It felt great having the whole huge bed to myself on Monday 30th November, sleeping in until 8.30am! I had a late breakfast of broccoli and cauliflower cheese bake, which was half of the vegetarian dish I had brought home last night (the other half went in the freezer). I ate an orange from the ones that Thuy had given me on Saturday and had some walnuts and raisins for a snack before ordering a car to take me to The Villas. It costs 200,000 vnd (£6.50) each way so I don’t go as often as I used to – I often get dropped off there after returning from physio in Dong Hoi. I had arranged to meet Captain Caveman at The Villas when he returned from caving with Deb and that night there was a few of us out for Hanh’s send off. We’d initially discussed meeting at Momma D’s rooftop bar for Hanh’s leaving drinks but Momma D was still in Hoi An for a bit longer and it suited my leg better to not have to manage the steps by myself.
I have been to The Villas so many times and never had a hot chocolate there so I decided to try one. Well, I have been missing out – it was quality chocolate with cream and it tasted so lovely on a cold day. As I was checking the news I read that there was a case of Corona in Saigon related to a flight attendant working for Vietnam Airlines. He had been sent home to self isolate following quarantine and negative tests but had invited relatives and a male friend, who is a teacher, to his house! This was the first case in 88 days and the Prime Minister was pretty clear that it would be taken very seriously!

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Captain Caveman arrived to join me at The Villas and was very cold – he had a Jameson’s in his hot chocolate (no cream) to warm him up! He was so hungry that he couldn’t wait for dinner and, while I got on the Happy Hour and a Half margaritas, he ordered a cold Huda beer and a pizza! When it arrived I had to have a bit and managed 2 slices, Captain Caveman scoffed down the rest with no problem at all!

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Hanh’s leaving celebration was a small affair with just 6 of us but it was a good night. I had a margherita pizza with extra garlic and Captain Caveman had (a second dinner of) duck confit with lentils. Mark’s burger looked impressive too and I had a bit of food envy. Hanh and I had a glass or two of wine and the fellas stuck to beer, it was a lovely evening and a really nice send off for Hanh. As we had both been drinking we decided to leave Captain Caveman’s motorbike at Victory Road Villas and ask the staff to arrange us a taxi home.

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The weekend ended on a high on Sunday 29th November. Captain Caveman was up super early (again) for work as he was off to Tu Lan for a 2 day trip. The alarm was going off at 6am and Captain Caveman decided he was cooking us a salami and asparagus breakfast as he was concerned we needed to eat up the asparagus. It was raining, I didn’t envy him going to to Hang Tien and had planned to go back to bed but that didn’t happen.

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I had friends who were visiting Dong Hoi, who I was hoping to meet up with, and suggested the Sunday roast dinner later at Phong Nha Farmstay. I made myself a nice picnic for lunch and then got a lift with Duyet in the rascal to the Farmstay, where we saw the buffalos heading home. I inadvertently ordered a bottle of wine while waiting for Phuong and Trang to arrive. The two ladies had never met but I introduced them on messenger, Phuong agreed to drive the two of them and they arrived eager to sit by the cosy fire. We had a great catch up and some amazing food; pork, lamb, potatoes, courgettes, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. I also brought a couple of tupperwear boxes to take away the vegetarian dinner and two pieces of carrot cake. The set Sunday roast dinner is such a good deal; the meat version is 300,00 vnd (£10 ish), the vegetarian version is only 200,000 vnd (£6.50 ish) and both include a glass of wine (or beer or soft drink) and a carrot, chocolate or cheesecake. So by drinking 2 glasses of included wine and saving the dessert I had already got a bargain deal by taking home a veggie meal too, as well as the almost full bottle of wine I had got.
Before we said farewell we decided to meet up in Dong Hoi on Tuesday with Captain Caveman and see if Tatas wanted to join us.

Here is a video by Ben of us at the Farmstay for Sunday Dinner;

https://fb.watch/2dK2LaP4bD/

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Photo credit – Melissa was kind enough to take photos of the three of us.

I was happy on Saturday 28th November that I got to stay in bed for a bit longer after Captain Caveman had left to go to Oxalis Home to meet his caving colleagues for breakfast. When I did get up I had a banana for breakfast and read up on the news. In Vietnam, drug dealers were served the death sentence and in Turkey the reporting of Corona cases was now including asymptomatic people who tested positive (they hadn’t been up to now). For lunch I had popcorn and while a lot of my mates in Hoi An and Danang were heading off to Kahuna’s Kommunity fayre I went to Dong Hoi. Captain Caveman and I had been to the Kahuna’s event in the summer and really enjoyed all the food and drink stalls, as well as meeting friends but this time we couldn’t go.
Phuong, of Phuong’s Transfers, picked me up at 1pm, and I went to physio for a good session. I was finding that the therapy was getting more and more tolerable and that my leg felt more sturdy afterwards.
Back home Captain Caveman had made a mushroom risotto and opened a bottle of sparkling wine for dinner. A dragonfly was in the kitchen and seemed to be fascinated by our kettle wire and the wall. That night I checked how my BMI measurement was improving and was surprised to find I had gone from 28.6 to 25.7, I was still overweight but only just. At bedtime Captain Caveman was very tired and had an early start again the next morning so he wasn’t too pleased with me finding a snail on the outside of the bathroom window more interesting than he did.

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I couldn’t believe my luck on Friday 27th November; not only was I weighing the lightest I had been this year, my measurements turned out to be pretty favourable too. I had lost 1cm from bust, waist, hips and thigh this week which was very surprising and must have been on account of the exercise I was now getting – I’d even started to do my exercises more often on days where I didn’t have a walk or therapy. Captain Caveman made me the best breakfast sandwich I can remember having; bacon and mushrooms on soft fresh baguette. After breakfast I caught up on some Turkish and some Vietnamese then did a spot of Artificial Intelligence online work before breaking off for a chicken baguette for lunch with Captain Caveman. I was now convinced that my gluten allergy had disappeared as two lots of French bread had been consumed and not even a twinge of tummy ache had been felt, I wasn’t even bloated!

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Check out the Kahuna’s Kommunity fayre Facebook page for the next event: https://fb.me/e/b1LNv22NJ

Captain Caveman needed to go to Oxalis about something work related so I decided, as it was a nice day, to get a lift with him and go to Victory Road Villas for the afternoon. I’d just ordered a drink when Momma D arrived in a bit of a hurry and I went to ask her what she was up to. She was booked on the 4.20pm bus to Hoi An and she had plans to visit the Kahuna’s Kommunity fayre where business owners go to promote their businesses. She would share a friend’s table and was making a badge to wear which said ‘Ask me about Phong Nha’. Despite Vietnam being closed to incoming International tourists since March there were still domestic tourists and, with the holiday season coming up, Momma D was hoping to promote Phong Nha to westerners in Hoi An. I experienced a first for me in my leg progress when Momma D dropped some business cards and leaflets and I was able to pick some up off the floor by bending my knees – more progress. We said bye, as she was in a rush to get ready for her journey and only had a couple of hours before she left.
Back inside the bar area I had a couple of cups of oolong tea while catching up on some blog writing in the calm atmosphere of The Villas restaurant. By the time Happy Hour and a Half started at 4.30pm, Captain Caveman had already joined me and I decided a sangria was in order. Ha, the waitress, makes a great sangria with lots of bite-sized fresh fruit which makes it a healthy choice and one of my five a day. Captain Caveman was on the margaritas and we had a few bowls of free popcorn too, but we didn’t eat too much as we needed to save room for all you can eat pizza night at 6pm. I enjoyed the sangria so much that I had 3 of them!

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Drifter arrived, ordered a milky tea and joined us, Colin arrived next and got a cold beer. Lesley and Mark were the next to arrive and while the blokes drank beer I shared wine with Lesley. Melissa, Rimaha and 2 of her kids came next but Veronika hadn’t made it out tonight. Bich, Ben and the kids were there but they sat inside tonight as the big table was already full of pizza lovers.
Hanh, from D’Arts Bun Cha restaurant in Phong Nha was moving to Hoi An and so we had saved her a seat next to me – I’d also invited Tatas, who couldn’t make it in the end. The pizza was really good and we had lots of different ones to try and I had no gluten or cheese effects whatsoever!! The pizza slices just kept coming for as long as you can eat them and I completely lost count of how many I had. They even have a Momma D’s pizza, created by the one and only, and is pretty tasty. For 150,000 vnd (less than an English fiver), which includes a beer or soft drink, this is such good value if you love pizza. Despite my cunning plan of wearing baggy fitting clothes I was still very stuffed and quite tipsy from the wine after Lesley insisted we order a second bottle of wine! It was a good night and some of us organised to do something for Hanh’s actual leaving party on Monday. It was good to catch up with friends I’d not seen for a while and relax at The Villas.

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November wasn’t a high Google activity month for me. I was busier doing other things, Captain Caveman was spending more time at work, on his phone or watching Netflix so there was hardly any need for me to Google anything for arguement purposes.

Here’s what I did Google, alphabetically:

1. ATM Vietnam
2. Apps to track FOREX
3. BMI Calculator
4. English to Vietnamese translation
5. English to Turkish translation
6. John Prescott
7. Language Centres
8. Marks & Spencer
9. Nigel Lawson affair
10. National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
11. Oxalis Adventure
12. Puretone, Addicted to Base https://youtu.be/jU4VuN9EW9U
13. Shallow
14. Turkey earthquake 2020
15. World Life Expectancy
16. Weather
17. YouTube, container houses

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Captain Caveman had over exerted himself with all the action from the Saigon Children’s Charity Cycling Adventures over the weekend. On Tuesday 24th November he was still in bed when I left for physio – at 1pm! I’d had no breakfast but I had made myself some rice with vegetables for lunch and had some crisps as snacks. I didn’t feel guilty about the crisps as we were trying to help support the Phong Nha Shop and Go by buying as many as possible.  
It was Matty’s last day at the Farmstay and we didn’t get to see him off – he had promised he would be back soon, though, and there was talk of him being up for Christmas. When I walked in to the clinic I spotted some weighing scales near the door and decided to get weighed. It had been 6 weeks since I had got weighed and was pleased to see I was even lighter with just 2.5kg left to go until I reached a ‘normal’ weight. The physio went well and when I got home I made myself ill by having a Snickers which no longer agreed with me. Captain Caveman had been watching Netflix most of the afternoon but then made chicken with potatoes and peppers for dinner. I decided not to bother with any alcohol and tried to drink as much water as possible.

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I read an interesting article in the news when I woke up on Wednesday 25th November; Quantas were the first airline to announce that having a Corona vaccine would be made a condition to be allowed to fly with them. I imagined most airlines would follow suit and if any of us wanted to get on a plane once the vaccine was readily available, then we would have to have it. Captain Caveman made us a fry up with the left over potatoes and peppers from last night and some bacon and mushrooms. I had 3 lots of jasmine tea and sat outside in the sun finishing off some crisps from yesterday. My eczema had flared up again and I suspected that while my stomach seemed to be handling bread now, the wheat was aggravating my skin, along with the eggs and dairy I kept trying! We had tortilla for lunch with pickles and then decided to go for a walk around the block. I took the crutches again and this time I was so pleased to get my best time yet; 12 mins to complete 500 metres – yet more progress!
At 5pm I logged in to a free Virtual Training session on Artificial Intelligence and, although I found it interesting in parts, it was a bit full on for me. For dinner Captain Caveman cooked chicken with steamed rice, sweet corn and asparagus and it was delicious. We shared some M&Ms while he watched some programme on Netflix.

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On Thursday 26th November Captain Caveman cooked breakfast (I had bacon and mushrooms) and then I did some more work on the Artificial Intelligence job as well as more training courses. I made some popcorn and had some of it instead of lunch before getting picked up at 1pm for my trip to Dong Hoi for physio. I had my usual physio session and now I make sure I spend as much of the session doing Vietnamese lessons on Duolingo, this is definitely a sign I’m progressing as I wasn’t able to concentrate on it when the therapy was really painful. Captain Caveman had come with me and Phuong in the car and they had gone off to do the weekly shopping and have coffee while I was busy.
Back home I cracked open a cold Strongbow and Captain Caveman had a Huda with our East Hill chicken combo which arrived right on time. I even saved some chicken for the next day this time and it was as tasty as always. For dessert Captain Caveman had brought us a treat of a Snickers Oats which was a nice idea but we both agreed it’s probably the worst thing you can do to a snickers – it was terrible!

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I had changed my physio schedule this week and so on Monday 23rd November I was able to stay in Phong Nha. Captain Caveman went for breakfast at the Farmstay with the cyclists who were still here after the charity event. He had volunteered to take the ones who wanted to go, to Phong Nha cave. Most of the team were leaving this afternoon and a few the next day so Captain Caveman was making the most of having some like-minded men around while he could. I had toast for breakfast and then did more of the Artificial Intelligence work that I had completed more  training on. Captain Caveman came back, having been for pizza at The Villas again, but forgot to bring me any takeaway lunch so I just had crisps. In the afternoon we went to Phong Nha Farmstay where Captain Caveman and I shared some spring rolls and I had a ginger beer. Later I had a salami pizza, Captain Caveman had pie and chips and I had one glass of wine.
Elements Collection had been having some sprucing up and the lads had replaced all the damaged lanterns then added new ones to jazz up the large car port.
It was lovely being able to go out for dinner on a Monday night. A lot of my friends and family back home (in England) were getting bored now of being unable to go out at all and I know we are so lucky to be in Vietnam right now. I had another online course booked in for 10.30pm that night and unfortunately fell asleep before it started and missed it.

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While a rather tired Captain Caveman went off for the final day of the Saigon’s Children Charity cycling event on Sunday 22nd November I had an extra hour in bed. I skipped breakfast in readiness for my lunch at The Villas where I had arranged to meet Captain Caveman. His route was in the Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park today and so the lunch stop for all the cyclists was at Victory Road Villas. Unfortunately I didn’t end up going in to Phong Nha as I was too late to get a car by the time Captain Caveman called to say he was already there. Instead I said I would go to the Farmstay later to try to get a photo of the finish. I had cheese on toast for lunch at home and it was pretty tasty.

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At Phong Nha Farmstay I’d just got myself a white wine and soda when the cyclists started to finish but, because of my leg, I wasn’t fast enough to get many finish photos. I was lucky enough to get to watch the buffalo run past and then stop so I could see their baby before they started their own race! Captain Caveman was one of the first to finish and he and some others grabbed Heart of Darkness beers from an ice bucket. It was thirsty work as they each had a few more beers while more and more cyclists finished. Captain Caveman and I went home so he could shower and change ready for the evening’s event and he got in the pool with his beer!!!

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Back at the Farmstay that night, there was a presentation and a buffet which I was lucky enough to be invited to. Captain Caveman had been instrumental in connecting the director of the Saigon Children’s Charity with his Oxalis boss and was allocated a substantial amount of money to be able to complete the building of a school in Ban Doong, with the Oxalis Foundation. I was very proud of him because this year there was so much worthy demand for the money raised because of the floods. Everyone got a medal and there was an auction for the unused cycling jerseys – I suggested next year they might auction off the dirty ones for more money if they included an autograph and a photo of the wearer! Rimaha was doing his debut solo act after the presentation. I sat with him, his family and Matty while the cyclists all sat together. Ben invited us up to get the buffet and it was amazing – I had pork, lamb, potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli cheese, then fruit and chocolate brownies! The guitar playing and singing went well for Remy and he had the same problem I used to have with the Easy Tiger microphones, they were too quiet. It was a great night and we didn’t get home until quite late! 

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Here’s Ben’s video of the final day of the cycling event, for those who haven’t seen it yet;
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=VJqTAAFW0T0

On Saturday 21st November it was Momma D’s 50th birthday and she was having a party at her rooftop bar from sunset that night. My breakfast was buttered toast and fruit with jasmine tea. I made some popcorn and took some with me in case I got peckish or needed something to line my stomach before the party. Phuong’s Transfers was booked to pick up Dong Hoi party guests and so Phuong had kindly arranged for me to have another driver take me to Dong Hoi for physio at 1pm.
Meanwhile Captain Caveman was on his second day of the Saigon Children’s Charity cycling event, attempting 137km of intense terrain on the most difficult day of the three.
My driver arrived early with clear instructions from Phuong as I needed to go to the ATM. The physio session went well and I was definitely improving while Kimmie, my visa agent, had made it easy for me by dropping off my passport with my new visa extension stamp in it. The driver was waiting for me and we left Dong Hoi at 5pm, ready to call to pick up Melissa, Remy and her 2 youngest kids. Captain Caveman was back, earlier and more exhausted than expected, but would manage the Phong Nha Farmstay BBQ which had been organised by Ben and Bich for all the event participants.

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It was exactly 7 calendar months since I had last been to Momma D’s rooftop bar! The celebration at the end of the enforced 2 week lockdown in Vietnam, back in April, was what had lead me to drunkenly tear ligaments in my ankle and knee. So, while it had been marvellous to be able to go out and do as we pleased for the last 7 months, I had been doing it with extremely slow recovering injuries since that night! I was very apprehensive about my return and especially concerned about the stairs – the shiny two-toned, marble, slippery, no hand-railed stairs, to enter the Thuong Hai hotel. Melissa was there to help me (luckily) and for the first time I managed to get up more than 12 steps in one go. I was knackered and it hurt a little bit but I had managed it, the way down was more daunting. We got the lift to the 6th floor and the set of stairs to the rooftop were ok for me. Momma D had spent money on decorating the place, she had free frozen shots for everyone, free peanuts on the tables (which I was glad of as I was so hungry after physio). We were greeted by Momma D in a lovely black dress, while sporting a tiara and a wand! There was a roast beef dinner option available, with a glass of wine, for 220,000vnd (£7 ish) and I decided to limit my alcohol knowing I had to navigate stairs again. I had just started tucking in to my dinner when Phuong arrived with the guests from Dong Hoi, plus some Phong Nha outskirts people. The party got quite busy, there was a birthday chair for photo opportunities and 3 cakes! So we sang happy birthday, the blowing out of candles still went ahead (Corona had not yet banned people here from blowing on cakes) and then the birthday girl made a speech. There were lots of familiar faces, some who had travelled from Hanoi, Hoi An and Danang to wish Momma D a happy 50th. I did my best to get some photos, although my phone’s camera isn’t the best and the disco lights weren’t helping.
Melissa helped me on the stairs which was great because I wouldn’t have managed it successfully by myself and I had booked Phuong to take us back to our place. Back home Captain Caveman was in a bad way, he was exhausted and already in bed but was determined to carry on the next day, the final one of the cycling event.

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Here is Ben’s video of the Saigon’s Children Charity cycling event, Day 2. While we were enjoying Momma D’s 50th birthday party I suspect there were a few cyclists reaching for the Sudocrem but feeling proud of their achievements so far!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Dgx8pB0Rw5U

It was Teacher’s Day in Vietnam on Friday 20th November where the school teachers get given gifts to show appreciation from students and parents. My favourite teacher at school had been Mr Hoy who was slightly eccentric but amazing. I still remember him letting us act out the violence of Maxwell’s Silver Hammer by The Beatles in a drama class at the age of about 10!

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My first excitement of the day came with Captain Caveman donning his lycra and his rather snug cycling jersey before going up and down the cluttered steps to find various cycling paraphernalia for day 1 of his cycling event. I was going to go to see the Saigon Children’s Charity cycling event start at the Farmstay but I couldn’t be bothered and instead wished him luck and went back to sleep. By 8.30am I was having toasted sourdough with raspberry jam and jasmine tea for breakfast. I was just about to get in the shower when I got a call from Veronika who wanted to know if I could make myself available for the morning to work at short notice as a model on a photo shoot. I barely had chance to ask the details when wine was mentioned and so I (obviously) agreed, showered and selected a brightly coloured top to wear.

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At 10am Duyet ran me up to the Farmstay in the rascal where Veronika and I were tasked with sitting by a fire, sharing a bottle of wine and some nibbles while posing for promotional photos. It was hilarious, very hot with the fire on and we were both shit-faced before midday. All while those poor cyclists were cycling to Dong Hoi and back in about 30°C, for charity! I decided to post a lycra clad Captain Caveman photo on my Facebook with a link to the charity page in an attempt to get some last minute donations and it worked – I even got a second donation from a friend who asked me to not show him any more lycra!!!

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I’d not been home long when Captain Caveman arrived back and had chance for a shower and a beer before it was time for The Villas’ pizza night. As all the cyclists were invited to all you can eat pizza we got picked up a bit later, which meant we had sobered up. At The Villas a returning Farmstay guest and amateur musician, Matty, joined us for a few drinks and a feast. The pizza, as always, was so good and most of us went with the all you can eat pizza option. Some of the cyclists ordered off the usual menu too and despite it being a busy night the staff were fantastic and I certainly left feeling full.

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Day 1 of the Saigon Children’s Charity cycle event video by Ben is here if you’ve not already seen it. This is what Captain Caveman was doing while I was having wine before lunch on my first gig as a model:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ji9w8eLfoo

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Photo Credit – Lan Thanh & Thi Kuu

Sunday was our last day on the island, Koh Yao Noi, and the weather wasn’t too good (about 24 degrees and cloudy) so we headed out on the scooter at lunch time. The best restaurant was quoted as The Rice Paddy so we decided we’d go there. The sign said it opened at 1pm but the waitress said they would open at 2pm. We hadn’t had breakfast so instead went to Kaya for Tempura, the place was really nice. Captain Caveman decided we would call in to the poshest resort hotel on the island, Six Sense, where we would splash out the 20 dollars a drink in their bar. We arrived and had to be escorted inside the resort, once they had rang ahead to check we were ok to visit. It was as I smelled lavender quite strongly that I realised there had been a communication error – Captain Caveman has said ‘bar’ the concierge had heard ‘spa’! We then had to have a golf buggy to take us from the spa to the bar which made us all laugh when the mistake was realised. The Sixth Sense Resort Bar was amazing (the spa looked pretty good too) and the list of gin cocktails was pretty impressive – we chose very carefully the two drinks costing more than the night in our cheap hotel! The buggy rides and views were very impressive and luckily the bar snacks were free as we couldn’t afford to eat there. We savoured each sip slowly while enjoying the lily ponds that surrounded us. As you can imagine the toilets were 5 star, they even had free insect repellent body lotion which I slathered myself in.
We never did make it to the Rice Paddy because we had to drop the scooter back at the hotel so we walked to La Luna for our final meal on such a beautiful island.

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Photo credit – Captain Caveman and Six Sense resort

Captain Caveman was working on Thursday 19th November and had gone to Tu Lan for the day. I was off to Dong Hoi later and could pick up my passport but I realised I hadn’t got enough money from Captain Caveman to pay for it so had to arrange for Saturday. Previously I had been using a friend’s visa agent in Hanoi and had been lucky to get 3 month extensions but now only 1 month extensions were allowed. This time I had used Kimmie Nguyen, an agent located in Dong Hoi and everything had gone according to plan. Of course, doing the visa extension with a local agent meant the cost was much more expensive than in Hanoi but overall meant I didn’t have to spend money on travel to and from Hanoi, plus accommodation while my passport was with immigration. I also needed to attend my physiotherapy and so I didn’t want to travel to Hanoi just to renew visas. I had a dragon fruit and an apple for breakfast then crisps for lunch before heading off to physio in Dong Hoi. Physio went well and I was definitely improving now, there was hope I might be able to walk without too much of a problem by Christmas. Thuy gave me a gift which came wrapped in newspaper, was hot and had salad with it and it looked big! When I got home, I opened the food package to discover a whole duck with rice and salad – and when I say whole, I mean whole duck, with the head and it’s tongue sticking out of it’s beak! Captain Caveman was on his way back but had been invited to the Farmstay for a BBQ dinner as part of the weekend’s cycling event. I had a whole duck to eat and so it was a good job I was hungry but Captain Caveman had to help me eat it! I watched repeats of The Big Bang Theory on Netflix while scoffing away and it was absolutely delicious. I saved all the bones and skin for Captain Caveman to make a stock with, it was a big duck! I finished the night off with jasmine tea and went to bed early, before Captain Caveman got home. The weekend was going to be exciting – Saigon Children’s Charity were in Phong Nha!

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It was a lovely sunny day on Wednesday 18th November and I was planning on going for a walk later. Captain Caveman was already booked in for a medical in Dong Hoi and had gone with the other cavers. I did more online work where I was viewing photos for Artificial Intelligent use – it was interesting but not that well paid just yet. I also applied for roles which better suited my past experience in Insurance with a view to working online until it was safe to travel to the UK. I ate a lot of fruit and some toast for breakfast and lunch and then, when Captain Caveman eventually returned, he had been for pizza at The Villas but not thought to ask if I would like a takeaway bringing back. He’d passed the medical then went shopping, as we were running low on provisions, before lunching at leisure in Phong Nha. It was 4pm by the time we got to go for a walk and this time I decided to do it on crutches, just to see if it was any better or quicker. Ruth, the zoom physio, had mentioned walking poles but Captain Caveman had forgot to pick them up from Phong Nha so this would be similar. I wore my trainers for the first time (I’d not been able to get them on before) and they felt so comfortable on the bottom of my feet. I was actually slower than the last walk but I did feel less pain and I could have walked further, which was a good sign.

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For dinner we went to the Farmstay and I had a treat with the beef in bamboo, steamed rice, vegetables and a ginger beer. Captain Caveman had pie, chips, beans and gravy and Veronika just had a pie. After food Captain Caveman went over to introduce himself to some of the cyclists who were arriving for the Saigon Children’s Charity cycling event this weekend. Captain Caveman had entered for the first time this year (usually we aren’t in Vietnam when this event takes place) and he was super excited. I caught up with some blogging and had a look at the new rooms. While the place was quiet I took photos of the place, it was hard to imagine that only a month ago it was completely flooded and covered in mud, the staff had done an amazing job to get it back to normal. It was getting late so I went to intercept Captain Caveman from getting another beer with his new cycling friends only to find I was introduced to the group, passed a Strongbow cider and was chatting away to some really nice people from all different places.

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Photo credit – Ben & Bich at Phong Nha Farmstay

I had buttered toast again for breakfast on Tuesday 17th November and I offered to make Captain Caveman something different for dinner again. We had been trying for weeks to find mince to make a Bolognese but it just isn’t available anywhere so I thought of a veggie alternative made with lentils. He declined my kind offer and I said he could make dinner instead. It was hot outside and the cleaners were in giving the place a full going over while I got on with languages and some blogging. For lunch I had a banana and an apple, then I got picked up at 1pm by Phuong’s Transfers (as usual) for my trip to physio in Dong Hoi. The physio went well and the trapped nerve in my lower leg was getting slightly more bearable when they pressed it, but only just.
When I got home I was greeted by a bottle of chilled bubbles and a very tasty chicken dinner, made by a badly barbered Captain Caveman. For dessert we had rice pudding again, it was becoming a favourite, even though the milk definitely made my stomach bad.

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The week started well and on Monday 16th November I got confirmation that my visa had been extended until the 9th December, which I was grateful for even though it would cost quite a bit. Phuong was going to his brother-in-law’s wedding today and wouldn’t be available so I booked Le to go to Dong Hoi for physio. Tatas was off to the dentist in Dong Hoi and so we arranged for her to get picked up first. I’d not seen her for such a long time and so it was good to catch up on the way. When I got to physio it was still lunch time as I was 20 minutes early so I just waited, while doing some Vietnamese on Duolingo. Le picked me back up at 4pm as we had to get back to Phong Nha where Captain Caveman was taking me out for dinner. Veronika joined us for food at Phong Nha Farmstay where there was some excitement – the menu was being put on a QR code which you scan with your phone, instead of being passed a menu to read. Veronika ordered the Banh Xeo (a crispy pancake) with seafood and I took a video of how it should be eaten, the two of us had a pizza each and we all shared a bottle of red wine. I managed to eat all of my pulled pork and pesto pizza, the first one I’ve had at the Farmstay and I really enjoyed it but was so full!

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Photos at Phong Nha Farmstay with Captain Caveman, Bich & Veronika

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