Dong Hoi and Phong Nha – 13th December

I struggled as to whether to include all the details, especially the photos in this post, due to how it might make people feel. I would advise not reading the middle section if you are vegetarian or vegan.
Our day started well on Sunday 13th December with a bit of a lay-in at the Nam Long Plus hotel followed by a walk to a new cafe in town. An former colleague of Captain Caveman’s has opened Earth cafe on a small street in the centre of Dong Hoi which serves vegan food from 8am to 9pm. Captain Caveman had arranged to meet Thao, another former colleague, at the vegan cafe for breakfast and he would stay and chat while I went off to physio. The menu looked great and we got to try peanut milk, which literally tastes like peanut flavoured milk, and I enjoyed the blue tea. Captain Caveman ordered the udon noodle dish and I asked for the pineapple fried rice without chilli. There were a few teething problems but the place was nice and the menu had plenty of choice. When my food came it was so spicy and I could hardly eat it. Unfortunately, as is usual in Dong Hoi, when Mo, the owner, checked about the no chillies the chef had not put any in but had cooked the rice with hot Sriracha sauce, a very hot Thai sauce made from chillies! I had a quick taste of Captain Caveman’s soup and I wish I’d ordered that instead, it was delicious. I had to leave though as it was time for me to head over to Thuy’s house before our planned lunch outing.

The (very small) taxi arrived and I got in the front, Thuy, Trang and Grandma got in the back with the 2 kids on laps and off we went to pick up Captain Caveman. I tried to get the address of our lunch stop to tell Captain Caveman to meet us there but they had none of it and when we arrived back at Earth Cafe I had to squeeze in the back while Captain Caveman got in the front. The driver, with his 5 adults and 2 kids load, drove out in to the middle of nowhere and we stopped at an empty cafe. We were about to try a definite first for me and Thuy took the liberty of ordering for us, from what we could make out we were getting an assortment of bird dishes, grilled or fried and some cooked with bamboo. Fried rice was ordered, kimchi on the table already, a case of beers and a bucket of ice (with tongs). More diners began to arrive and most of them had big families so I started to feel a bit more relaxed that all would be fine, the place was clean and well run.

The first dish to come out was a bowl of about 20 or so small birds which were sparrows and they have to be eaten whole, the bones the heads, the feet – the whole shebang! I felt a bit apprehensive to try them but actually the sparrows tasted pretty good, although I couldn’t bring myself to eat the head and bones so I picked at it like it was a miniature KFC. I managed 4 sparrows but Captain Caveman really did take one for the team on that dish. The next dish to come was the fried rice which I heartily filled my bowl up with, not realising it had minced bird in it as an ingredient! It tasted very different, like nothing I’d tasted before, but I managed to eat a couple of small bowls of it, encouraging Captain Caveman to have more – the fried onion and peanut gave it a tasty edge! Everyone else was really enjoying the lunch and we were all drinking quite a lot of beer and doing cheers. The kids had Coke as a treat and they behaved really well at the table, eating the food they were dished out and joining in the cheers. The second bird dish to come out was described as Kingfisher but it was an egret, it tasted like the smell of a fishy wet dog! I had one piece and found that, because it had plenty of meat on and was much bigger, I didn’t need a second piece. The third dish I had no idea what the bird was but Captain Caveman was a bit miffed with me for saying we would have it with sauteed bamboo as he doesn’t like bamboo, neither do I but I thought it might be the least offensive ingredient in the pot and I decided to pull the ‘I’m full’ card (over a week later I found out it was boiled duck and would probably have been my favourite).

We got the taxi back, all 7 of us, and were dropped off at the Nam Long Plus hotel where we quickly packed and checked out. We were glad to see Phuong but our day was only halfway through as Captain Caveman had plans to do a quick shop before we headed back to Phong Nha. I felt a bit queasy so Captain Caveman sent me to buy myself a 2021 diary then get 12 minutes on the massage chair in Co-op Mart, while he did the shopping.

We were back at Elements by 4pm, saying hello to Mr Ky, the dog, and then I had a shower and got changed, ready for Sunday dinner that night at the Farmstay. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to eat any more food and I still could taste the egret has I ordered a drink. The taste of the egret was still repeating on me throughout the evening but the wine, pork, lamb, vegetables, and gravy did help me take my mind off it. Bich had been growing her own strawberries and it was lovely to try one! After dinner I read Howie a story before going home for a much needed sleep.

Australia 2019 – 8th January

My last day in Bronte was a fairly lazy one. Tuesday 8th January was a hot day after rain in the night and I was sad to be leaving Australia. It had certainly been an eventful month in the country and I definitely wanted to return. I packed my big suitcase with the slow cooker in it, which would eventually end up in Turkey. The views from the apartment were stunning and I admired it for the last time. In the afternoon Llinos and I had a walk to get roast chicken and salad which we brought home and shared with a bottle of chilled white wine. After reluctant goodbyes following a slow walk to the bus stop with my heavy case I was off to the airport.

All went well with my flight to KL except for being in a window seat, which I like the least. I was due to land at 3am and would have 7 hours until my next flight, to Vietnam.

Dong Hoi – 12th December

I had buttered toast for breakfast in bed on Saturday 12th December as we had an exciting weekend lined up. We had booked to stay at the Nam Long Plus hotel in Dong Hoi that night and so we booked Phuong (of Phuong’s Transfers) to take us in time for lunch at Tree Hugger cafe before my physio appointment. I had a beef and veg brown rice plate for my lunch while Captain Caveman had a burger for a change. Whenever we go to Dong Hoi to stay we have to fit in a visit to Tree Hugger as it is just so relaxed and friendly with a great menu. I had a few herbal teas too then walked to the hotel before setting off for physio. I often choose the Nam Long Plus hotel as the staff are lovely, they have a lift, it’s good value for money, in a great location and has softer mattresses than some budget hotels.

At physio my therapist was Nam, who has been doing my therapy from the start and knows my leg well, he massaged my lower leg and it really hurt, especially where there is obviously a trapped nerve or some problem with my sciatic nerve being pressed which still makes my toes feel like they have an electric shock. I tried my best to focus on Vietnamese language lessons on my phone but found it confusing. Thuy had already prepared another treat for me and this time I couldn’t carry it; she had given me a gift of rice, sticky rice, a jar of crushed peanuts, as well as some meat – I was gobsmacked at such a generous gift. Back at the hotel Captain Caveman and the taxi driver had to help me get all the food in to the building, it was that heavy. I had time for a bath and then we decided to walk to one of my favourite restaurants, 7th Heaven, for dinner.

Today was probably the most I had walked since my accident and I was so slow and stiff but I did it. Captain Caveman ordered chicken cordon bleu, I went for the steak and we shared sweet potato fries as a starter. We also had a nice bottle of red wine and the owner, Tam, showed me that taking food photos on portrait mode makes a better picture. The evening was great and I really enjoyed the night out, we went to bed looking forward to what our Sunday had in store for us.

Australia 2019 – 7th January

Apart from the wallabies and wombats playing chicken in the road between Devonport and Kempton, I had not seen many of the infmamous animals of Australia. Captain Caveman booked us tickets to the wildlife park at Darling Harbour and we had an amazing day out for his last one in Sydney. It started with breakfast at Tokio which had amazing gluten free bread. Our first animals were snakes, wombats and wallabies – we even got to stroke the wombat who was eating corn and sweet potato for breakfast. He also had a container with fruit in which came out when he rolled it. The wallabies were cute but we weren’t able to touch them because they can bite.

The cassowary was such a cool bird and the first time I’d ever seen one. It shared his enclosure with a pademelon, who was really sweet too. I liked the reptiles and I really wanted to see a koala but so far I had only seen a sleeping one from behind. We got to walk through the kangaroo enclosure and saw a quoll too.

Finally, the highlight of the day was seeing the koalas. They were really lovely. My phone storage was full so Captain Caveman took the photos of the koalas and then again at the sharks and rays. We stood in tubes under the water and watched the creatures swim above us which was really beautiful.
Just when you’d think the day couldn’t possibly get any better we stopped off at a Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction to purchase an electrical item and a Barbie Mate. We would take the new purchase along with our recently purchased new suitcase back to Phong Nha – I was so excited to have a slow cooker.
In the evening, and after food, I said goodbye to Captain Caveman as he left for the airport and headed back to Vietnam. I had one more day in Sydney left.

Phong Nha – Friday 11th December

Captain Caveman had arranged a day trip out to Canh Duong on Friday 11th December. He had decided to take his motorbike to the coastal fishing village to scope out more cycle routes and had invited Matty along. I got up early so that we could all have breakfast at the Farmstay before they left, I had a delicious pho bo and an orange juice and then sat around for a bit, trying to do some blogging. I also checked out some flight prices and availability to fly to Turkey on New Year’s Eve (it’s always cheaper to fly on a holiday day) and to my surprise there was one available for only £400 one way. There were also flights from Vietnam to the UK in March available at a bargain £1800 one way, the cheapest ones obviously had the longest lay overs in the Middle East, which I didn’t fancy. Ben updated the Farmstay blackboard and had reintroduced Chef’s Table on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Farmstay, where a selection of Vietnamese food comes out and is shared by whoever has booked a seat at the dining table – I’d not experienced it before so I said we would go to the Monday one. I also noticed a new pile of books in the book swap and reminded myself to get on with the books I had been meaning to read! Veronika arrived after walking here and we both had a carrot cake and tea then she walked the 2km home while I got a lift back.

After doing a bit of work it was time for me to get ready for pizza night at The Villas (again) and the evening was a quiet one, without a few of the usual suspects being there, but very enjoyable nonetheless. It was warm enough to sit outside and the pizzas just kept on coming, I lost count of how many slices we had and my favourite one is still the Showstopper – blue cheese, prosciutto, spring onion and jam!

Phong Nha – the 2nd week of December

Monday 7th December was a big day for Melissa and her family who, after 4 months of living at the Elements Collection, had decided to take a holiday within a holiday and go to Hue for a week or two. Captain Caveman was off to Hang Tien for work, just for the day but would be back for dinner. Veronika had got up early and was already at the Phong Nha Farmstay so I decided to go to have breakfast with Melissa and family. Ben came to collect us in the muddy jeep, I was wearing my size 12 jeans which have not felt loose for some time but now they were very comfortable. I had a hot chocolate and pho bo (beef rice noodle soup) which was really good. After breakfast we had hugs and said our goodbyes with promises to see them back for Christmas in Phong Nha. Back in the Farmstay with the fire on I chatted to Bich for a while then I had green tea, fried spring rolls and carrot cake for lunch and ended up staying by the fire the whole day, it was just so cosy. By the time Captain Caveman was on his way back from his cave trip I decided he may as well come over for dinner at the Farmstay and I ordered a red wine. Captain Caveman arrived and was glad to get near the fire with a drink. He was wearing trousers now, signalling winter was definitely here. We had chicken quesadillas to start then I had Aussie pie, chips and gravy which was fantastic, Captain Caveman had spaghetti bolognese with garlic bread. It reminded me I must try pasta and see if I have a gluten reaction or not, the pastry and gravy were fine with no reaction whatsoever.
Before we left Dua came in wearing a similar top to mine so we got a photo, he didn’t seem too impressed, and he suits camouflage much better than I do.

I had a really good day on Tuesday 8th December, Captain Caveman had gone to Hang En for 2 days as part of the pre tour preparation work with Oxalis. Nau, our gecko, appeared outside looking dead and so I opened the balcony door to see if he was ok and let him indoors – he ran away. I went to physio with Phuong in the afternoon, as usual and was looking forward to an evening of getting some jobs done as I was behind on my To Do list. For dinner I decided to eat what was left of my veggie meal from the Farmstay a couple of Sundays ago, it was a potato dish which I had with steamed rice and sweetcorn – very tasty.

On Wednesday 9th December we had been invited out by Tatas for her 30th birthday. Duolingo, the language learning app, had sent me an update of my progress and I was pleased to still be finding time to progress in Vietnamese, Turkish and French.
Captain Caveman returned from Hang En via the Lake House where he went to pick up some bread. We got ready and went over to the Phong Nha Farmstay for dinner with Tatas for her birthday. Ben had already messaged us to say that the sauna was open for when we arrived and that he and Matty were already heading in there. By the time Tatas arrived Captain Caveman and I had drank a whole bottle of wine, eaten a starter (artichoke and olive bread with dips) and were still hungry. I had the duck a l’orange, Captain Caveman had pie, chips, beans & gravy and Tatas went for a spaghetti bolognese, she had a margarita and we all had more wine and it got a bit messy! After eating the delicious dinner, we rejoined the others by the fire and some of them played cards, by 9pm I had joined Tatas on the margaritas, then we ordered more wine and Ben suggested a double rum and ginger ale would make a nice last drink. I still had the rum as we wandered round to the pool villa, Tatas carrying a new bottle of red wine, about 11pm. Although I had drank quite a bit I found I was able to walk up the slope to Gypsy and Little Lies so much better than the last time I had been here. Matty got dragged along and we insisted he bring his ukulele so we could have a late night sing-song. We drank the bottle of red wine which Tatas brought from the bar and then we all proceeded to drink more wine from the minibar (it’s actually a fully stocked fridge). We were all drunk and when we eventually called it a night, at 2am, I insisted that Captain Caveman and I get in a single bed so that housekeeping staff didn’t have to make up both beds! As we all said goodnight it was agreed that we would meet at 7.30am on Thursday morning for a dip in the pool to celebrate Tatas’ actual birthday!

I woke up on Thursday 10th December with the biggest hangover since ligament-gate, almost 8 months ago. I was confused as to why we were in such a small bed and I was so thirsty it was unbelievable. Captain Caveman got me some water and then went for a swim with Tatas in the outside pool, which was a bit chilly. The three of us went to have breakfast at the Farmstay and while they tucked into fry ups I asked for beef noodle soup. Captain Caveman ordered me chicken instead but I ate it and it must have took me an hour to eat most of it because I was so fragile. Matty eventually came in for breakfast and he was about as rough as I was. I went straight back to bed when I got home and, except for a quick snack of cheese and beetroot crackers at lunch, I stayed there until about 7pm. Tatas had her (real) birthday party celebrations booked for 6.30pm at a venue that used to be Andy’s disco bar. Captain Caveman went but I couldn’t even attempt it and had to force myself to go get some dinner at the Farmstay. I had beef in bamboo with veg and rice while Captain Caveman had spaghetti bolognese. I didn’t have any alcohol but I had to have 2 full fat cokes as I still felt so hungover.

Australia 2019 – 5th & 6th January

On Saturday 5th January I woke up in the early hours trying to unzip the tent I wasn’t sleeping in. I’d completely forgotten we were now in a lovely comfy bed in Hobart, I’d also put to the back of my mind the huntsman spider under the bed. We slept in late and Captain Caveman got rid of the spider, which turned out to be dead, before BBQ bacon for breakfast.

The 4 of us had a drive to the famous Mount Wellington and did the tourist thing. The scenery was stunning and my phone camera didn’t do it justice – a nice man did get a picture of both of us together though.

In the afternoon we visited the brewery and had a few drinks outside in the sun before heading back and getting packed for our flight back to Sydney. We said our sad farewells and headed straight through to the departure gates only to find our flight had been cancelled – Sydney airport was closed due to a storm. Captain Caveman got right on it and spoke to the staff at the check in desk who apologised that there would be no compensation (due to weather being at fault) but got us on the next available flight on Saturday at 13:10.
There wasn’t much we could do so I took a selfie with a statue in the airport while Captain Caveman figured out what we were going to do for the night because Hobart airport closes each evening.

By the time I had got back from selfie taking and a quick pee, Captain Caveman had spoken to John who had kindly set back off to pick us up again. We got back to their’s and Germ was already in bed but got back up, opened a bottle of fizz, then prepared a cheese and olive feast. We were all sat down when someone noticed something moving in the trees outside and the security light had come on. We all went over to see 3 possums in and below the tree, this was the first time I had seen a possum and they are really cute. We watched them for ages and put some fruit out for them, I tried to get some photos too.

After a bit of a lay in and breakfast at a cafe we were on our way back to Hobart airport. It was Sunday 6th January and our flight arrived in Sydney about 3pm. We caught the number 400 bus to Bronte where we would be staying with Llinos again.
We had wine and food at the Robin Hood pub with Llinos, then called at the bottle shop for wine. We took photos at the bottle shop and the shop assistant took our photo too.

Australia 2019 – 3rd January

Captain Caveman had a slot at the ASF conference to give a presentation about his recent caving expedition in Ha Giang, North Vietnam. So on Thursday 3rd January we did the only sensible thing and snuck out of the school and went in to town for breakfast and to buy our bus tickets back to Hobart for our last night in Tasmania.
On our return we noticed Sarah and Serena had also played truant for the morning session and popped over to join Sarah in her camper van. Before noon we had shared a bottle of chardonnay and divvied up the Belgian chocolates between the 3 of us. I stayed there to finish the wine and have my gluten free lunch while they rejoined the other delegates. I attended Captain Caveman’s talk, which was informative and amusing, before getting to witness a physical session in the afternoon. There was a competition who could climb a 30m vertical rope the fastest and a safety expert had people dangling from the ceiling of the gym.
In the evening we went for fish and chips where, despite having grilled fish (no batter), I got glutened and was a bit unwell. We were about to have an early(ish) night but got sat with a couple of friendly cavers who insisted we have wine!

Australia 2019 – 2nd January

On Wednesday 2nd January I had an amazing day, I was so excited I could hardly contain myself as we headed for the minibus for a day trip. Captain Caveman had sensed my potential boredom and booked us on one of the ASF activity days that involved wine and chocolate tasting.
We met at the car park at 9.30am sharp but alas Henry was missing again (an elderly fella with a habit of being late for everything).
We arrived at La Villa vineyard which was a delightful little place, I loved it straight away. We started with a bit of fizz and I was distraught to note we had non-drinkers on the wine tasting tour (not the drivers). Some of the participants were older ex-cavers who were very badly behaved and a bit embarrassing. One man even fell into a big wooden wine rack and nearly knocked all the bottles off, but didn’t move and other ‘olds’ joined him in leaning on it. Never the less I did manage to enjoy rather a few of the wines (actually all of them) even though I couldn’t hear the owner giving his tasting notes.
By midday we had sampled all the wines, plus a cider, purchased a bottle of their award winning chardonnay and were on our way to the next stop.

I’m not a big fan of chocolate and I’m also meant to be following my diet plan so the chocolate factory surprised me. We had a guided tour with lots of free tastes of Belgian chocolate at the famous House of Anvers, plus a free cool bag each. After shovelling in as many truffles, pralines and fudge as possible we were ready to leave so that we could fit in a picnic lunch (some of the olds were sat in the busy cafe waiting on omelettes so it took some rounding up).

Our third stop of the day was to an eclectic shop where we had a hot drink and me a gf chocolate tart before heading off for a late picnic lunch at Bell’s parade.
We had a quick stop back at the campsite before getting on the bus to the wildlife park where we would have a rather rushed BBQ before a treat of a trip to Gunsplain caves.
I also was annoyed that we had to choose between eating and visiting the animals at the park and of course we chose food. The nearest I got to an animal was holding the hand of a model kangaroo in the foyer while Captain Caveman begrudgingly took my photo.

There were over a hundred of us in groups of 4 and it was organised chaos so when we got to the entrance of the caves both Captain Caveman and I realised it was too much of a trauma for me to go in. I waited for an hour while everyone went underground and sat on a bench outside the locked cave entrance. Just as everyone left a latecomer, Gabriel, ran down the steps hoping to catch up. Unfortunately he was stuck with me so we had a bit of a chat, he with his sunglasses on and squinting in to the sunlight as he spoke. He apologised for wearing his sunglasses as the sun started to go down and I got confused by this when he suggested I move. It slowly became apparent I was sat next to a spider which (luckily for me) had just killed a wasp. I moved at Gabriel’s request but was brave enough to take a closer look at the dull red mark on it’s back while trying to get my phone out for a photo.
I missed the photo but had a lovely spider lesson from Gabriel – the ‘oh it’s not that big, I’m not too scared’ comment he thought was hilarious. The spider was quite a nasty one, a red back, and if I was bitten could have proved troublesome given we were 55 minutes from the group’s return and about 1.5hrs from a doctor or hospital.
Eventually the cavers returned and we got a lift back instead of waiting for the bus – the bar wasn’t open so we went to bed early.

Australia 2019 – New Year’s Day

How did you spend New Year’s Day?
I bet, whatever you did, it was better than mine. It may seem like its all glitter and rainbows in my life and for the most part I do have a pretty good deal going on, however, I sometimes have to take the rough with the smooth!
The highlights of the first day of 2019 were;
1. Tidying the tent to make it feel like I had more room and therefore should be less claustrophobic (I even found a spot for my glasses).
2. Meeting Tashie, a cute dog, who was the mascot for the CASA caving group.
3. Watching the Speleo Games at the ASF conference – an intense obstacle course which, although above ground, simulated an underground course through caves. (Yes, I did get asked to have a go, and no, I politely declined).
4. Getting invited to Alan’s parents’ house for a buffet dinner with all of his family.

Australia 2018 – New Year’s Eve

The last day of 2018 was certainly not conventional or exciting. I started the day at the local laundromat with Captain Caveman, he’d attended the first caving talk of the morning and returned to our tent with a cute little freebie – a koala bag. He gave it to me and I was delighted with it, it was still the first koala I had seen in Australia.
On return to the conference Captain Caveman had a few talks to attend, I listened to one by our friend, Alan, then went to sit in Sarah’s camper and have my gluten free cheese and pastrami sandwich. It was hot and I had the factor 50 sun cream on – you can certainly feel the UV difference.

In the evening we went on a trip to the Maritime museum which was fairly interesting and they have a ship simulator for people to try out. We had a few drinks and a meal at the Irish bar, Molly Malone’s, before checking out the evening entertainment at the foreshore. Our midnight ‘seeing in of the new year’ was spent outside the campsite toilet block watching the fireworks from afar while I complained to Captain Caveman that we had no photos of us together! I was so tired that I fell asleep straight away and never heard our neighbours return in the early hours of new year’s day.

Phong Nha – the 1st weekend of December

Fridays in Phong Nha were now all you can eat pizza night at The Villas and we were regular frequenters of it. But first I had an extremely busy day on Friday 4th December, by my standards; Captain Caveman made breakfast and I had a bacon sandwich with jasmine tea.
My physio went well and afterwards Thuy gave me a box of treats, a box of traditional sweet snacks called Cu Do, made from rice crackers, peanuts, ginger and sugar. This was really kind and such a lovely thought so Phuong and I tried some in the minibus on the way back to Phong Nha and it was very nice, if not a bit dentist appointment enticing.
In my home town of Sheffield I saw that it was snowing a little, as I got ready to pick up the gang (Captain Caveman, Veronika, and Melissa x5) on the way to The Villas for all you can eat pizza night. When we arrived the whole place had been well-decorated for Christmas and even the staff had their coats on as the temperature had dropped. Ben joined us in his woolly hat and brought the kids so that Melissa’s kids could meet up and they had the end of the table. Matty was back in town and he had also joined us at the big table too, threatening to stay in Phong Nha for a while. I took it easy on the wine this time although I’m sure I ate just as much pizza as usual. The slices just kept on coming, and were so good – there was even extra garlic and chillies in case people wanted to add more. For the price it is a bargain for all you can eat, it’s amazing and I’m sure Captain Caveman and I certainly got great value!

On Saturday 5th December I was still in bed, but awake, when Captain Caveman came in to the bedroom to tell me that the housekeeping and security staff were putting up a Christmas tree! I came to check and he wasn’t joking – we were surrounded by Christmas! This would be the first year in many that we had a Christmas tree at home and of course it feels weird that we are in Vietnam where the locals don’t celebrate Christmas, even their new year is in February 2021. I had bread and butter for breakfast, with water. For lunch my weekend diet fell at the first hurdle when I had a Snickers which gave me a bad stomach almost instantly.

In the afternoon we decided to go for a walk round the block and there was even more Christmas tree erecting and lights going on in the communal areas. My walk went well, just 13 minutes in total, and I popped over to see Melissa on my way back managing to get up the ramped entrance to their villa without any crutches, and then back down again when I realised they were still by the fire at The Farmstay. Captain Caveman gave Mr Ky, the dog, a bit of a tickle but I’m still not allowed to pet him because he loves to jump up and I can’t risk him hurting my leg. That evening Captain Caveman made a lovely sausage casserole with potatoes, onions and peppers in and we opened the wine we had been saving for a special occasion; a 700,000vnd (£22.50 ish) Primitivo which Captain Caveman found in the wine shop next to the organic shop in Dong Hoi – it was fantastic.

On Sunday 6th December, though, I went down for breakfast which Captain Caveman had made from the leftover sausage and potatoes. I’d had about 170 hours of physio now, in total, and my recovery was still so slow and it was getting frustrating not being able to ride a bicycle or walk anywhere. I was still turning down a lot of invites to things too as I didn’t want to undo the good work by falling or slipping again. I watched old Big Bang Theory episodes and found some moisturiser to put on my face. It was Sunday roast dinner tonight so we went to the Farmstay, ready for a feast. Veronika and Melissa x5 were already there, as was Ben, Bich and Matty. Melissa and her family had decided they were leaving on Monday and were off to Hue. Matty had his Ukulele out, he and Rimaha were jamming and it sounded really good – I do miss live music and singing. After the amazing roast dinner, I joined in a little sing song with Matty and Remy. Remy and I even attempted Shallow as a duet and I’m sure Lady Gaga or Bradley Cooper would have loved it!

Dong Hoi and Phong Nha – the 1st week of December

On Tuesday 1st December Captain Caveman and I decided to go to Dong Hoi earlier than I usually do and also book a night at the Nam Long Plus hotel. Our first stop was for breakfast at Mr Bull’s for Bo Ne which is really good and comes with bread and tea. The place is really nice and I was surprised to see that they had put up a Christmas tree.

Our next stop was lunch at Tree Hugger where I had the veggie spring rolls, herbal tea and the most amazing lemongrass, ginger, kumquat and honey tea I had ever tasted. Captain Caveman had his usual favourite of the egg sandwich with coffee.

While Captain Caveman relaxed at the Nam Long Plus hotel I went for my physio session and found the bit where the therapist massaged my calf muscle with her elbow, thus pressing on my trapped nerve, excruciatingly painful this time. When I got back to the hotel we had some red wine and the leftover pizza from last night’s leaving party for Hanh before I had a bath and then we went to meet friends.

7th Heaven restaurant is one of our favourites in Dong Hoi and so we met Tatas and Trang there for dinner. We had a starter of sweet potato fries to share first and then ordered individual dishes for main. Tatas had a prawn spaghetti dish, Captain Caveman and I had steak, Trang ordered beef curry. The food was delicious and the wine flowed while we all caught up, it had been a long time since we had all been out together too.

Having slept well at the Nam Long Plus hotel in Dong Hoi, we woke up on Wednesday 2nd December and decided to visit Mr Bull’s again for breakfast. The hotel do breakfast too but we really wanted to have the Bo Ne once more before we went back to Phong Nha, as we can’t get it there. It’s an absolute bargain at only 40,000 vnd (about £1.30) and so tasty. This time I had mine with an orange juice and of course I gave my egg to Captain Caveman. I really enjoyed the meat, onions and soft white baguette though.

Back home, via picking up a few essentials and collecting our bags from Nam Long Plus hotel, we had a spot of lunch. Captain Caveman made chicken, bacon and salad baguettes which were delicious. So much so that we had them again for dinner, he of course slathered his in mayo and mustard and I stuck to the plain bread. That afternoon I had a zoom session with Ruth, my UK physio, and found it really useful. She also gave me some more exercises and could see I was progressing, even if it was too slowly for my liking! I had been struggling with the squats still so Captain Caveman held the camera while I demonstrated and to my amazement she said I was doing it ok. Before I went to bed Ruth had already sent me my next plan and I was ready for the next level.

Captain Caveman was off out early and called in to Oxalis Home for coffee and a catch up with his fellow cavers on Thursday 3rd December. I had cheese on toast for breakfast and then felt ill, starting with a bad stomach. My guess it was the cheddar cheese that had an adverse effect rather than the bread but I decided to eat neither for the rest of the day. For lunch I shared a mango and an apple with Captain Caveman and was even more ill so had a lay down while he went back out. Captain Caveman made a mushroom risotto for dinner and I stayed off the booze, but still had a bad stomach and deduced maybe I had a bug.

Elements Collection – Phong Nha 2020

Earlier this year I had been staying in Dong Hoi a lot because of my injured leg, not being able to walk and at the weekends Captain Caveman and I had been spending a lot of time staying at Phong Nha Farmstay. After chatting to Ben, Bich and Veronika we decided to take a look at one of the newly finished properties within the Farmstay’s portfolio of accommodation – ideal for longer term stays. As soon as I saw Elements Collection I was very impressed, I wanted to move in but we still had to think about the practicalities of the location because it wasn’t as convenient as our existing house for Captain Caveman’s work. I was still recovering too slowly from torn ankle and knee ligaments and I needed to stay in a place with less stairs, a more convenient way to be able to cook or have food deliveries when Captain Caveman wasn’t there to help me and, more importantly, I really needed to be able to get out and about for some fresh air by myself. Captain Caveman was due to finish his work for the season and because of the virus we had made a decision not to leave Vietnam, usually we would be in Turkey and the UK for the winter.

We decided to give up one of our rooms at our existing rented place in Phong Nha and give Elements Collection a trial with Veronika. We looked at all 3 villas and chose the one we thought suited Veronika and I the best. I was mostly looking forward to having an easy to access and useable kitchen, the private swimming pool and being able to drink the tap water were also of great benefit for me.

I was the first to arrive and was welcomed by Duyet and Co, who sat me down, got me cold water and took my bags. They introduced themselves and used Google translate to talk. I also tried some of my very basic Vietnamese which they didn’t understand a word of. Captain Caveman was next to arrive and they showed him a place to park the motorbike which was perfectly hidden away. The staff tried to put bags in our bedrooms but we wanted to wait for Veronika to check which ones we were having. When she arrived we were all excited and she took the twin room (which was later changed to a double bed) and we had the double with the mezzanine storage. It did mean we got the ensuite which had the strangest placing of a toilet I’d encountered in a while. The loo faced the window which was only obscured just under chest height and I later noted it was not to be used when taking down a swimming costume without the blinds or windows closed – I came to like the bathroom lay out much more, the more I used it.

In each room there were flowers and we also got given a big bunch of delicious (and seedless) grapes per bedroom. Our massive bed was decorated really nicely with rose petals and swans made from towels. I was already impressed and I was looking forward to sleeping in such a comfy looking bed. The owner had even made sure that the shower shoes were in our respective sizes – how thoughtful.

The small private swimming pool is really lovely, located between the two bedrooms and overlooking a very well maintained communal garden area. Each room has a balcony and appropriate furniture, while the bedroom also has a desk from which to work if required. As we booked for a month initially there were quite a few perks that were included and made my stay so much easier; cleaning and a shuttle service was included and we got a great rate on laundry. Being a short distance from the main building of the Phong Nha Farmstay also meant that it was easy to join in any activities that were being arranged and we often took advantage of the bar and restaurant services there. The owners and staff were very attentive in a subtle and charming way and I was surprised how little we could hear each other, or the neighbours. Even the guard dog was well behaved and friendly to the residents and staff.

During the floods we were in one of the best places to stay and were looked after so well that we felt a bit guilty for being in a lovely home which also had the use of a generator and a good working internet connection.

Over the period of our stay we enjoyed our villa at the Elements Collection so much; the pool was just perfect, the gardens so beautiful and we spent many an evening telling stories over a glass of wine or a White Russian. I started to recover a bit more and even managed to walk without my crutches enough to get round the block and enjoy the fresh air and nature surrounding us.

There is one big problem though with staying at Elements Collection, it is very difficult to leave! Our neighbours have left and returned once already and when we got to the end of our trial period it wasn’t a tough decision on whether we should extend our stay a little bit longer.

Photo credit – various photos taken by Captain Caveman, the staff and owners, Melissa, Veronika and some from Facebook.

Australia 2018 – the weekend between Christmas and New Year’s Eve

The main reason Captain Caveman was visiting Australia was to attend the Australian Speleolgical Federation Caving Conference. When I agreed to tag along on his month-long trip it was on the understanding that I would also need to suffer being a caver’s widow for over a week over the new year period. It also meant that in order to keep the costs down and be able to allow Captain Caveman to fit in as many caving related days I would need to rough it a bit on the accommodation.
On Friday 28th December we left the luxurious comfort of Hobart at 5am and headed, in the borrowed car, to a little place called Mole Creek. Captain Caveman was booked on a trip to Kubla Khan cave at about 8.30am so we didn’t have much time to waste and we had already borrowed a tent which had been erected for us. We decided that rather than be stuck at Mole Creek Caving Hut all day I would get dropped off at a cafe near by called Earthwater. I will be honest I was not impressed by the Mole Creek camping facilities, or lack there of, but at least the cafe was really nice and had lots of choice. Captain Caveman had been moved on to a different cave trip, called Tailender, due to the organiser thinking he might be too much of a ‘tired little bunny’, after his 3 hour drive. I logged on to Netflix and started watching Sinner 2 (my Netflix now has it on there), had bacon, mushrooms and glute free toast for my second breakfast, I’d had chocolate and crisps for the first one). Along with numerous cups of varying types of tea I had chicken salad and fries for lunch and basically sat in the cafe until 5pm when Captain caveman arrived back from caving, with Janice and Cathy. In the evening, knowing I had to sleep in the tent on the worst campsite, I thought it best to have a few wines and therefore had 3 white wine and sodas followed by fish and chips. We went to the toilet at the pub before going back to the campsite and got in to the tent and in to the sleeping bags. At about midnight I had a claustrophobic panic attack and had to get out, despite it being pitch black and raining outside. I decided it would be better to sleep in the car but it was too hot and I couldn’t sleep there either. I ended up having to walk back to the tent to wake up Captain Caveman to take me to the toilet, which was a good 250m up a hill to a rangers station. I really was not impressed but neither was Captain Caveman.

On Saturday 29th December I obviously woke up in a bad mood and had hardly slept but when I saw that Captain Caveman looked far more tired than me I felt a bit bad. I had a gluten free brownie for breakfast before approaching a fellow camper, Janice, for a lift. Captain Caveman went on an all day caving trip to Kubla Khan and wasn’t expected out until 10pm. I didn’t fancy spending another night in the Mole Creek/Wolf Creek non-campsite so had agreed we would sleep in the car at a place with proper toilets. We had to take the car back to Hobart and be ready to meet Sarah for our lift to the caving conference the next day at 7am and that was 3 hours drive away so logistics were key, but not my forte.
I spent the day at the Earthwater cafe again, watching Netflix and scoffing nice food. The cafe owners were friendly and didn’t mind that I would be there all day again. They were as surprised as I was when Captain Caveman returned before 6pm and we had food together before heading off to Kempton via some very remote roads, lined with wallabies and wombats, as dusk approached. There were some really remote townships along the way without so much as a convenience store. At one point the windscreen was so smeared from bugs that Captain Caveman had to get out and wipe it down with his T-shirt while wallabies watched him. It was so difficult to not hit the animals in the road but we made it, unscathed but knackered, to a tiny camping spot. It was just before 11pm and I was actually looking forward to a kip in the car, having set the alarm a little earlier than I’d have liked.

At 5.30am on Sunday 30th December we were up and off driving to Hobart from Kempton, feeling a little better than the previous day. We dropped the borrowed car back at the house and transferred our luggage, including the dreaded tent, in to Sarah’s car. We drove to Devonport with me in the back of a very hot car, feeling a little travel sick, after eating cheese and a cherry and goji berry health bar for breakfast.
We would be attending the 31st Biennial Conference of the Australian Speleological Federation for the next 6 days and, as you can imagine, I had my concerns. I’m not a caver, I don’t get excited by listening to people talk about caves and I only knew 3 people out of the hundred or so people who were going to be there. We arrived and after a bit of faffing about we were allowed to pitch our tent. I suggested a good spot would be nearest to the toilet block but Captain Caveman thought the best spot would be the opposite side of the cricket oval, furthest from the toilet block but next to Sarah, who had a jazzy camper van being delivered. I’m not normally a jealous person but I really wished we had one of those instead of the small tent we had to put up with. We both made full use of the washing facilities and I was in the shower for about an hour – it was one of the best showers I had had on a camping trip. At 5pm the conference registration started and by 5.30pm the bar was open – I even got a free glass of wine. There was a welcome BBQ where we got given sausages and steak with salad. In the buffet queue I did meet some older cavers who didn’t know how to use tongues which seemed a tad worrying. We shared another bottle of wine from the bar, which closed at 8.30pm, before borrowing the glasses and heading back to the tent, where Captain Caveman had another bottle stashed away. We made friends with some fellow campers, including an American who hadn’t washed for a few days and his poor wife who seemed even more out of her depth than me.