Phong Nha – 24th May

Captain Caveman was due out of Son Doong on Friday 24th May and I had not done much while he’d been gone. Obviously, being ill had helped on the weight loss this week but it had certainly helped with the budget too. I totted up that in the last 4 days I’d only spent 300,000VND (£9.24) so far, which included drinking water too.
I cycled to Phong Nha Vegan where little May, the dog, was waiting for me and seemed a bit fed up. Hoan made me a Banh Canh, a vegan noodle soup, which was so good. She was working on a new dish that she had seen online and was happily cooking away in the kitchen. Her new dish was to look a little like duck but was made from tofu and mushroom. I couldn’t wait to try it as it looked so tasty but, as is common in Vietnam, she doused it in chilli sauce so I couldn’t have it. As I watched everyone else enjoy it, I tucked in to boiled pumpkin leaves and steamed rice. Ha got me a fresh coconut to go with it which was lovely.

I left the Vegan at 1.30pm to go back for a shower, arranging to be back again at 6pm. When Captain Caveman got back we went to Tree House, where he was getting picked up for his Gala dinner. I decided to treat myself to the falafel and hummus dish which comes with greek salad and pitta bread. I was still not feeling well enough to eat meat or drink any alcohol and the thought of meat was making me queasy, which was odd. Captain Caveman ordered the smoked salmon and scrambled egg which came with chips and rye bread. He had an espresso martini and I had a passion fruit juice. Unfortunately, I thought my falafel tasted a bit odd and asked Captain Caveman if he wanted it. We deduced it was made from peas, not chickpeas, and I hate peas so he finished it off.

Captain Caveman went to Chay Lap at 5.30pm and I cycled back to the Vegan where it was incredibly hot. We met afterwards and called for a drink in The Villas. I went mad and ordered a ginger beer without checking the price, Captain Caveman had a normal beer. He also decided to wind the staff up by telling them that, due to the brightly coloured redecorating job that Ben had undertaken on the whole place, they were going to have to wear new uniforms to match the walls. We paid our bill of 145,000VND (£4.50), left at a reasonable 9.15pm and cycled back to Phong Nha Homestay to go to sleep. Tomorrow we had a busy day planned as Captain Caveman had a couple of days off.