Phong Nha – 25th February

Captain Caveman was up at 5am on Thursday 25th February and off to the beach with Ben for some surfing. Surprisingly there was no loud announcement on the tannoy this morning!
There was some great news in Vietnam as it was reported that there would be enough vaccines for the country in 2021!!! See link:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210225/vietnam-says-to-secure-90-million-covid19-vaccine-doses-this-year/59458.html
Unfortunately there was another variant of the virus found in the dead Japanese man in Hanoi, see below:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210225/5th-coronavirus-variant-in-vietnam-found-in-japanese-who-died-in-hanoi/59464.html
and some not so good news of a woman in Hanoi who had been released after 3 negative tests but then was positive again 4 days later, more info here:
https://vietnaminsider.vn/hanoi-woman-tested-positive-again-for-covid-19-after-released-from-hospital/
I was meant to be meeting Captain Caveman for breakfast at the Farmstay so I cycled the long way round to get there, my confidence was getting stronger and I managed to overtake a man who was walking his cow. This time it took me 20 minutes and 31 seconds to do about 4.5km – a whole 2 minutes quicker (and it was hotter than the previous day). I ordered a soda water, an orange juice and pho bo for breakfast and there was no sign of Captain Caveman so I started without him. When he arrived he ordered a beer which I thought was a strange breakfast choice but it turned out he had already eaten smoked salmon and scrambled eggs at The Villas. After chatting to Bich and Howie for a bit I decided to set off because Captain Caveman was on his motorbike anyway and it was getting hot and sticky. I did the short route back and was 1 minute 21 seconds quicker. I had some rest on the sunlounger, we had chicken salad for lunch but in the afternoon I felt ill (a bad stomach and I felt really cold) so I had an afternoon nap. Around 4.30pm Captain Caveman woke me up to tell me he was off back to Phong Nha and I thought it was the next morning already. He was booked in for a shave at the hairdresser’s and then was off for his next Son Doong briefing at 6pm. In the evening I still didn’t feel too good and couldn’t eat any dinner so I had some popcorn and started watching Behind Her Eyes on Netflix. This week I was glad to have exercised more and consumed less, in fact this was the best week of the month!

Phong Nha – 23rd February

There was only one person close to me on Tuesday 23rd February who was more annoyed with the loud tannoy from 5.30am, than me – a very hungover Captain Caveman! He got up and went to Phong Nha and I went back to sleep when the noise stopped! I woke up at 9am and caught up on some Duolingo and some writing. I’d not checked my emails for a while and, after hearing that the UK wouldn’t allow holidays until 17th May, I wondered if my April flight to Turkey would get cancelled. I had toast for breakfast and when Captain Caveman came back he had only been to The Villas for his breakfast! I managed another spot of cycling and this time I took 10 minutes but Captain Caveman did get a video of me.
I just had walnuts and cashew nuts for lunch as Captain Caveman had plans for dinner – for the first time in a long time we were missing Shepherd’s pie night! I suggested that I might try a mini triathlon tomorrow and asked Captain Caveman if he’d like to join in as the weather was meant to be getting hot. He replied that he didn’t think eating breakfast, lunch and dinner counted as a triathlon! It wasn’t meant to be a joke, either!
He made sausages with potatoes and veg for dinner and I had a small glass of red wine. It was a relaxing, easy going day which I was grateful for and there was some optimistic news reported during this day which felt somewhat hopeful for the future.
In Vietnam the vaccination process looked good and was coming soon;
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210223/vietnams-health-ministry-lists-target-groups-for-upcoming-covid19-vaccination/59419.html
The authorities were still dishing out penalties for not declaring whereabouts or giving misleading info on the forms:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210223/teacher-in-northern-vietnam-fined-for-false-health-declaration/59421.html
And proof that in all countries there will still be people who go ahead and cause the spread instead of preventing Corona:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210223/vietnamese-official-requests-investigation-of-two-nurses-for-allegedly-causing-local-covid19-transmission/59429.html

Phong Nha – 18th February

The alarm went off at 5.30am on Thursday 18th February for Captain Caveman going to the beach with Ben and Matty for a spot of surfing. I did my blogging until 8am and then fell back to sleep, finding out it’s the quietest part of the day to grab another 2 hours. When Captain Caveman returned it was raining and he made us salami and asparagus for breakfast, mine with toast and his with egg. After breakfast I went to welcome Bluey, my bicycle, back in to my life and was pleased to see she already had a lovely parking spot in a sheltered area. I couldn’t go out on her in the rain so I tried a couple of metres under cover and I seemed ok. Her brakes still worked and she just need a little bit of air in her tyres so all was good and I looked forward to having a proper go on her the next dry day. I didn’t think I was hungry enough for lunch but then later needed a snack of bread and cashew nuts. Captain Caveman had another Tet party at Mr Sic’s, to attend in Phong Nha, on his way to deliver his Oxalis briefing for his first trip to Son Doong after the Tet holidays.
For my dinner that night I had some chicken masaman curry and a Snickers for dessert.
I had something to be really thankful for today too; my parents had their first dose of the Corona vaccine today. Their second dose was scheduled for May, so just short of 3 months later, meaning they should be as fully protected as possible by the end of May. This gave me hope that I might be able to see them this year so I went online to do the calculation of when I would be able to have the vaccine if I was in the UK. I wouldn’t be due until July for the first one, meaning October for the 2nd and able to go about my ‘normal’ activity by November. Hopefully I would be able to get it quicker in Vietnam so that I could get back sooner, but if not there was hope I could be with my family by Christmas, all being well. As I was getting ready for bed it dawned on me that maybe Captain Caveman had brought Bluey, the bike, back for a reason! I’d consumed a lot more than I should have lately and, if I was going to loose the last few kilogrammes in readiness for a summer body, I’d really better start trying a lot harder!