This day’s soundtrack deserves one of my favourite songs ever…..

Day 3 in Phong Nha would be my parents’ last full day in town. Captain Caveman was working for the day as part of the expedition team who were here exploring new caves while we decided to visit some of the places we still didn’t go to the previous day.

After breakfast at Ho Khnah’s we decided to walk down to the hairdressers (Onion’s) so that Dad could get a shave. For a small fee Onion does a very close shave which tends to make people look 10 years younger.

Next we walked to Oxalis and had drinks at the café overlooking the river before walking down in to town via a few bars/restaurants.

One of the nicest places we stopped that morning was Lucky Lucky, a Vietnamese run bar and restaurant with some wooden seating by the river.  They served us green tea and peanuts on the house and a couple of cold beers and a large bottle of water were very reasonably priced considering the remarkable river view.  The family who own this place are really welcoming to their home, which we used the bathroom of, is exceptionally clean and tidy. I made a note to let the others know we had found another new place to add to the list of places we can visit.

Our next call was nearer to the town centre and also a fairly new place, Coco House.  This place is a homestay as well as a bar and restaurant, situated on the river – it has some of the most stunning views and the owners are really friendly and welcoming too.  This time they had added hammocks to the shaded seating area and so mom spent some time relaxing in one until our snacks arrived. The beers were cold the sweet potato fries were pretty impressive too.

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Once in town we visited D’Arts restaurant and the sun had started to come out which meant we could sit in the comfy outdoor seats, made from pallets, with the pet dog.  Usually I enjoy the Bun Cha here but as we had already had peanuts and fries along the way we decided against a meal and plumped for 3 cold beers.

For lunch we ate a mixture of dishes at one of my old favourites, Bamboo Café. This is one of the long standing places in town and the owner is busy with lots of Eco conservation work, including recently rescuing a primate.  His famous eco-tours help to raise money and awareness for endangered monkeys that need rehabilitation. The food, drinks and staff in the café are also great. We also bumped in to one of Captain Caveman’s fellow expedition men, Brian, who joined us for lunch.  Brian was staying at a local hotel, the Thanh Dat (also newly named Elegant Hotel) which is not far from Bamboo Café, and is where a lot of the cavers tend to stay when they are based here looking for new caves.

Later we had arranged to meet Captain Caveman over at Easy Tiger, this was a place my parents remembered visiting last year – Dad and I even did a song together there a couple of years ago. It’s one of the biggest and busiest hostels/bar/restaurant in town and a huge hit with backpackers and local drinkers alike.  There is often live music from an extremely talented band who cover quite a few genres of music, they also do requests and are happy for people to get up and sing/play too. There is also a few happy hour deals that we managed to take advantage of before we headed off to the Indian restaurant, Namaste.

Namaste is relatively new in town and a welcome addition to the town, it has a very full menu so there’s lots of choice and one of my favourite starters is the fish pagoda. The food here is definitely on the spicey side so only Capain Caveman had spicey while we all stuck to medium or mild. More beers were had before we headed to the last place of the night, Little Vietnamese Restaurant.

This bar is one of our favourites for beers, it’s also a bit of a sports bar as the owner does his best to how important football matches as well as other sporting events.  It’s also one of the oldest bars in Phong Nha, previously called the Why Not? Bar.  The food is also pretty good with one of my favourites being the pepper pork with steamed rice. The owners are lovely and also know how to mix a strong gin & tonic.

Our taxi, booked once again through our friend Phuong, came to pick us up as arranged and we were quite merry.  I was also quite sad that tomorrow was going to be our last morning before we headed off to Dong Hoi for one last night before my parents left.

The song for today was an obvious choice seeing as both my parents love The Beatles as well as us all being on a day trip.

After popping over for a drink at Ho Khanh’s we were back in the house and waiting for our taxi – the sunshine bus as it would later be called. We always use our friend, Phuong, for booking the taxis as he’s really reliable, speaks good English and lives nearby. He has a business ‘Phong Nha Backacker Services’ too which can accommodate up to 8 passengers on half or full day tours to the various tourist attractions around Phong Nha and the National Park. While waiting for the taxi we had some entertainment from the neighbouring house who had set up some kind of water pump contraption outside the house, it looked like it could get messy and we had no idea what they were meant to be doing.

The rain had started and so we were glad we had a car to take us the 3km in to town for our first stop off – breakfast at the Thang Nhung restaurant. The Pork Shop, as we call it, is one of the best places to eat in town if you like pork. If you don’t like pork then it’s probably not for you, although the veggie dish of Tofu is pretty good. The pork bang mi and the pork fried rice are among my favourite meals in Phong Nha, the prices are very good and the drinks (from the shop next door) are cold. The people who own the Pork Shop are so lovely and the BBQ pork is outstanding.

After about an hour we got back in the taxi and travelled out of Phong Nha and turned left at the main road where we drove towards the Phong Nha Farmstay, calling on our way at The Lake House. My mom had been before a couple of years ago when we had spent the day in the pool, drinking cocktails and eating delicious food while my Dad had been on the 2 day Hang En cave trip with Oxalis.  This time the weather was cooler and there was a little rain so we sat inside with hot drinks and admired the view.

We had planned that we would have lunch and wine at the Farmstay and so that was our next stop, the taxi driver had a break while we looked about the place and chilled out. The food is always good at this place and so I went for the sausages (as did Dad and Captain Caveman), while mom went for seafood. We were the only customers so it was really nice to relax and have the place to ourselves, we even got to take lots of photos of the beautiful grounds and pool area with my new phone.

After lunch we got back inside the sunshine bus and headed back towards Phong Nha via the scenic route, calling in at the Bomb Crater bar. This is a fairly new addition to the area and is built next to the river besides a bomb crater, it’s a lovely bar that serves beer and spirits in a great location.  There were kayaks but due to the weather we decided just to have a drink and take a few photos.

Our next stop was Sy’s Homestay, a little further along the river road, nearer to the petrol station, set in the rice paddies. Sy and his family have a small homestay there which has some stunning views as well as selling cold beers.  As the rain was still a little drizzly we sat undercover next to the Booking.com sign of 9.4, later my Dad stood up quickly and knocked it  off so it now has a piece missing.

By this time the day trip had turned in to more of a pub/bar crawl but we still had more to do that evening.  We called in to Bamboo café, pointed out the fridge shop that sells pillows, bought some great T-shirts and a bag at Phuc Dat before heading over for our evening meal at Capture Café, one of the best eateries in town for western food and great wine. It was great to see all the staff and, as promised Giang had put lots of wine in the fridge for us.  At Capture we all had pizza but couldn’t finish it all so Captain Caveman was in charge of the takeaway boxes, we bought a bottle of wine to take home and headed back to the house where we were invited to a soiree at Veronika’s. Other cavers, friends and neighbours joined us for gin, wine or whisky and we got quite merry before heading to bed knowing that tomorrow Captain Caveman was working while we had more sights to see.

I chose this song as it represents coming home to Phong Nha, I doubt I will ever live in Alabama so it’s the nearest I’m going to get to Sweet Home Phong Nha – love a bit of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

We passed our house in Phong Nha, got out of the taxi at Ho Khanh’s, before popping over to Rustic Homestay for breakfast. Mom joined me and Captain Caveman with pork noodle soup while Dad had a bacon sandwich. The homestay is fairly new, it has delicious breakfast options and a few of the locals seem to now frequent. It’s owned by a local and has nice rooms to rent as well as being available for smoothies, beers and meals. It’s a few doors away from us so is very handy – my usual breakfast consists of the bun heo with a banana smoothie although I sometimes treat myself to one of the best bacon sandwiches in town.

After breakfast we took our bags to the house, where my parents would move in to the room next door to us (on the 2^nd floor). The weather was cool and a fine drizzle was in the air so we got some washing in, sent Captain Caveman off to buy pillows and we walked to down the main street towards Oxalis.

The Glass House – our home.

On the way we had a nosy at a new bar that is being built close to our house, Mountain Bar, owned by our friend, next door neighbour and landlord’s son. It still had workmen in there and we said hello and took a couple of pictures – this was going to be the first bar within walking distance to our house and looking like it would open sometime in May.

Mountain Bar – coming soon to Phong Nha

We continued our walk and it was evident that in the last 2 years there was so much building work going on, even at our end of the village. I pointed out my friend Vinh’s homestay that was also new and almost finished – a beautiful traditional wooden house, opposite the volley ball court, called Highway 20 Homestay.

By the time we had managed a beer at Oxalis it was time for lunch and so we ordered food. I went for one of my favourites there which is the chicken curry and it didn’t disappoint. My parents were impressed with the changes to the Oxalis Home and restaurant which has been improved over the last 2 years – the beach looked impressive but it was a little cool and drizzly for us to sit there so we sat under the shelter and admired the river view instead.

In the afternoon we headed back towards home but not before having a cold beer by the river over at Ho Khanh’s. My parents had stayed here previously a couple of years ago and so it was good to see how the gardens had flourished as well as the new buildings had shaped the place now.

In the evening I had arranged a bit of a welcome meal at one of my favourite places, Phong Nha River House. A meal was arranged for early evening with a mixture of western and Vietnamese friends, so we could welcome my parents. We ate mostly pork dishes which were amazing and we drank beers and wine while one of our friends managed to skype call from the jungle to say hello to my parents.

Because of the close proximity to our house the River House is also a great option for an evening meal in a quiet location, beside the river, just past the pineapple totem pole type structure. My parents were able to meet our friends, the owners Bom & Quet, as well as meeting Chubby and Milo (the resident pooches). We all enjoyed the great food and promised to go back for one of the delicious breakfasts in a few days’ time.

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After we said our goodbyes we stopped for a nightcap in our room and made plans for our Phong Nha taxi tour the next day. We had a lot of places to visit and so we would start early to make sure we could fit as many places in as possible.

I’ve chose this song as I’ve always liked a bit of Fatboy Slim and this particular track reminds me of the sound a train makes. I also think this version’s video is pretty quirky.

We left Mai Chau at noon, again by private transfer, and headed back to Hanoi. My mom and I both needed to get a new phone – I was still using my iphone 4s, which I’d gone back to when my 2 year old Oppo had decided that it no longer liked connecting to the internet.

We popped in to one of the Gio Di Dong shops in the Old Quarter and looked at phones while Captain Caveman popped to make a reservation for dinner at a nearby restaurant. After deliberating over different phones for some time we decided to both get the same and plumped for the Oppo A37.

Armed with a new phone with a pretty good camera we went to a rooftop bar for a couple of cold beers.

Dinner was at The Mediterraneo, near St Joseph’s Cathedral in Hanoi and was delicious. We even had free prosecco to celebrate their 25^th birthday, had great food and a good end to that part of our holiday before we headed to the station for our overnight train.

It was my parents’ first overnight train trip and we’d booked the soft sleeper so that all 4 of us were in the same compartment together. Captain Caveman and I had the top bunks while Ma & Pa had the bottom bunks. It cost around 500,000 VND each for the bed and the journey took about 9 or 10 hours.  I read for quite a bit and eventually went to sleep after midnight; my Dad had some dreams that caused him to shout out during the night which made me jump.  We arrived before 7am in to Dong Hoi, the nearest town to where Captain Caveman and I call home, got a taxi and arrived in Phong Nha by 8am. The first stop was obviously going to be breakfast, even before we had dropped off the luggage. It was going to be the start of a few days of being a tourist in my own village and I was looking forward to showing my parents the changes since their last visit, 2 years ago.

Dad & Captain Caveman on the overnight train

Me & Ma on the overnight train

Tomorrow we will celebrate my Dad’s birthday so I’ve picked an appropriate song. This band is still popular in Vietnam and has made a recent comeback to the wedding party DJ list.

It’s been almost a week since I met my parents at the airport in Hanoi and now we are heading by private transfer to Mai Chau. Captain Caveman has joined us and has a few days off from his day job before he goes on an expedition with other cavers to find new caves. I’d previously booked Mai Chau for a surprise for him but had to cancel it so we were both looking forward to the visit.

Although it’s only 135km South West of Hanoi it took us a while to get out of the city and about 3 hours to get to our hotel, Mai Chau Lodge.  First impressions are good and the place is set in a very picturesque village with lush green rice paddies surrounding it.

We celebrated the next part of our holiday with mojitos in the outside bar, of which we were the only customers, before heading in for dinner.

On Friday it was Dad’s birthday so after a good buffet breakfast we decided to go on the cave trip provided four times per day by the hotel – there’s nothing Captain Caveman enjoys more on his day off than a trip to a cave.

Mo Luong cave is right across the road from the Mai Chau Lodge and just up a few stairs so I felt a little foolish when I took my bag and a waterproof, like I was off on a school trip. Inside the cave has 3 or 4 chambers but we only went in the show cave part of it. There is a tunnel at the end that an experienced caver could go down but we left it at looking at the main section plus going up a ladder to a section full of bats. As we finished the short tour we could hear water and as we neared the doorway exit we saw that there was a heavy downpour of rain – good job we brought our raincoats. The tour guide had no coat or umbrella and so we waited in the cave until it eased off a bit, I took some photos but most of them were blurry due to the lack of light (and it not being a great camera).

By lunch time Captain Caveman was feeling under the weather so he went to the room to rest while mom, dad and I had some lunch and had a walk around the area. The weather was a little overcast and not too warm but it was nice to see the paddy fields and the mountains covered in clouds. Despite having a pool, which our rooms overlooked, none of us swam as it just wasn’t warm enough.

At dinner that evening we arrived to a fairly empty dining room where the staff were keen to show us their traditional dance and music skills. Captain Caveman wasn’t impressed given that we had ordered food and might not see it arrive at our table any time soon.  Nevertheless the show did go on (and on) while we ate our food and another couple sat in to watch and got involved when they asked for volunteers on the bamboo stick dance (which I think they’d already practiced).

After dinner the waitress brought out a lovely cake (which I’d organised in advance via email) which was decorated really well and tasted good.

We’d had a good time in Mai Chau despite the weather not being great and I couldn’t help thinking that it reminded me a little of our home in Vietnam, Phong Nha. After a few celebratory drinks we retired to the room to pack for our next adventure, tomorrow we were off back to Hanoi where we would take an overnight train to Dong Hoi.

I could’ve been predictable with my song choice and picked a Monkees one, I also quite fancied a couple of songs with monkeys in the video but in the end I had to choose one of my favourites from a Sheffield band. I heard this covered by a very young Thai band in Bangkok late last year and it reminds me of my home city every time I hear it.

We awoke feeling surprisingly ok and even managed a trip to Titop Island. It’s a small Island in Ha Long Bay which was named by Ho Chi Minh (Uncle Ho) in 1962 after an astronaut, Ghermann Titov, who’d been a hero from the Soviet Union.

We arrived early and the weather was overcast and certainly not warm enough for a dip in the sea or even a sit on the beach so we set off to climb to the top of the hill on the island to get some views. Mom got so far and had to turn back while the three of us battled with the groups of impatient tourists to get to the top, take photos and get back down.

The view from the top of Titop island

Speedboats racing through the rocks towards the Pearl farm

We then got picked up by another boat and headed for the pearl farms for a look at how the pearls are made and obviously to have a browse around the shop. It was an interesting trip and there were no hard-sell staff which made the look round the shop very relaxed.

The pearls growing in the sea

The guide at the Pearl farm showing us the different sizes

Workers at the Pearl farm

Workers showing us the shells where the Pearls may have grown

After 2 nights on our Ha Long Bay cruise we were off to stay at the Monkey Island Resort not too far from Cat Ba. The place is set on its own island where one side is inhabited by monkeys. We got off the boat for an hour or so to watch the monkeys being fed, as well as watching them help themselves to customers’ snacks from any bags they had. They had their eyes on our beers but only managed to make off with a can of coke while the bar man had his back turned.

At Monkey Island we checked in – Chrissy & I in to a standard twin bamboo hut, set in the gardens not far from the beach, my parents in a rather swish beach front villa. Dad was the only one to swim in the sea (I still had my fleece on) but we all did manage a lounge on the beach. We had an evening BBQ on the first night but chose off the menu on the second night. We stuck to beer as the wine list was showing $35 per bottle in one menu but had cheaper ‘out of stock’ wines listed in the lunch menu. Instead we decided on beers for our sun-downers, even if they were a bit overpriced. My mom had a massage and I had some reflexology there which was really good. It was very relaxing and I slept really well in our small but adequate room. The weather could’ve been better but at least we did see a little bit of sun. In the evening the resort allows backpackers to visit for a bit of a party night where there is lots of drunkenness and traditional dancing on the beach.  We watched as the revelers tried (and mostly failed) at the bamboo dancing.

On our last day we had an early breakfast and a boat came to take us to Ben Bo port where we took a car pick up to our next part of our trip back to Hanoi. From Cat Ba island we got on the Full Moon Party bus, after watching a colour dash race take place outside the travel agency. We then got another boat, this time a fast ferry, which took us the quick route back to the mainland. From there we got the bus back to Hanoi where we were on time to meet Captain Caveman and Watto (Chrissy’s husband).

After a delicious lunch of fish & chips, pie or bangers & mash at the Moose & Roo on Ma May street we said our goodbyes to Chrissy and Watto and we boarded our next bus to Mai Chau.

The song for today’s blog is one I like to listen to a lot, I find the video hilarious and it’s appropriate that we went to the Fat Pig for mom’s birthday celebration, we were off to stay for a couple of nights on Monkey Island and Chrissy had developed a type of ‘Chicken Tourette’s’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq7ASMbOpmo

I mentioned before that Chrissy is a fellow CWAG. This is similar to the term WAG which is used in the UK to describe Footballer’s Wives and Girlfriends who are usually to be found being ladies of leisure, going to soirees and drinking wine while their famous footballer husbands earn the money and keep them in the manner in which they’ve become accustomed. Chrissy’s husband does the same job as Captain Caveman (my boyfriend) and often they are unable to attend functions due to them being away at work so it’s been deemed appropriate that Chrissy and I attend on their behalf. The term came about 3 years ago when the boss of Oxalis invited us to an evening meal for all the staff and some local VIPs and we were introduced as the ‘Caver’s Wives & Girlfriends’ aka the CWAGs and it’s been our name ever since. There have been others join and leave the group as well as some honorary CWAGs along the way.

We had a 4 hour drive to Ha Long Bay port with our guide, David, who helpfully explained the Vietnamese tonal part of the language by demonstrating the difference between Watermelon, Pineapple and Coconut ( which are all called ‘dua’ but with slightly different pronunciations). At the port we had to board our Apricot 3 boat via tender due to there being lots of officials about the place – we all had to have our life jackets on too. We checked in to our cabins and were very impressed with the photographer for the brochure’s skills. The boat could have done with a bit of tarting up but our cabins were fine, next door to each and at the back of the boat within easy reach to the back steps up to the restaurant and bar. A massive lunch was served and Dad wasn’t too happy as there was far too much and a lot would end up going to waste. While slowly sailing along David explained a bit of the history of Ha Long Bay and how the limestone rocks were formed, he also helpfully pointed out all the rocks that looked like chickens (we were having trouble seeing it for ourselves). From then on every time David mentioned chicken, Chrissy did a farm-yard impression of a chicken clucking which continued throughout the trip, whenever anyone mentioned chicken.

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In the afternoon we were taken to look at Surprise cave and we all made the short climb up the steps and walk along the path inside. The two main surprises of the tour are the vast number of tourists taking selfies and generally getting in the way of other tourists, as well as a phallic rock that mom declined on having a rude selfie with.

Back on the boat we were quite cool and I was glad of the jacket I’d bought in Hanoi, the air was fresh and the scenery still good but we all passed on the kayaking. We did, however, participate in the Happy Hour and free sangria at sunset, followed by quite a lot of wine with dinner. It might have been a bad idea to have the Tequila, especially as they were big measures and the lime was sliced so thinly it was ineffective – my mom had to eat the lime with skin and pips while another of us had to use the sleeve of their fleece to be sick down after shouting for a bowl but not getting one.

Later as all the boats settled in the bay for the evening we got on the karaoke and felt sorry for the quieter boats nearby who probably weren’t having as much fun as us. We made friends with a lovely French woman who sang ‘Joe le Taxi’ and I teamed up with a fun girl, still in her swim wear, to murder a Whitney Houston song.

Today’s blog is accompanied by a song that I like that is also the name of a great bar that we visited in Hanoi. I saw Professor Green live on a Monday night in Sheffield and he was amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIhgVhTmrks

It was cooler in Hanoi and there had been some storms during the night. We met for breakfast on the 8^th floor of Home Hotel where there was a really good buffet of western and Vietnamese choices, they also offered omelets and pho brought to the table for you. The chocolate croissants and bread rolls were really nice and I had quite a few while looking out of the large panoramic window at the views of West Lake.

We took a taxi to the Old Quarter and paid our deposit for the forthcoming Ha Long Bay cruise before trying our luck with the Hanoi traffic as we walked a few minutes towards the famous Hoan Kiem Lake. I bought a waterproof jacket as the weather looked a bit like it would rain. As it was a weekend the traffic wasn’t permitted on the road around the lake so it made it a little easier to walk around. We went to the red bridge and I pointed out where the water puppet theatre was and then we decided it was time for a drink – a smoothie at a place on the 5^th floor of a building overlooking the fountain, called Avalon.

While we were admiring the views from the open balcony we had calls to let us know that Chrissy was on her way and that the Oxalis Adventure Tours team was near the Post Office at a display stand. Chrissy arrived and we got a round of beers in (she’s a bad influence) before ordering some snacks for lunch.

After lunch we went to the Oxalis stand and had a photo of us ‘in Hang Son Doong’, the biggest cave in the world before heading back to the hotel.

I’d booked a table at the Fat Pig for dinner, invited our friends Gary, Hanh and Hung to join us at 7pm for pork dishes and smoked sangria. I’d been before and enjoyed the pork ribs so we ordered a mixture of things to try – the pork crackling with apple sauce is amazing. We had a good time and although my parents were still on UK time we managed to stay up fairly late, drinking wine/beer. Despite the celebrations we knew we had an early start the next morning as we had to be over at Ma May street for our bus pick up at 8am, ready for our cruise aboard the Apricot 3.

https://youtu.be/9jK-NcRmVcw

I chose this song because I had been counting down the days ‘til my parents would come to visit in Vietnam. It was also the anniversary of me seeing the band support Foreigner in my home city of Sheffield, with a friend and my parents – the song holds great memories for me.

Anyway, my parents were visiting for 2 weeks and I’d planned the itinerary to try and see a bit more of the country as this was there second visit to Vietnam. Two years ago they flew in to a very hot Saigon before coming to Phong Nha (also very hot) and then going to Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An. This holiday they would fly in to Hanoi where we would stay a couple of nights before taking a 4 day trip to Ha Long Bay and Monkey Island with my fellow CWAG (Caver’s wives and girlfriends), Chrissy. I had also booked a couple of days in Mai Chau where Captain Caveman would come too, in between his cave tours. There would be just a few days spent in Phong Nha and Dong Hoi at the end of the holiday this time.

I was looking forward to seeing my parents having not seen them for 7 months and was hoping they would enjoy seeing some of the north of Vietnam as well as seeing how Phong Nha had changed in the last 2 years. I was also looking forward to being a lady of leisure again and enjoying being a tourist for 2 whole weeks. It was also my mom’s 65^th birthday, mother’s day and my dad’s birthday within the first week, so lots to celebrate.

I caught the overnight train from Dong Hoi to Hanoi late on the Thursday evening, I had a soft sleeper bottom bunk (for 470,000 VND) and slept really well due to the beers I’d had before departure. I’d left Captain Caveman at Beachside Backpackers in Dong Hoi, a gorgeous little bar and hostel right on the beach, as he was off on a cave tour the next day and would  join us in Hanoi the week after.

I arrived at the airport early. There is a number 86 bus that runs from the train station in Hanoi to the airport and goes via the main areas of Hanoi such as West Lake and Hoan Kiem and costs about 30,000 VND.  I had already booked us a couple of rooms at Home Hotel which is on Yen Phu Street in the Tay Ho District of Hanoi. I’d stayed here previously with Captain Caveman and thought it was a good location and value for money, we were there for 2 nights and I didn’t know if my parents might have jetlag so wanted a comfy bed for them.

I waited at the airport armed with my own luggage and a bunch of red roses for my mom, whose birthday it was that day.  I could see them waiting for their luggage and the hotel driver was already waiting with me when the eventually walked out. We were all so happy to see each other and mom was surprised at the flowers. It took us less than an hour to get through the busy traffic of Hanoi and to our hotel. The hotel charged us $18 for a pick up and it was a big car with plenty of luggage space.

As is often the case with me, I’d left getting my legs waxed until the last minute and so had arranged for Quy, a lady recommended on Hanoi Massive Facebook group, to meet me at the hotel – she will come to your room for massage, treatments, waxing etc and is really good without being too expensive. As we checked in we were told that we had been given an upgrade to the Executive Suites (next door to each other) which was a nice surprise for mom’s birthday. They don’t have big enough vases for bunches of flowers though, so mom made do with the bin which she propped up at the edge of the corner bath.

Ma & Pa arrive at the Home Hotel

Birthday fun at Dalcheeni

While I was checking my parents room, Quy had called to say she was here, in fact it turned out she had arrived before us and had saw us check in. My parents had a rest and unpacked and after Quy had gone we got ready and went off for a meal to celebrate mom’s birthday. We took a short taxi ride to a place called Dalcheeni (a lovely Indian restaurant on Xuan Dieu) where we got a much needed beer and ordered soup starters, mains, rice and nan bread plus a bottle of white wine. It was a nice meal and quite low-key for a 65^th birthday celebration but we had a good laugh. We even walked over to Republic afterwards and sat on the terrace upstairs drinking another bottle of white wine. My mom was unaware that I’d organised a birthday celebration for the next evening and invited some friends along to help us celebrate.

It’s been over 6 months since I had my hair cut or dyed so today I took a last minute trip to our local Hairdresser in Phong Nha. We call her Onion and she is really good with the scissors as well as doing a good job with colouring, shaving and even manicures. Onion also does one of the best head massages and hair wash combos I’ve ever had.

The building is far from the fancy salons of Toni & Guy and very basic compared to my own hairdresser back in the UK however Onion always knows what to do to make your hair look so much better than when you arrived.

Onion is the sister-in-law to the infamous Ho Khanh, her ‘salon’ is in a small building situated about halfway between Ho Khanh’s and Oxalis Home, on the right-hand side as your going towards town – it’s near a small church building opposite a small junction. There are no markings or name above the door but it has some blue wooden shutters on the window that will be closed when there is bright sun, cold weather or rain.

Today’s hair colouring didn’t go as planned as I arrived with some hair dye that I bought in Hanoi (and was meant to be a dark brown colour). I had a hair cut, the colour was applied and after the head massage and a face wash resembling less severe waterboarding I was ready for my blow dry.

The colour had turned the grey part of my hair a bright pink and the bottom of my hair was more a dark brown. It looked ok but a bit patchy and Onion wasn’t happy with my hair colour. She asked the other customers their opinion too and we all agreed it wasn’t my best look yet.

Onion doesn’t speak English and I don’t speak Vietnamese so the colour chart was brought out and much pointing ensued until she decided she would start again. She mixed up a dish of ‘Vietnamese Brown’ and reapplied to my hair.  The ritual was repeated and I finally emerged with normal looking hair and a great cut for less than 5 dollars. Even the other customers, who’d been kept waiting longer than necessary because of me, said it looked ‘dep’ (beautiful) but then the Vietnamese are such a polite bunch.

An appropriate song for my next blog as I ramble on about the state of the Phong Nha pooch population.

There are lots of dogs in Phong Nha and most of them are allowed to roam about as they like, getting in to all sorts of mischief – from rolling in cow pats, killing chickens and barking a lot.

Recently a few of the favourite dogs have died which has been terribly sad.  It seems that there has been a distemper type of virus that some of the weaker or younger dogs didn’t survive.

The one dog that I could live without in Phong Nha did survive and on my way in to town recently it jumped in to the road and ran alongside my bicycle. He normally barks at me but this time he didn’t and went straight for my foot, holding the heel of my trainer in his mouth while I tried to cycle. He was growling and so I screamed and tried to kick him away but then he barked and snapped at me. It was in the middle of the day so eventually he relented and went off to bully a nearby dog.  On the way home later, it was dark, and so I was looking out for him as I rode past where he lives but I did not see him.  Instead I have seen other dogs nearer home running up to my bicycle and chasing me home, the naughty canines. The dogs here are certainly good guard dogs, except for the ones you sometimes see ‘stuck together’.

Here’s a ‘flashback Friday’ story for you. It’s still the wedding season here in Phong Nha. I went to one last Monday and am looking forward to an invite to another this coming Monday.  Below is about one I attended 2 years ago.

When you get an invite to a Vietnamese wedding you are given a time slot. They range from early morning through to about 4pm and as far as I know the later the slot the more likely it is that you are closer friends or relatives to the bride and groom.
Once your time slot is finished you leave the wedding. The bride and groom drink with each table during that time slot but they don’t sit down or eat. Instead of long speeches a few words are said by the best man, mother, friends etc and then they sing a song!
We were invited, along with everyone from Oxalis to the 4pm slot and as Captain Caveman couldn’t make it I went instead. We got a bus for all of us and travelled about an hour over very bumpy road. As we arrived the best man and his girlfriend welcomed us and sat us down at tables with a burner on each and plates of uncooked food. A waitress put the burner on and told me to wait for the water to boil and then put the tray of prawns and squid in (I think that’s what she said anyway, as she thrust a tray of raw seafood at me).
The food and beers were free flowing and we ate and drank very well. By 5pm other guests were leaving but we stayed. I was only one of two English guests within the group to go into the crowd and shake hands with all the relatives. They didn’t speak English but one guy in a sharp suit said he was from the Mafia and I remembered how to say nice jacket (au đẹp) and everyone laughed and shook our hands more and did cheers with beers.
It was such a good atmosphere but then, all of a sudden, it was the end.
We decided to go on to a karaoke with the bride and groom and their friends. Hilarious!
All the other English group left about 7pm but I stayed with the vietnamese, plus a couple of westerners from Oxalis. The bus back was lively with very loud music and dancing in the isles and we stopped off at Oxalis office for a copious amount of whisky. That’s why I was awake at 6am with a hangover!!! 

https://g.co/kgs/ONzQ5d

There’s a wedding shop in Phong Nha and it does very good passport photos. Yesterday I stopped by the regular photo printing shop and asked if they could take me some 4×6 photos so that I could use them for my visa on arrival, I’d been advised they did 8 for 30,000 dong. Unfortunately the man who was just about to tuck in to an early lunch said no. The wedding shop man was great and had me sit in a room with a white sheet behind me while he took my picture. He showed me the image on his camera and then went outside to load to the computer. While I was waiting I noticed he was highlighting a section of the photo where my cheek was and then drawing an outline around my lips. It was only when he selected a lovely shade of pinky-red to colour my lips in that I realised he was touching up the image to make me look better. Passport photos back where I’m from are usually known for being bad, so now I’m going to be handing over pictures at the airport that have been slightly enhanced. If I hadn’t stopped him I would’ve looked like I was a mix of Dita Von Teese and the Mona Lisa – I’m not even sure it was an improvement! It cost me 50,000 dong for 8 but they are very good quality.
Of course I had to choose Def Leppard as the song, they’re from my home town – I could easily have looked like a clown if he’d continued!

I never thought I’d be posting a Bobby Cliff song while writing about how I ended up spending Australia day, but then there is a lot of firsts for me on my travels.

Easy Tiger had advertised that they would be having a cricket match and some other games to celebrate Australia day.  In my ignorance I will admit that until I visited Vietnam a couple of years ago I hadn’t heard of Australia day and so this would be the first time I’d been involved in any celebrations of it. A few days before the event the weather had been particularly rainy and so it was touch and go whether it would be held on a muddy field or somewhere more hardy.

It wasn’t my intention to actually play but when the numbers seemed low at first I decided to have a go.  I’ve never been a sporty person, I wasn’t really dressed for it and I still can’t catch a ball very well –  I was destined to be a loser at cricket before I’d started.

Beer crates for wickets

Captain Caveman is a good bowler

Pete checks the hot dogs

My first injury came when I tried to catch a ball that Captain Caveman had hit towards the outside seating area. The tyre seats had been moved but the concrete had some standing water and was slippy so my sandals weren’t able to stop me slide into the round tables where I landed with one boob on the table but my bum and legs on the floor – it hurt but I got up and carried on for a bit.

More people came to join and so I had a bit of a break and a few beers to numb the pain, but then it was my turn to bowl.

My second injury came when I bowled my first ball and it was batted expertly back at me hitting me in the face and knocking my glasses to the floor. The Aussie batsman was shocked himself as he was sure I would catch him out but I’d not kept my eye on the ball that came so fast at my face and was a bit stunned. Luckily my glasses were in one piece and we were only playing with a tennis ball.

After that I sat down and watched the match while eating the delicious hot dogs and drinking beer to numb more pain. The sun stayed out and the Easy Tiger car park was later turned from cricket pitch to a thong (flip-flops to you and me) throwing court.  It’s more difficult than it looks to throw footwear on to a tyre.

When I woke up the next day I could hardly move and had a massively bruised chest, luckily my face was fine and no black eyes, I think cricket is not my game.

Today’s post has a funky feel for a Monday Morning – and this is the first time I’ve seen the video to the song that I loved as a kid.

Before the end of the Lunar year in Vietnam it is customary to clean things in readiness for the new year, especially prior to the celebrations starting. On the day before TET eve (similar to 30th December in the UK) Captain Caveman and I decided we would cycle in to town for breakfast and on the way there he would get his bicycle washed. We pulled up at the ‘car wash’ where there was a significant amount of motorbikes already in line for a wash and their owners were sat waiting.

We took a seat next to some other customers who happened to be some of Captain Caveman’s colleagues. They passed us a beer and even though it was before 10am and we’d had no breakfast, we accepted and started drinking with them.

While both our bikes got a thorough washing we did ‘cheers’ and smiled a lot with the group of men and drank beer, we laughed as one of the men pointed out to Captain Caveman two girls and said ‘dep’. We all laughed when I replied ‘yes, pretty’ because he was embarrassed I understood. Captain Caveman called him a dirty old man and some of the others laughed at him, while he blushed.

After about half an hour our bicycles were washed and looked as good as new so we got up and tried to pay for beer and the wash – the beer was free and only 20,000 dong for 2 bike washes. Not a bad morning – 70 pence (less than a dollar) for 2 beers and 2 bike washes.