Captain Caveman was up early and off to Phong Nha, by bicycle, on Saturday 27th March while I got busy doing stuff. We had a plan to meet up at the Lake House before 1pm as Captain Caveman had a friend arriving from Saigon, who was staying there. There was also a returning Farmstay customer and friend, Annette, arriving on the same flight for her third stay and we would be meeting her and her friend later. If I didn’t hear from Captain Caveman by noon my instructions were to set off cycling on Bluey, up the hill. I was almost ready to go when Captain Caveman arrived and decided to make himself a peanut butter sandwich before going for lunch. It took me a little over 9 mins to get there, which included about 2 minutes of walking when it got to the steep part and I had to get off and push Bluey.
Captain Caveman tried to order a shandy but they had ran out of beer so he had 7up and I had soda water. We were getting hungry so ended up ordering lunch – a sweet and sour chicken for me and a steak sandwich for him. The food came, and was really tasty, Tony returned and joined us for a chat, then David and his family arrived. It was a nice afternoon until I had to cycle on to the Phong Nha Farmstay, I found it a bit hilly in parts and difficult to navigate the turn off of the main road. The whole journey was just over 18 minutes and I was pleased to have made it there in one piece, so I celebrated with a cider!

Annette and her friend, Sonya, were both happy to be away from work and the hectic pace of their life in Saigon. We sat at a table by the pool and rice paddies at the Farmstay and Veronika joined us briefly while still supervising the grandkids. Matty joined us while Captain Caveman was still there, followed by Hamish and Ania. I decided to leave my bicycle at the Farmstay and ended up drinking lots of white wine and some tequila shots while Captain Caveman was at his briefing. For dinner I ordered chicken with fried rice which was really good, Hamish ordered spring rolls but didn’t eat any of them as he was too busy with the wine. Ania ordered a veggie curry and helped Hamish out as she ate some of the spring rolls still in front of him. All seemed to be going well and everyone was having a good time as we kept on getting more white wine. Annette even got in the pool fully clothed – twice! Captain Caveman rejoined us, he had cycled back from Oxalis and was sober so had a shot and some white wine. The last thing I remember of the evening was me following Captain Caveman home in the rascal with Duyet, as he cycled back. I remembered to put my phone on the Do Not Disturb mode before going to sleep and the alarm was set for early the next morning.

Photo credit – Captain Caveman

Things got out of hand on Monday 15th March, and what should have been a boring Monday morning was quite stressful. Hamish was meant to have been going on an Oxalis tour but was taken to Dong Hoi hospital because of a serious asthma attack. I had a couple more issues to deal with which were an unnecessary waste of time, before I’d even had time to eat breakfast of toast, and it was a rather hot day that I was missing out on! I turned my phone off and decided to get the new bikini on and have a dip in the pool – the water was freezing!
I had carrot cake for lunch, which made me have a bad stomach and then I just lay on the sunlounger while learning Vietnamese on Duolingo.
Later that afternoon Hamish discharged himself and came back to The Farmstay, luckily looking like he would live! For dinner I just had hummus and rice crackers as my stomach was still iffy, so no more cake for me!

Tuesday 16th March started early again with the loudspeaker at 5.30am.
In the news today there were reports of a possibility of allowing foreign tourists in to Vietnam in July but still nothing concrete to go on, read it here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/economy/904845/viet-nam-needs-to-open-borders-for-tourism-recovery-experts.html
I took Bluey, my bicycle, to the Farmstay via the French Road and it took me exactly 20 minutes. I sat by the pool where there was a good breeze and ordered pho bo, green tea and a soda water. The cycling was getting easier and I wasn’t as thirsty and out of breath when I arrived. Hamish came to join me, he still really didn’t look too well. Mik came over with Kendra and Bryan, two of their Danang friends, who had just arrived and were heading out on motorbikes for a look around Phong Nha. I liked them both straight away and I knew we would all get on well. Hamish added me to their Facebook chat group so that I could be included in any activities with them all, which was nice.
When I got back home it had only taken me 18 minutes 38 seconds, Veronika and Howie had gone for lunch at The Villas and I had leftover Sunday dinner for my lunch. Later I made popcorn and ate 6 of the expensive dates that I still had. I put in my order for shepherd’s pie at the Farmstay that night and went up a bit earlier so that I could meet Kendra and Bryan properly.
I was out of red wine at home so I bought a bottle and would take what I didn’t drink home, I had also taken tuppaware with me for leftovers but there were none.
Hamish, Mik, Kendra and Bryan were booked in for a trip to the Bong Lai Valley the next day and invited me too. As I was leaving Ben said I should come on the trip tomorrow as we would be going to the Pub with Cold Beer for lunch and I do love it there!

After a busy start to the weekend I planned to have a relaxed and easy going Saturday on 13th March. I had buttered toast for breakfast and had suffered no ill effects of that, or the pizza from the night before. I decided to make pork and sweetcorn fried rice for lunch and made far too much so saved the rest for dinner. Captain Caveman and Quyen had returned to Phong Nha from their Hang Va cave trip but I didn’t meet either of them. Captain Caveman went to The Villas for food and then got on the bus to Hanoi at 7pm, he was off on an exploration holiday for a week with our Sapa friends, Phil and Hoa, in Tuyen Quang. Quyen had still to find herself somewhere to stay so went for Tropical Homestay. We arranged to meet the next day rather than for dinner because of either one of us having to cycle in the dark, which wasn’t a good idea.

On Sunday 14th March it was Mother’s Day and so I tried to make sure I was busy enough to avoid worrying about my mom not being able to have a Mother’s Day celebration, back in Sheffield. My parents were still staying at home and now the celebrations were coming back around again – who would have thought a year later it would be like this!
Captain Caveman had arrived in My Dinh (Hanoi) bus station around 5am and had 3 hours to wait for another bus to Tuyen Quang, while I didn’t wake up until 7am. Quyen and I had arranged for her to borrow a bicycle from Tropical Homestay and cycle to my place so that we could then ride the long way to the Farmstay for lunch.
Quyen arrived, later than expected, after it took her almost an hour to get here and she got lost a bit. The ride to the Farmstay was really nice and we took it easy so that she could admire the country side and rice paddy views. My friend absolutely loved it and I was pleased because I was worried she would find the route too easy. We sat by the pool at the Farmstay and ordered some wine, where I introduced Quyen to Veronika, Bich, Matty & Hamish and their friend from Danang, Richard.
Our food came and it was really good; Quyen had the seafood banh xeo, Matty chicken quesadillas with chilli jam, Hamish a chicken salad and I had nem lui.
Both Richard and Quyen were going to Dong Hoi that afternoon so they arranged to share Quyen’s car which she had already booked and we got ready to leave so she could get back in time. I was going to pay but Quyen wouldn’t have any of it and paid for our wine and lunch which was really kind and unexpected. On the cycle back we took some photos, it was a lovely day and I even caught the sun, despite the factor 50 suncream. I decided I would go to the Farmstay to eat Sunday dinner with Matty, Hamish, Mik and new guest, John.
John had already met Captain Caveman when he came to Phong Nha before and had been cycling with him so we chatted about that. I shared the bottle of white wine which Matty had bought while the others had beer or water. The Sunday roast was lovely, as usual, and I took some home with my carrot cake that I couldn’t manage.
I stayed up late so that I could video call my mom and dad and we had a good chat, luckily they are keeping safe and staying at home but I was definitely missing seeing them a lot. By midnight I realised I might be a bit noisy so we finished the call and I went to sleep.

Being woken up by a massive cockerel crowing at 6am on Friday 12th March is not how I had envisaged my weekend starting. There were many reasons I didn’t really want to stay at the Glass House including; no longer being registered there for immigration purposes, not having my trusty shower shoes, still being unable to get down stairs easily and most importantly wondering how on earth I would get home once Captain Caveman went off on his trip to Hang Va. Captain Caveman gave me his keys so I could get out of the building and suggested I cycle on my old bicycle to The Villas and just stay there until pizza night, when I’d then get a lift home.
I had an extra hour in bed after Captain Caveman left, with a rough plan for me to see him on the 20th March. I managed to find my rubber sandals which I used as shower shoes and I found a few items that I could take home with me, including contact lenses. I managed to get down the stairs of the Glass House with my rucksack fairly easily compared to how I used to so I was definitely improving. It was a bit tricky getting the old bicycle out of the door and then it started to rain a little. I didn’t like riding my old bicycle at all, the right pedal was sloping downwards and my bad foot kept slipping off. It took me 13 minutes to ride the 2km distance as I had to go so slowly.
For breakfast I decided to treat myself seeing as I was at the nicest restaurant in town and I ordered 2 servings of bacon, hash browns and baked beans with a camomile tea. The bacon was great, crispy, the beans were hot but I wasn’t a fan of the new hash browns which were more like balls of mashed potato with a thin crust, like a potato croquette. I caught up on some blogging, using the spacious back room to work from and then when Tatas stopped by for coffee I (stupidly) decided to have a hot chocolate with cream. Since being able to tolerate eating gluten again I am really struggling with uncooked dairy and I think egg, although it’s still difficult to tell. I spent the next few hours in and out of the toilet and feeling rubbish.
Momma D was back in Phong Nha after a couple of weeks away looking after her sick friend and was keen to meet up. We arranged 2.30pm so she could get to work at her rooftop bar later and she brought her cute dog, Kevin. Momma D was a bit disappointed when I told her I was only drinking water because of my stomach as she had hoped to share a bottle of wine, I told her to go ahead without me but instead she had a coffee.

Feeling a bit weak and drained, I quite fancied just going home for a lay down but I couldn’t do that for the following reasons:
Tatas was on her way back from caving, Mik was on his way back to Phong Nha, both of those plus Veronika, Hamish and Matty were on their way over to Pizza Night, and there was no way I was cycling my old bicycle any further so I had no transport. I bought a bottle of wine for me and Tatas to share (it was my turn) but didn’t start drinking it and we sat at the usual table inside. Mik arrived and they were all on G&Ts when Hamish decided Tequilas were in order. I explained I didn’t want to join in, I was struggling to even take a sip of wine until after a bit of pizza and I sat out on the shots. Veronika decided to sit outside with the other Farmstay guests and even Ben wondered why Hamish and I prefer indoor dining when it’s warm – the mozzies love to bite us too much.
The pizzas were as good as usual, with my favourites being the Showstopper (blue cheese, proscuitto, fig jam and spring onion) and the Momma D (salami, mushroom, feta and olive) – yes Momma D has a pizza named after her! Hamish, Matty, Mik and Tatas were really getting down the tequilas and everyone was laughing, joking and in good spirits(!) Some of Tatas’ customers arrived, as expected, at The Villas so she went to eat with them and I insisted she take the rest of the wine with her. We decided to get the first pick up service back home and the blokes spoke of getting more drinks when they got back to the Farmstay. I needed my bed, it had been a long day!

Photo credit – The Villas

Having had a restful day yesterday, it came as no surprise that Wednesday 10th March was likely to be a bit livelier! I woke up with the loudspeaker noise (again) at 5.30am and I was really hungry. I had toast and arranged with Bich to get a lift to The Villas to attempt to retrieve my bicycle, Bluey, who had been abandoned there since Margarita Monday.
At The Villas I joined Veronika, Matty and Howie while Bich did work stuff. Howie and Matty ordered ice-cream, I ordered some lunch from the vegetarian menu, the potato, artichoke and edamame bean salad which was an old favourite of mine. Unfortunately there was a bit of a mix up when I ordered this dish from the vegetarian menu but the waitress knows I’m not a vegetarian because I eat meat, so I initially got the fish version, which I couldn’t eat. Veronika ended up eating it while I had a new one made and they all went back to the Farmstay by car, while I finished my delicious veggie food while contemplating the cycle back. I realised it was getting hotter and windier which would make my cycle home harder so I paid my 130,000vnd (£4) and set off.
The cycle ride was hard work but I tried to focus on keeping my leg in line and applying equal pressure with each leg. As I wiped the sweat from my eyes and wished I’d brought my sunglasses I came to a bit of a hill and I was finding the pedalling very difficult when Jack rode past on his motorbike as I neared a cafe and saw Vinh who I used to work with a few years ago too and had to shout to both that I couldn’t stop, mainly because I wouldn’t get going again if I did. When I got back home it had taken me almost 41 minutes (4 minutes slower than on the way there for Margarita Monday) and I was so purple everyone at Elements looked worried. I went straight in the shower to cool down and found I was very hungry after my almost 9km bike ride against a head wind and in hot sun. I had bread and hummus as a snack, realising I still hadn’t eaten my left over dinner from Sunday. I decided to stay in that night as I was knackered and couldn’t sit very well. I had leftover Sunday dinner and an early night after a busy (for me) day. I was just pleased to have managed to cycle home without getting off the bicycle, abandoning Bluey or have to call someone for help!