Dalyan – 1st & 2nd September

Sunday 1st September was Independence Day in Vietnam and Captain Caveman was celebrating by meeting our friend, Johan, in Hanoi for a Sunday brunch. I was a little envious as I had a simit with cheese spread and washed it down with my cup of Yorkshire tea. This month was going to be full of surprises and some adventures and it was the last month of me being without Captain Caveman.
My first mission was to go to Captain Caveman’s apartment where our tenants had kindly agreed to let me rummage through my locked cupboard for my documents from when I did my residency renewal last year. We had a chat, mainly about the incompetence of our pool and garden company, then I tackled the cupboard in the spare room.
I went through every single box and thing, to not find the set of documents, or my diary, from last year. However, I did find what looked like Captain Caveman’s original copy of the Tapu (deeds), which would be handy.
A hot sweaty mess, I went back downstairs for a glass of water and to ask if Ann & Stuart would like to join a boat trip when my sister and brother-in-law are here next week.
I called at the bank, the supermarket and the bakery on my way back to my parents’ apartment and was in a quandary as to where my documents must be. The lira was now 44.8 to the pound which was pretty high and people in Turkey were speculating if it could reach 50 by the end of the month. Here’s what I bought, price in lira;

Bakery
1 fresh bread 10.00
1 Simit 15.00
Total spent 25.00 lira (56p)

Migros Supermarket
Crisps 20.05
1 Bounty 29.50
BBQ flavour crackers 35.00
Sliced wholemeal loaf 53.95
1 bottle of Prosecco 379.90
Total spent 518.40 (£11.57)

Yaman Büfe 2
1 Bottle of Rituel red wine 210.00
1 Bottle of Cielo White wine 315.00
Total spent 525.00 lira (£11.72)

I only had fruit for lunch because I had invited Nanny Kay over for wine and a takeaway in the evening. We had originally decided to go to Simple but it was closed on Sundays so we decided a takeaway from Mahir Kebabs would be ideal for us. It had been a little overcast and looked like there could be some rain but it held out enough for Nanny Kay to cycle over. Norman and Edna had been looking forward to seeing Nanny Kay, especially Edna who had heard that there was going to be wine.
We had a lovely evening where we both ordered the Chicken Kapsalon which is layers of French fries, chicken doner meat, cheese and salad – not Slimming World friendly. The dish is very filling, cost 400 lira (£8.93) each with free delivery and was very speedy. After 12 whole days of abstaining from alcohol, we shared a bottle of red wine and I could tell I’d had it. We limited it though, so that Nanny Kay could cycle home safely.

There was a power cut first thing on Monday 2nd September but, luckily, I had already done some work and was with Norman and Edna at Jamie’s villa. For breakfast I had Yorkshire tea, melon and strawberries, then a lovely homemade lentil, carrot and tomato soup for lunch with some bread and butter. I was tempted to eat the rest of the chicken kapsalon from last night but when I got it out, I decided not to and threw it out. As it was a new month, I went to the bank to put some foreign currency in to my Dollar/Sterling accounts. Meanwhile, in Hanoi, Captain Caveman was meeting up for lunch with Lien and then spending the evening with Martin and possibly Martina. It was his last night in Hanoi for now, as tomorrow he planned to go to visit more friends in Sapa. 
I spent time on the laptop and looking after the dogs but I did manage to pop to the shop for some essentials and order some water for the cooler, at Jamie’s. It costs 70 lira (£1.56) which is cheaper than the shop that I use but I did have to walk to the shop to order as I didn’t have the right money. I managed to spend 155 lira (£3.46) for coconut milk and curry paste at the Şarküteri which I didn’t think was bad.
I wasn’t hungry at dinner time, which is unlike me, so I just had some BBQ crackers and a cup of tea while watching some TV. I was already on 158 syns for the week so far, with one more day to go.