Dalyan – 27th June

On the morning of Thursday 27th June, I didn’t get out of bed until 8am Turkish time, but that was midday in Vietnamese time. By 10am I had set myself up for a working day at Books & Cookies, not far from where Captain Caveman’s apartment is located. It had AC, was very quiet for using it as an office, and had good Turkish tea. I treated myself to a savoury pastry for breakfast and got on with my tasks. By 1pm, I was peckish so I had a linden tea with some delicious homemade cookies. The owner was really lovely and we had a little chat. My bill came to 360 lira (£8.67) which I thought was reasonable.

By 3pm it was hot outside as I ventured to the bank. I needed to ensure I was depositing at least 26,000 lira (£627 at today’s rate of 41.5 lira to the pound), in order to keep my Turkish residency. On my way back ‘home’ to Jamie’s, I called in to see my parents who were on their balcony, and we had an Efes shandy.
In the evening, I had booked the 3 of us on a moonlight boat trip with Princess of Ekincik. It was £30 each and included a BBQ dinner with a few swim stops in the lake and the sea. On our way to the boat my parents and I called in to check out the complex at Captain Caveman’s place to check the pool and grounds. The pool looked fine but there was no sign of any gardening company having removed old leaves or swept the floors in a while. The floor had not been sloshed down with water recently either so, I was disappointed with our pool and garden company.

On the boat we said hello to the other customers and got comfy as we sailed to Köyceğiz lake. A small Efes beer was 100 lira (£2.41) and a glass of wine was 150 lira (£3.61) which was more than what it was 4 months ago but prices and taxes had gone up a lot. To start, Ma & Pa had beers while I had a rosé wine to try it out and we had our first swim stop at just after 7pm. Our BBQ food was as amazing as I remember it being and Ismail cooked us a feast. A bottle of white wine was purchased to have with our dinner and, as I was a bit jetlagged, I felt quite tiddly.
The boat trip was amazing and we all really enjoyed it, it was past 11pm when we got back.

İstanbul to Dalyan – 26th June

My flight from Bangkok to Istanbul on Wednesday 26th June arrived 40 minutes early. I’d purposely not booked an earlier flight in case of delays, so now I had even longer to wait until my flight to Dalaman. Before 5am it was a very chilly 17°C and I was feeling the cold in the airport, even with jeggings and a fleece on. I retrieved my luggage and had a faff about with the trolleys which you have to pay for. My flight wasn’t until 12.15pm and I was feeling a bit jetlagged. I logged in to the free WiFi, which was easy to get at a kiosk using my passport, and let people know I was on track. I’d booked Sonuç to pick me up from the airport and he messaged to check all was as planned.
At the terminal in Istanbul airport, I checked if I could drop off my bags earlier and to my delight it could all be done on the self service machines. I weighed my 2 hold cases which had lost 1kg since Saigon and were now 17kg and 7kg. Due to my tiredness, I completely forgot to take my laptop out of one of them and then proceeded to worry my case would get lost.
My next bit of good luck was when I decided to go to the lounge, which I had booked for 2 hours before my flight. It was before 8am so I explained I was early and they checked to see if there was space on the 09:55 flight. It was already full so they told me I could still enter the lounge until my flight and didn’t seem to care I would be there for 4 hours. There is no alcohol in the Turkish Airlines lounge but it was breakfast time and I was really hungry. I’d been given a spicy dish on the plane which I couldn’t eat and the breakfast meal was omelette which I didn’t eat either.
I got myself cherry juice, Turkish tea, herbal tea, water, croissants, pastries, bagels, cheese and olives and tucked in while using the free WiFi.
The call to board came at 11.40am and the bus was directly from the lounge and half empty. I had chosen an aisle seat and we even got given a chicken sandwich and a water on the 80 minute flight.
I arrived on time in to Dalaman and didn’t have to wait too long for my luggage, where I was glad to see my laptop had made it.
Sonuç was waiting for me and carried the luggage, had water for me in the car and we drove safely to Jamie and Drew’s new villa. I had planned to stay there for a week or so and it was really kind of him as he also had other guests visiting.
I was so hungover that I don’t remember much about that afternoon apart from seeing Norman and Edna, Jamie’s dogs, who seemed to be pleased to see me. The villa was gorgeous and I had a lovely twin room with an ensuite which I couldn’t wait to go to sleep in.
I’d made it just in time for Fat Club but, unfortunately, it was cancelled this week. I had no idea about my weight but I did take my measurements after a much needed shower;
Bust no change,
Waist +1cm,
Hips -1cm.
I had a glass of wine with Jamie, Drew and their house guests, Nick & Mark, before heading over to see my parents, who I hadn’t seen since January. The weather was nice and warm but definitely cooler than Phong Nha.

That evening, we had our first meal together at Duble, one of our favourites. We all had the chicken soup as it’s so good, then I had a chicken shish, Mom had fish and Dad had a chicken casserole. Ma & Pa had beers but I stuck to soda water and we had 2 lots of fresh bread. The whole bill came to 1,720 lira (£41.25) which worked out less than £14 for a starter and a main plus drink and a free shot each. I’d expected prices to be worse given the moaning I’d read on Facebook so I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t a late one as I had work to do tomorrow and I was desperate for sleep.

Danang, Saigon & Bangkok (airports) – 25th June

On Tuesday 25th June Captain Caveman was heading back to Phong Nha as he had a briefing in the evening. I was saying bye and flying back to Dalaman via Saigon, Bangkok and Istanbul. We ate the rest of our Mangosteen from Hoan for our breakfast and Captain Caveman decided he would come to Danang airport to see me off. We got a Grab taxi and went to check-in but, unfortunately, the woman on the Vietnam Airlines desk was not my friend.
My allowance for all my flights was 25kg hold and at least 7kg for hand luggage. The domestic flight from Danang to Saigon didn’t specify that my 25kg had to be in 1 case but that rule was enforced as I tried to pass my 2 cases through. Captain Caveman came into his own when she refused them and instantly went in to ‘super-packer’ mode at top speed! I tried to hastily move my lacy red knickers and random dirty washing as he squeezed the contents of a case at 18kg and one at 7kg into the one case, with the laundry from my hand luggage. He triumphantly set it back on the scales and I thought he looked like he wanted a badge in recognition for it weighing 24.9kg. I managed to get an aisle seat so I was happy but I would struggle to carry that case at the other side. My international tickets both allowed me to take 25kg over 2 pieces so I could do a repack in Saigon.
We said our goodbyes and Captain Caveman went to get a taxi to the train station for the 10.22am train to Dong Hoi. I went through the passport control and stopped at a shop to get a snack. I bought a croissant for 35,000VND (£1.09) and a pack of pomelo for 70,000VND (£2.18).
The flight departed a little late and we landed in Saigon at gone 11am.
I retrieved my bags and then rationalised the space a bit better by splitting the 25kg case back in to 2. I was meant to be getting a taxi to Kim’s house to go to eat pho, made by her mother. Keith (from Grimsby) was on standby to meet for a farewell drink too. The left luggage queue was chaos and it took me a long time to get to the front of the queue. When I reached the front there was a sign, pricing left luggage per item and a few ‘at owners risk’ notices displayed – and now I had 4 bags, 3 of which I wanted to leave. The cost of leaving luggage at the airport plus 2 taxi fares, teamed with having to check-in for the international flight in less than 4.5 hours, made me reluctant to leave the airport. I didn’t have a great track record with Saigon taxi drivers so I messaged Keith (from Grimsby) to ask his opinion. He had flown from Saigon recently and advised not to do it, the queue to leave Saigon had been long previously and had took over 2 hours to get through. I wouldn’t risk it for a delicious bowl of pho and a cheeky beer so I also messaged Kim to cancel. In the end, I had done the right thing as it didn’t feel long in the airport at all.
I checked out the cost of a Burger King; a regular cheeseburger was 120,000VND (£3.74) so I didn’t bother. Instead, I spent 125,000VND (£3.90) on some cherry throat sweets and a pack of Mentos.
At 4pm, I was peckish so I treated myself to a pack of crisps and a vegan baguette for 105,000VND (£3.27) from Puro Gusto and thoroughly enjoyed it. Once through security, which did take quite a while as Keith had warned, I splashed out on some Clinique moisturiser for $32 (£25) which I had been waiting to buy in a Duty Free. My next extravagance was a glass of red wine in Saigon Cafe, an airport bar, which cost a whopping 315,000VND (£9.82) and was the cheapest wine on the menu. It was very nice and I savoured it as I waited for boarding time.
On the plane to Bangkok I had an aisle seat, the in-flight meal was a rather tasty chicken with veg and rice and a glass of red wine. I didn’t bother with any TV as the flight was ready to land as soon as we had eaten.
We landed in to Bangkok an hour later than scheduled, it was raining outside and it was cold as we disembarked on to the shuttle bus. I only had 1 hour to get on the next plane, bound for Istanbul, which was quite a rush. I had a bad stomach so I had to go to the loo while in Bangkok airport and I was lucky to arrive at the gate in time. On the 3rd plane, I had a middle seat and I coped for quite a bit of the flight until the chap next to me, wearing a sunhat and earplugs, became more difficult to get past for toilet visits, so I moved to an aisle seat at the back of the plane. We were due to land at 5.25am tomorrow, Turkish time, where I had several hours to kill in Istanbul airport.

Danang – 24th June

Ordinarily when I leave Vietnam to go back to Turkey, I have to wait a while to see Captain Caveman again. Not this year, Monday 24th June might have been our last full day together but only for 14 days! We were lucky enough to be getting to visit the UK in the middle of the caving season and we were both looking forward to a family wedding, among other things.
We went to ByC for breakfast and it was really beautiful. I ordered a pot of earl grey tea and a pancake with bacon, Captain Caveman had an iced black coffee and a şakşuka. Both were amazing and, even though I was full, I didn’t want to leave any. Our bill came to just 415,000VND (£12.95) for the 2 of us.

On the way back to the hotel we bought a 1.5l bottle of water for 14,000VND (44p). I worked until lunch time and Captain Caveman played Bridge on his phone.
At 1pm we met an old friend from Phong Nha who now lives in Danang. We hadn’t seen Diana for a while so it was good to meet at Vietnom Eatery where the staff are deaf. Captain Caveman had a coffee and a bao bun and I had a My Quang style dish with a watermelon juice, both of our meals were rather tasty. Captain Caveman paid the bill of 240,000VND (£7.50) which was very good good value. We had a good but too brief a catch up and then it was back to work for Diana and I.

That evening, we had been invited to join June and Steve at Happy Buffalo in Hoi An but I wasn’t feeling too lively. I didn’t want to ruin my long journey tomorrow so we decided not to go. I still needed a new laptop bag so we found a phone shop and bought one for 150,000VND (£4.69).
We couldn’t be bothered to go too far for dinner so we ate at nearby Pizza 4Ps. We both had a cider and brie to start, which we order every time we visit. Captain Caveman ordered a breakfast pizza which had cheese, spinach and eggs on it while I tried to go healthier with a Spaghetti Bolognese topped with a burrata. Captain Caveman had a second cider, without the cheese, but I’d had enough alcohol yesterday. Our bill came to 769,800VND (£23.89) including VAT, which wasn’t bad.
It wasn’t a late one as my flight from Danang was tomorrow morning at 9.10am and I needed an early night. We ate mangosteen when we got back and I was sad to be leaving Vietnam.

Danang – 23rd June

The Sunday Brunch at Citron restaurant, Intercontinental, on the Son Tra Peninsula in Danang was booked for 12.30pm on Sunday 23rd June. It’s one of our favourite food experiences when we are in Vietnam and is a real treat. Captain Caveman had been working hard but had caught up on his sleep ready for today’s feast.
We arrived by Grab taxi just before 12.30pm and took a seat outside. I tried to get some good photos of us but it never works out well. Captain Caveman is not a fan of taking excessive photos and we agreed that I wouldn’t take photos of my food this time. Inside, we were seated and given a glass of the Billecart Salmon champagne. It retails at about £50 a bottle and we certainly get our money’s worth. The brunch lasts for 3 hours and is a buffet style where you can help yourself to so much seafood, sushi, salads, charcuterie, cheese as well as ask the chefs to prepare meat, prawns, pasta and fois gras. The cost is 3,199,000VND (£98.74) each plus tax/VAT but we were given a 20% discount. The service is always impeccable, the food delicious and there is good music and a spacious dining area. I kept my word and didn’t take any food photos or selfies while dining but I remember what I ate; I started with prawns to go with my champagne while Captain Caveman sampled the sushi. I had a mix of salt and pepper with a squeeze of lime juice to make a paste to dip my prawns in. They were delicious so I had some more and a little of the prawn sushi. I had a bit of the salad to make it healthier and more champagne while Captain Caveman had lobster and oysters. I went on to the lobster and couldn’t help myself get 2 more portions, as my champers got topped up. Next, I went on to cooked prawns in a garlic butter with some steak but I skipped the carbs for salad with chickpeas and lentils in. After a few more champagnes we went on to red wine to go with the steak, more was ordered and Captain Caveman was on the fois gras while I went back to lobster and steak with a couple of bits of pork. I didn’t have potatoes or pasta this time as I didn’t want to fill up too quickly. I also left plenty of room and time for the cheese, charcuterie and fruit. I snuck in a cheeky Cosmopolitan and dodged the desserts but that cheese board with only a couple of bits of bread was truly amazing! More red wine was had and back to the champagne for final drinks, of which we had a couple of top ups and we were stuffed.
By 5.20pm I was in bed and didn’t get back up that day.