After spending the night mulling over whether to continue my plan to go back to the UK or not, I woke up early on Monday 6th December. I had leftover pizza for breakfast and decided that I would still continue with my travel arrangements. I booked the flight from Dalaman to Istanbul for only £25 with luggage, started looking at train fares from London and then booked a PCR test at London St Pancras for £69 with Collinson. I was a bit too busy getting everything sorted to bother with lunch but I did manage to eat the left over curry that I’d made last week, and added loads of spinach to it, for dinner. I spoke to my parents and confirmed I was coming for Christmas, they were very happy about that and my Mom confirmed she only had to isolate from the 27th December – so the plans for my 18 day holiday could continue! Later I got peckish and ate some chocolate and some roasted chestnuts, which I love.
After a breakfast of cheese on toast on Tuesday 7th December I saw that the UK had reported their highest number of Corona cases since mid-July and I hoped I’d not made a poor decision to visit. In Vietnam the news was about schools having students return to the classroom this week. The weather in Dalyan was very windy and the rain was heavy so I stayed at home and did some writing. In the evening I had lasagne with red cabbage and dates for afters, later on I had more roasted chestnuts. A nice quiet day was had where it was too wet to venture anywhere and I stayed cosy at home.
I ate a buttered crumpet (from the Mulberry Tree restaurant in Fethiye) for breakfast on Sunday 5th December and, whilst it was delicious, I did get some stomach pains and was a bit bloated. In the news, questions were raised about if Corona vaccines will be made mandatory in some countries, here’s the link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-59506339 I had some messenger chat with Captain Caveman who was doing well but we discussed that going to England for Christmas might be a bad idea. The number of cases was rising, I had no insurance, my return flight could get cancelled and most of all I might contract Corona between having my Turkish PCR test and getting to my parents. My mom was due to have an operation at the end of December so I was reluctant to put her further at risk than was necessary and, apart from going back to visit people, I needed to sort out my banking situation. Having said that, I wondered if moving my trip to January might be better. I arranged a video call with my parents to discuss and I aired my concerns about coming back and potentially not being able to go out, if restrictions increased or things got worse with the virus. I’d already changed plans of staying in London or travelling down south to catch up with people as soon as I arrived. My parents said it was up to me but they were happy to take the risk of me still coming to visit and my mom said she would check the rules of when she had to isolate and test negative before her operation. We left the call with me deciding to sleep on it because I had another important meeting to get to. Vanessa was at mine ready for our trip to Tez bar, just round the corner – we were going to confirm the times of our PCR tests, do our Turkish homework and have a glass of wine. I ended up having 3 glasses of red wine and Tez helped us practice our Turkish by introducing us to his daughter who works in Ortaca. Tez also managed to flog us some prawns at 70 lira (£3.79) a portion, they were lovely but we had to order some extra chips to go with them and the sauces were a bit random. That night I was going to stay in but as I went to the shop and then needed the toilet, I had to call in to Jiks, where I had pizza and another glass of wine. Here’s my shopping, from Migros supermarket, prices in lira; 1 pack of biscuits 2.75 1 pack of turkey ham 3.15 1 caramac type chocolate 6.50 2 packs of crisps 8.00 1 pack of wraps 11.25 1 pack of spinach 11.90 1 pack of chicken breast 20.03 Chestnuts 24.95 6 mini magnums 27.50
Wednesday 1st December turned out to be a rather wonderful day; first of all I had the cleaning lady booked in to give the apartment a spruce up while I had planned to pop over to Vanessa’s before Turkish class. When I got there the door was locked so I turned around to go back home, only to be shouted by Debbie (Darling) to nip in to her’s. I had a PG tips tea with rather too much milk but it was nice and hot and we had a chat about them just having said goodbye to a family member so had been up very early. Next I went to Vanessa’s where we had a bit of a chat before walking to Lukka bar for our Turkish class, with Sioned. The lesson got a bit more involved this week including learning about nationalities, yes-no questions, vowel harmony, negatives and plurals – it was good and I really enjoyed it. After the class I had arranged to go for lunch with Lily Fish and Vanessa so we decided we would go to Wonky’s. The ladies had burgers while I went for their all day English breakfast (without egg or tomatoes) and we had a glass of wine. The food was really good, there were a few of the other Dalyan dwellers about, some of who joined our table and some of who were playing pool and it was a rather nice afternoon. I remained sensible as I didn’t want to drink too much after being poorly so I decided I would go home, leaving some of the others staying out out! Back home the building site seemed to have acquired a very strangely positioned swimming pool and the cleaner had done an amazing job of the apartment. That evening Vanessa had arranged for us to go to see Maddie, seeing as though she had missed the party on Saturday. She arrived at mine, desperate for a wee and hadn’t been home yet so we set off to Maddie’s place but once on our way I had to pop in to Jiks because I had a dodgy stomach (again and probably from the sausages as they always seem to affect me). We eventually got to Maddie’s where I hardly drank anything and we had a good old chat and a takeaway from Pizza 48. On the way home Vanessa and I ended up lost, then having a nightcap in Jiks where it was very cosy with the fire on as it was quite chilly out now, and Vanessa didn’t even have her coat because she’d been out since Turkish class. When I got in I decided to marinate some chicken in a tandoori paste in readiness for tomorrow’s shenanigans.
Another fab day was had on Thursday 2nd December; I was up early so that I could have my breakfast and put the curry in the slow cooker. I’d arranged to cook for us and take it over to Ann’s, where I would stay over. For lunch I had wedges with baked beans and then I packed a bag to take, including the bottle of prosecco from Bistro Blue that I’d been saving. I got there about 4.15pm and we had some hummus and carrots, which I took to nibble on, while we had the prosecco, which tasted fine but wasn’t too fizzy. Ann already had her PJs on and so I put mine on and we had Christmas songs on. The curry was really nice and I’m glad I had saved 3 quarters of the naan bread from Spice Garden as I’d defrosted it and taken it with me too. Ann had another bottle of fizz from the shop and I think I preferred that one, it certainly went down well. It was a lovely night just spent chatting, cuddling the dogs and having food and drink. As I climbed in to the the extremely comfy spare bed I wondered if it might be a bit late to slim down for my UK visit!
I had another busy day on Friday 3rd December; When I got up Ann was already up and about seeing to the dogs as Smokey Jo was poorly and needed the vet calling out. I left Ann’s, after the vet had finished, and walked back home because I was meeting a friend for lunch. When I got home I unpacked my stuff and, because it was weigh-in day, I did the scales and tape measure thing. I had put on 0.5kg and my measurements were as follows; Bust & Waist no change, Hips -1cm, Thighs no change, Right calf -1cm, Left calf -0.5cm. It started to rain heavily as I set off to meet Leanne at Jiks for lunch but I had my wellies and raincoat on. I ordered a Happy pizza and Leanne had a chicken curry but no alcohol as she was working and I needed to cut it down a bit. It was a nice lunch and our first since I’d been back so we had a good chinwag. My next stop was to Sofra bar where Sarah was working from so I joined in by sorting out some emails and doing a bit of writing on my laptop. When I wandered home I noticed more work had been done on the swimming pool next door and I decided a night in would be good. For dinner I had a lovely bowl of pasta with pesto, my stomach was fine and I was looking forward to my day out tomorrow with Vanessa.
My Google searches in November were definitely a clear sign I was going to be travelling to England next month. Here’s the list in alphabetical order:
1. Advice for travel to UK 2. Bounty calories 3. Cinnamon benefits 4. cm to inches 5. Coral Nike trainers 6. Dermatitis herpetiformis 7. Donkey milk soap benefits 8. English to Turkish 9. English to Vietnamese 10. Flight Radar 11. Frank Zappa 12. Gran Torino 13. Hallelujah lyrics 14. IBS 15. I’m your man – Leonard Cohen 16. League of Gentleman 17. Melen 2019 Merlot 18. Operation London Bridge 19. Orfoz, Akyaka 20. Patak’s Tandoori paste 21. Ron Perlman 22. Start Up TV series 23. UK bra size calculator 24. Weather 25. worldlifeexpectancycoronavirus
Crikey, I was poorly on Sunday 28th November!!! I’d been up a few times in the night with a bad stomach and I woke up so dehydrated and hungover that I had to go back to bed. I had to cancel meeting up with Vanessa and Janet to go to the Christmas fayre and I really did think I had just got a bad hangover but it seemed to get worse as the day went on, no matter what I did I could not recover. Vanessa hadn’t been able to come to Maddie and Onur’s housewarming on account of her being ill so I did wonder if I may have got something similar as there was a bug going around. By the afternoon my shoulders and chest muscles were aching and I felt like death. While the people of Dalyan went out and about, the sun came out and I spent all my day between sofa, toilet and bed – I’d only had a litre of wine over 7.5 hours last night so surely it wasn’t just a hangover! In the Vietnamese news there was a few reports that the international tourism trial was not working and there were a few problems with that. I did have some good news that day though, friends who I had met in Phong Nha had sent me a wedding invitation for 2022. Bryan and Kendra, who will be visiting Dalyan for New year are getting married in Georgia and so I got a save the date, which is great news – I’ve never been to Georgia so it would be a good excuse!
By Monday 29th November I was still not much better but I forced down some cornflakes, I still had a bad stomach, muscle aches, a headache and was a bit clammy so I didn’t do much. In the news there was an official update of the requirements to enter England, effective from 4am on 30th November and to be reviewed in 3 weeks, these would be the rules that would apply to me on my forthcoming visit: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-to-england-from-another-country-during-coronavirus-covid-19 By 3.30pm I decided a bit of fresh air and a trip to the shop might be in order. I could hardly concentrate and felt terrible as I bought the following:
Migros Supermarket
1 plastic bag 0.25 1 pack of polos 2.50 1 Bounty 4.95 Crisps 7.00 1 gold chocolate 7.00 1 litre of cherry juice 7.50 4 Probiotic drinks 12.26 1 pack of chicken breasts 20.85
Total spent 62.04 lira (£3.60)
On the way back from the shop Sara (from River Terrace) brought my order from the Christmas fayre that I missed. When I got in the apartment, I ate the Bounty and some crisps washed down with cherry juice and went back to bed. When I woke up I felt a lot better and decided to make a proper meal for my late dinner. I had beef köfte and homemade chips with BBQ sauce and all seemed fine. Later I had a mince pie and a chocolate orange truffle (from Sara) and my stomach was kind of ok. Unfortunately I had cancelled having a curry at Ann’s tonight as I didn’t know if I still had a hangover or if I had a bug. I hoped I was better for tomorrow as Vanessa and I had a very important trip planned.
I had hardly any sleep and felt like I couldn’t do a bus journey on Tuesday 30th November so I had to cancel Vanessa again – it’s a good job she’s understanding. Instead, I forced buttered toast down and went back to bed, I had cups of tea and lots of water but didn’t really start to recover until almost dinner time. It was a cold day and I had lots of layers on so I decided to have meat and potato pie with carrots, mushrooms and gravy to make me feel better. It was not only delicious but I was almost back to normal by bed time and the pastry didn’t give me a bad stomach.
By Saturday 27th November there were more worrying news articles about Corona and there was an uneasy feeling of whether the new variant would be the next one to cause an increase in restrictions, I was concerned that it may prevent or limit my forthcoming trip to the UK. In Vietnam 4 children suffered anaphylaxis from their vaccines in Bac Mai, here’s the article (it’s not near the cave where Captain Caveman works is): https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20211127/four-children-suffer-anaphylaxis-after-covid19-vaccination-in-northern-vietnam/64407.html In other news there were some positive cases, on 2 planes, from South Africa which landed at Amsterdam airport, meaning the new variant was already in Europe, more here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59442149 I just had bread and butter for breakfast as I was having a big lunch of saag aloo, chicken tikka and rice. I was invited to a party later so I needed some sustenance in readiness for a bit of a booze up. Because of the bad weather, the Christmas fayre, which should have been today, had been moved to tomorrow but Maddie and Onur were still having their housewarming party from 5pm. It was also Maddie’s 3 year anniversary of moving to Turkey so she was up for giving the ball a right old kick. I took a nice bottle of red wine and a gift of rosé wine for Maddie, when I arrived I was so impressed with their new place as it was big for a 2 bedroom apartment and had lovely views from every window, despite it being so near to the town centre. We had a right laugh and the night involved me becoming a human kerplunk game as each person had to slip forks in to my hair without them falling out. It was more fun than you’d think and the amount of innuendos was shameful. Maddie had made sausage rolls and I had 3, they were bloody gorgeous and the rest of the food was good too. I had a really great time, Ann even made Nick a ponytail so he could fit in with Onur, Özcan and Mark! Kate took loads of photos of different people by the Christmas tree and I met some really lovely people. Ann and I shared a taxi home and of course I had a dodgy stomach when I got in!
When I woke up on Friday 26th November the news was packed full of articles about Corona; a new variant had been discovered in South Africa, more here: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59418127 I saw a Facebook post to say that the UK were banning flights from South Africa. France had announced that a 3rd vaccine booster would be required for vaccine passes to be valid. In the Vietnamese news there was reports that a total of 3 people had died after their vaccination in Vietnam, the investigation was ongoing, check it out here: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20211126/following-two-deaths-one-more-dies-after-covid19-vaccination-in-vietnam/64368.html Then later it was reported that there was a 4th death from the same batch of vaccines in Vietnam, see below: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20211126/vietnam-seals-vero-cell-covid19-vaccine-batch-following-4th-postvaccination-death/64382.html My arm was aching today, 2 days after my vaccine and I felt incredibly tired so I decided that I was going to have a day of chilling out and I was going to have a night in tonight. My delivery of meat pies and sausage rolls from Emma was delivered by her husband, Yusuf, and I put some in the freezer before I was tempted to eat them all – I did have 2 sausage rolls for my breakfast though! For lunch I made a bit of a strange concoction of köfte, rice and mushrooms which tasted really good. I went to meet a friend at the tea gardens in the afternoon and when I got there it was a mess because of the improvements the council were attempting to make. The cafe was now next to the toilets, on the grass, so no longer overlooking the river and the rock tombs. After several Turkish teas and a chat I walked back home, just as the sun was setting and I called in to the stationers to buy a notebook, I spotted they had some good 2022 diaries there too so I purchased a nice one. That night I ordered a takeaway from Spice Garden and got enough for tonight and tomorrow’s lunch. I had poppadoms, chicken tikka masala with chips and nan, I even had a couple of glasses of red wine to wash it down and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I went to bed really tired but I couldn’t get to sleep.
I didn’t wake up until the alarm went off at 8am on Thursday 25th November. I’d gone to bed feeling quite cold, my heartbeat was quite a bit faster than normal too but when I woke up I was dripping in sweat, my quicker heart rate, and all other effects from yesterday’s vaccine, were gone. I had to be over at my parents’ apartment by 9am to let in the workmen who were going to be replacing some bathroom shower screens. I put on 3 layers and my rain jacket plus bagged up some boxes I was taking round to Debbie’s. When I arrived at my parents’ I let the guys in and they said to come back in 2 hours, I tried to see if Debbie (Darling) was up yet so I could help wrap the Christmas boxes for the Christmas fayre. There was no answer so I popped back home and had bread butter and cherry jam for breakfast. When I went back the workmen were about 30 minutes off finishing so I took some photos and sent them to Dad so he could check them before I paid up. They did a good job, it looked much better and they even did a thorough hoovering. As I left I saw they had discarded the old screens and all the new packaging on the floor outside, yet there is a bin less than 50 metres away and there was now a random man smashing out the glass of the old screens, on the road outside my parents’ place so he could take the frames. I shouted at him and told him he was leaving a mess on the road but he didn’t care. I went to Debbie’s but there was no answer and she hadn’t seen my messages so I left the boxes on her doorstep and set off back home. The shower screen smasher had gone so I moved most of the glass off the road and went back to turn off the electric, to this day the rubbish didn’t get cleaned up! I notice a lot that in Turkey people aren’t always so bothered about how they dispose of rubbish too much, or the environment. It may have been the after effects of the jab yesterday, or that the sun had come back out, but I was so hot all of a sudden and fancied a shower and a nap. When I woke up again it was dark, I had been asleep for almost 5 hours and still felt a bit tired! For dinner I had more lasagne and red cabbage which was delicious but because I had slept through lunch I was still peckish. I decided I would have some chestnuts while watching more Selling Sunset on Netflix.
When I woke up on Wednesday 24th November I was sad to see in the Vietnamese news that there were still not enough Corona vaccines in Vietnam so deaths were higher than they should be, here’s more: https://vietnamnews.vn/society/1084598/75-per-cent-of-people-dying-from-covid-over-three-days-in-hcm-city-were-unvaccinated.html Worryingly, there was a report of deaths from a 2nd Verocell vaccine too, see below: https://vietnamnews.vn/society/1085284/two-people-in-thanh-hoa-die-after-getting-covid-19-vaccine.html I just had a probiotic drink for breakfast and then got wrapped up for the walk to the doctor’s in quite heavy rain, it had been raining persistently throughout the night and all of the morning so far. When I arrived at the Dalyan Doctor’s I didn’t even have to show ID or give any details as they recognised me, there was an English couple there too and the lady was there for her booster. The nurse giving the vaccines didn’t speak English and the man of the couple had said he wasn’t there for a vaccine but before he could say much he had his jumper off and the nurse gave him it anyway. I had mine sat down, it took seconds and I did feel it this time so was expecting my arm to ache. I’d also tried looking up any experiences of someone who had received 2 Astra Zeneca and 2 Pfizer vaccines to try to anticipate any after effects but I couldn’t find anything useful on the internet. I felt happier knowing that my vaccines from Turkey would definitely be recognised to travel to England and back so I walked home, still in the rain, but feeling good. I had to change my clothes when I got in because I was soaked and then get ready for my Turkish class. This was the 2nd class since starting them last week at Lukka Bar, with Sioned, on a Wednesday lunch time. My last class had consisted of just 7 of us and it was an introductory class to see what we know and practice greetings and such like. This week it was a smaller group as 2 from last week couldn’t make it, unfortunately, and we went on to learn quite a bit and even had practice doing some role plays. Sioned is an excellent teacher and I found it a lot better than trying to just do I on Duolingo, plus I had forgotten a lot from when I had lessons 13 years ago. When I got home I had to change my socks and leggings again then I decided to watch series 3 of Selling Sunset which, for some reason, I love! I had a crisp sandwich and some chicken pieces with BBQ sauce for a not so healthy lunch. I told Vanessa about the Turkish lesson and helped arrange to get her invited to join the next one. That evening I got all cosy and even had to put the heating on in the living area, as the temperature really dropped. I had a wonderful dinner of homemade lasagne with red cabbage while watching the end of series 3 of Cuckoo. As I went to bed my arm was starting to ache a little bit and I had a funny twinge in my good leg just behind the knee, I also had a strange sensation (kind of itchy) where my shoulder cyst was. I took a paracetamol, set the alarm for 8am tomorrow and was asleep before 11pm.
I had a busy day at the start of the week on Monday 22nd November. The lira was at 15 to the English pound so my money was now at half the value of when I put it in the bank, which was disconcerting. I was too busy checking all the up to date rules for my forthcoming trip to England that I completely forgot to have any breakfast. I found that I was going to need all of the addresses of where I would be going in the first 10 days of my stay so that I could put them on the PLF, I also needed to decide on at least 1 address to stay at, for the first 2 days – this was going to be tricky as I didn’t really have a plan as yet, but I needed one before I left Turkey. I decided to have a bit of a clear out so that I could donate any bric-a-brac to the white elephant stall at the Christmas fayre this year and I came across a lamp without a working bulb. I had a walk to the Millennium shop to buy a replacement to see if it worked and the weather outside looked like it might rain at any time. The forecast had said to expect a lot of rain this week and so I decided to go to the new A101 supermarket on the high street and Migros to stock up on essentials. Here’s what I purchased, I will let you decide what was actually essential:
A101 Supermarket 1 packet of chicken noodles 2.20 2 bottles of soda water 2.70 1 pack of sigara böreği 6.90 2 packs of crisps 10.40
Total spent 22.20 lira (£1.48)
Migros Supermarket 1 plastic bag 0.25 1 pack of biscuits 2.50 2 simit 4.50 1 Bounty 4.95 1 packet of bechamel sauce mix 6.45 1 toastie loaf 9.95 1 jar of tomato paste 9.95 1 pack mushrooms 11.49 3 probiotic drinks 12.75 1 pack lasagne sheets 13.95 1 can baked beans 17.95 1 jar of pesto 22.95 1 pack of beetroot 24.90 1 bag of chestnuts 24.95
Total spent 167.49 lira (£11.17)
While I was packing my shopping I saw Maria from Askins estate agents and we had a little chat, then I paid and left to go home.
The lamp bulb was replaced, it worked so I decided to keep it and, after dropping off the shopping and eating a simit for a quick lunch, I decided to go for a walk to the doctor’s. I got a message from Maria to say I had left my Migros card at the supermarket but she had it at work and I could stop by to collect it, which I did – it was really kind of her to do that. My app said I could go for my 2nd Pfizer jab now so I thought I’d make sure that I was still booked in, especially as I needed to have 14 days clear before I landed in England. It was a nice walk along the river but the streets where the road was being taken up was a mess. The doctor confirmed I should come at 9.45am on Wednesday for my next Corona vaccine so that was good as it gave me 2 days spare. On my walk around town I bumped in to Viv who had just been to Alp’s Balıkcim for sausages, which made me want some. Alp has a section of English stuff so I made a few purchases as a treat:
Alp’s shop 1 bottle of HP brown sauce 1 can of baked beans 1 jar of tandoori paste 6 pork sausages 1 Cumberland sausage wheel
This came to a total of 150 lira (£10) but the beans were on offer at 12.50 lira so I couldn’t resist buying another for 5 lira cheaper than in the supermarket.
While I was out, Ann had messaged to ask if I fancied meeting at Heybe’s for an early dinner so I did. She had wine, I had tea and when she ordered her usual chicken schnitzel I decided to go with the potato skin starter. When it came it had a jacket potato with it and was gorgeous but I couldn’t eat it all so I took the jacket potato part home to have with my leftover Sunday dinner tomorrow. By the time I got home it was dark, had gone quite a bit colder and I saw that the Vietnamese Corona cases were on the rise again.
It was probably the coldest day so far on Tuesday 23rd November and I was wearing a fleece indoors as I ate my simit, cheese and olives for breakfast. I decided I still needed provisions for the massive week of rain that was forecast so I togged up and ventured out to the shops again;
Şok Supermarket 3 red onions 3.22 1 packet of roast chicken bags 4.15 4 carrots 7.16 4 probiotic drinks 19.80
I also picked up a bottle of wine from Tolga’s wine shop for 45 lira (£3), never mind the rain I was ready for a blizzard!
I had a late lunch which consisted of my leftover Sunday dinner and yesterday’s leftover jacket potato (both from Heybe’s) which was absolutely gorgeous. My next mission was to make a lasagne from the bolognese that I had bubbling away in the slow cooker and could use my new glass containers for batch freezing some of it. I got peckish while it was cooking and ate a Bounty and then some chicken pieces with BBQ sauce. When the lasagne was ready I had to taste some so I cut off the ends and ate those, it was really good and I would look forward to more of it in the next couple of days. I’d been watching a series on Netflix called Cuckoo, with comedian Greg Davies in, and was finding it quite entertaining so I watched more before bed and set the alarm so that I didn’t overlay for my important appointment tomorrow.
When I woke up on Saturday 20th November I had messages from Captain Caveman who had spotted that my mom had been spoofed on Facebook, he (and others) had received a friend request from a profile of the same name and birthday but it wasn’t my mom. He’d let her know and then I messaged friends to let them know to delete the 2nd Anne Williams. I had buttered toast for breakfast and then tackled trying to find the Turkish app where I can view my vaccine status. I was going to need this to go to England so it was important I figured it out and was pleased to get it working. It was a sunny day, there were more leaves on the bougainvillea and I met the lady outside Maizie Moo to bring her to look at my rug (not a euphemism) which she paid me for and took it with her. In the afternoon I popped over to my mom’s, then Vanessa’s to help her with some paper work but ended up having some wine which we had to force our way into when the cork broke! In the evening I had a lovely meal with Ann, Angela, Nick and Maddie – Ann had cooked us two delicious pies with roast potatoes and broccoli and it was so good. I met her dogs, we drank wine, listened to music and ate so well! Amazingly my stomach was absolutely fine and I even managed a nice sized portion of Ann’s homemade cheesecake too – it was such a marvellous Saturday!
Sunday 21st November was also a lovely day in Dalyan and I had both cornflakes and toast for breakfast seeing as my stomach was as normal as it could ever be. The building site villa next door was definitely taking shape and I decided to order some things from Sara and Emma for the Christmas Fayre. Sara was doing chocolate truffles and mincepies, Emma sausage rolls and meat & potato pies. For lunch I had a home made chicken wrap and had arranged to try something new later on. Since I’d been in Dalyan I hadn’t tried a Sunday dinner at Heybe’s yet, mainly because I prefer to eat the Işkender kebab there but when Vanessa suggested it, I was definitely up for it, for a change. I had a beer to start off and we sat at a nice table inside, Vanessa had wine and soda. The soup was a very tasty tomato, we both had beef for our mains and the food was very good and plenty of it. The best bit was the 2 Yorkshire puddings which were definitely as good as I make and you could tell that Donny had mastered them well. I took home leftovers of beef, potato and broccoli so that I had room to try the dessert. The apple crumble came in a margarita glass and was served with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, I don’t like chocolate ice-cream so I took that off but I don’t think it goes with apple anyway. I also had a glass of red wine and we had a good old natter, as usual, including discussing our Christmas plans. We finished the night off with a lovely Turkish tea and then went home for an early night.
I had a bad hangover on Thursday 18th November so decided to go back to bed after my breakfast of buttered toast. On my phone was a photo of the growing bougainvillea bush at Fire Opal, taken at 2.22am, I’d obviously come in a bit drunk and decided to take a photo of the growth (as you do)! In my handbag was a rather large can of fly spray which I had put in there for Debbie (Darling) and forgotten to give it her back. Captain Caveman had sent me a photo of Eric the Bee, who was still visiting him at Elements in Phong Nha, he’s a lovely bee. In the Vietnam news there was a report of one positive case at the Hanoi football stadium but a more concerning article caught my eye. Also in Hanoi, some babies had been vaccinated with Pfizer by mistake, here it is: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20211117/mistakenly-injected-with-covid19-vaccine-18-hanoi-infants-in-good-health-2-weeks-on/64202.html In Dalyan there were more Facebook posts and photos of the road being ripped up and how much of a mess they were making was getting people’s goat. I thought of going to the Spice Garden for their curry buffet night later, and was going to see if anyone else fancied joining, but it was no longer on and they were now doing a winter menu which was available every day, plus it was available for delivery too. I shelved that idea and started reading Mike Tyson’s autobiography which I’ve been meaning to read for quite some time. For lunch I just had sandwiches, earl grey tea and some Turkish delight. That night I was tempted to order a takeaway but I decided to use the wraps I bought and make some ‘healthier’ pizzas – it turned out really well. I watched Netflix and started on the Winter Tea that I’d bought in Fethiye – it was a really good recommendation from Vanessa.
As expected my weekly weigh-in on Friday 19th November went well, but it wasn’t the miracle I could have done with. I lost 0.5kg which was good to see I hadn’t put anything on and it was probably as a result of staying in more now that my parents had been gone for a week already. Although I missed them, I was definitely making the most of having time to myself again and the first half of my day was pretty healthy; cornflakes for breakfast and a chicken, onion, and red pepper wrap (homemade so no fatty or mystery sauces) for my lunch, but it wouldn’t finish that way. In the news it was announced that from the 1st December in the UK there would be no need for fully vaccinated people to isolate for 10 days if they came in to contact with a Corona positive person, but I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was about that – it did mean I wouldn’t have to isolate in London if it happened to me on the weekend of my arrival, though. I’d advertised a rug on Facebook and I was expecting a woman to come and look at it, she said she would call me after her return from a boat trip, Debbie (Darling) and Sarah had invited me to join them at Sofra bar to try out their new upstairs, winterproof restaurant but, as I was waiting for the rug buyer, I missed out on eating dinner with them. When I got there they were with Sue and they had almost finished their spag bol. I joined their table and had a red wine, the place looked really cosy and nice so Sarah and I decided it would be a great place to ‘work from home’ on a Friday afternoon. By the time that I had got outside with Sarah and Sue, Debbie (Darling) had already left for Lukka bar with Sarah’s dogs. Sue was doing her best to insist on a taxi to go less than a kilometer but I helped carry her bags and got her to walk to Lukka where the music bingo was about to start. We all had a rather random evening, I still had not had dinner so I ordered a BBQ chicken pizza which was amazing and I had leftovers to take home too, the bingo song choices for me were great, but this is the only place I’ve ever been out where I’m considered to be young, some of the older clientele objected to the 90s songs which they didn’t know – not that it matters as Mehmet gives the answer after 30 seconds of playing the song, anyway! Due to some of our contingent being rather too drunk, it was an interesting night ending in Sue accidentally throwing her gin and tonic about. While Debbie (Darling) kindly made sure Sue got a taxi home, I got persuaded to have another glass of wine in Jazz Bar with Sarah. I really don’t like to frequent the Jazz Bar on account of me living nearby and me rarely getting any sleep on a weekend due to their music being so loud – I swear it sounds louder in our apartment than it does when I’m in the actual bar! I managed one glass of wine but then it was time for me to go home to bed, I really struggle to make it past midnight these days and the music had surprisingly finished by midnight!
Wednesday 17th November was a totally surprising day for me; I’d had cornflakes for breakfast and after doing a few chores I thought I’d call at the supermarket for a few bits. On my way to Migros I saw that Debbie (Darling) and her friends were in Jiks having a drink and they waved me over. I gestured that I would be there after I’d been in to the shop. I made my purchases as follows (price in lira);
3 onions 0.59 1 fresh loaf 2.00 2 red peppers 2.99 2 cans of grapefruit drink 6.50 1 pack of hummus 7.95 1 pack of wraps 14.45
Total spend 34.48 lira (£2.38).
I joined Debbie (Darling)’s gang just as Ann was getting off for her nail appointment but the rest were having another drink so I had a beer with Debbie (Darling), Sue, Fiona and then Brian joined us for a quick coke. Brian is a very interesting man and we had a little chat about Coeliac, gluten intolerance and dermatitis herpetiformis. Brian left and, as Debbie (Darling) had to leave to attend a funeral send off, Sue, Fiona, and I decided our next stop off would be Tez bar, I was dressed for summer and still had my shopping, so wasn’t planning on staying long. After 1 glass of wine I went home with my valid excuse ‘to put my shopping away and get dressed’ for my evening out. Of course I didn’t leave the tipsy ladies by themselves and, once the funeral was over and I was dressed in winter-wear, we had one more at Tez bar before we all went to Lukka bar. It had definitely been an interesting day so far and next I joined Angela, Nick and Ann for a meal and wine at Heybe’s where I just had to have the Işkender kebab (again) as I love it and hadn’t had one for a while. Nick goes mad for one of Donny’s chicken curries which did look good, while Angela and Ann had the chicken schnitzel, also a firm favourite. The food was ace, the live music from Onur was fab and the wine flowed – a bit too much, as it happens! By midnight I had murdered some songs and was well on my way to pointing out how much of an overlooked genius Frank Zappa was while Ann was advocating the more refined Leonard Cohen. I felt sorry for the staff having to listen to us waxing lyrical about how much we loved these artists, but I’m sure they secretly loved Doreen, one of Frank’s finest tracks which I made them listen to. As we left, I forced Ann to come to mine where I was trying to force biscuits and earl grey tea down her – she was not impressed with the hot beverage selection!
Sunday 14th November was a really good day for me, I’d stopped being ill and managed a probiotic drink and toast for breakfast. I decided I would make a beef stew in the slow cooker and I finished off my parents’ laundry ready to take it over to their’s the next time I was passing. My eczema was really quite bad again, even though I had been remembering to put cream on from Maizie Moo’s and I could only put it down to eating normally for the last few weeks. Captain Caveman had returned from Tu Lan but was too tired for a chat today and I read that Austria had introduced a type of lockdown for all unvaccinated people, more here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59283128 On the building site the concrete floor got poured and the workers clocked off. I had some of the beef stew for lunch and it was so delicious that I hardly wanted to save any. That afternoon I noticed that the number of Corona cases in the province of Balikesir, further north in Turkey, was having a surge, despite 81% of their population being fully vaccinated and I wondered if planning a trip up there might be a bit hasty, so near to us needing to travel back to the UK. For dinner I reheated the Mac & Cheese I had in the freezer and finished off the last of the plums. My finger was hurting and so I left the plaster off of the cut to try to get some air to it, watched Start Up on Netflix, then had an early night.
I woke up on Monday 15th November to some interesting news; Cambodia had opened the country to vaccinated people, read about it here: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50971077/cambodia-throws-the-gauntlet-at-asean-as-it-obliterates-entry-restrictions/?fbclid=IwAR01Gplpv86AOPTcKE99WqT9xlIXutKql4fSzS7Jim8sk0Nrh2d6Ntt_dlM Meanwhile, in Saigon this monkey was causing concern: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20211115/onefooted-monkey-attacks-residents-in-ho-chi-minh-city/64149.html In Vietnam they had allowed certain tourists in and had reached only 34% of the population being vaccinated, Dong Hoi had cases which had resulted in new lockdowns, but there was talk of vaccinating children so that more schools could reopen. In Turkey the lira had hit 14 to the pound and I was also concerned that I still needed to book and pay for my flight from Dalaman to Istanbul but was waiting for nearer the time in case there was any lockdown here or in the UK. I ate all my meals at home today as I was trying to save a bit of money, ready for my trip back at Christmas as England was probably going to be expensive compared to what I’m used to. I was also trying to keep track of what I was eating more. I went to the supermarket for some provisions and stopped off at the chemist for plasters that I no longer needed but were good to have. The shopping from Migros with prices in lira:
1 pack of pasta 3.36 1 pack of salami 4.15 1 Bounty 4.95 1 pack of cheese triangles 6.25 1 bag of crisps 8.00 1 litre of milk 8.75 4 probiotic drinks 17.00 1 chicken 19.36 1 bottle of HP BBQ sauce 21.95 3 chicken breasts 26.11
Total spend 115.63 lira (£8.26)
It was a bit expensive for a Bounty but I was really craving a chocolate bar, especially an English one. My absolute favourite is a Double Decker which they don’t have here.
The builders next door were receiving the latest concrete pours for the columns on the next floor of the structure. I had a call from Captain Caveman, he was well but he said he was feeling the cold a bit now as Phong Nha had definitely cooled down. When I checked that the housekeeping staff had put his duvet back on he replied that he only had a sheet so he was cold in bed without me. As soon as we finished talking I had a group chat with the Elements Collection staff, in my terrible Vietnamese, to ask that the duvet be put on. For dinner I had some Lancashire hotpot which I’d made a while ago and put in the freezer – it’s also gluten free because instead of thickening it with flour I used red lentils.
I had another easy going day on Tuesday 16th November and made a big batch of chicken noodle soup in the slow cooker, while catching up on a few things. The Dalyan main bar street and the walk way by the river were about to get a make over which many people on Facebook were taking umbrage over. I saved a couple of the photos and didn’t bother going to see for myself as it looked a bit uneven for someone with a dodgy leg anyway. I had planned to take my parents’ washing back and return Vanessa’s suitcase so I thought I could do them all at the same time, but then I forgot and it got too chilly to venture out. I had a couple of red wines, my first alcohol since Friday, with my gorgeous chicken noodle soup, then finished watching the rest of Start Up on Netflix. Tomorrow I had nothing planned but sometimes Dalyan has a way of changing that!
I’d been having probiotics every morning for just over a week and, although there were some improvements, I definitely wasn’t ‘cured’ as I was well and truly about to find out on Saturday 13th November. Vanessa had very kindly invited me on a trip to İçmeler today and, as this was a road trip, I was conscious that I certainly didn’t need a repeat performance of what happened on the Mediterranean Highlights trip only 3 weeks ago. I made the decision to only have the probiotic drink but no breakfast and then I had no chance of having a dodgy stomach, even though I felt absolutely fine. I knew another 5 of the other trip goers already (Michaela, Janet & Kevin, Martin & Wendy) and the minibus was full so it was only 50 lira each for the return fare. On the way there I started to have the rumblings in my tummy so when we were asked if we would like to stop off at a cafe made from an actual aeroplane I jumped at the chance. I’d been past it many times, although I had never had the chance to visit, but this one wasn’t about to go well!
We’d arrived at the aeroplane cafe and I desperately needed the toilet now but the cafe was closed, fortunately for everyone a man came and opened up for us. The toilets didn’t have the water turned on in the Western style toilets but there were containers of water in the squat ones so I went and was definitely not well. As I opened the door to get out of the cubicle I cut my finger on the lock and then had quite a bit of blood which wouldn’t stop. I joined Vanessa and a couple I had not met before (Andy & Julie), Vanessa had got me a Turkish tea but as I sat down the chair had a puddle of water on it and my top and trousers were soaked. Great! Vanessa and I paid the 10 lira (less than a pound) to go in the plane and it was very strange but interesting so I’d definitely recommend it! I needed the loo again before we left and I felt exactly like I did on the last road trip!
On the bus I found out that when we got to İçmeler we were all booked in for either fish and chips or pie and chips at the Fryer Tuck restaurant which everyone who had been before said was amazing. I was beginning to think I’d have been better off staying at home because of my stomach but when we arrived we had a walk along the beach and the town looked like it was closed, there was nothing going on. A lot of the ladies on the trip had a look around the shops and Vanessa picked up some bargains. I had a soda water while others had beer or wine in the pub and I was feeling really hungry but was worried about eating in case I was ill again, I had already had 3 imodium but they didn’t work at all.
The fish and chips were absolutely fantastic and easily the best I’ve ever tried in Turkey, I didn’t eat most of the batter (which was perfect) even though I wasn’t allergic to it but was trying to avoid what I thought had previously made me ill, just incase. There was also mushy peas and curry sauce available which my fellow diners said were good, but I just don’t like either, some people on the other tables had pie and that also looked really good but I couldn’t chance it. They had one of my favourites, treacle sponge, but I also avoided it because of my stomach and the journey back, while the others really enjoyed it and I drank my pot of tea like a proper Brit abroad. The whole bill for the 4 of us, including all the drinks, came to 500 lira (so less than £9 per person) and it was very good value for money and we were all stuffed!
After lunch I found that there were no pharmacies open in the area to buy more plasters as mine was letting the blood through still and was too big for a little finger. We did find a shoe shop which had some bargains and I bought a pair of sheepskin slippers and a pair of trainers for a total of just less than £15. On the way home I was still ill and we had to stop off for me to use the services again – I was beginning to wonder if my allergy was actually travel sickness! Back home I had a quiet night between sofa and toilet but by 8pm I was so hungry that I had to make myself some beans on toast. As I went to bed I saw that there was a post on Facebook showing that Thailand was now back to normal, with lots of people out drinking on the Khao San road, in Bangkok.
joloyolo 