Phong Nha – 23rd June

I’d finished my working hours for the week on Friday 23rd June and Captain Caveman was due back later today. I had Camembert and peanuts for breakfast (healthy A & B on Slimming World) and had a bit of a tidy up for when Captain Caveman returned. I also had started to pack for my departure back to Europe but I was going to need a suitcase. As I didn’t know when I would be back, or if I’d even get to stay for more than 30 days at a time, I decided I would take as much back to Turkey as I could. It was also at the back of my mind that it made sense not to leave things I would want, back in a country I was hardly in, should there be any reason I couldn’t fly back. I threw out a lot of clothes too, realising that I really didn’t have that many nice things that fit me any more. Before Captain Caveman had left for Son Doong we had loosely planned that it would be a good idea to have a few days in Saigon before my flight on Thursday. Captain Caveman came home and had a couple of hours before he was off to the gala dinner, he also needed to go to the cash machine in town as I had no money left whatsoever.
We went to The Villa’s so that we could have a (very) late lunch and Captain Caveman had to call at Oxalis for some work related business, which meant he didn’t have time to go to the ATM but could pay by bank transfer. We both ordered pizza and I ate just 4 slices and boxed the rest up for tomorrow. I was meant to be meeting the Wiringi’s, Andrew, Kat, Chung and Tatas to go for food and drink in town somewhere this evening, but as the afternoon went on it was apparent that a lot of them were busy. Captain Caveman had booked flights to Saigon for tomorrow night and so this was my last night in Phong Nha, even though I wasn’t leaving Vietnam for another 6 days. He had time off so it would be good to get away from the heat for a bit by heading south! Internal flights are quick and cheap and the cost was definitely less than £50 including my luggage! Captain Caveman got picked up for his gala dinner and Kat joined me at The Villa’s for dinner. I managed to polish off 4 glasses of white wine and a spaghetti bolognese before Captain Caveman got back. Kat had a Caeser salad and a hot chocolate. When Captain Caveman returned, we shared a bottle of red wine and tried to suss out what time tomorrow I needed to have packed by!
The bottle of wine and my spaghetti bolognese came to 590,000vnd (£19.47) as decent wine isn’t cheap in Vietnam. After saying bye to Kat, with big hugs and hoping to be able to see her and Buu tomorrow before I left for Saigon, we cycled home in the dark for the last time. I went to sleep that night for the last time at the Glass House in Phong Nha.