Dalyan – 9th & 10th February

Captain Caveman knew I was working all day on Friday 9th February so he sent photos of my flight details before 7.30am. I would be flying from Istanbul to Saigon via Bangkok on the 8th March at 4.30pm. He’d booked me reserved seats and both flights included food. It had cost £426 but they were good flights and I was very happy. I added it to my diary that I would be leaving in 4 weeks. I would book the flight from Dalaman to Istanbul when I got paid next week. I’d book the flight back from Vietnam once I had enough money to be able to afford to come back, but my 90 day visa ended on 5th June.
Before starting work, I had a buttered crumpet for breakfast then I messaged my boss to double check I was to carry on what I was doing. He said he needed to have a phone call later to update me on the outcome of a meeting with his accountant. I worked all day with it at the back of my mind that I might not be working at all this time next week and I wondered if this uncertainty for such few hours pay was worth the stress. In my lunch break I had beefburger patty, pumpkin and pickled red cabbage and then some tomato and lentil soup.
When my boss video called later in the afternoon it wasn’t great news and looked like I wouldn’t be able to carry on working in the same way due to how I’d be able to get paid. I was told I might not get paid on Wednesday too, but I was relying on that money. I decided to think it over, I needed to think about what I was going to do longer term so I finished work and closed the laptop feeling a bit concerned. I decided not to go out tonight as I wasn’t in the mood and I didn’t have the money. Instead, I made Slimming World pizza topped baked potatoes for dinner and opened a bottle of Rituel red wine, I only had the one glass and popped the cork back in.

On Saturday 10th February I had a green tea with a slice of wholemeal toast and cheese spread before heading to the market. I didn’t concentrate and my head was in a bit of a spin worrying about money and work. Here’s what I bought on my shopping spree  and the prices in lira;

Stall 1
Pumpkin, carrots, mange-tout & sprouts 165

Stall 2
Potatoes & onions 40

Stall 3
Bananas, apples and chestnuts 205

Migros Supermarket
2 tins of tomatoes 59.80 lira

Total spent 469.8 lira (£12.14)

I quickly dropped off my shopping at home as I had arranged to meet Adele and Vanessa for a last get together before Vanessa returned to the UK. Adele, Vanessa and I walked from the Waterfall bar to Günlüklu restaurant, via the back road, and it was a very pleasant walk. We stopped for lunch at Günlüklu restaurant which was absolutely lovely. The glasses of wine were 180 lira (£4.65) but a bottle was only 450 lira (£11.63). It doesn’t take a genius to work out what we chose! Our presumption was that they preferred to sell a whole bottle as it wasn’t a popular venue for glasses of wine which might mean the bottle goes off quickly once opened. Vanessa ordered a chicken curry, Adele a spaghetti Bolognese and I opted for the chicken casserole. The food was lovely and I ate it all, which took me a while, hoping the oil and the cheese would not make me poorly. My meal was 190 lira (£4.91) which was totally worth it. We walked home and said our goodbyes and I had a green tea when I got in at about 4.30pm. After another green tea, a litre of water and a banana I became unwell. I spoke to Captain Caveman around 7pm but then was in bed asleep, without any dinner. I hoped I’d be better tomorrow as I intended on going on the Sunday walk and I had guests coming round for Sunday lunch.