m
Total mortality rate 0.9%
Population 85 million

UK:
October Cases 1,200,000
October Deaths 3,970
October Recoveries 1,040,000
October mortality rate 0.33%
Total Cases 9 million
Total Deaths 140,632
Total Recoveries 7.36 million
Total mortality rate 1.56%
Population 68 million

In Vietnam the number of Corona cases in October were a third of the number in September which was good news that the strict lockdowns were definitely reducing the number of cases, it was reassuring to see that the number of deaths in October were only a quarter of the number of deaths in September. The number of recoveries were less in October to the previous month and the mortality rate had reduced too. A good news story but would it be short lived as the number of people with 2 doses of vaccine were still very low and now most of the lockdowns had ended people were free to move from infected areas to go back home, would this mean an increase and another wave for Vietnam?
In Turkey, although the number of cases and deaths were still high, there was some good news; the number of cases and recoveries for October were 1,000 more than in September but the number of deaths were 1,000 less. The mortality rate had decreased too and hopefully as the winter months followed things would continue to improve. I still didn’t like not knowing how many cases there were where I lived but I guess it was still better than being told there were cases nearby when there wasn’t, like we were in Phong Nha.
In the UK the number of cases in October were a 20% increase on September cases, the recoveries had increased too and the number of deaths were slightly less in October than September with the mortality rate showing a decrease. I just hoped it didn’t get any worse or result in lockdowns or travel limitations before I could visit.
The world data was showing improvement with the number of cases and deaths dropping but the total number of deaths in the world attributed to Corona had now passed the 5 million mark.

My November was looking promising; I had another 12 days with ma & pa, I was finally going to find out what foods I was allergic or intolerant to, there would be more day trips, nights out, nights in and even my 2nd Pfizer vaccine so I had a lot to look forward to while Captain Caveman looked forward to getting on with his job at Oxalis!

Dalyan – 30th October

It looked like it might rain on Saturday 30th October as I ate buttered toast for breakfast and read the Vietnamese news where an article lead me to believe my Vietnamese vaccines should be ok to enter the UK with:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20211030/uk-recognizes-vietnams-vaccine-passport/63868.html
However, there was still the issue that I would be returning in to Turkey from England with Vietnamese vaccines and I didn’t trust that it would be recognised by check-in staff who would want UK or Turkish vaccination proof.
I called round for my parents as we were off to the Saturday market at 11am, I still had quite a bit of stuff left as we weren’t eating at home much so I just bought onions, lettuce and plums, all for less than a pound. On the way back we called in the Şevikoğlu supermarket where I bought vinegar so that I could make pickled red cabbage, which I love!

After our browse around the market we decided to have an impromptu lunch at Bistro Blue, we always enjoy a meal there and it still looked like rain so we were hoping to get stranded. We sat outside but were near to the canopy should it rain and we all ordered steak salads and drinks. I had been looking forward to a steak and blue cheese salad for a couple of years now so I was excited, my stomach had been fine for a while now and I was going to continue to eat what I wanted. It tasted even better than I remembered it and, as the staff took the chair cushions inside, we ordered more drinks and I moved undercover.

It then fined up and we ordered desserts which was definitely a bit ambitious for me as I couldn’t finish all of my brownie. Mom and Dad did well with their sundaes and I think Dad ate his limoncello pud quicker because it had booze in. I often get a bad stomach when I have chocolate brownies and today it happened again.

While all this enjoying ourselves was happening I was having our apartment cleaned and so I didn’t want to go back too early. I’d said not to wash the stairs because I find them too slippy when they don’t dry off but it wouldn’t be Turkey without a surplus of water all over the place when I got back and she’d done a lovely job of the cleaning. We all agreed that after such indulgence at lunch time we would be staying in tonight, I knew whatever I ate for dinner had to include lettuce as I had loads of it. I had a nice sandwich and we cancelled plans for a boat trip tomorrow – our province of Muğla had heavy rain and floods forecast for the rest of the weekend.

Dalyan – 29th October

I woke up loads of times all through the night and in the early hours of Friday 29th October because of my achy arm from my Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday. While still in bed I read the news, including an article from Vietnam which stated the obvious but which seemed to be reporting a common problem, even here in Dalyan, that people think that if they are vaccinated they can’t spread Corona, when in fact it could be easier to spread it because of lack of symptoms, here’s the info:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/international/20211029/uk-study-finds-vaccinated-people-easily-transmit-delta-variant-in-households/63840.html
There was also and interesting read in the UK about having 3 jabs, which I found useful given my own situation:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/travel-vaccine-three-jabs-b962139.html
I had a filling breakfast of cornflakes, toast, grapes and a plum and I had got some chicken curry out for later before our usual Friday night out. The building site next door was also coming along pretty quickly as the wooden shuttering was put up around the sides for the ground floor and I was curious to find out if it would be someone’s home, I hoped it wouldn’t be a noisy bar. I decided to have the chicken tikka masala with potato wedges, it was delicious and a good meal to have before music bingo at Lukka bar. Penny and Phil were already there and we joined their table, the bingo this week was a bit more tricky because it was Halloween themed and some of the songs were alien to us all but we still had a good laugh and I won the first round which was a drink (a nice glass of red wine), then Penny won the second round which was a gift from Maizie Moo. Mehmet is so funny at reading out the answers although his English pronunciation is getting better each week and so not as funny when he says it correctly. The place got wild later on with some more excitable customers getting a bit carried away on the homemade dancefloor and one customer had his top off, it was hilarious as most of the local expat community frowned upon these unruly holiday makers. It was great that Penny had won as she’s been coming for weeks and it’s her first time of winning but even she was not up for half naked spanking dances.