Dong Hoi & Phong Nha – 11th June

Bravely, I stepped on the hotel scales on the morning of Sunday 11th June in the Melia Vin Pearl hotel. I had put on 4.3kg since I was in Sapa 18 days ago – that’s almost 9.5lbs if the scales were accurate! My measurements weren’t too good either, with 1cm on my bust and hips and another 3cm increase on my waist.
Captain Caveman and I, undeterred by my weight gain, still went to the all you can eat breakfast in the hotel and had lots of delicious food. Looking out of the hotel window, it looked cloudy outside but it was deceptively hot and sunny, very humid. Captain Caveman and I had a walk to the pharmacy and Winmart to pick up some essentials, I also wanted to buy contraceptive pills as they were increasing in price in Turkey and often unavailable. Unfortunately, the ones I wanted weren’t available at any of the pharmacies near the hotel.
We bought Oresol from the Medicare shop for 17,300vnd (57p) but they don’t do medication, it’s more like a Superdrug type of place.

Here’s what we bought at the supermarket:

1.5l water 9,300
200g peanuts 22,600
100g dried mango 33,600
Pack of 12 toilet rolls 57,000
1 Tupperware tub 65,200
Total spent 187,700vnd (£6.19)

We checked out from a lovely stay at Melia Vin Pearl hotel at midday and asked to leave our bags. Although it was Captain Caveman’s second day of not working he was asked by Oxalis if he could pick up some guests from the train station later. He agreed and we planned to while away the afternoon hours in Dong Hoi. I was also fine with this as it meant we got to visit some new places and a couple of old favourites while there.

Captain Caveman had been recommended by our friend, Phuong (now in Canada), that The Ayatt Coffee cafe in Dong Hoi was a pretty relaxing place to pass a couple of hours. I ordered a pot of rose tea and Captain Caveman had a coffee and a smoothie. It wasn’t cheap but it was rather good and I’d definitely go again.
When a coach party of Vietnamese families with loud kids came in, we left.

Here’s what we paid;
1 black coffee 35,000
1 passion fruit smoothie 40,000
1 pot of rose tea 120,000
Total spent 195,000vnd (£6.44)

I really liked this place, it was close to the physio I spent so many hours at in the past but, as it was a Sunday, Thuy wouldn’t be there to go and visit. It was also a walk, which felt longer in the sun and without a sun hat, to the hospital pharmacies. They did have an alternative contraceptive pill which was double my dose. The engineer in Captain Caveman came in to force when he suggested I buy double the amount but take one every 2 days to counteract the strength. I decided to buy it and they cost 492,000vnd (£16.24) for 6 packets of 21 tablets, which by Captain Caveman’s calculations would last 9 months. In Turkey this would have cost me over £50 but, granted, still cheaper than the cost of a baby at aged 50!

Next, we decided to get a taxi to 7th Heaven restaurant, the driver wasn’t a registered taxi and he looked either drugged or like he’d been crying (maybe both). We got there unscathed and Captain Caveman just gave him the usual amount when he tried to ask for more.
We ordered beers and sweet potato fries to start us off. I love the sweet potatoes in Vietnam, they look like normal potatoes but taste amazing. For main, I thought I’d try to go a little healthier with a chicken breast salad, Captain Caveman had a steak baguette. When mine came it was covered in mayonnaise, I hate mayonnaise so couldn’t touch the salad at all but the Vietnamese love mayo, they even put it on pizzas with sweet chilli sauce! The chicken and roasted garlic was very nice but Captain Caveman enjoyed his lunch more than I did.

Our next stop was Tree Hugger for one of those iced mint and lime drinks which are definitely my new favourite.
At 5.30pm we went back to the hotel to retrieve our bags and wait for the Oxalis pick up car. While we were there, the message came that the train was delayed by 1 hour. The train ended up being 2 and a half hours late so we had to wait at the train station for far too long. Luckily the temperature had dropped to below 30°C and there was a squat toilet to use.
We met the guests who were the very last people off the train and drove to Phong Nha while Captain Caveman did his introductory chat. We dropped them off at Son Doong Bungalow where guests stay before their big cave trip and we got dropped at Oxalis. The car park where our bicycles were, was locked as it was gone 9.30pm so Captain Caveman had to get the security guard to unlock it for us. Bluey, wondering where we’d been, was rather whizzy on the way back to the Glass House. It had been an eventful weekend and I was ready for bed. I’d given up wishing for a lay in and looked forward to one of those back in Turkey next month!