Phong Nha – 5th & 6th June

Of course we were up early on Monday 5th June and it was another hot day. The forecast said clouds but we could only dream of them. We didn’t have any breakfast and I walked round the house in my bikini all morning. Captain Caveman had his Oxalis briefing tonight so we decided to cycle in the hot sun to The Villas for lunch. Our efforts were unexpectedly rewarded when we arrived, as our Czech friend, Lucie, had left us a bottle of champagne as a gift. What a lovely treat that was and we decided to drink it with our pizzas.
When Captain Caveman went to work I went home as Tatas had cancelled our meeting up for Margarita Monday due to work. I was also glad of a rest as I hadn’t fully recovered from the dehydration/hot bus fiasco yesterday.
When Captain Caveman returned we looked at flights for my return to Turkey and found some interesting routes which may work out cost effective. I would research more while he was in the cave for 4 days.

Captain Caveman was off in to Hang Son Doong on the morning of Tuesday 6th June. He would be back on Friday afternoon then had 5 more days off. I was very pleased that he’d managed to get a schedule that allowed for this, especially as his supervisors were in England for a couple of months. I had planned a steady day of work and not much else but, as is my life, I was in for a bit of a spontaneous surprise later.
Captain Caveman wanted to eat at the noodle cafe across the road for breakfast and I agreed to go with him. I seemed to recall that the last couple of times I’d been there, the food was very spicy. Captain Caveman said it wasn’t, so I was up for giving it another try. When the food came, it was fish with rice noodles and lots of chillies so I declined breakfast and gave mine to Sexy Quang. We bumped in to Vinh of Highway 20 Homestay and we had a chat, he was selling a wooden house and was also building a new homestay near a hidden lake in Phong Nha. He showed it to us on a map and I had no idea where it was but Captain Caveman thought he knew the location.
Next, we walked home and picked up our bicycles for a ride to Oxalis. Captain Caveman had a couple of errands he needed to run in the office while I had a bowl of pho ga, chicken noodle soup!

After saying bye to Captain Caveman at Ho Khanh’s homestay, I had a look around and took some photos by the river. It looked like it was no longer being used as a cafe and the daughter, who used to run the place, was 1 week off giving birth to her second child. I didn’t see any homestay guests which was a shame as, before Covid, June was a busy month.
Captain Caveman called me from the village on his tour to say a storm was coming and to batten down the hatches. I worked from 10.30am to 3.30pm, taking a lunch break to watch the heavy rain that we desperately needed. As it was too wet to venture out and I was enjoying being cooler, I just had cheese and crackers for lunch. Kat and Buu had invited me to join them on a dog walk with Muc (the dog the were looking after from Dong Hoi) at 5.30pm.

I cycled Bluey to Kat and Buu’s house, opposite Funny Monkeys, and parked her up. Luckily, the rain had not lasted long, although the road was still full of large puddles. Both Kat and Buu were wearing shorts and a top, Buu had shower shoes on so I made the assumption we weren’t walking too far and that the terrain would be easy.
I couldn’t have been more wrong as we took a wrong turn in search of Vinh’s hidden lake. Halfway along we had to cross a stream with leeches in which was low on our side but a steep banking on the other. I had a dress and slippy trainers on, while carrying my overfull bag. At first I said I couldn’t cross but Kat and Buu insisted I could make it and helped me, with some dithering on my part. Next, we were walking through very wet rice paddies and trying not to get out feet wet, bit by leeches or (worse) find any unexploded bombs! We eventually got to the hidden lake, only to be met by Vinh on a motorbike pulling a trailer! There was a much easier route, obviously.
We took that way on the way back and it was getting dark. Instead of drinks and dinner which normal people might be enjoying on a Tuesday evening at this time, I was drinking water and being laughed at by Buu’s landlord.
Needless to say Muc, the dog, loved our adventure and shot off up the stairs for a nap. I cycled home, had a Snickers and some marshmallows for dinner, then did another couple of hours work!

Photo Credit – Kat for the rice paddy rescue ones