Phong Nha – 14th February

We had a busy day planned on the third day of Tet, Sunday 14th February and, as it was Valentine’s Day, I got my bacon sandwich breakfast brought to me in bed. We got our helmets and big coats on, filled up with 50,000vnd of petrol and were off on a day out.
Our first stop was to visit Giang’s family at Rice Paddy homestay, where we received a warm welcome. They gave us a cold drink and some nibbles and were really pleased to see us, especially Alice who’s 14 and misses her aunty Giang.

Our next stop was Funny Monkeys where we wished Moon a happy new year and we had a drink and some nibbles, including delicious cashew nuts. Before we could finish chatting Moon had a family of 4 arrive for lunch and so she had to go cook and we forgot to get photos.

On the way to our next stop at Lucky Lucky (now called Lucky Homes) I popped to The Villas for a green tea and to use the loo, while Captain Caveman ran an errand. When we got to Lucky Lucky the owners were so pleased to see us but had been expecting us yesterday so we didn’t get to see Xiem, the English speaking daughter. The lady there is so sweet and gave us some Banh Chung to take home. I had quite a bit of beer and did a lot of cheers and of course I couldn’t resist a couple of spring rolls.

We had an important party to attend at 5pm but before that we had chance to meet up with Ali and Mo (owner of Earth cafe in Dong Hoi) at Tree House where I said happy new year to the owner and tried a cinnamon tea. It’s the first time I’ve been in the place and it is very nice and reasonably priced.

At 4.50pm we set off back towards the Glass House as we were invited to Howard and Deb’s house for a Tet party. On the way, outside Green River homestay, there is a bend in the road and as we approached there was a lot of people and traffic congestion. As we got nearer it was evident there had been a nasty accident and I could see the injured people were on the floor, no helmets, lots of blood. I didn’t want to look but it was too late and I felt very sick – luckily 2 of the cavers and lots of helpers were there so Captain Caveman decided to carry on as there were enough people there.
It’s a sad fact, here in Vietnam, that far more people will be killed in a road accident in 1 week of Tet than will die in a whole year from Corona.
When we arrived Deb had to send Captain Caveman back to pick up Momma D’s chicken and it turned out he didn’t see an email asking him to bring ice as his contribution – it was too late to start putting warm beers in ice now, anyway.

The party was good, the buffet spread was impressive; roast chicken, pizza, sausage, chips, beef and beers. It was lovely to see all the Vietnamese friends I had not seen for so long and I even managed a little dance with Phuong to some Faithless. Watto was in charge of the whisky and he was doing a grand job of persuading everyone to have a shot or two. I felt a bit bad that Captain Caveman had to drive me around and so couldn’t have a drink with all his colleagues. I didn’t want to be out after dark with so many drunk drivers on the road so we left as it was getting dark.

We drove straight back to the Farmstay where we received a welcome from Bich in the form of rice wine shots, a free margarita and some Tet table photos, she even interrupted Veronika and Matty to come join us for a shot!
We rounded off the day with a fabulous Sunday dinner (most of which we had to take home as we were already so full), wine and lots of laughs with the usual gang as well as Chris (the Belgian) and his lovely girlfriend, Huong, who had just arrived. They had only been going out for 3 months so I hoped she wasn’t too disappointed by having to share her Valentine’s dinner table with us but I really enjoyed their company and didn’t mind when the boys went to play killer pool and us girls, we are both slow eaters, finished our dinner and wine and chatted. It was a lovely day in Phong Nha, continuing to celebrate Tet with all our friends.

Phong Nha – 13th February

Captain Caveman had a second day of Tet party at 9am on Saturday 13th February, in Phong Nha, so off he went to Hung’s house.
While Captain Caveman had been out I had been invited to Ha’s to celebrate but, as I didn’t have transport, I invited her and Lan to our place. I prepared a few nibbles (bread, ham, Banh Chung, tortilla, salami, fruit and walnuts) and I had a ham sandwich for lunch while I waited for our guests. When they arrived we took our nibbles and some cold beers outside and included the Elements Collection team and some of the owner’s family members. Mr Ky, the dog, saw that a guest had a small, nappy wearing, poodle and he wanted to eat it. Later we saw Bich, the kids, Hien and Khanh and I got my first lucky money – a brand new 50,000vnd from Khanh. Everyone was very nicely dressed in their Tet clothes, including Ha and Lan, who we posed for some photos with – I should have wore something nice.
It was Hoa and Tom’s party at 6pm, Hoa was in the kitchen and the cavers were already eating when we arrived. I ate some excellent chips, a spring roll and a pork rib and then had some potatoes and carrots out of the soup. After 1 hour Captain Caveman stood up and said we had to leave if we were to make it to the next party in time and I got my coat on and followed him to say thanks to our host for the lovely food. Traditionally Tet has an order to the visiting which if family first, then friends and then colleagues but we didn’t necessarily follow that.
Back home we had drinks, some biscuits and watched Breaking Bad. I was grateful today for having a good second day of Tet and was looking forward to more celebrations with friends tomorrow.

Phong Nha – 12th February (Tet day)

It was Tet day on Friday 12th February and although I awoke at 6am there was no announcement or Tet music over the tannoys today!! I went back to sleep for a bit and then had a delicious bacon sandwich with brown sauce for breakfast, made by Captain Caveman.
We were planning on going out on the motorbike when Captain Caveman got a last minute text to ask if he was coming to the Tet meal at the Vung Hue, (with the cavers and Momma D) so we jumped on the motorbike, with our new helmets on and off we went. The Vung Hue family were there to greet us and were very welcoming and the food looked great as always. I had a pork rib, some chips, a bowl of rice and some beef stew (which I loved), then some juicy kumquats. I even had a beer while Captain Caveman had a shandy as he was driving. As we were leaving, Watto said he thought my knee was still leaning inwards and I walked up and down to show him, he told me to persevere in trying to keep it straight.

Our next stop was the Pub with Cold Beer where only 4 kids were about, but we had a cold beer and gave the kids lucky money. On the way back we called in to see Multi and the gang at The Pepper House, had a drink and some snacks. At home Captain Caveman and I sat on the balcony with a beverage and some tortilla but it was still a bit chilly for sunbathing. We decided we would have a walk to the Farmstay as it was Pizza night at The Villas and we could get the pick up transport from there. I took my poles and off we went and I’m glad I was accompanied as there was some strange activity on the way. First of all, an older Vietnamese man who was either drunk or mentally ill (maybe both) kept trying to walk nearer to me and so Captain Caveman had to walk with me, seeing as I’m so slow. We stopped to let him go past but he then stopped to wait for us again and he was putting me off my stride a bit. Next there were a group of young men on motorbikes who had been drinking and they stopped in the road, when a girl came towards them on her motorbike they grabbed her boob and then all cheered. Captain Caveman slapped him on his shoulder and I pointed my sticks at him in a threatening manner – I don’t think he was in the least bit bothered. Despite the phlegmatic old creep and the tit grabber I still made it in 35 minutes so I was pleased with that and treated myself to a ginger beer when I got to the bar.

The pizza night was really good; sat with us was Chris (from Antwerp), Ali (the filmmaker), Tatas and Veronika. We all shared red wine and I managed 9 slices of pizza which I was pleased with. For once, I was having so much fun at The Villas that I completely forgot to take any photos of pizza night. We had a lovely Tet day and felt rather lucky to be in Phong Nha.

Phong Nha – 11th February (Tet eve)

Tet Eve fell on Thursday 11th February this year and it started with 5am announcements and loud music, which went on until 7.30am.
Captain Caveman had to go to Oxalis Home for 7.30am and so he agreed to meet me at the Farmstay at 10.15am for our exciting outing. As it turned out Captain Caveman got back early and I got to go to the Farmstay on the back of his motorbike in my new helmet, which was really snazzy. Ben had organised a trip to the Pub with Cold Beer for lunch and a few of us went up in the jeep while Matty, Chris (the Belgian guest) and Veronika rode their motorbikes there.
Ben was driving, Howie was in the front, in the middle was a nice family and in the back with me and Captain Caveman was Catherine and her son. When we arrived we had a quick look around the kitchen and then the food was served. We ate BBQ chicken with peanut sauce, steamed rice, morning glory, pork, and spring rolls which was all so delicious. I even drank Huda beer, went on the swing and chatted a lot with Catherine who was so funny. Captain Caveman and some of the others went in the incredibly well- maintained swimming pool and the food was very good value for money – we even bought some peanut sauce to take home. When we got back to the Farmstay I decided to walk it home, I had my poles and Captain Caveman had a beer to give me a headstart. I managed to get home in 35 minutes and quite a while before Captain Caveman made it back (I suspect he may have had a second beer) because he expected me to take longer. I had a bit of pain but it went after ibuprofen and a short rest so I was pleased with that. In just 1 month I had managed the same journey 8 minutes quicker but I still wasn’t as fast as a 74 year old, who can do it in 20 minutes.
I’d been waiting to hear that it was ok to call my parents so I could get an update on how Dad was doing, after a hospital visit yesterday and the news was good. It was really nice to have a laugh with ma and pa over video call and see that they looked really well and quite relaxed which was so good. Music, karaoke and bombs (fireworks are banned in Vietnam) were to be heard until 1.30am and I was getting quite good at staying in the house for new year’s celebrations now and quite enjoyed being antisocial.

Here’s a couple of video clips of our trip on Facebook courtesy of Matty & Ben;

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2860937884224294&id=100009243321087

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4270275809653671&id=148614098486550&sfnsn=mo

Phong Nha – 10th February

At 5.30am on Wednesday 10th February there were announcements on the loudspeaker for quite a while, followed by the usual loud music. Captain Caveman went to the beach with Ben while I got on with some editing for a bit and had one of the expensive apples for my first breakfast. Around 8am it was quiet again and I’d fallen asleep but had luckily set my alarm to meet Captain Caveman at the Farmstay for an exciting event. We had been invited by Bich and Ben to join in one of the most important preparations for Tet by helping make the Banh Tet from 10am. There were quite a few guests, family and staff all on the tarpaulin set down near the swimming pool and the process commenced. The key, I learned is to select the appropriate banana leaves as your base and layer them so there are no holes. Everyone was shown how to put plenty of sticky rice in a chunky line down the middle, making a small ditch for the mung bean and then the fatty pork. The whole thing is rolled tightly, making sure all the meat and beans are covered by the sticky rice and encased by the leaves. The tricky bit was securing the package with strips so there would be no leakage. Once finished they would be simmered over the fire for between 12 and 20 hours. It was very interesting to watch and I was impressed at how good the security guys were at making it – they were definitely the best I thought.
After the excitement of the cooking class gathering I had an orange juice and then we went back home for a breakfast of bacon, mushrooms, potatoes and onions.
I had a strongbow cider for lunch and it was quite sunny in the afternoon so we went for a walk to the French Road and back. This time I did it in 35 mins which was 6 minutes quicker than the last time so I was happy about that. Captain Caveman went to the Lake House to get bread and bumped in to the nice couple from the Farmstay who were drinking with Tony. I assumed he would be back late and ate my leftover shepherd’s pie for my dinner. I then ate a second dinner of spaghetti with salami when Captain Caveman made his dinner with plenty for me too. We watched more Breaking Bad and drank red wine then got an invite for lunch out tomorrow, which would be Tet eve. I fell asleep before I got chance to get an update on how a family member had got on with his hospital appointment today but knew I’d probably be awake early tomorrow to check.

Phong Nha – 9th February

I woke up at 5.40am on Tuesday 9th February to the pumping music of pre Tet over the tannoy system and when it finished, just before 7am, Captain Caveman started snoring – I don’t know how he had managed to sleep through the noise. I did some languages and blogging in the morning then Captain Caveman made a cooked breakfast, with my favourite sausages, for us. It was a quiet day and I didn’t bother with any lunch as we had ordered our shepherd’s pies for dinner at The Farmstay that evening.
When we arrived at the Farmstay Veronika and Matty were already there, we met some nice new guests and a couple recommended the Minera Spa resort in Vung Tau, near Saigon, for if we fancied a relaxing break. Later we had the shepherd’s pie dinner with a lovely chap from Antwerp, Belgium, so I insisted on recommending the best bar in the world to him, The Kulminator, which I had loved visiting when Captain Caveman and I were last in Antwerp. I felt a bit foolish when he said he’d not lived there for quite a few years! The shepherd’s pie was delightful (as always) and the very substantial portion beat me so I took leftovers home (again) for tomorrow’s lunch. I was pleased to see that this week cauliflower was included in the vegetables served with the main dish – I love cauliflower. I had 3 glasses of red wine and even had room for the chocolate fondant dessert, which is absolutely delicious, and is available on the usual menu to have any time.
Back home we got confirmation that the Netflix issue was sorted and we could now use it again!
In the news today more airport staff tested positive in Saigon, here’s the info:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210209/two-more-airport-employees-test-positive-for-novel-coronavirus-in-ho-chi-minh-city/59220.html

The Shopping basket – 8th February

Are you the type of person who wonders what is in other people’s shopping trolleys or fridge? If you have a partner who goes shopping without you, do you like to know what they bought and how much things were? I am that person, so on Monday 8th February when Captain Caveman got back from his shopping trip to Dong Hoi, I had a good check at all the stuff he had got and how much it was. If you’re interested in what we bought for the week, read on! Today’s exchange rate makes 50,000vnd equal to £1.55, US$ 2.17, AU$ 2.80 or 1.8 Euro, so you can work out costs of items.
Here’s a list in order of most expensive first in Vietnamese Dong (vnd):
• 1 box of dates 238,500
• 24 cans of Huda beer 238,000
• 1 bag of walnuts 149,000
• 1 jar of cashew nuts 129,000
• 1 jar of tomato based pasta sauce 126,000
• 4 apples 120,000
• 1 tub of hummus 100,000
• 5 chocolate and nut protein balls 100,000
• 1 packet of bacon 98,000
• 1 whole-wheat/sourdough loaf 80,000
• 1 packet of dried dragon fruit 78,000
• 1 packet of unsalted butter 73,000
• 1 jar of pickled garlic 71,000
• 1 big tupperwear box (for rice) 70,500
• 1 big bag of Naturals crisps 70,000
• 1 packet of contraceptive pill 67,000
• 4 red peppers 60,000
• 10 ibuprofen 400mg 60,000
• 24 sanitary towels and 20 liners 60,000
• 1 tube of Sensodyne toothpaste 55,000
• 1 jar of popcorn kernels 52,000
• 4 Snickers bars 48,000
• 1 box of biscuits 47,000
• 2 chicken breasts 45,000
• 1 packet of Haribo cola bottles 45,000
• 1 packet of mushrooms 42,000
• 3 washing up sponges 38,000
• 3 toothbrushes 36,000
• 1 box of raisins 36,500
• 2 dragon fruit 36,000
• 1 bag of cherry tomatoes 33,150
• 1 tube of Pringles 32,000
• 1 big bag of Lays crisps 31,500
• 10 eggs 28,500
• 3 rice crackers 22,000
• 1 packet of radishes 19,500
• 1 packet of watercress 19,600
• 1 baguette stick 9,000
Some of it surprised me as, although I know nuts and dates are expensive here, I wasn’t expecting some of the items to be so highly priced. Also, I only eat apples for convenience of getting fruit in to my diet but I think they are too expensive here. Chicken is cheap and very good quality so we bought a few packets. What surprised you the most? Do any of you analyse your shopping and make changes to help keep in budget?

Phong Nha – 8th February

By Monday 8th February Vietnam was facing it’s 4th wave of the Corona virus and with a lot of concern as the holiday was only 4 days away. Many people had already finished work and had chosen to travel back home early and so it was a difficult job for the authorities to ensure prevention of the virus here. Shocking news came first thing in the morning that 4 of the people who tested positive yesterday are baggage handlers at Saigon (HCMC) airport, today they closed down an alley where they live in District 12;
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210208/ho-chi-minh-city-blocks-neighborhood-alley-as-local-residents-infected-with-covid19/59203.html
The total number of reported cases in Vietnam had now reached over 2,000 and people were definitely getting worried.
Despite the increase in cases recently there still hadn’t been any more Corona deaths reported and Vietnam was still on just 35 in over a year. An interesting article stating how low the death rate is over here compared to USA and UK can be found here:
https://vietnaminsider.vn/why-covid-19-death-toll-ratio-per-million-remains-extremely-low-in-vietnam/
Later that day we realised just how lucky we were coming back from Saigon when we did as more airport postive cases in HCMC were reported:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/871679/airports-nationwide-on-highest-alert-following-30-new-local-covid-cases-at-hcm-city-airport.html
By 5pm more cases linked to Saigon airport were reported and we suspected Tet could get cancelled:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/871724/govt-orders-hcm-city-to-strengthen-covid-preventive-measures-as-25-more-test-positive.html
One of the good things here in Vietnam is that swift, decisive action is taken to prevent as much spreading as possible and by the end of the day more lockdowns in specific areas were implemented:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210208/ho-chi-minh-city-seals-off-dozen-of-locations-amid-covid19-concerns/59210.html
Meanwhile, in our Phong Nha world, we were carrying on as normal…….

With Tet holiday coming up the loud speakers around the village had been fixed and were very much in use from 5.30am each morning now. On Monday 8th February extremely loud and distasteful music echoed around our building from 5.30am. Captain Caveman left for Phong Nha at 7am and had decided to go to Dong Hoi at 9am for a pre-Tet shopping trip. I wasn’t invited because it was raining and I would slow him down moving from one place to the next so I stayed at home. I had an apple and a gluten free cookie and then was ill with a bad stomach for most of the day. I did a lot of French on Duolingo, a few crossword type puzzles and some blogging, once the noise had calmed down a bit. For my lunch I heated up my leftover Sunday dinner and then the afternoon was even noisier so I tried to chill out by using Captain Caveman’s noise cancelling headphones which still didn’t completely block everything out. I watched The Dig, a film on Netflix and it was pretty good but a JCB had started ripping the banana tree garden up outside our living room window and I could still hear it. I’d got out some frozen meat for Captain Caveman to make pasta with for dinner but he forgot and made an incredibly salty French onion soup which I hardly ate any of. He had bought loads of stuff in Dong Hoi and had managed to meet up with our friend, Trang, at Tree Hugger for white russians and sandwiches.
That evening we settled down to watch some Netflix in the living room only to find the account was no longer accessible and the account had suffered an attempt at being logged in from Nghe An, a lot further north than we are.

Phong Nha – 7th February

I was woken up by Captain Caveman’s loud sneeze at 6.45am on Sunday 7th February. I didn’t get back to sleep and only an hour after he had left to go to Phong Nha, the housekeeping knock came for cleaning our room. I ate bread and butter and an apple for breakfast then sipped jasmine tea in the living room.
Captain Caveman picked up our order from Vananh, and he also brought back gluten free biscotti made by LyLy which was amazing! Our hummus order looked great and also contained some mung bean chips a couple of gluten free cookies to try and some chocolate protein balls for when I get peckish.
I had a bad stomach (again!) In the afternoon and so ended up having crisps and diet coke before my evening meal.

When we went up to the Farmstay for Sunday dinner our new motorbike helmets from Saigon had arrived and they were really snazzy. Captain Caveman went in the sauna while I chatted to Veronika and some guests who were staying at The Villas. It was a warm evening, everyone was sitting outside and Phong Nha Farmstay was quite busy – it was nice to see the pool with guests in too. The Sunday dinner of roast pork, lamb, pasta bake, roast potatoes, vegetables and thick gravy was extremely tasty and of course we couldn’t miss the included beverage and cake. We had the house red wine, which is a substantial portion and while the others had chocolate fondant cake I went for the carrot cake this time and it was fantastic – the whole deal cost just 300,000vnd and, as always, definitely worth it!

If you want to buy a safe and snazzy motorbike helmet I can highly recommend Saigon Motorcycles, they are very helpful and were able to deliver to Phong Nha within a week! Here is their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SaigonMotorcyclehireandsales/

Phong Nha – 6th February

On Saturday 6th February I awoke to a hangover and a telling off from Captain Caveman for being a bit drunk last night when we got home. He was up early and went to Phong Nha to pick up the Tet biscuits I’d ordered from Moon at Funny Monkeys.
In the Vietnamese news there were more localised lockdowns where the virus was present and an update on when Vietnam might be able to start vaccinating their people (see links below);
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/870730/binh-duong-seals-off-apartment-block-as-new-covid-19-infection-detected.html

https://vietnamnews.vn/society/870239/astrazeneca-vaccines-prove-safe-effective-will-be-delivered-to-viet-nam-by-mid-year.html
It was all going on where Corona was concerned and one area had quarantined 10,000 people because of 1 positive case.
I was informed by a mutual friend that an ex Aviva colleague back in Sheffield had died from Corona and I was upset and angry – I’d not seen her for years but I remembered her as being such a great member of the ‘Mum’s’ call centre team in Sheffield when I worked at Pomona.
For lunch we had cheese and ham sandwiches and I had an apple. Vananh, owner of the temporarily closed Phong Nha Underground, was making various items so I ordered a couple of tubs of hummus and some chocolate protein balls for Captain Caveman to pick up tomorrow. Late afternoon Captain Caveman went off to the Farmstay for a sauna and when he eventually came back at 8pm he ate the first microwaved portion of masaman curry and rice so fast that he had finished his dinner before I had even heated mine up. I was a bit grumpy as I was waiting to eat with him and then I sat and ate by myself.
I missed my family and friends a lot today even though I still knew I was so much safer from the virus here and I felt very lucky to be out of the UK right now.

Phong Nha & Dong Hoi – 5th February

At 5.45am on Friday 5th February Captain Caveman was off surfing with the Farmstay gang, I couldn’t get back to sleep and so I was also up too early for my liking. We had booked Phuong for a day trip to Dong Hoi so that Captain Caveman could go shopping and I could go for physio.
In the news here there was an update that all the Corona tests completed on Saigon airport staff were all negative, so far! Here’s the link:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210205/all-employees-of-saigon-airport-four-other-airdromes-test-negative-for-covid19/59168.html
A post on Facebook confirmed what I expected, all schooling was to be stopped immediately to prevent the spread of the virus.
We arrived in Dong Hoi about 10.30am and went to Earth cafe for a vegan brunch. Kimmie, the visa agent, came to collect my passport again for another month’s renewal. I had my favourite udon soup and the kumquat and daisy tea, Captain Caveman had pumpkin soup and we ordered 2 takeaway dishes for our friend. We tried a biscuit, made by Moon at Funny Monkeys, and I decided to order some for Tet. Our next stop was Tree Hugger to quickly pick up a smoothie before we went to Dong Hoi – Cuba hospital, where Trang was with her mom who was having some sort of transfusion. I had a dodgy tum and needed to use the hospital toilets which were absolutely disgusting. We went to a little cafe next to the hospital for a quick drink and a chat.
After we went to the Co-op Mart supermarket which was heaving with people buying stuff for Tet and I needed the toilet again (and imodium) so that I could go to physio at 1.30pm. When I was at the clinic they told me they will close for Tet in a couple of days, the therapy today was really good and the therapist pinpointed the painful part of my ankle which was at the back of my foot near my ankle bone. At the end of my session Captain Caveman came with a gift basket for the team and we left around 4pm to go back to Phong Nha.

We dropped off the shopping at home, I went to the loo (again) and had no idea what was making me ill, then we went straight to The Villas for happy hour. Granted a happy hour and a half with all you can eat pizza was not going to help my stomach but, of course, I carried on regardless. I had 3 margaritas, we met with our new friends, June and Steve, we chatted to Vananh and Jason (visiting from Danang) and our friend Hannah joined us. June and Steve ordered off the menu, Hannah had a veggie pizza, Matty arrived and joined us on the all you can eat pizza. I then proceeded to have wine, my stomach was now fine and I managed 8 slices of pizza. It was a great night and we said we would keep in touch with June and Steve, who were such good fun, and we hope to visit Danang in the next few months.
On the fun bus back home we got chatting to two Farmstay customers, 2 young girls – 1 from Salford and another from Liverpool and it was nice to meet people from near to where I’m from.
I was also pleased to now have a full fridge and cupboard again, ready for the forthcoming Tet holidays.

Phong Nha – 4th February

Things were getting even more concerning over Corona here in Vietnam as the government responded quickly to any new cases. On Thursday 4th February the news of medical staff who were doing the massive amount of testing were being overworked, here’s an example:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210203/medical-worker-collapses-on-duty-in-covid19-epicenter/59140.html
But the leaders of the country were firm in their actions and were able to give the go ahead to take measures to prevent a further spread.
Captain Caveman had gone to Oxalis early for breakfast, Veronika had gone to the beach and I’d done some blogging. An old friend of Captain Caveman’s was passing through Phong Nha, Hung and his wife Ivy were driving from Ha Tinh that morning and going to stop off for a quick hello at Phong Nha Farmstay before carrying on to Danang and eventually back to Saigon. I met Captain Caveman by the pool at the Farmstay and Veronika was already there after her beach trip. Hung and Ivy were really nice people and it was too short a visit really as they got whisked off to look at the accommodation at the Farmstay, ready for next time. Luckily we did have time to ask Maya the receptionist to take some photos of us all together. We had pho for breakfast and, as the weather was nice, we sat outside for our lunch. Captain Caveman went wild and had a pizza (the day before pizza night!) and I had some fresh spring rolls. I filled up by having 1 slice of Captain Caveman’s salami pizza and 2 glasses of white wine. Back home I portioned up the masaman curry in to 6 containers and popped 2 in the fridge and 4 in the freezer (ideal for a rainy or ‘no spending’ day). That night we were going to stay in but Bich was cooking a lamb shank soup which Captain Caveman really wanted to try so we headed back to the Farmstay that evening. Captain Caveman, Matty, Ben and some customers were in the sauna and swimming pool while I joined Veronika who was chatting to a lovely couple from London, June and Steve. We clicked straight away and from the first laugh with June I don’t think we stopped. They knew Seamouse, lived in Danang and were staying at Victory Road Villas so with a bit of wine for the ladies and beer for the men, we went inside to try the soup which went down a treat. Steve tried the Bang Xeo and June had the smoked duck salad with egg while I had the pork clay pot – all the food was outstanding and the conversation was flowing, in fact we had such a great night we said we would see June and Steve tomorrow at The Villas.

Photo credit – Captain Caveman, Hung, Maya.

Phong Nha – 3rd February

On Wednesday 3rd February, with just over a week until Tet eve, some people in Vietnam had started to cancel or change travel tickets, or even get refunds, due to fear of getting stuck somewhere or being at risk of catching Corona. You can read more about it here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210203/railway-passengers-in-southern-vietnam-return-tickets-en-masse-for-fear-of-virus-outbreak/59120.html
Captain Caveman arrived home from Phong Nha at 10.30am with some vegetables, as we had none in, and made us a nice sausage brunch. We decided to go for a walk to the French road and we managed 1.8km in 41 minutes, slightly slower than my round the block pace but not too bad.
Our friend Ali had now been in quarantine in Saigon for 1 week and was looking forward to getting out and coming to Phong Nha in another week, all being well!
After our walk I had a piece of cheese and some peanuts while Captain Caveman got on with making another one of his masaman curries with enough for us to freeze/refrigerate a few portions. We had a bottle of the Lindeman’s sparkling wine and had a chicken in tomato sauce with spaghetti for dinner (and the spaghetti did not give me any gluten problems whatsoever). That night we had an early night ready for Captain Caveman’s early outing the next day.

(Most photos & video by Captain Caveman)

Captain Caveman’s video of my walking progress

Phong Nha – 2nd February

By Tuesday 2nd February the news updates here in Vietnam were certainly bringing more concern over whether the next wave of the virus could, or would, remain under control. That morning the news told us that they were to test all staff at the airports, this would later turn out to be a good idea, see more here;
https://vietnaminsider.vn/hcm-city-conducts-covid-19-test-on-all-staff-at-tan-son-nhat-airport/
Worryingly, there was also confirmation of the UK variant of the virus having got in to Vietnam and of course it was so much faster to spread – the authorities were acting quickly to put measures in place to prevent as much damage as possible, more below in the link:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210202/vietnam-confirms-latest-virus-outbreak-is-more-contagious-uk-variant/59117.html
It was also a sad day for all my UK Facebook friends as they posted that the 100 year old Sir Tom, who had raised a lot of money for charities supporting the NHS by walking round his own house, had died from Corona. I was so busy reading up on all the news that I almost forgot to have breakfast and, as it was the last day of my 4 day challenge to not spend any cash, I had peanuts from the cupboard that I had forgotten were there – easily a first time for me in breakfast options. For lunch I had the remainder of the pork casserole and put in my order for a shepherd’s pie for dinner with the Farmstay later. I didn’t order Captain Caveman one because, although he was due back from Son Doong today, he would be attending his gala dinner at Chay Lap with his customers.
Captain Caveman and I had planned that he would come home after his tour however that had changed because Captain Caveman decided he would stay in Phong Nha tonight and come back tomorrow.
At 5.50pm Veronika and I went for Shepherd’s Pie night at Phong Nha Farmstay with Matty. I just had cider with my shepherd’s pie, which was as delicious as always and I really enjoyed my food. I’d taken my bank card so I could pay for my Sunday dinner as well as tonight’s dinner, which I did. It came to less than £20 in total for both nights and so I had managed to go for 4 days with only spending that amount, if Captain Caveman had been back as planned he would have paid cash for it and I would have spent nothing. Sometimes it’s easy to not really take any notice of how much money I’ve spent in a week, or a month, and so it was a good challenge to try – I think I might do some ‘no spending’ days again and see if I can plan better and improve on it.

Phong Nha – 1st February

It was day 3 of my ‘not spending any cash’ challenge on Monday 1st February and day 3 of Captain Caveman’s first customer Son Doong tour of the season. Having had a big dinner the night before and not having anything in for breakfast I just had raisins! I’d taken the pork casserole out of the freezer to have for meals later and I noticed we had 3 eggs left which meant I could make fried rice and use some of the leftover Sunday dinner veg to throw in, for another meal.
Before lunch I had done some blogging, learning languages, all my exercises and even been for a short walk with my sticks. I had a big lunch so that I wasn’t as tempted to snack and really enjoyed the pork casserole with potatoes, broccoli, green beans, bak choi, carrot and mushrooms. I finished off the frozen berries (now defrosted) as a dessert and had a pot of jasmine tea while I did more work then watched a couple more Breaking Bad episodes on Netflix.
I still got peckish in the afternoon so I had 20g of cheddar cheese and 4 squares of plain chocolate, which would have gone well with a red wine but I resisted. I prepared all the remaining veg and made 2 of the eggs in to an omelette, which I chopped up for the fried rice later.
The fried rice with garlic, pepper, carrot, green beans, peppers and sweetcorn turned out to be really tasty and got rid of all the spare veg we had left, tomorrow Captain Caveman was due back for dinner so I had almost completed my challenge and was glad to be using up some stuff from the fridge, freezer and cupboards.

joloyolo

The ramblings and observations of a fortysomething lady of leisure