Phong Nha – 29th & 30th May

Wednesday 29th May was a long day for me. I woke up having been bitten even more and my elbow was swollen, there was a dead cockroach on the floor next to the bed so I was convinced, that was what had bitten me. I took my measurements as it was weigh day again and I found that my bust was the same, I’d put 1cm on my waist and lost 1cm off my hips. On the way to Phong Nha Vegan, I called at the pharmacy and she recommended Remos gel 51,000VND (£1.59) for my bites. I was early and knew the vegan wouldn’t be open yet so I called in at The Villas for a fruit salad with yoghurt and muesli and a pot of tea. When I got weighed at Phong Nha Vegan I was disappointed to find I had put on 0.85Kg (1.9lb).
For lunch I had Com Suon, a fake pork dish with steamed rice and veggies, and the place was still a bit understaffed. I had hoped a friend would be able to come join me for lunch but I didn’t see her.
After about 2.5 hours at the Vegan in the heat I cycled back to the homestay, for my postponed video call with Vanessa.
Unfortunately, there were more complaints from Dalyan because the neighbours had random dogs and cats in the stairwell and the tenants said to Jamie that the next door neighbours had also complained. I had to leave it with the agent and go back to the Vegan as my friend was waiting for me there. She had a papaya salad and watched me run about trying to help out as there were no staff again, I managed to squeeze in some mushroom skewers before cycling home to deal with Captain Caveman’s apartment complaints. On the way back, I stopped at the fruit lady and bought 100,000VND (£3.10) worth of mangosteen. The tenants staying in Captain Caveman’s apartment had decided to have a pool day but when they went down, the pool was being filled with chemicals and they couldn’t use it. This was the 2nd time the pool had been unavailable so they weren’t happy and had had to go to a nearby hotel to use their pool. As they were paying £400 per month to have a 2 bedroomed apartment with a shared pool, they were frustrated at not getting what they had paid for. I sent a message to the pool and garden guy to complain that he could have told us in advance, but he said didn’t know about it as his workers had done it. By the time he sent me an update, the pool looked good to me but it was already 4pm there. I was beginning to wish we’d never agreed to rent the place out. I was awake until 2am but then I had to turn my phone off. It was still 32°C in Phong Nha and I had to be up early tomorrow morning.

I had another busy day on Thursday 30th May, an early start for breakfast at The Villas. I had my favourite breakfast of pho ga (chicken noodle soup) with a passion fruit juice. I paid 100,000VND (£3.10) and really enjoyed my meal before heading off to Phong Nha Vegan. They had received some good Google reviews which was nice.  For lunch I had arranged to meet Veronika for a farewell meal so I didn’t need to eat at the vegan. Nevertheless, Hanh cooked me some sweet potato fries with salt and pepper.
I arrived a little late to The Villas, where Veronika and Deborah were waiting for me. They both ordered salmon for lunch but I was craving some dairy so I chose a ham and cheese toasty with a vanilla milkshake. As Veronika and Deborah were off to Australia next week, it was our farewell lunch and it felt weird not knowing when we would see each other again. After our meal, Ben was waiting to give Veronika and Deborah a lift back the Phong Nha Farmstay so we said our goodbyes and I cycled back to the homestay for a shower and a rest. I was back at the Phong Nha Vegan that evening, where it was another busy one and I met some lovely tourists. Many kept returning as the food was so good. I ate a crispy vegetable ramen dish which was so tasty. The weather forecast kept saying rain and clouds but it was very hot and hadn’t been cloudy at all. Back at the homestay, I got in bed and waited for news from Ma & Pa that they had landed in Turkey, they were heading back to Dalyan tonight and would be there when I arrived.