Phong Nha – April 15th, day 15 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 15th, day 15 of social distancing

Wednesday 15th April was Vietnam’s proposed last day of the 15 day social distancing methods and #STFAH. We were all waiting in Phong Nha for the news on if we would be having an extension or if tomorrow would be the first day of freedom. The evening before I had spoken to my parents who were still doing their lockdown and were healthy in the UK. It was good to speak to them but worrying that there still looked no end in sight for when normality could resume for them. I told them I expected we would have to extend our measures here and stay at home for at least another week. It was also 3 months since I’d arrived in Vietnam and looked likely I would be here for a lot longer than planned. The temperature was a moderate 27° while I read the news and it was a cloudy day with a maximum 32° expected. Vietnam now had 266 cases of Corona, Turkey had reached 65,000 and the UK over 93,000. There were still no deaths in Vietnam, Turkey were over 1,400 and the UK had exceeded 12,000. To put it in perspective the UK still had less than 0.2% of their population dead from the virus. In Vietnam there were more recoveries reported bringing the total to 169 (just over 63% recorded recoveries) which was promising.
We had Spanish omelette for brunch (I still don’t like eggs but forced it down) and the usual earl grey tea. For lunch Captain Caveman wasn’t hungry so we just had crisps to eat followed by white russians.
I received an email back from the consular which was of a generic nature but it had some FAQs which you may find interesting. I certainly didn’t realise that visitors to Vietnam who were from the UK were being advised to go back to the UK as soon as possible but I didn’t feel now would be a good time to take my chances.
The announcement finally came later in the day that the Vietnamese Prime Minister would relax existing measures in low risk provinces. Phong Nha is in the low risk province of Quang Binh so we were lucky to be told the new rules for us were as follows: masks and the 2 metre social distancing to be observed, maximum number of people in a room together to be 20, with maximum of 10 people in an outside gathering, for example a queue or being outside an office, shop or school. We were still to use the NCOVI app and not travel between provinces unless essential and transport between places would still be restricted. In other cities and provinces they were continuing lockdown or social distancing and staying at home until at least the 22nd April.
We were very lucky and we were free to go ‘out out’ from tomorrow! We ordered takeaway from Vung Hue and watched a film. The Snowman which had Michael Fassbender, Val Kilmer and JK Simmons in, was about the disappearance of a woman and was ok but we were still a little shocked that life was about to return to normal from tomorrow!

Phong Nha – April 14th, day 14 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 14th, day 14 of social distancing

There was more faffing around with the visa forms on Tuesday 14th April but I’m hoping that the info Ai was able to give (saying I was registered here until the end of the month) was adequate – I would find out in one week’s time. I checked in on my NCOVI app and looked at the Vietnam virus data of the previous day. There had been 265 cases, no deaths and 146 recovered (55%) but there was still over 2 million cases in the world. I had some Spanish omelette, cheese and an earl grey tea for breakfast while Captain Caveman tucked into his marmite and peanut butter chapati.
The most exciting thing to happen on this day wasn’t as rivetting a read as what we should have been doing on a Junk Boat in Ha Long Bay, but it did cheer me up. Gertie, the gecko, was on the floor underneath our wardrobe and when I called her she was looking at me. Geckos don’t usually sit on the floor in the day time so I was worried something was wrong and called Captain Caveman to take a look at her. I think one of us had been a little careless with a cocktail because when Captain Caveman went to touch her, she moved her front legs really fast but couldn’t move because her tail was stuck. He managed to free her and she ran off (with her tail still intact) and then he cleaned the sticky beverage spill up.
In the afternoon I had a couple of gin and salted lime drinks with some crisps (for lunch) and I emailed the Consular in Vietnam to let them know that I was applying to extend my visa and that I didn’t intend to be requesting a rescue flight home, I didn’t expect a response.
In the evening we had left over curry (yet again) and watched a film called The Last Thing He Wanted which started Willem Dafoe, Anne Hathaway and Ben Affleck – it was ok, if a little confusing.

Phong Nha – April 13th, day 13 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 13th, day 13 of social distancing

After the Vung Hue leftovers for breakfast on Monday 13th April it was all about getting the necessary information for my visa extension sorted. My passport was already in Hanoi awaiting the reopening of the immigration and agencies on the 15th, hopefully, to be able to process it.
We tuned in to Murat’s play list again and he played us Lust for Life by Iggy Pop and Born Slippy by Underworld. Captain Caveman decided to make a Spanish omelette and Momma D brought out a new social distancing menu for delivery, which included wine and cheese, so I was happy.
I took a look at the Corona virus data which showed that the USA now had over half a million cases, the UK over 84,000 and Turkey had reached 56,000. Turkey did have some good news in that, despite over 1,000 deaths, they had recorded 3,000 recoveries. Worryingly the UK now had surpassed 10,000 deaths but were still not able to show any more recoveries and remained on 344, which seemed odd.
In the evening I completed more lessons on Duolingo, we had Namaste for dinner again and then watched a couple of films on Netflix. The Gambler which was a bit strange but quite good and Gangster Squad which was great if you like gratuitous violence and gangster films. Rumours filled Facebook that the Vietnamese lockdown would be extended by either one more week or until the end of the month, there were reports that a number of provinces had agreed to extend and so we assumed that we wouldn’t be going anywhere on or after the 15th. When China had started letting people ‘return to normal’ there had been an increase in cases which Vietnam did not want to risk happening here.

Phong Nha – April 12th, day 12 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 12th, day 12 of social distancing

I was able to sleep in until 8:15am on Sunday 12th April, which back home was Easter Sunday. We had leftover vegan food for breakfast while listening to The Stone Roses, I am the Resurrection, and then we had a Snickers each. We listened to Murat’s playlist again and this time he played us Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones and Proud Mary by Credance Clearwater Revival and I danced to both. We had a busy afternoon because there was a family conference call booked in at 4pm with Captain Caveman’s parents, siblings and nephews. We got the tripod and the last bottle of wine out and got seated for the catch up. It was good to see everyone and the new addition to the family, they were doing well in Belgium, Spain and England and we chatted on for about an hour.
We decided, with it being a Sunday, to have a nice film in the afternoon and we watched Trainspotting 2, which I’d been waiting to see. I really enjoyed it and it reminded me of how shocking the original was, back in the day.
In the evening we ordered a takeaway from the Vung Hue and it was delicious; cabbage, veggie fried rice and the amazing pork ribs (which Captain Caveman shovelled in greedily while they were still very hot). I had a couple of ciders and then we had another conference call with some of the Berlin 10 at 8pm. We were getting in to the swing of the zoom app now, although having to scroll between screens on the phone to see everyone was tricky from the tripod. It was nice to see everyone in the UK trying to keep positive, even the friends who have had to postpone their weddings still had smiles on their faces! We also learned that the people with iPhones could change their backgrounds while on zoom, but we couldn’t. Being 6 hours ahead in Vietnam made it a bit tricky but the others forced themselves to have afternoon beers. After the call we were tired and so had an early night ready for a busy Monday.

Phong Nha – April 11th, day 11 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 11th, day 11 of social distancing

When I woke up on Saturday 11th April Captain Caveman had sent me a photo which he had taken in the bathroom – it was Gertie the gecko. I had a rice cracker with laughing cow cheese for breakfast and then tried some peanut butter, but wasn’t keen. Captain Caveman had his usual of marmite and peanut butter on leftover chapatis and I checked the Corona virus stats. The cases in the UK were soaring with now more than 73,000 cases and ranking 7th in the world, Turkey had already reached 47,000 cases and were 9th. Vietnam were lucky and had reached only 250 cases now, with no deaths as yet. The USA was second to Italy in the number of deaths but the UK were 5th in the world with over 9,000 and Turkey had reached over 1,000 deaths and were 12th. In terms of recoveries China was still first and it looked likely that their lockdown may be coming to an end soon, Turkey had 2,400 recoveries but the UK still were only reporting 135 recoveries. I saw a news article which said that the UK didn’t have enough equipment to do their jobs properly, meaning hospital staff were likely to catch the virus. I’d also seen a Facebook post of someone proudly displaying a letter from Boris Johnson – it had far too many ‘shoulds’ in the wording for my liking.
After breakfast we tuned in to Murat’s playlist over Facebook – this guy is a friend and neighbour in Dalyan, Turkey, and has decided to do a bit of DJ-ing so we had a listen and he played us a couple of songs; including Purple Rain by Prince. Captain Caveman had the job of sorting out the TV and connecting it to the internet while I did more Turkish lessons, followed by a few white russians each.
In the evening we had a tasty meal from Phong Nha Vegan where we had something different in addition to some usual dishes – tofu in tomato sauce (excellent) and eggplant stew (a winner). Then it was our first movie night so we settled down in our newly layed out TV area and watched Friday 13th. Captain Caveman is so funny when he jumps at the scary bits and he made me jump more than the film. We watched a second film, not having had a TV since buying one in Turkey meant we were excited, which was The Nice Guys – another good film.

Phong Nha – April 10th, day 10 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 10th, day 10 of social distancing

On Friday 10th April we were at the start of our second weekend of social distancing measures and had successfully coped with 10 days of the #STFAH regime.
I’d definitely drank less alcohol than I would when I could go out to a bar but I had certainly eaten much more unhealthy food.
For breakfast I had a rice cracker with cheese and a herbal tea (all of which were running low on stocks now). While I did some writing and a couple of Turkish tests (I now had some English friends from Dalyan competing on the Duolingo app with me) Captain Caveman got busy with more jobs at home. He hung a framed photo (on an existing screw) by Marcus Lacey of a train on the Long Bien bridge and he cleaned a section of the fridge and all of our glass straws. Captain Caveman was getting a bit twitchy that we both needed some exercise – it had escaped his notice that I had not needed exercise for years! I pumped up a neglected bluey and we set off on a long route via the road to nowhere in what was now getting a bit sunny and sweaty, especially wearing a mask. At the market we bought all the essentials we could fit in my basket; toilet duck, washing up liquid, washing powder, an onion, rice crackers, laughing cow cheese and a dish sponge for washing pots. We stopped at our favourite Shop and Go and got some Snickers and a bottle of (risky) wine – well it was the Easter weekend. We saw at least 10 policemen around the town centre and the church plus more police were doing the rounds checking up on people and businesses. I counted 18 in total and we were told it was to prevent the church holding forbidden Easter services. On the way back we popped in to Oxalis and I decided to have a beer (yes,with gluten in it)! Captain Caveman and the Operations Manager spoke about work and then we had a TV delivered which we were borrowing, on the proviso that Captain Caveman had to do some presentation reviews. I had a packet of unopened earl grey tea (from a year or two ago) so I cracked them open to find they were still fine. I had left over onion bhajis and some raisins for lunch before grabbing a cold can from the fridge and trying something new. The cleaner had arrived so we went up on the roof for the first time this year, Seamouse and his girlfriend had gone out shopping so we both sat in his hammock and drank our drinks – two people our size in one hammock is not comfortable. It was a lovely day and we even saw an albino jumping spider, which I didn’t kill.
In the evening I caught Captain Caveman looking a bit shifty and tried to see what he was doing on his phone but he said it was a surprise and that he was ordering me a present from Hong Kong – I didn’t quite believe him and surmised he was up to something. Our friend D-Dub messaged to say he had been caught in town without a mask and had been fined by the police. Luckily they let him off with just 200,000vnd and gave him a free mask, however that could be a couple of days pay for a local. We opened the wine from Shop and Go and I realised it was the same one we had bought in Dong Hoi – it wasn’t great but we would manage – and it meant we still had one bottle left for Sunday! We finished off the evening with more left over Indian and another glass of wine or two.

Phong Nha – April 9th, day 9 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 9th, day 9 of social distancing

On Thursday 9th April we decided to go for a cycle to Oxalis so that Captain Caveman could check on something work related. I took advantage of being able to have a pho ga for breakfast and a cold green tea while we were there. It was a beautiful day and the river looked so peaceful and picturesque. On the way back home we stopped off so that Captain Caveman could ask the cleaner to bring us a replacement water and clean both rooms the next day. Here in Phong Nha, no one drinks out of the tap and so we have to buy 20 litre containers from the water man – we are lucky to have Lung (the cleaner) who will collect it for us at a very small cost. For lunch we finished off the wine and vegan food from the night before and I learned more Turkish before having a couple of gins. Captain Caveman took on another home improvement job and turned our downlighters in to uplighters – it made such a difference too. In the evening we ordered curry (yet again) but I wasn’t getting bored of it. Raj at Namaste is easy to deal with and the food is definitely the best available to be able to eat some and keep some. Captain Caveman decided to pimp up his bicycle for the curry run, with it being so dark outside he needed extra lighting. He even found some cooler bags which he used to transport the food so that it was still piping hot. We finished off the evening with a whisky and had a little toast to our friend, Ally, who had gifted us the whisky. Ally was also meant to be returning from Japan to Vietnam this month but that was not about to happen because of the virus. Had things been going to plan I would have been in Hanoi right now, waiting for The Aussies to arrive the next day but that had been postponed until 2021.

Phong Nha – April 8th, day 8 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 8th, day 8 of social distancing

Things in the glass house (our home) had started to slide somewhat by Wednesday 8th April. While I ate a rice cracker and some raisins with a ginger tea, Captain Caveman was sat at the breakfast table with leftover pizza and a beer. It was still cool outside and a bit rainy. The ex-lodger/neighbour had several workmen fitting some railings on his balcony which would have been the envy of any of the Tiger King cast. We were slightly worried he’d have a tan with markings of a tiger by the time the summer came. At lunch I remembered why I had thought the chicken fried rice is best to be eaten fresh as it was quite congealed and not as good the next day – I picked out the chicken and sweetcorn and ate that. In the afternoon we opened the penultimate bottle of wine which was reckless, knowing we would only have one bottle left to last the next 6 days. In the evening we collected a slab of beer for Captain Caveman and a delicious meal from Phong Nha Vegan which I ate with some gluten free soy sauce given to me by Jo (the caver) when they left.
I decided it would be a good idea to download the latest series of Ozark to watch on Netflix, only to realise I never watched any of the second series.

Phong Nha – 30 things I Googled in week 1 of #STFAH

Phong Nha – 30 things I Googled in week 1 of #STFAH

Since the social distancing measures which started on the 1st April, here in Vietnam, I have used Google much more than I would have ordinarily. Here’s a list of everything I googled (30 of them), for those who like a list:

1. Gins, and what to drink with which ones.
2. Omar’s Namaste menu (several times).
3. Weather forecasts.
4. How long it takes ice cubes to freeze.
5. World Life Expectancy Corona virus statistics (often).
6. Populations of countries and cities.
7. Interesting facts about geckos (they sleep in the day and can lick their own eyes).
8. Difference between raisins and sultanas.
9. Yorkshire phrases and their meanings (because I said ‘I can’t get me hat off’).
10. The members of the band, Cream.
11. Dominic Cummings.
12. Dates of first cases of Corona virus in various countries.
13. Earthquake updates in Turkey.
14. English to Vietnamese translation.
15. English to Turkish translation.
16. Greenfly prevention.
17. Ant prevention.
18. JOLOYOLO YouTube playlist.
19. Ingredients of various Indian dishes (Malai kofte).
20. Name that tune presenter (Tom O’Connor).
21. Prince songs.
22. Utah Saints – why that name?
23. Indian food which is gluten free.
24. Quinine and its side effects.
25. Lionel Blair (don’t ask).
26. Oxalis Adventure.
27. Start of Ramadan 2020.
28. Drummer in The Stone Roses.
29. English to German translation.
30. English to Russian translation.

Photo by Captain Caveman

Here’s the next week of Google excitement for you: https://joloyolo.com/2020/04/27/googled-in-week-2-of-stfah

Phong Nha – April 7th, day 7 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 7th, day 7 of social distancing

It was one week since the current social distancing measures were enforced in Vietnam, on Tuesday 7th April and I didn’t look at the news or data first thing – it was getting a bit predictable now. There was good news in Phong Nha though, Andy (of Andy’s Disco Bar fame) had been innovative and come up with a new meal delivery option. We both ordered the chicken, fried rice and soup for 60,000vnd for lunch. It was really tasty and filling and we didn’t even save any for dinner. I found it went very nicely with an apple cider while Captain Caveman stuck with beer.
In the afternoon I checked in on the NCOVI app and then couldn’t help but look at the virus data. The good news was that the Vietnamese recovery rate had reached 50%, but the bad news was that the UK had reached over 5,000 deaths, which doesn’t sound half as bad if you look at it as a percentage of the whole population – still less than 1% of ‘preventable’ deaths to Corona. Germany had half as many cases as UK but had already recorded 36,000 cases recovered, whereas the UK still had only recorded that 135 people had recovered.
Captain Caveman wanted pizza for dinner so we had the delivery from Le Huyen (again) and I ate my chicken fried rice with a couple of white russians. We also noticed that George the gecko has a friend, Gertie, and a baby, Georgie, all of whom were doing their best to get down the green fly that evening. We also noticed that it had only been a week but Captain Caveman was down to the last of the beer (from a very full fridge).

Phong Nha – April 6th, day 6 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 6th, day 6 of social distancing

Although we had not had the storms and rain that had been forecast it had got a bit nippy on Monday 6th April, so much so that when we ventured out we wished we had taken a jacket – the temperature was 22°! The Corona virus data for the UK was pretty depressing and it looked likely that their lockdown, which should be finishing soon, would not be – we would later find out that Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the UK, who had been diagnosed with the virus on 27th March, was now in hospital at St Thomas’s in London! Vietnam’s recovery rate was still increasing and was at 39.4% with a mention of more being released in the next day or two, once their third test had come back negative. We needed to go to the market and so we stopped by the Coffee Station for our usual breakfast. In the market we picked up a few more essentials of potatoes and masks, we also looked for one of those things window cleaners use for cleaning windows but was unsuccessful – the windows at home were dusty and the front one still has the White Russian’s hand prints on them. There were a few police around in town checking that everyone was wearing masks and keeping to the social distancing rules. On the way home we stopped at a small shop and found 3 bottles of salted lime drink. Captain Caveman did more tidying of the wardrobes, this time sorting suitcases, bags and caving gear – he also fixed a door with an old shoelace (he’s handy like that)! I washed and sorted all the bedding we have and we even put the blanket back on in the spare room. I rediscovered a Christmas gift from when we were in Australia and popped my koalas on the wine glasses. Today would have been the day I started my Vietnamese lessons in Hanoi with Vietlesson so instead I gave Duolingo a try, I’d forgotten most of it.
That night while Captain Caveman watched Money Heist (or something like that) I continued with the documentary, Rotten, on Netflix. We had a couple of gins, his with tonic and mine with salted lime which went really well with the Rock Rose gin and leftover Namaste curry.

Phong Nha – April 5th, day 5 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 5th, day 5 of social distancing

By day 5 of social distancing in Phong Nha we had got in to a morning routine of checking the previous day’s news and Corona virus data. On Sunday 5th April the infected cases in Vietnam were 240 and the number of recoveries got to 90 – maybe there was a glimmer of hope that the curve was starting to flatten. However it turned out that the local Catholic church was abusing their position and flouting the rules. A lot of people in Phong Nha were very annoyed and were under the impression that the catholics and the priest were taking the piss – it was even in the news!
As it was a Sunday we didn’t expect that the virus stats would be updated accurately across the globe until Monday and so we got on with our day, trying to make the most of the bad situation and get some things off the to do list. For breakfast I managed to combine a small noggin of cheese with a rice cracker for a continental option and for lunch I had the leftover chicken fried rice, which I really should have eaten the night before. I brushed up on more Turkish, Captain Caveman did more tidying – he was now tackling electric cables, various wires and gadgets (all of which I had never seen before). When he’d finished he had unearthed a gem of a find; he’d only got a Bluetooth speaker which still worked and we promptly turned the room into a disco. The first song, rather ironically, that we had to Shazam was Barry Maguire’s Eve of Destruction which we got rid of and put on some more upbeat and danceable tunes. While the kids (now in bigger numbers) played hopscotch on our driveway we drank red wine and danced in daylight to the likes of Queen, Credance Clearwater Revival, The Stone Roses, The Doors and even a spot of Erasure. Captain Caveman took videos of me singing and dancing about and we even sent it to my parents and a friend who one of the songs reminded me of. In the evening we ordered a curry from Raj, at Namaste, and we even chanced a chicken pakoda which we shared amicably. The food was great as usual and we ordered enough to keep in the fridge for a day or two! I started watching a series on Netflix called Rotten which is really interesting – Josh had recommended watching episode 2 which focuses on allergies and was very enlightening for someone who’s allergic to 2 out of the 8 common allergens.

Phong Nha – April 4th, day 4 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 4th, day 4 of social distancing

I learned something new after breakfast on Saturday 4th April. Before that though I read the news and was upset to see that the UK now had a higher number of deaths than China and had still not recorded any further recoveries (currently only 135) – it was not looking good. There were a few cases appearing in Vietnam which were connected to previous cases which were outside of the 14 day period of potential contagiousness and I read that studies had shown that infected people could still be contagious for 8 days after they had recovered and were showing no signs. Without proper testing, tracing and stricter quarantine measures I could see little change happening in those countries on the increase any time soon. My NCOVI app reminded me to check and submit my health status, as we were both doing daily now.
I’d had a rice cracker and ginger tea for breakfast but was still a bit peckish so decided to give the pomelo ago. Now, I wish I’d taken photos to demonstrate my point here but once I’d committed to eating the said fruit my hands were just too sticky to stop. For those of you who haven’t seen or had one it’s a big, dark green, fruit not dissimilar to a grapefruit. The skin is much thicker and the colour of the fruit is a kind of pale pinkish. By the time I’d peeled it, it was already half the size and the first bite wasn’t good – it was tough, chewy and tasted of pith. I didn’t realise until I offered a piece to Captain Caveman that I was meant to peel the fruit fully out of the white skin. By the time I’d got cleaned up from the pomelo which, in conclusion, is nice but far too much work to be bothered with, it was almost lunchtime. We decided to have a cold can from the fridge and admire the view from the windows. Within 10 minutes of opening my can of dark fruits cider it was lashing down and we were glad we hadn’t nipped out for any exercise. We had leftover curry and more rice crackers for lunch, in the evening we tried a new place for food – Le Huyen had advertised her takeaway on the Phong Nha Visitors Facebook page and we decided to give it a try. Captain Caveman had pizza with beef, onion and pepper on and I had chicken fried rice. It was actually pretty good, cheap, delivered for free and we got free chips too.

Phong Nha – April 3rd, day 3 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 3rd, day 3 of social distancing

The weekend was certainly going to be an interesting challenge as I don’t think in all the time of being with Captain Caveman we have ever had to spend every minute of the day together for a whole weekend, let alone a week or more! On Friday 3rd April (day 3 of social distancing measures) I had the last of my gluten free cornflakes, which I had brought over from Turkey. I even jazzed them up with some raisins and the last of the sugar free milk, they were soggy but did the trick. We cycled to town for essentials; eggs, avocados, pomelo, sugar free milk (the last 2 cartons in the market), and couldn’t find any salted lime drinks. It was a bit damp out but while the rain eased off, and our cleaner did her magic, we called in to Oxalis so that Captain Caveman could check on something work related with the operations manager. While we were at Oxalis Home we ordered and shared lunch of chicken and cashew nuts which was really tasty and I had a mango smoothie. Captain Caveman managed to get down 3 beers as it started to rain so we waited it out.
We had the good news that my passport had been received in Hanoi and would be kept safely until places opened again to be able to carry out the visa extension. On the way back home we picked up our essentials from Momma D (with our masks on) and now had kahlua and rice crackers! In the afternoon Captain Caveman thought we would play a drinking game called Tubthumping. We drank a whisky drink, we drank a vodka drink, he drank a lager drink, I drank a cider drink. We sang songs that reminded us of the good times…. (you get the idea). In the evening we ate the leftover curry from Namaste and then chilled out – Captain Caveman watching Netflix and me starting more language refreshers on Duolingo. During the #STFAH it was good to see that all street lights in Phong Nha were off, saving money and discouraging any meet ups.

Phong Nha – April 2nd, day 2 of social distancing

Phong Nha – April 2nd, day 2 of social distancing

We decided to sleep with the front curtains open so that we could see the amazing views when we woke up on Thursday 2nd April. As it turned out there was lots of cloud covering the mountains and it was quite dull, it was still nice to see though. In the news there was a mention that there would be a clemency on tourist visas while we were all in social distancing and unable to travel, this meant that I didn’t need to extend my visa until after the 15th April – I hoped my passport,which I had posted on the 31st March, was still going to arrive safely in Hanoi though. I briefly read the news and the virus data was showing more and more deaths. The highest amount of deaths so far were in Italy, Spain, USA, France, then China. We had nothing in for breakfast so I had pho ga at Oxalis Home and then we went to the supermarket and the Shop & Go for some favourite/essential items (crisps mainly), wearing our masks obviously. The weather forecast had gone crazy, saying there would be thunder storms and rain for the foreseeable future but it wasn’t raining yet. For lunch Captain Caveman had a strange concoction of 2 day old pitta bread with marmite (best before 2017) and peanut butter on – watching him eat it made me feel sick. Luckily I had left over Phong Nha Vegan which was delicious and left over wine. We shared some crisps and I managed to perfect a new skill – crisp packet folding for the bin-space conscious! Momma D got in touch to say she was off to buy essentials in Dong Hoi and so we asked her for rice crackers and Kahlua and she agreed. Captain Caveman got on with sorting, decluttering and tidying the ‘miscellaneous’ cupboard which resulted in him storing similar items together in boxes – he even had a haberdashery box. I put our Le Mitchell loyalty cards in a safe place, hoping when all this virus stuff was over we would still be able to spend our 2 million dong at the Farmstay – or at least exchange it for wine/accommodation when it reopened.
After a bit of work we had a gin (him with tonic, me with orange twister) and decided to watch more Tiger King. Unfortunately my Netflix wouldn’t connect so he watched it and I did some writing. We ordered curry from Raj at Namaste again and this time I went for a chicken tikka masala with onion bhajis which was delicious. Captain Caveman had a paneer chana masala with chapatis and lamb samosas which looked amazing. Captain Caveman finished watching the whole series but I still couldn’t access Netflix and was behind on Tiger King, I finally finished it and definitely recommend watching it – it’s mental!