Dong Hoi to Phong Nha – 15th March

Captain Caveman and I had plans for Friday 15th March which included our friend, Andrea. She was due to fly from Saigon on the same flight I’d taken 2 days ago, arriving in to Dong Hoi at 9am. We had arranged to meet her at the airport to pick her up and go to Phong Nha. But first, for breakfast we went to Mr Bull’s for Bo Ne again and, while we were there, Andrea messaged to say her flight was delayed. We thought it might be, as there was fog in Dong Hoi.
At 10.15am we were sat in Dong Hoi airport waiting for the flight to come in. I noticed that the cafe sold pho for only 55,000VND (£1.73), which is reasonable.
Once Andrea had arrived, we drove the 50km by private car, which Captain Caveman had booked through Oxalis, to Phong Nha. Captain Caveman had also booked 2 rooms at Lucky Homes for the weekend and we were able to check in before 12 noon, which was nice.

We were given a downstairs family room which was lovely with a massive bathroom. Andrea had an upstairs triple room and I gather we got the last 2 rooms of this perfectly located homestay. We have known Mr and Mrs Lucky Homes for 7 or 8 years, have eaten and drank at their riverside restaurant quite a lot but we’ve never stayed in their homestay. Captain Caveman already rents a room at the Glass House but it wasn’t in an ideal state for me to stay there at the moment so he preferred we stay in other places during my visit.

By 1.30pm Captain Caveman and Andrea were on the Huda beers at The Villas, which is a restaurant within Victory Road Villas hotel, owned by our friends Ben and Bich. I had a jasmine tea, determined not to have beer. The drinks were 30,000VND (95p) each which was still very reasonable given the location and quality of service.

Back at Lucky Homes we borrowed the free bicycles for guests and cycled to Tree House in town. We shared some wine; a bottle of the Francis Gillot red was 400,000VND (£12.79) and the Benjamin Mendy 450,000VND (£14.39) so quite reasonable. I preferred mine warm but Andrea and Captain Caveman popped ice in their red wine!

We cycled back to Lucky Homes to unpack and freshen up but then cycled back again to go out for dinner. Captain Caveman had chosen Ganesh, the only Indian restaurant in Phong Nha, and a massive favourite of ours. We had a feast to share between the three of us. These are the dishes and drinks with prices in Vietnamese Dong;

1 Huda beer 25,000
1 soda water 25,000
Saffron rice 49,000
Vegetable Samosas 60,000
Garlic Naan bread 60,000
Onion bhajis 85,000
Taka Dahl 98,000
Chicken 65 115,000
Chicken Tikka 120,000
1 bottle of red wine 270,000
Total spent 907,000VND (£29.00)

I’ve not had an Indian meal for a while so I wasn’t sure if that was good value but it seemed it to me and there was more than enough food for the 3 of us – we even took some back to the homestay.
On our way back we had to have a couple of drinks at The Villas again for good measure. Andrea and I had margaritas which were still as good as I remembered them, 180,000VND (£5.78) each. Captain Caveman had gin and tonic. It’s worth noting that the bar closes at 10pm and we were certainly pushing that deadline a little as we paid up and went off to get some sleep. I didn’t know it at the time but Andrea and Captain Caveman had plans to wear me out tomorrow.