On Saturday 21st November it was Momma D’s 50th birthday and she was having a party at her rooftop bar from sunset that night. My breakfast was buttered toast and fruit with jasmine tea. I made some popcorn and took some with me in case I got peckish or needed something to line my stomach before the party. Phuong’s Transfers was booked to pick up Dong Hoi party guests and so Phuong had kindly arranged for me to have another driver take me to Dong Hoi for physio at 1pm.
Meanwhile Captain Caveman was on his second day of the Saigon Children’s Charity cycling event, attempting 137km of intense terrain on the most difficult day of the three.
My driver arrived early with clear instructions from Phuong as I needed to go to the ATM. The physio session went well and I was definitely improving while Kimmie, my visa agent, had made it easy for me by dropping off my passport with my new visa extension stamp in it. The driver was waiting for me and we left Dong Hoi at 5pm, ready to call to pick up Melissa, Remy and her 2 youngest kids. Captain Caveman was back, earlier and more exhausted than expected, but would manage the Phong Nha Farmstay BBQ which had been organised by Ben and Bich for all the event participants.

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It was exactly 7 calendar months since I had last been to Momma D’s rooftop bar! The celebration at the end of the enforced 2 week lockdown in Vietnam, back in April, was what had lead me to drunkenly tear ligaments in my ankle and knee. So, while it had been marvellous to be able to go out and do as we pleased for the last 7 months, I had been doing it with extremely slow recovering injuries since that night! I was very apprehensive about my return and especially concerned about the stairs – the shiny two-toned, marble, slippery, no hand-railed stairs, to enter the Thuong Hai hotel. Melissa was there to help me (luckily) and for the first time I managed to get up more than 12 steps in one go. I was knackered and it hurt a little bit but I had managed it, the way down was more daunting. We got the lift to the 6th floor and the set of stairs to the rooftop were ok for me. Momma D had spent money on decorating the place, she had free frozen shots for everyone, free peanuts on the tables (which I was glad of as I was so hungry after physio). We were greeted by Momma D in a lovely black dress, while sporting a tiara and a wand! There was a roast beef dinner option available, with a glass of wine, for 220,000vnd (£7 ish) and I decided to limit my alcohol knowing I had to navigate stairs again. I had just started tucking in to my dinner when Phuong arrived with the guests from Dong Hoi, plus some Phong Nha outskirts people. The party got quite busy, there was a birthday chair for photo opportunities and 3 cakes! So we sang happy birthday, the blowing out of candles still went ahead (Corona had not yet banned people here from blowing on cakes) and then the birthday girl made a speech. There were lots of familiar faces, some who had travelled from Hanoi, Hoi An and Danang to wish Momma D a happy 50th. I did my best to get some photos, although my phone’s camera isn’t the best and the disco lights weren’t helping.
Melissa helped me on the stairs which was great because I wouldn’t have managed it successfully by myself and I had booked Phuong to take us back to our place. Back home Captain Caveman was in a bad way, he was exhausted and already in bed but was determined to carry on the next day, the final one of the cycling event.

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Here is Ben’s video of the Saigon’s Children Charity cycling event, Day 2. While we were enjoying Momma D’s 50th birthday party I suspect there were a few cyclists reaching for the Sudocrem but feeling proud of their achievements so far!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Dgx8pB0Rw5U

It was Teacher’s Day in Vietnam on Friday 20th November where the school teachers get given gifts to show appreciation from students and parents. My favourite teacher at school had been Mr Hoy who was slightly eccentric but amazing. I still remember him letting us act out the violence of Maxwell’s Silver Hammer by The Beatles in a drama class at the age of about 10!

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My first excitement of the day came with Captain Caveman donning his lycra and his rather snug cycling jersey before going up and down the cluttered steps to find various cycling paraphernalia for day 1 of his cycling event. I was going to go to see the Saigon Children’s Charity cycling event start at the Farmstay but I couldn’t be bothered and instead wished him luck and went back to sleep. By 8.30am I was having toasted sourdough with raspberry jam and jasmine tea for breakfast. I was just about to get in the shower when I got a call from Veronika who wanted to know if I could make myself available for the morning to work at short notice as a model on a photo shoot. I barely had chance to ask the details when wine was mentioned and so I (obviously) agreed, showered and selected a brightly coloured top to wear.

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At 10am Duyet ran me up to the Farmstay in the rascal where Veronika and I were tasked with sitting by a fire, sharing a bottle of wine and some nibbles while posing for promotional photos. It was hilarious, very hot with the fire on and we were both shit-faced before midday. All while those poor cyclists were cycling to Dong Hoi and back in about 30°C, for charity! I decided to post a lycra clad Captain Caveman photo on my Facebook with a link to the charity page in an attempt to get some last minute donations and it worked – I even got a second donation from a friend who asked me to not show him any more lycra!!!

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I’d not been home long when Captain Caveman arrived back and had chance for a shower and a beer before it was time for The Villas’ pizza night. As all the cyclists were invited to all you can eat pizza we got picked up a bit later, which meant we had sobered up. At The Villas a returning Farmstay guest and amateur musician, Matty, joined us for a few drinks and a feast. The pizza, as always, was so good and most of us went with the all you can eat pizza option. Some of the cyclists ordered off the usual menu too and despite it being a busy night the staff were fantastic and I certainly left feeling full.

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Day 1 of the Saigon Children’s Charity cycle event video by Ben is here if you’ve not already seen it. This is what Captain Caveman was doing while I was having wine before lunch on my first gig as a model:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ji9w8eLfoo

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Photo Credit – Lan Thanh & Thi Kuu

Sunday was our last day on the island, Koh Yao Noi, and the weather wasn’t too good (about 24 degrees and cloudy) so we headed out on the scooter at lunch time. The best restaurant was quoted as The Rice Paddy so we decided we’d go there. The sign said it opened at 1pm but the waitress said they would open at 2pm. We hadn’t had breakfast so instead went to Kaya for Tempura, the place was really nice. Captain Caveman decided we would call in to the poshest resort hotel on the island, Six Sense, where we would splash out the 20 dollars a drink in their bar. We arrived and had to be escorted inside the resort, once they had rang ahead to check we were ok to visit. It was as I smelled lavender quite strongly that I realised there had been a communication error – Captain Caveman has said ‘bar’ the concierge had heard ‘spa’! We then had to have a golf buggy to take us from the spa to the bar which made us all laugh when the mistake was realised. The Sixth Sense Resort Bar was amazing (the spa looked pretty good too) and the list of gin cocktails was pretty impressive – we chose very carefully the two drinks costing more than the night in our cheap hotel! The buggy rides and views were very impressive and luckily the bar snacks were free as we couldn’t afford to eat there. We savoured each sip slowly while enjoying the lily ponds that surrounded us. As you can imagine the toilets were 5 star, they even had free insect repellent body lotion which I slathered myself in.
We never did make it to the Rice Paddy because we had to drop the scooter back at the hotel so we walked to La Luna for our final meal on such a beautiful island.

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Photo credit – Captain Caveman and Six Sense resort

Captain Caveman was working on Thursday 19th November and had gone to Tu Lan for the day. I was off to Dong Hoi later and could pick up my passport but I realised I hadn’t got enough money from Captain Caveman to pay for it so had to arrange for Saturday. Previously I had been using a friend’s visa agent in Hanoi and had been lucky to get 3 month extensions but now only 1 month extensions were allowed. This time I had used Kimmie Nguyen, an agent located in Dong Hoi and everything had gone according to plan. Of course, doing the visa extension with a local agent meant the cost was much more expensive than in Hanoi but overall meant I didn’t have to spend money on travel to and from Hanoi, plus accommodation while my passport was with immigration. I also needed to attend my physiotherapy and so I didn’t want to travel to Hanoi just to renew visas. I had a dragon fruit and an apple for breakfast then crisps for lunch before heading off to physio in Dong Hoi. Physio went well and I was definitely improving now, there was hope I might be able to walk without too much of a problem by Christmas. Thuy gave me a gift which came wrapped in newspaper, was hot and had salad with it and it looked big! When I got home, I opened the food package to discover a whole duck with rice and salad – and when I say whole, I mean whole duck, with the head and it’s tongue sticking out of it’s beak! Captain Caveman was on his way back but had been invited to the Farmstay for a BBQ dinner as part of the weekend’s cycling event. I had a whole duck to eat and so it was a good job I was hungry but Captain Caveman had to help me eat it! I watched repeats of The Big Bang Theory on Netflix while scoffing away and it was absolutely delicious. I saved all the bones and skin for Captain Caveman to make a stock with, it was a big duck! I finished the night off with jasmine tea and went to bed early, before Captain Caveman got home. The weekend was going to be exciting – Saigon Children’s Charity were in Phong Nha!

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It was a lovely sunny day on Wednesday 18th November and I was planning on going for a walk later. Captain Caveman was already booked in for a medical in Dong Hoi and had gone with the other cavers. I did more online work where I was viewing photos for Artificial Intelligent use – it was interesting but not that well paid just yet. I also applied for roles which better suited my past experience in Insurance with a view to working online until it was safe to travel to the UK. I ate a lot of fruit and some toast for breakfast and lunch and then, when Captain Caveman eventually returned, he had been for pizza at The Villas but not thought to ask if I would like a takeaway bringing back. He’d passed the medical then went shopping, as we were running low on provisions, before lunching at leisure in Phong Nha. It was 4pm by the time we got to go for a walk and this time I decided to do it on crutches, just to see if it was any better or quicker. Ruth, the zoom physio, had mentioned walking poles but Captain Caveman had forgot to pick them up from Phong Nha so this would be similar. I wore my trainers for the first time (I’d not been able to get them on before) and they felt so comfortable on the bottom of my feet. I was actually slower than the last walk but I did feel less pain and I could have walked further, which was a good sign.

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For dinner we went to the Farmstay and I had a treat with the beef in bamboo, steamed rice, vegetables and a ginger beer. Captain Caveman had pie, chips, beans and gravy and Veronika just had a pie. After food Captain Caveman went over to introduce himself to some of the cyclists who were arriving for the Saigon Children’s Charity cycling event this weekend. Captain Caveman had entered for the first time this year (usually we aren’t in Vietnam when this event takes place) and he was super excited. I caught up with some blogging and had a look at the new rooms. While the place was quiet I took photos of the place, it was hard to imagine that only a month ago it was completely flooded and covered in mud, the staff had done an amazing job to get it back to normal. It was getting late so I went to intercept Captain Caveman from getting another beer with his new cycling friends only to find I was introduced to the group, passed a Strongbow cider and was chatting away to some really nice people from all different places.

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Photo credit – Ben & Bich at Phong Nha Farmstay

I had buttered toast again for breakfast on Tuesday 17th November and I offered to make Captain Caveman something different for dinner again. We had been trying for weeks to find mince to make a Bolognese but it just isn’t available anywhere so I thought of a veggie alternative made with lentils. He declined my kind offer and I said he could make dinner instead. It was hot outside and the cleaners were in giving the place a full going over while I got on with languages and some blogging. For lunch I had a banana and an apple, then I got picked up at 1pm by Phuong’s Transfers (as usual) for my trip to physio in Dong Hoi. The physio went well and the trapped nerve in my lower leg was getting slightly more bearable when they pressed it, but only just.
When I got home I was greeted by a bottle of chilled bubbles and a very tasty chicken dinner, made by a badly barbered Captain Caveman. For dessert we had rice pudding again, it was becoming a favourite, even though the milk definitely made my stomach bad.

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The week started well and on Monday 16th November I got confirmation that my visa had been extended until the 9th December, which I was grateful for even though it would cost quite a bit. Phuong was going to his brother-in-law’s wedding today and wouldn’t be available so I booked Le to go to Dong Hoi for physio. Tatas was off to the dentist in Dong Hoi and so we arranged for her to get picked up first. I’d not seen her for such a long time and so it was good to catch up on the way. When I got to physio it was still lunch time as I was 20 minutes early so I just waited, while doing some Vietnamese on Duolingo. Le picked me back up at 4pm as we had to get back to Phong Nha where Captain Caveman was taking me out for dinner. Veronika joined us for food at Phong Nha Farmstay where there was some excitement – the menu was being put on a QR code which you scan with your phone, instead of being passed a menu to read. Veronika ordered the Banh Xeo (a crispy pancake) with seafood and I took a video of how it should be eaten, the two of us had a pizza each and we all shared a bottle of red wine. I managed to eat all of my pulled pork and pesto pizza, the first one I’ve had at the Farmstay and I really enjoyed it but was so full!

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Photos at Phong Nha Farmstay with Captain Caveman, Bich & Veronika

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Captain Caveman was off on a one day kayaking trip in the jungle with work on Friday 13th November. He left before I even got out of bed and we arranged to meet at The Villas at 6pm. I had sourdough with butter for breakfast and then decided not to eat anything else until I was at The Villas later because it was the infamous Pizza Night. I posted a request on a couple of Facebook groups to say I was on the look out for a Honda Cub 50cc and to let me know if any were for sale – until I was able to ride it, Captain Caveman would use it. Phuong picked me up for my usual trip to Dong Hoi for more physio. My session went well and I had 2 therapists working on my leg at once.  Afterwards I got dropped off at Victory Road Villas in readiness for the 6pm start of the all you can eat pizza night. Captain Caveman and his colleagues arrived and were pleased to have spotted monkeys on their trip. Everyone sat at the big table outside, the weather was still warm, and Manu and the staff kept the pizzas coming, I also had a couple of margaritas which were excellent. It was a good night and we were very full. Captain Caveman and I went back on his motorbike and it was a bit colder than usual, before bed we had a whisky nightcap.

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Typhoon Vamco was on its way to central Vietnam and on Saturday 14th November we wouldn’t have known it – it was definitely the calm before the storm. The weather seemed absolutely fine, the new car port metal structure was finished and the staff were working on tidying up the place. The storm was now a level 14 out of 17 and was due to directly hit Danang at 4pm. Curfews were in place in that area, flights were cancelled, beaches closed. I made the mistake of eating both egg and yoghurt for breakfast, both of which were making me have a dodgy stomach, so I didn’t know which was the offensive food. I had tortilla and then yoghurt with frozen berries which took a while to defrost. For lunch I had more tortilla and some bread but was fine so I deduced yoghurt was the culprit. In the afternoon we went for a walk round the block and I wrapped up warm, even wearing socks with my porter sandals, like the cavers do. I managed to complete the same 500m walk in only 15 minutes this time and so was 7 minutes quicker than my first attempt at it. On the way we noticed that Duyet and Co were propping up trees and tying them down in readiness for any destruction. When we got back we shared some peanut  M&Ms and Veronika had returned from a very stormy Hue – she couldn’t believe how calm it was here, compared. It was pork stew for dinner, after sharing a bottle of fizz.

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We woke up to it raining on Sunday 15th November but there were no signs of the typhoon here in Phong Nha yet. Further south in Hue, Hoi An and Danang they were already suffering the beating of the winds and heavy rains and a few people we knew had been evacuated to hotels. During the morning the rain got a little heavier and the paddy field opposite Elements Collection was definitely starting to fill up. I had tea and toast for breakfast and then planned to have a cosy day indoors with a book to read, but I never got round to that. For lunch Captain Caveman warmed us up some left over stew which we had with cheese on toast – mine was Red Leicester which is one of my favourite cheeses to have on toast. By 1.30pm the storm was here and it was quite powerful. The precarious tree out the back was ready to fall and I kept watching it, I went away leaving Captain Caveman to get a video of it if it fell and when I came back he hadn’t even noticed it fall onto our phone wire – he was on his phone and missed it. I took various videos of what was now a heavy storm and it really did go deadly still when the eye of it was over us, which was very strange. One of the baby geckos was on the balcony looking relieved to be alive and we tried to encourage it in, I named him Nâu (meaning Brown).
We had fried rice for dinner and by 7pm the storm had passed and we were back to normal.

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I finally got to sleep for as long as I wanted on Thursday 12th November and it felt good! For breakfast I had toasted, buttered, sourdough with no ill effects and I was really enjoying eating bread again. I later had some homemade rice pudding (with jam) and it made me ill straight away. Building work had started that morning on building a carport outside and Ky, the dog, was hoping to get an upgrade to a proper kennel.

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Captain Caveman collected some freshly made bread from the Lake House which he divided in to three batches; eat now, put in the fridge and freeze the rest. While I was at my desk he made tortilla so we enjoyed a picnic dinner with the fresh bread and it was so good. The weather forecast wasn’t too bad for tomorrow here in Phong Nha but the warnings of the forthcoming Vamco typhoon were coming thick and fast – it was already in the East sea. I knew we had a solid roof over our heads and we would be safe in the storm but it was concerning for all those who were still not recovered from the last lot of flooding.

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I managed to cause a bit of a stir in the online world by posting a blog, on a Facebook group, which I wrote a year ago about what I was up to in Dalyan, Turkey. I mentioned some activities which had some of the dirty minded readers in a bit of a tizzy – even the administrator received complaints!
(Here it is if you want to read it: https://joloyolo.com/2019/12/17/dalyan-the-2nd-week-in-november/).

I listened to some of my favourite songs on my playlist and decided to send the link to my parents so they could use it to play ‘name that tune’ if they got bored during lockdown. (If you want to use it too, here’s the link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgSPaXgAdzE&list=PLlwMo1hGqQevyx35aIr39ndtwbmxvtXFa&index=48).
All in all, it was just an average Thursday in Phong Nha but I was looking forward to a busier weekend!

Photo credit Captain Caveman and the Lake House resort.

Our  alarm went off at 6am on Wednesday 11th November and Phuong (of Phuong’s Transfers) picked both Captain Caveman and I up at 6.45am. This meant we had just about enough time for breakfast at Mr Bull’s where all three of us ordered the Bo Ne (beef and eggs) and Captain Caveman had my egg, Phuong my bread and I just ate the beef and onion. It tasted amazing and I’m now a big fan of Mr Bull’s. We left Captain Caveman there with his coffee while Phuong drove me to physio, which I was now late for.

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While I had 2 men working on my leg Captain Caveman went off shopping for provisions. I saw photos on Facebook of Hoi An showing more floods so we were lucky this time to be spared. After physio I decided I needed a second breakfast/early lunch so we went to Tree Hugger. They have brown rice new on the menu so I had the beef rice plate with brown rice and a peppermint tea. Captain Caveman had an egg sandwich (obviously) and Phuong just had a coffee. I was missing eating most of my meals at Tree Hugger and I really enjoyed our visit.

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Back home I had a busy afternoon as I decided to apply for more online jobs, it was getting a bit tricky not knowing what would happen in 2021 and I needed to replenish funds. I came across an online company doing artificial intelligence tasks which I registered for, took the training course and started working on – the tasks are online and it would do as a part-time job until I find something more substantial. I finished the afternoon off with some Vietnamese language lessons. For dinner Captain Caveman made a nice chicken dish which we had with rice and green beans – we shared a bottle of red wine too. Tomorrow I was hoping for a lay in!

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Captain Caveman decided that we wouldn’t have breakfast together on Tuesday 10th November and instead he went for coffee at Tree House cafe (formerly Capture cafe) and petted a nice puppy. As I was left at home I treated myself to another crisp sandwich, this time with balsamic vinegar flavour, for breakfast. I was looking a bit rough and tired so I decided to have a bit of a pamper after my hot shower and put on some moisturiser – I left it on as a facemask to soak in and it felt really nice. I put lavender moisturiser and socks on my feet and some nice hand cream I bought in Dong Hoi on my hands and elbows. By the time Captain Caveman got back for lunch I was looking loads better and feeling good. He made us asparagus with salami and parmesan for lunch which was really tasty and then I made some rice pudding for a mid afternoon treat, I even had jam in mine. Duyet and Co came and moved our fridge back in to the kitchen (now that the floods had gone)so now we had 2 fridges, which made it easier for the weekly shop. After a bit of work on the laptop, which I had finally got out so that I could brush up my CV, and register on some online job sites, it was already wine o’clock. Captain Caveman and I shared a bottle of red and he cooked pasta with salami and peppers. We didn’t manage a walk today because of the rain but I did my exercises and then accidentally noticed I could almost bend my bad leg enough to cross my legs!

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Phuong was busy on Monday 9th November so he arranged for another driver, Le, to pick me up at 6.45am to go to my physio session in Dong Hoi. Captain Caveman came with me as he needed to go to the bank and then planned to do some shopping. Today was no ordinary Monday in my little world; my current visa had expired, Oxalis Adventure had restarted their tours and (shockingly) D-Dub was leaving Phong Nha and not just in a normal way. He had decided to walk to his next home town of Danang which is almost 300km away. He was doing Movember and donating the money to charity which we hadn’t yet donated to because we had missed his party at Momma D’s on Saturday. He was leaving Phong Nha early so we decided to keep a look out for him in either direction so we could say bye. We also decided we would go to Danang to see D-Dub, he’s such a nice bloke and easily in the top 3 of eligible blokes in town. After physio I was hungry, thirsty and needing a pee so we decided to go to Tree Hugger for breakfast. I had a delicious peach tea and ordered fried veggie spring rolls while, of course, Captain Caveman devoured an egg sandwich. Le, the driver, came back to pick us up and I took 3 leftover spring rolls home.

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On the way back I had almost forgotten to look for D-Dub when Captain Caveman reminded me, I looked out the window and we had just zoomed past him. We shouted stop, Le did, and Captain Caveman ran back to donate money from us and Veronika and say bye. It was too far for me to walk so I waited by the car and asked for a photo – I should have given him my remaining spring rolls in case he was peckish. Instead I had them for lunch and then bugged Captain Caveman to come for a walk round the block with me.

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Veronika walked with us to the end of the road and then she walked to the Farmstay and we went the same route as last time, round the block. I did ok and just had one set back when my knee needed a bit of a rub to keep it going but, overall, I was pleased with the slow progress. I took 20 minutes to walk on dry ground for 500 metres.

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I was also peckish when we got back so I decided to have a crisp sandwich for a snack. We shared a bottle of fizz and Captain Caveman made a beef stew with peppers and potatoes for dinner. He was off to Phong Nha village the next morning so we planned to have breakfast at The Villas because I hadn’t had pho for breakfast for a whole month and it’s one of my favourites.

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On Friday 6th November, after getting up at 6.15am, going to physio for a couple of hours and then coming back to a late breakfast of fruit and yoghurt I had a mini health scare. I had a really bad stomach and, to spare you the details, thought I may have signs of bowel cancer but it turns out too much red dragon fruit can give you the impression you are passing blood in a dimly lit bathroom! An hour later I was fine, feeling hungry again and had drawn the conclusion that yoghurt just isn’t for me! I made a tub of popcorn and I watched some house programme with Captain Caveman before my zoom call with Ruth. My second online session with Ruth went well apart from me needing the toilet half way through and not being able to walk on my tip toes at all. Following our call she went away and followed it up with an exercise plan which I received while I was out.
Ben, Bich, the kids and all the Farmstay guests picked up the 3 of us and the 5 neighbours and we had a full sunshine bus to The Villas for all you can eat pizza. When we arrived a large table was set up ready for us all and it was pouring with rain. The staff came out with umbrellas and I was helped up the wet steps. Captain Caveman and I  shared a bottle of wine and the pizzas were excellent. The night went well and we all had a great time. I checked my exercise plan from Ruth which looked impressive and I decided to start it tomorrow, not after a wine or two!

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Captain Caveman had to work on Saturday 7th November and so he was up and about early. Corona stats in Europe were becoming even more worrying as the UK was now ranked 8th for cases and still in 5th place for deaths. Turkey was in 26th for cases and 21st for deaths but Turkey was not in lockdown and bars were all still open until 10pm. In Vietnam we rarely get news about Europe but today there were concerns about the increase in deaths there. In Vietnam the news of the floodings continued and Hoi An was affected again quite badly. Here we were lucky again and things were back to normal for a bit longer. I was eager to start my new exercise plan which would cover the next 2 weeks and I got straight in to it. I found the exercises all very challenging except for the one where I had to lay on my side and lift up my leg, but she did say I would. Because the day was racing on, and the cleaners were in the kitchen, I had orange juice, snickers and jasmine tea for a very late breakfast and Captain Caveman was back in time for lunch. We had fresh sourdough bread – one piece with raspberry jam on and the other with peanut butter for me and I suspect he had marmite involved with his.
While I got on and did some ‘work’ in the afternoon Captain Caveman watched house programmes then russelled up a mushroom risotto for dinner. We had company in the evening when Hien and Bich came round with wine and nibbles. It was a lovely evening with lots of laughs and some nice wine.

If you’re interested in how Vietnamese News writes about Europe , check this out:
https://vietnaminsider.vn/coronavirus-deaths-in-the-europe-surge-past-300000/

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I woke on Sunday 8th November to news that Trump had lost the American election and was now contesting the votes! Captain Caveman was off early to work as he was off on a set up trip in Tu Lan, ready for the start of the Oxalis Adventure tours the next day. I got up early and decided to make a beef stew – frying beef before I’d eaten breakfast was a bit odd but I got it done and then went to the Farmstay. Melissa and the family were already there and were occupying a rather lovely and massive sofa in front of the fire so I joined them for breakfast. I decided I would really put the apparent cure of gluten intolerance to the test by having American pancakes with honey. Aaliyah was already eating her’s and they did look good so I ordered them with a juice and a green tea. I really enjoyed them and I was ok for maybe 30 minutes after eating them but then I had the usual gluten effects. When Captain Caveman got back from work we opened a bottle of red wine and ate some of the beef stew with sourdough bread, it tasted nice but the Vietnamese don’t do great beef and I found it had too much sinew in to be able to eat it. It did have carrot, potato, onion and mushrooms in so I mainly ate that. I did my exercises before bed and was pleased to manage 36 seconds of standing on my bad leg (with my eyes open) – that was more progress.

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Photo credit – The Villas for the pizza night photos

I woke up at 7am on Monday 2nd November and decided it was too early for me to get up yet so I went back to sleep. I had incredibly odd dreams and eventually woke again at a lazy 9.30am (in Vietnam it is like getting up in the afternoon if you get up at that time). I was still in the shower when the cleaners arrived and as I came out, luckily in my robe, they were already stripping the bed and dusting. Captain Caveman and Veronika were already at the Farmstay and I was meant to follow as soon as I was ready but I couldn’t get changed while the cleaners were busy in my room with the curtains open so I took the opportunity to learn some Vietnamese. When I eventually joined the others I impressed myself by being able to get up the steps and in to the restaurant area, it was busy; the neighbours were all there, Bich, Ben, the kids, staff and deliveries were happening. Building work had started to continue and Ben had got help from Remy, Howie and Thi. Captain Caveman had been waiting for me to arrive to order breakfast and so he went for sausages and scrambled eggs, I had toast and an orange juice. It was quite sunny and I didn’t need my hoodie on, it was hard to believe that last month it had been so deep underwater. It was getting to lunch time and Howie was having a cheesecake which looked amazing so I ordered one – it was definitely impressive. When it was time to leave I managed to get down the 4 steps by myself, even though Bich and Captain Caveman were on standby to help. That was the first time I’d done that many bigger steps in a row, without a handrail and going down them – I was really pleased with more progress! In the afternoon I learned more Vietnamese, watched more of, the now extremely odd, The Haunting of Bly Manor.
Instead of cooking, Captain Caveman and I decided to have a chicken combo delivery from East Hill. The food was great and I really enjoyed my dinner, I didn’t even leave any!! Captain Caveman had a couple of beers and I had a cider with mine. Because the food comes wrapped in banana leaf and in a paper bag there is no washing up to be done and is very good for the environment!! We did save the chicken bones so that Captain Caveman could make a stock for another day. Before bed I did the rest of my exercises and found that I could do most of them except for squats, which hurt my good leg and standing on one leg – I only managed 20 seconds this time.

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There wasn’t much happening on Tuesday 3rd November for me. I had toast with butter for breakfast and for lunch Captain Caveman made hot dogs (no bread) with mustard and ketchup and we had a bit of a treat with some orange juice – we only usually drink water (or alcohol). The weather wasn’t good, it was grey and rainy and so I attempted more languages, blogging and The Haunting of Bly Manor on Netflix (I was now on the penultimate episode). In the afternoon I ended up eating sweets and crisps but for dinner I did us some fried rice and then was ever so adventurous by springing a dessert on Captain Caveman. He doesn’t like sweet things (unless it’s cheesecake or carrot cake once in a while) so he didn’t look too impressed. However, what I had managed to do was make an amazing rice pudding with the wrong ingredients, the condensed milk I had mistook for evaporated milk and thought I would use it in the rice pudding. I cooked the rice in the cooker as normal and then added some condensed milk and normal milk and cooked it for a few minutes. It was fantastic and reminded me of ambrosia rice pudding from back home and we had it with raisins in. Captain Caveman actually ate all of his and enjoyed it. I messaged Mom to tell her, as it reminded me of Dad who had just got back from an appointment. He now wanted her to make him some rice pudding!!

Wednesday 4th November should have been the day I renewed my residency in Turkey. Unfortunately it can’t be done when not in the country and so it meant I had to lose it, go back as a tourist and hopefully reapply next time I am there. I had toast for breakfast, Captain Caveman had a feast with his toast! I did some Vietnamese and renewed my Turkish health insurance so that it didn’t lapse and I would still be covered for my leg if I needed to claim. Friends in Turkey were on messenger helping me sort it out which was reassuring. We had a picnic lunch and then I finished The Haunting of Bly Manor and although it was quite annoying I did quite like it. Captain Caveman was in charge of dinner and made me gluten free pasta with veg and salami and parmesan cheese – it was very good. I had an apple and we shared a bottle of red wine, I did my exercises before bed but couldn’t stand on one leg or do the squats at all!!

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It was an early start on Thursday 5th November! My alarm went off at 6am and Phuong, from the very punctual Phuong’s Transfers, was picking me up to go to Dong Hoi at 6.45am. I was very lucky to get an early physio appointment at 7.30am and I went in to the hot treatment room for the first time in over 2 weeks. Because of the bad weather and me having had a skin infection, then a cold, I had not been able to make the physio sessions. I was glad to get back but was nervous that it might be more painful. I managed just 90 minutes of being pummelled while Captain Caveman and Phuong went for breakfast at Mr Bull’s and the therapy was less painful in parts but more in others – I confirmed for another session the next day. The weather was ok in Dong Hoi and Phong Nha at the moment but further south tropical storm Goni was on it’s way, ‘at risk’ people were being evacuated in large numbers and it didn’t look good for Hue, Danang and Hoi An.
Back home I had tortilla and picnic stuff for my late breakfast, while Captain Caveman headed over to Phong Nha and the Glass House. For lunch I had toast with butter and still had suffered no gluten issues. When Captain Caveman returned he decided it was warm enough for a dip in the pool, it was sunny but still too cold for me to join him. I had started to do some research in to trading currencies and Blockchain because Melissa had started a new investment about a month ago and was raving on about it, I wanted to know more of what it was all about.
We decided it was my turn to cook so when I asked Captain Caveman what he would like he said ‘do something different!’ so I did.
I made an Arabic dish, Mujaddara, which I felt he would have tried before on his extensive travels. It’s a simple dish made with rice, lentils, onions and yoghurt and it turns out that you don’t really need a lot of it to feel full – it’s also very budget friendly and easy to do in the rice cooker. I thought it tasted nice and Captain Caveman, who had never tried it before, would have preferred it as a side dish rather than a main meal. We also had quite a bit spare, even though I adapted the recipe to a smaller quantity and a couple of gins were had to wash it down with. While we watched some house programme on Netflix we shared some dark chocolate for dessert.

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It had been my first October spent in Phong Nha, the last 3 years I had been in Turkey during the winter time and I have never stayed in Vietnam during the wet season. Last month went pretty quickly for me, and I was about to spend my first November in Vietnam, which I guess is mainly out of choice but partly because to go back to the UK would then mean I would not be let back in to Vietnam, or other safe countries, for an unknown amount of time. My parents have being staying at home in England since January so I even if I could get back I wouldn’t want to risk catching the virus on my way back and passing it to them. There is not really an option to go to Turkey either as the flights are not available and any indirect flight I could maybe get would probably cancel or cost far too much. So, I had resigned myself to a winter in Phong Nha but was managing to keep busy.
While the world reached 46.3m Corona cases and 1.2m Corona related deaths on Sunday 1st November, we had woke up to news updates that the UK prime minister had implemented a lockdown to take effect from the 5th November in England. This would not include going to work, school and essential shops – the duration would be for 1 month. This made sense to me as the UK was now 9th in the world for number of cases and 5th for deaths. People from England were still welcome in Turkey but the UK insisted on a 14 day self managed isolation upon returning back home. Turkey was in a better position than the UK, though, so it was surprising that no restrictions had been imposed by Turkey yet. Turkey was 23rd in the world and 21st for deaths but, although people were asked to wear masks and some curfews were in place, they were not in a lockdown position.
In Phong Nha it was sunny and a good breezy day for towel drying while I had bread and butter for breakfast in bed. I spent the morning learning Turkish and pondering over some information on global Forex investments (as you do). For lunch we had tortilla with picnic food. I made a pork, lentil and cider stew in the rice steamer and ended up making quite a big batch of which we had half for dinner and the rest we would freeze. I also managed all my exercises including 31 seconds of standing on my bad foot, the longest I had managed so far.

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