Phong Nha – 23rd March

Captain Caveman had a bit of a woolly head when he woke up before 6am on Saturday 23rd March. Even though it was his day off, we still went to Oxalis, as is customary for him to run some errands at the office. We both ordered a bacon sandwich and a drink and I was very impressed with the crispiness of the bacon. The price is 60,000VND (£1.90) for a bacon sandwich with salad items in, I had mine without.
I spent part of the morning doing my first free course on how to use Canva while Captain Caveman did work related stuff and sorting out his laundry.

I walked back to the homestay and we met at Lucky Homes for a light refreshment by the river while watching some buffalo.
For lunch we went to an old favourite which we call The Pork Shop. It’s actually called the Thang Nhung, but pork shop is easier to pronounce and describes what it sells. Captain Caveman had a Banh Mi (a pork sandwich) which I love but I just can’t ever get one without chillies or chilli sauce in it, so I have stopped trying. I ordered BBQ pork with steamed rice and morning glory with garlic. It is so cheap and really tasty – an average meal is about £2 and the pork fat is crispy.

Afterwards, we called at the phone shop to be unsuccessful, yet again, in being able to get me a Viettel SIM card so I still didn’t have a working phone. The sun was pretty hot today so I needed a fresh coconut at Bamboo cafe. It was nice to be welcomed back to Phong Nha by Little Ha and all the staff there.
On our way back we called at The Villa’s and sat with Ben and his son, Howie, with another beverage. We paid 185,000VND (£5.88) in the fanciest place in town, for a soda water, 2 Huda beers and a glass of white wine.

Unfortunately, our plans to meet Tatas and eat at Phong Nha Vegan that evening were cancelled as she had to tidy her room and get packed for her 2 day Hang En tour tomorrow. We went back to Diep Le Homestay for a short time before returning to The Villa’s for more food and drink. Here’s what we had on our bill this time, and the food was excellent ;

1 soda water 25,000
1 red wine 90,000
2 white wines 180,000
1 Son Doong pizza 190,000
1 Duck with lentils 250,000
Total 735,000VND (£23.34)

It’s obviously not the cheapest place in town, in fact it’s one of the most expensive, but it’s good. With us being neighbours and friends, they let us borrow 2 wine glasses to take back to Diep Le when they closed. As I only had the 1 glass of red wine with dinner, when we got back to the room we opened a bottle of red wine and I had 2 more glasses. The diet had strayed a little again and I was on 266 syns already this week, but still less than last week at this point.