Dong Hoi – 25th May

On Tuesday 25th May there was no sleeping in at The Nest Hotel in Dong Hoi because I was waiting from 7.30am to find out what was happening with my ‘missing’ passport. I waited, with no news until 8.35am and could take it no longer so I asked the agent for an update. It transpires that the shipping, which was meant to start on the 22nd, hadn’t until the 24th. Their reasoning being that because flights were also delayed it was going to take 5 days to be delivered from Hanoi and was still in transit. I was mad – it had not even arrived in Dong Hoi at all. I could have cried but of course I just needed to actually get my passport back from wherever ‘in transit’ happened to be. And I was so disappointed that my passport wasn’t going to arrive until the 27th!!! I was going nowhere until then because I needed to make sure I got my hands on it before I had to resubmit it again for June.
We went to breakfast at nearby Mr Bull’s where we both had Bo Ne (me without egg) and it was very nice indeed. We discussed what our new plan was, now that Plan D was my only sensible option but didn’t really come up with anything – I was too upset and there was nothing I could do about it.

Back at The Nest Hotel, after our delicious breakfast at Mr Bull’s, we had to decide what to do next. I was obviously concerned that my passport could be lost and would cause lots of hassle and cost to replace. Captain Caveman was definitely cheesed off that it was now 2 days since he should have been on holiday and we should have been flying from Saigon to Tam Ky tomorrow to go to Le Domaine de Tam Hai if Plan A or B had worked. Plan C was now going to be either cut short or more expensive and still 8 hours in a car (me, without any ID). It was a bit too stressful and we decided to go for lunch at Earth cafe where I had my favourite vegan udon soup while Captain Caveman had a vegan burger. It was incredibly hot but the decisions were made, we would stay another night in Dong Hoi, given that the shipping document (which I now had a copy of) said my passport had left Hanoi on the 22nd (not express as requested) and even at the slowest we thought it must arrive by tomorrow!

After a walk from Earth to Tree Hugger on our way back to the hotel we took some light refreshments inside the cafe with a white russian each. Not having had much luck that day, so far, I was pleased to notice that they had behind the bar a bottle of Frontera Merlot wine, which was a screw top. It was the best news I’d had all day and we took it back to the hotel to drink it out of the bathroom glasses! I was doing quite a bit of walking around the streets of Dong Hoi today and Captain Caveman got a few videos of me which, I think, show improvement.

Captain Caveman’s video of me walking in Dong Hoi

Captain Caveman dealt with the passport/no holiday issue in what I would have considered an odd way; he decided to play a Candy Crush style game on his phone and played it for ages without speaking! I tried to talk to him, insisted he went somewhere for a holiday while he still could, but he wasn’t in the mood for discussing it. He blamed the situation on me because if I had used a different agent then we wouldn’t be in this situation and I should have known that asking for a quicker service wouldn’t work – he questioned why I’d let it be sent to Hanoi to be done anyway and said I was stupid! The icing on the cake was when he told me not to speak about my passport again because he was sick of hearing me go on about it! So that ruined the rest of what was already a fairly rubbish day – it’s not like my passport isn’t the most important and valuable thing I own, is it!?
Eventually we decided to go out for dinner to Geminai, I was hungry so I agreed and off we went. We ordered a few things to share but our bad luck had not ended today, yet. The grilled pork starter was disgusting and tasted like jelly – both of us spat it out. The morning glory had soy and chillies in so I couldn’t eat it and so I had a whole bowl of plain rice. Captain Caveman had 2 warm beers but because my coke was warm I had to wait until after the meal for it to have chilled in the ice bucket – in my opinion there is no reason a restaurant should serve warm drinks. The duck with special sauce was very nice, though, and I managed to eat almost a third of that. I was still hungry so we called at the shop on the way back to the hotel for something to snack on. I eventually decided on cashew nuts but when we got to the till they were £4.55 so I told Captain Caveman to put them back and got a small packet of jellies. While all this had been going on there was a steady increase in the Corona numbers and it looked more likely that the 4th wave was about to get a bit more serious.
What a day!

Phong Nha & Dong Hoi – 24th May

Captain Caveman was up early on Monday 24th May, cycling over to Phong Nha and, although disappointed he hadn’t gone to Saigon or Tam Hai, we were optimistic for today. I booked a car with the Farmstay to take us to Dong Hoi so we could collect my passport from my agent, who was very certain that the postman would be dropping it off any time today, and we would be able to leave Dong Hoi for a break.
I read in the news of two more Corona deaths, number 43:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/955633/patient-with-liver-cirrhosis-is-viet-nams-43rd-covid-19-death.html
and number 44, a 38 year old woman with no underlying conditions, more info here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/955851/38-year-old-woman-dies-of-covid-19.html
There was some groundbreaking news for Singapore which would be amazing, more info here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/international/20210524/singapore-provisionally-approves-60second-covid19-breathalyser-test/61106.html
I had an apple, some grapes and a pot of jasmine tea for breakfast, then finished off the brown rice crackers and had a couple of gluten free crispbreads for an early lunch. I was all set, the agent had sent me a photo of a document which she translated to say my passport had arrived in Dong Hoi, at the post office, where she went to collect it, but was told the postman still has it and will bring it as soon as possible. When we got to Dong Hoi we had already decided to book a hotel instead of a car or a flight, we really wanted to get my passport back before we left too. Captain Caveman booked us in at The Nest, recommended to us by Momma D and was a cheap but nice place to stay. We paid 500,000vnd for a one way ride to Dong Hoi to collect a passport which seemed to be taking an awfully long time for the postman to deliver, and the hotel was 400,000vnd for the night. We decided to have a second lunch at Tree Hugger where Captain Caveman shovelled his egg salad sandwich down him and I had veggie fried spring rolls. By 4pm my agent had sent me a message to say she still hadn’t received my passport, or seen the postman, and even she admitted she was worried. We had been sat in Tree Hugger waiting for her to bring the passport, while drinking white russians and hadn’t accounted for this. I was not happy and, with a missing passport, we went back to the hotel to get showered, replan and get ready for dinner.

Captain Caveman and I decided that we didn’t want to leave the area without my passport so all plans were on hold for now, instead we would stay in Dong Hoi until my passport showed up! I told Captain Caveman he should go on holiday without me but he said he preferred to spend time with me so he wouldn’t go. At 6pm the visa agent updated me that the post office didn’t know where my passport was but couldn’t check because the staff had gone home so she would call them tomorrow at 7.30am – I was very stressed. I knew my visa had been extended until the 9th June but if I needed to report my passport lost and get a new one sent to me, it would take longer than when I needed to resubmit it.
That night we decided to walk to one of our favourite restaurants, 7th Heaven, to cheer us up with a steak and wine. We had forgotten that it was closed on Mondays but as luck would have it the owner, Tham, and the chef were there and the chef suggested he could make us pizza or steak – we went inside and sat upstairs on the balcony. By this time Captain Caveman was definitely in a mood because he wasn’t going on holiday and we more or less ate the food in silence – I knew he should have gone by himself!

Phong Nha – 23rd May

It was a funny old day on Sunday 23rd May, full of tricky decision making. I was awake at 6am, reading the news and checking my list of jobs left for me by Captain Caveman; Corona death number 42 had been reported in Vietnam. Unfortunately the first of my tasks, which then lead to all the others, was to arrange to pick up my passport, which had not arrived yet. Our Plan A had consisted of flying to Saigon tonight, staying for a couple of nights, flying to Tam Ky, staying 4 nights at Le Domaine de Tam Hai resort then flying back via Saigon. Without a passport I knew I couldn’t get on the flight so Plan B was for us to either wait until the next day or for Captain Caveman to go ahead of me and then I would go the next day, seeing as my passport was ‘definitely’ going to be back by the 24th! Plan C was looking more likely in that we could take a private car from Phong Nha to Tam Hai, thus not needing my passport, and miss out Saigon, but was fractionally more expensive than flying there, and would take a day of travelling. Plan D, which could happen if the corona cases kept increasing at the rate they were, was to maybe just stay in Phong Nha!
I packed my bag then checked my phone every few seconds, waiting for my visa agent to let me know my passport had arrived – unfortunately she didn’t sound sure it would. I made enquiries about all of Plans A-D in readiness for a discussion with my other half, and holiday buddy, later! I was super organised and left no detail explored while still hoping for my passport to show up. I had a banana and some M&Ms for breakfast, then cheese and brown rice crackers for lunch, I’d hopefully be eating dinner in Thao Dien, Saigon, with friends later tonight.
Captain Caveman was on his way out of Son Doong just after I’d eaten lunch and all his customers were on a flight that evenin. I got a message to say he was on the bus heading back to Phong Nha and that he’d be at the Glass House in 20 minutes. He needed an update as to what was going on with my passport and Corona restrictions so I sent him my findings.

In conclusion the decision for Captain Caveman now was one of the following:

Plan A: go to SGN 23/5 17.45 alone

Plan B: go to SGN 24/5 with Jo (passport permitting)

Plan C: no SGN, book a car to Tam Hai Mon/Tue, decide later to come back via car or flight

Plan D: stay in Phong Nha for his week off.

If you were Captain Caveman, what would you have done? And what decision do you think he actually made?

In between me sending my updated situation list to Captain Caveman and me speaking to him, Caroline at Le Domaine de Tam Hai had been super busy and helpful. She was an absolute star in getting me more details and attempting to do all she could so that we could go there for a holiday without flying and without my passport, if it didn’t turn up.
I got a message from a freshly showered Captain Caveman to tell me he was cycling back to Elements and to book a lift with Duyet for 4.30pm to take both of us to the Phong Nha Farmstay. He was meeting his customers there for cocktails before their flight, which Captain Caveman had decided not to take with them.
When it got to 4.30pm Captain Caveman was already downstairs and I went to join him, he said we would get the flight tomorrow, once (if) I had my passport back. At the Farmstay I was introduced to Captain Caveman’s group who were mainly french, very nice and not getting their flight to Saigon until 8pm, so were leaving at 6pm. We had margaritas and chatted about the Son Doong tour. Thien, one of the customers, poured us all a glass of champagne which they had brought with them and I had a glass or two. We shared some brie and iberico meats with the group – what a fantastic treat. Veronika joined us just in time for a bit of brie and we all watched the sunset before they had to leave for the airport – without us!

We stayed at the Farmstay and had more wine and a Sunday Roast which had crackling on this time and was really good. It was a shame we hadn’t been able to set off for our holiday but my agent had reassured me that the passport would be with her tomorrow.

Phong Nha – 22nd May

I slept in until 7am on Saturday 22nd May so I was feeling a lot less tired than yesterday. While eating breakfast of banana, apple, dragon fruit, cashew nuts and brown rice crackers I watched an informative video about the situation with visas, tourist (like mine) and business (like a few of my friends). Here’s the link if you have a few minutes to watch the video to find out what is going on with the visa extension situation in Vietnam of late. Scroll down to the video and article in this link, it’s very informative:
https://vietnaminsider.vn/updates-visas-fake-expert-crackdown/
In the rest of the news there were more cases and Vietnam had Corona death number 41. My visa agent replied to say she hoped the passport would arrive today or tomorrow – even on a Sunday it could still arrive by post! So at this point I was still hopeful of a trip to Saigon and Tam Hai for a nice holiday within a holiday with Captain Caveman.
I had tortilla, salami and cheese for lunch and wasn’t ill then started on a Plan B, and C, for our holiday, just incase we couldn’t do what we wanted to. In the afternoon I tried to make popcorn and the extension cable blew up, I had the sparkling peach drink with rum (a double) and sat by the pool. I followed it up with a single gin and peach with lots of ice.
I went to get dinner that evening and Veronika had left the washing up water in the sink so I put my hand in to take the plug out and something startled me – it was a very scared gecko! He wouldn’t let me pick him up and couldn’t climb out of the slippery sink sides so in the end I held a tuppaware lid out for him to run up and he hid behind some empty glass bottles. The poor thing almost drowned, his heart was beating so fast as he watched me warm up my pork and broccoli in the microwave, for my dinner. For afters I had the carrot cake I brought home from the Farmstay before, it had kept well in the freezer, and for the first time in ages, after eating gluten and dairy in the same day, my stomach was perfectly fine! I went to bed early, hoping I would get a call tomorrow to say my passport had arrived and we could go on holiday!

Phong Nha – 20th & 21st May

We’d talked about getting up early and having breakfast together before Captain Caveman went on his next Son Doong tour on Thursday 20th May. I slept through the sound of the tannoy and Captain Caveman decided to go to Phong Nha a lot earlier than he needed to, instead. He had left me the tortilla (7 pieces) for me to have while he’s away. I had a banana and a small amount of dragon fruit for breakfast and saved the tortilla for lunch.
We had briefly spoken about what we would do if, like a lot of foreigners here in Vietnam, my visa extension was denied. We could see no reason why it would, but there were a lot of people posting on the internet saying they had been told to leave. After eating the Spanish omelette at lunchtime I was ill, as expected, I’ve never liked eggs anyway. I didn’t do much the rest of the day except for start looking at flights out of Vietnam. I’d had no wine since the weekend, mainly because we didn’t have any in – we were trying to cut back on wine as it’s expensive here, instead I had half of the cherries.

Vietnam had done so well to have so few Corona related deaths so it was upsetting to read, on Friday 21st May, that the Corona related deaths had started to happen again, so far people with underlying health conditions. Today the 39th death (since the start of Corona in January 2020) was reported:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/952831/81-year-old-man-becomes-39th-covid-related-fatality.html
I find it really interesting to know where the different variants have come from and this was an interesting article in the news:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/952234/viet-nam-discovers-two-new-strains-of-sars-cov-2-from-imported-cases.html
Also, more cases were reported in HCMC:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/952893/3-more-people-diagnosed-with-covid-19-in-hcm-city.html
Unusually, the second Corona death of the day was recorded, death 40:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/953548/70-year-old-woman-becomes-viet-nams-40th-covid-19-fatality.html
It certainly wasn’t looking too good for Saigon right now as 3 more cases were reported in HCMC which were traced from Danang from the last holiday weekend, more info here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210521/infection-source-of-ho-chi-minh-city-coronavirus-family-cluster-comes-from-da-nang-chairman/61066.html
Inevitably there were more restrictions in HCMC as some places were asked to close:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210521/ho-chi-minh-city-orders-certain-restaurants-to-cease-sit-down-service-over-covid-19-cases/61067.html
Later in the day there were more cases reported in HCMC but this time the Corona was from an unknown source, which was more concerning as it could mean that the virus was already in the community there and not contained, more here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/953644/hcm-city-on-high-alert-following-cases-without-known-sources-of-infection.html
One of the things that Vietnam authorities are very good at is being quick to implement prevention measures. HCMC announced more restrictions from midnight tonight in an attempt to slow or stop the spread, more here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210522/ho-chi-minh-city-urges-travel-restriction-among-people-to-curb-virus-spread/61074.html
Vietnam is also, and has been from the start, all over the tracing element and reports in HCMC that recent cases were traced to Starbucks came in:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210522/saigon-authorities-trace-visitors-to-downtown-starbucks-bookstore-after-covid19-patients-visits/61075.html
It wasn’t looking too good but it wasn’t all bad news, reports of some more vaccines would be coming:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210522/vietnam-to-spend-525-million-on-covid19-vaccine-procurement/61079.html
All of this was concerning as the potential for local or nationwide lockdowns were increasing. From now on we would definitely have to stick to the motto ‘only be with people, or at places, you wouldn’t mind being in a lockdown with or at, from now on’!

I had an amazing breakfast of banana, dragon fruit, blueberries and cherries and some buttered toast. I swam lots and did exercises in the pool before lunch. I had a couple of pieces of tortilla and some grapes for lunch, did more swimming and then hoped to chill out before The Villas’ pizza night. That’s when my day took a bit of a downturn! My visa agent, had not been in touch yet with a photo of my new visa stamp and my passport, so I decided to chase her up. She had agreed to process the passport quicker than usual because of our planned holiday and had said it would be back by the 23rd May. I had originally been quoted $60 when I gave my passport to the agent on 5th May, then I’d had a message to say that there was an increase to $85, with the reasons being that I’ve stayed a long time and the increase in Corona risk. I was definitely not expecting it when the agent said I have to pay more to have a fresh visa sticker in my passport, so a total of $110!!!
I went to pizza night in a bit of a daze, I managed 2 glasses of wine (which I probably shouldn’t have been splashing out on) and 7 slices of pizza then went home, still not having had a reply from the agent about when I would actually get my passport back. Captain Caveman was in the cave still and had left his luggage with me to meet him at the airport on Sunday for us to go to Saigon, I had a feeling our week away was not going to happen!

Phong Nha – 19th May

On Wednesday 19th May Captain Caveman had gone to Phong Nha and I had agreed to chop potatoes and onion so that he could make a Spanish omelette when he got back. Captain Caveman had a shopping list of provisions to collect on his way back and I had dragon fruit for breakfast. I put all my chopped stuff in the fridge and was about to go upstairs when Veronika asked if I was going on the shopping trip at 11am this morning. I didn’t have any money on me so I messaged Captain Caveman to get back in time to give me more or join the shopping trip.
Captain Caveman got back in time but decided not to come to Dong Hoi, Veronika and I got picked up by Ben and he drove us to the Farmstay where there was a switch of driver and we set off to Dong Hoi, just Bich, Veronika and me. Bich decided we would go to 7th Heaven for lunch and I was happy with that choice as the food is lovely there and the menu has lots of choice. Veronika ordered chicken schnitzel, Bich went for bruschetta and Australian beef steak from the specials menu and I ordered a starter of sweet potato fries (they are so good) and then sweet and sour chicken with steamed rice and raw cabbage for my main course. The food was delicious and I was glad I had a spare tuppaware container in the car for mine as I had half left over for dinner later.

Our first shop was the An Nong organic shop where I couldn’t believe my luck – they had cherries!!! I have not had cherries since I was last in Turkey and I love them so much so, despite the very expensive price, I had to have them (and they were the last ones on the shelf)!
Our next stop was off to the Co-op Mart where I got my main supermarket items and then our final shop was at the red supermarket where I found some great mixers for the gin (as I don’t like tonic). I splashed out a bit really but I would later not regret the choices in this shop.

Below is my shopping list, as I know some of you love a nosey at what’s in my shopping basket and a list! £1 is equal to 32,555vnd and the cheapest items are listed first and per shop;

An Nong
Cherries 186,000

Co-op Mart
1 bottle of orange Twister drink 9,800
1 box of freezer bags 22,000
4 bananas 29,332
1 tub of mints 35,000
1 carton of orange juice 38,600
1 bottle of mouthwash 39,000
1 bag of Peanut M&Ms 39,600
1 box of grapes 45,386
6 cans of tonic water 45,600
100g of Edam cheese 47,000
3 cans of Strongbow cider 55,500

Red Supermarket
1 can of ginger ale 32,000
1 bottle of sparkling pink grapefruit 55,000
1 bottle of sparkling peach 55,000
1 bottle of BBQ sauce 125,000
4 apples 140,000
1 packet of blueberries 140,000

The total spend for this week was 1,179,419vnd which is about £36.50 so quite an expensive shop and quite a few treats.
When I got back home Captain Caveman had made the Spanish omelette and had been in the pool so had enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. He was off to work around 5pm at Oxalis Home for his next Son Doong briefing – there may have been a pandemic going on but so far domestic customers were still coming for tours to the biggest cave in the world.
My evening was just getting started as I got prepared for a farewell party with a difference!

The final part of my day on Wednesday 19th May was a massive first in my life – attending a funeral via the internet! I wasn’t sure what to expect and I had the tissues at the ready for what I knew would be heart breaking. I’d only known Graeme since the end of 2019, when I was introduced to him by his husband, Jamie, in Dalyan. I had become good friends with Jamie when I was living in Turkey and we had some really great nights out. When I met Graeme we got on straight away, mainly because he had such a great sense of humour, loved dogs and was brutally honest – things I love in a person! The funeral started at 7pm (my time) and so I got myself a gin and pink grapefruit to drink as we said goodbye to Graeme at his farewell party. I couldn’t believe it when the first song to be played was the famous Lesley Gore hit ‘It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to’ – I laughed and cried at the same time and I even composed myself enough to join in on the second chorus. It was only fitting that even in death, Graeme was still making us laugh and I was so proud of Jamie when he delivered such beautiful words with composure and some humour with his beautiful tribute to Graeme, whom he adored. He told us tales of their life together and it was a touching but, again, funny song which followed; McFly’s ‘It’s all about you’ which I laughed and cried at again! I had a bit of a sing along while thinking of the too few drunken nights out at Lukka Bar with Jamie and Graeme. I liked the hymn ‘All things bright and beautiful’ and the 4th song made me smile; Vera Lynne’s ‘We’ll meet again’. The last song though, had me sobbing and laughing in a bit of a mess; Will Young’s ‘I think I’d better leave right now’. Even at the end of Graeme’s life we would all remember the humour and how he liked to be a little mischievous. One of our geckos, Billie, must’ve been a girl because a new baby gecko appeared – I decided to name him Graeme.

I finished another gin and pink grapefruit, sorted out my face and had a little lay down. I was a bit tipsy after 4 gins and forgetting to eat dinner so I warmed up the leftover sweet and sour chicken with sweet potato fries and ate that. Captain Caveman got back from his briefing and was washing out his flask with boiling water while I was washing up. After shaking up the full flask and trying to pour it in to my washing up water I said no and then it shot out over us and burned the back of my hand. I had to put ice on and go to bed with a proper face on after Captain Caveman tried to say it was my fault for not moving out of the way! He only had to wait for me to wash 1 plate, 1 knife and 1 fork, where are his manners and patience!?

Phong Nha – 17th & 18th May

Today, Monday 17th May, was a big day back in the UK as the next milestone in the relaxing of Corona rules arrived. The main thing I knew about was that 2 households could now mix which meant my parents could go to my sister’s house and would be allowed to see the grandchildren. It was still a week to go until my parents were supposed to be fully covered by their vaccines and my sister and her husband had already had their first jab. With the UK and Indian variants about I still worried for them but was happy they would at last be able to choose to see the family, if they wanted. According to the rules in England hotels, cinemas, restaurants and pubs could all be open and people could now go inside to eat and drink. Sports venues could reopen and international travel was allowed but under a traffic light system of where was permitted.
Vietnam had a lot more cases from yesterday (190) and, unfortunately, death number 37, more information here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/950498/man-with-meningitis-dies-of-covid-19.html
Captain Caveman had gone off to Phong Nha and said he would be back at 10.30am today and then the housekeeping staff were here before 8am so I went to make myself breakfast. It was nice to be sat out in the beautiful garden for 2 hours drinking tea, eating toast and admiring the view but by 10am it was unbearably hot, even in the shade. Captain Caveman came back mid morning and I had a second breakfast; bacon, asparagus and parmesan and it was the best he’d made in ages. By midday it felt like 45°C and I was struggling, even in the pool, so Captain Caveman got on the gin and tonics and I had a white russian. I had rice crackers and 1 Laughing Cow Light cheese triangle but had a bad stomach straight away (they aren’t even real cheese and the milk in the cocktail is UHT)!
At 3.40pm I was laying on the sun-lounger on the balcony when a huge rain shower came down. That evening I cooked us chicken breast with steamed rice and vegetables which was really healthy. Captain Caveman had more G&Ts and I went on to the rum with ice.

We had a bit of an unusual day on Tuesday 18th May. Captain Caveman was up at 6am and woke me up with a sneeze, as he sometimes does. I was crotchety at having been woken up too early so Captain Caveman did us a bacon, potatoes and onion breakfast. He had his with brown sauce and a couple of fried eggs too!
For lunch, because of the heavy breakfast, I made popcorn and had 1 square of 85% dark chocolate. We arranged to meet Tatas for dinner at East Hill, she was taking her motorbike but Captain Caveman and I thought my leg had improved enough for me to have my first stint of cycling on a main road in the dark. We had some lights for the way back but made sure we set off in the daylight so we might see the sunset. Tatas was early and had already ordered a BBQ chicken combo with extra cucumber, those two had Tiger crystal beer to drink and I had Strongbow cider. We had a really relaxing time, the chicken was so good that we ordered another and had another drink while trying to not attract any more frogs (Tatas is scared of frogs and there were loads of them).
After dinner, not too late, we walked down the stairs, which I managed for the first time after dark, with help, to our transport. Bluey was ready to go but I was uneasy about the rough path to the road so I pushed her the 200 metres while Tatas rode slowly alongside me, lighting the way. We joked at how good my leg must be now that I could keep up with a motorbike while pushing a bicycle! I managed the cycle back quite well but had to have Captain Caveman guide me on the left hand turn from the highway. When we got home I had a shower as I was very sweaty but Captain Caveman got in the pool for a splash about!

Photo credit – Bich and Captain Caveman

Phong Nha – 16th May

Captain Caveman went missing on Sunday 16th May, he got up early and went to Phong Nha saying he’d be back soon. I had some brown rice crackers for breakfast and checked the news. The corona cases were even more for the previous day, the most cases in a day in Vietnam so far:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210516/vietnam-reports-whopping-daily-climb-of-187-local-covid19-infections/60973.html
I messaged Captain Caveman but got no reply and so I went in the pool for a bit. For lunch I had a dragon fruit which affected my stomach so I couldn’t eat anything else. Later I made some popcorn and wondered where Captain Caveman had got to. By 3.30pm I had established that he was at the Glass House. I decided I was going to Sunday dinner as I’d not had one for a while and Captain Caveman agreed to come along to the Farmstay too. We went in the new Elements Collection van (Phuong’s old vehicle) with Duyet, who was very proud of his new wheels.

On arrival at the Phong Nha Farmstay, we joined Veronika and decided to take her recommendation on a bottle of Chardonnay. There was a nice sunset, freshly picked chillies were spread out, drying, on the ground and it was very calm and relaxing. I’m not usually one to choose a Chardonnay but the wine was very nice and went down rather too well, so much so that by the time we were eating our Sunday dinner we had to order an extra glass each.

The food was good but the Yorkshire puddings had obviously had the oven door open on them while cooking (being from Yorkshire, I am used to perfect yorkshires, though) and there was no crackling this week! Captain Caveman prefers lamb and I prefer pork so we did swaps on the meat, he also had all of my pasta in exchange for broccoli and courgette, which wasn’t really a fair swap! The meal was delicious, I had definitely missed not having it for a while and the portions are very filling. Captain Caveman had cheesecake for afters and he even let me taste some, I took home the rest of my pork, lots of broccoli and a piece of carrot cake, all of which went in the freezer.

Phong Nha – 14th & 15th May

We were awake at 5am with the loudspeaker announcements on Friday 14th May but it wasn’t a problem because Captain Caveman was excited to be getting his jab. Oxalis had arranged for staff to be registered to have the vaccination and was the Astra Zeneca vaccine given in 2 jabs. Health workers, teachers, people working in tourism and other essential sectors are given priority and a certain amount of vaccines had been despatched to each locality for distribution.
In the news, reports that more vaccines will be coming to Vietnam, which was good news:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210514/31-million-doses-of-pfizerbiontech-vaccine-committed-for-vietnam-this-year-health-ministry/60925.html
It was interesting to see that, like in many other countries, mental illness issues were taking their toll on people:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210514/covid19-pandemic-hot-weather-trigger-rise-in-mental-illnesses-in-ho-chi-minh-city/60937.html
I had a late breakfast of chicken, still good from yesterday and when Captain Caveman came home he said all had gone well at the hospital. I had more chicken for lunch with bread and wasn’t ill.

That evening we joined Veronika, Ben and Matty for pizza night at The Villas, where we got to try some new cocktails which looked and tasted great. We shared a bottle of red wine plus a couple of cocktails. It was a good night and the pizza was great, as always, and my favourite is still the Showstopper; proscuitto, blue cheese, fig jam and spring onion – it is amazing!

Captain Caveman joined Ben on a trip to the beach for some surfing at 4.30am on Saturday 15th May where they had breakfast at a great little cafe, selling prawn and mushroom rice porridge.
I read the news and a very interesting insight in to what was happening in a locked down hospital in Hanoi:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/features/20210514/whats-going-on-inside-vietnams-biggest-isolation-zone/60928.html
For Vietnam there had been a big increase in cases with the 4th wave and the Indian variant did seem to be spreading so much quicker, more info here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/949128/131-new-covid-19-cases-reported-on-saturday-evening.html
The country was sad to hear that Corona death number 36 had happened too, it had been a while since Vietnam had reported a death from the virus – was this going to be the first of more in this wave?
When Captain Caveman got back from the beach he mentioned his arm ached from where he had the jab but he felt fine and he had a short nap while I went in the pool and lounged on the balcony. When he woke up he made us bacon, sweetcorn and spaghetti in a tomato sauce for lunch. In the afternoon there was finally one of the storms that had been predicted and a lot of thunder. That night Captain Caveman and I went to the Farmstay for dinner, he had an Aussie meat pie and chips and I had my favourite Beef in Bamboo with a couple of glasses of red wine. We were home and in bed by 9pm, Captain Caveman not knowing if it was the jab making him tired or getting up during the early hours to go to the beach.

Phong Nha – 13th May

Back in March I’d tried to arrange a soirée that never came off and then again, in April, the get together never happened due to Captain Caveman’s busy work schedule. Now that he had some surprise days off, on Thursday 13th May, we had finally got the makings of something organised for the early evening. Captain Caveman and I decided we would order in East Hill BBQ Chicken and sticky rice for a small group of us.
But first, Captain Caveman went over to Phong Nha in the morning, to get his washing in, turn Watto’s AC on for him at the Glass House and check in on things at Oxalis. He received a few updates from work and one in particular we were very pleased to hear; he would be getting his first Astra Zeneca vaccination tomorrow. I caught up on more writing and checked the news, as I usually do and I just had toast and brown rice crackers for breakfast and lunch as I knew I’d be eating a big meal for dinner. Captain Caveman came back for his lunch of a peanut butter and marmite sandwich and a can of lager (classy), while taking my place on the sun-lounger. Weirdly we decided to look up flights to the UK for later in the year because we knew that flights were available to Singapore and if I spent 10 days in Singapore I could go to the UK without quarantine – a one way flight to Heathrow wasn’t too pricey either. As Captain Caveman had a week off at the end of May we also started looking at more detailed plans in Vietnam, where we hoped I’d get my passport back in time to be able to fly to Saigon and then Tam Hai for a holiday within a holiday.
At 4.15pm Hanh arrived and we sat outside near the garden and had a chat and a drink while we waited for others to arrive. It was at this point I decided I would get more Lindeman’s sparkling white wine down me, which Captain Caveman was very attentive at topping up as almost everyone else started to arrive.

The East Hill BBQ chicken and sticky rice arrived right on time at 5pm, ready for our little get together with some friends. Veronika arrived back from a trip in to town to buy hummus, just as we had finished eating all the chicken so we ordered a third BBQ chicken and rice combo from East Hill who were great and said it would arrive at 6.30pm, in time for Bich coming. While Veronika got her hummus out and joined in a glass of fizz, it was nice to see the Vietnamese guests not drinking and driving, even the kids were behaving well. East Hill delivered the extra food earlier than expected but there was still no sign of Bich yet so we left it in the bag and went upstairs. Hong and the kids got in the pool, Phuong went to the blessing of the van party with Duyet, Hien and Khanh. I made jasmine green tea for the Vietnamese ladies and I had more wine. It was great seeing the kids enjoying the swimming and Captain Caveman made an excellent lifeguard and swimming coach. Captain Caveman and I had more chicken and rice with peanut salt when Bich and the kids arrived, Veronika finally got some chicken but there was still some left over which went in the fridge for tomorrow. It was a great night and it had been lovely to catch up with our Vietnamese friends who we don’t see so often. Captain Caveman made me laugh when everyone had gone, by saying how much he’d enjoyed it and that we should do it every month – it had took at least 4 months to get this one organised!

Phong Nha and Dong Hoi – 12th May

I had a busy and quite exciting day on Wednesday 12th May. Captain Caveman came home in time to join a trip to Dong Hoi with the Phong Nha Farmstay. Ben even brought along a fridge to keep any chilled shopping cold. Our first stop in Dong Hoi was for lunch at Geminai, previously a hotel and restaurant which has now been done up in to a lovely Thai restaurant. Ben and Bich had been before and so had recommended we try it, I had already looked at the extensive menu online so I knew what I could have. When we arrived there were iPads to view the menu on, written in yellow on a purple background. I ordered a prawn Pad Thai, Captain Caveman ordered a beef Pad Thai, everyone else who wanted food ordered and then we moved to an upstairs room to dine in our own private room. The food was excellent and plentiful and I really enjoyed my meal, Veronika said her calamari was very good too. We even tried hibiscus flower juice which was ultra sweet but rather nice. I’d drank my Gastropulgite before I ate, I’d ordered gluten and dairy free food, I’d even left off the chillies or any extra sauces but, nevertheless, I still suffered.

We went to a few different places to shop, it was much easier for me in some ways with Captain Caveman there, but more tricky when I can’t see the shopping list. While Ben and Bich had some other business to attend to in the city the rest of us had a quick visit to Tree Hugger for refreshments. Captain Caveman and I managed a couple of white russians before our fun bus came back to collect us.

Back home, after putting away all our shopping, we had a little swim and it was nice to see Captain Caveman finally being able to relax by the pool with a beer, instead of working. That evening we had a few glasses of red wine, the nice Israeli one given to us by Hung, and Captain Caveman made us bacon and mushroom sandwiches for dinner – we are wild like that sometimes!

For those of you who are wondering what Captain Caveman and I had in our shopping bags, here’s a list:

Prices are in VND, I’ve listed the cheapest thing first in each shop. £1 is around 32,700vnd.

Co-op Mart supermarket
2 onions 9,342
Tomatoes 18,250
1 red dragon fruit 18,564
1 white dragon fruit 21,244
1 packet of sanitary towels 23,700
1 packet of spaghetti 29,200
Mayonnaise 32,200
4 potatoes 36,230
2 packets of bacon 111,000
6 chicken breasts 135,000

Pharmacy
10 Antihistamines 34,000
20 Ibuprofen 60,000
30 Gastropulgite 102,000
3 months contraceptive pill 195,000

An Nong Organic shop
1 bunch of asparagus 24,225
1 yellow dragon fruit 53,900
1 box of brown rice crackers 90,000

We spent just over 1,000,000vnd which is about £31, so we spent less this week on shopping but more on lunch and cocktails.

Phong Nha – 10th & 11th May

Monday 10th May was a great day for me in general as I reflected on how lucky I was considering all the hardship that was going on around the world right now. I woke up early with the tannoy but I didn’t get up and had started using this time in the morning to write blog posts. I did some swimming in the morning sun and chilled on the sun-lounger a short while to dry off before breakfast. I had dragon fruit, grapes and buttered sour dough toast before checking out the latest news.
There was confirmation that Vietnam had the Indian double mutant version of the virus in Hanoi, more info here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210510/indian-covid19-variant-found-in-northern-vietnamese-localities-including-hanoi/60824.html
Before lunch I read that the number of cases in Vietnam was quickly increasing, so much so that this was the first time a noon update had been given on the numbers, since Corona started. More here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210510/vietnam-health-ministry-provides-unusual-noon-update-as-infections-accelerate/60828.html
I had more grapes for lunch and a few of the brown rice crackers which I was starting to like now. There was more proof that lack of tourism in the area was taking its toll still as a Facebook post from The Villas restaurant on their change of opening hours to 7-11am and 4.30-8.30pm each day (previously it was 7am – 10pm). We didn’t know how much longer Captain Caveman would still have tours for, given the 4th wave, and I was very conscious of needing to save money, which I needed for my visa extensions, which were starting to cost more each month. I had a message from the agent to tell me that the visa extension for this month had gone up by 50% because of the length of time I’ve been extending and the Corona risks and I had a feeling it might not be long before I had to think about an exit strategy perhaps. I chopped up some carrots, onion and mushrooms and put them in the rice cooker with the left over Bolognese to simmer for dinner and got back in the pool.
Steve and June got in touch to say their apartment in Danang was a Corona isolation zone and they had to stay home until further notice, after a positive case from someone who lived or worked there. They had been tested once and were negative so far and were keeping calm about the situation.
My extra vegetable-filled Bolognese went well with the rice noodles and a small glass of red wine for a late dinner and then I was early to bed.

I had another lovely day on Tuesday 11th May and I even slept through the noise of the tannoy in the morning! I decided to make a gluten free pancake which I had with dragon fruit and honey for breakfast. I washed up and tidied while the housekeeping staff cleaned our room and then I did some swimming and shade-bathing while catching up on the news. Reports of a school quarantine as authorities fought to keep the virus spread under control, more here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210511/vietnamese-province-places-some-50000-teachers-students-in-quarantine-due-to-covid19-outbreak/60860.html
I prepped more veg and fruit as well as shoving a defrosted portion of masaman curry in the rice cooker for dinner. I ate the last of the bolognese and rice noodles for lunch, this time with a bit of melted cheese on. Captain Caveman got out of Son Doong and was meant to have the briefing for his next tour that night, clashing with his gala dinner, but the tour for tomorrow had cancelled due to Corona. He decided he would go to the gala dinner with his customers and then stay at the Glass House tonight, tomorrow he would go in to the office before coming home. I ate a piece of dark chocolate and then had a couple of bowls of the masaman curry for dinner, but no alcohol! I had a bad stomach for the rest of the evening and there is no gluten in the curry, in fact I’d had no gluten all day!

Phong Nha – 9th May

I made myself a bacon, mushroom and brown sauce baguette for breakfast on Sunday 9th May as I had been awake before 5am again because of the tannoy noise which was still blaring on at 5.40am. By 9am I was so tired but couldn’t go back to sleep as it was too light. Instead I read the Corona news and lolled about watching The Big Bang Theory on Netflix.
The Corona numbers, although seeming to be contained were the highest cases in a day for a while as the latest wave seemed to be spreading at a faster rate, more here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210509/vietnam-announces-record-daily-hike-of-92-local-coronavirus-infections/60817.html
I was glad that back home my parents were due to have their second Astra Zeneca jab today and would finally be free to roam by the 23rd May. After being at home for over a year I was pleased about this for them and hoped Vietnam would progress the vaccine a bit quicker. I put on my Mommy Shark leopard print swimming costume and sat by the pool, had a swim and relaxed on a sun-lounger for the rest of the morning.
For lunch I had dragon fruit and some grapes followed by a pot of jasmine tea and decided to try something new for dinner. I had rice noodles with blognese, instead of spaghetti and although it took a bit of getting used to it tasted pretty good. I had a very relaxing Sunday in Phong Nha, just doing nothing much.

Phong Nha – 8th May

Our friends from Saigon were booked to leave Phong Nha on Saturday 8th May, Captain Caveman had already left for his next Son Doong tour and I was busy swimming in the pool before 9am. I’d had bread and butter and then bread and jam for breakfast (very continental) because it was too hot to make pancakes. In the news there was more information on how Vietnam’s 4th wave of corona had come about, which was interesting:
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/the-gales-that-fuel-vietnam-s-new-coronavirus-storm-4274470.html
Just before lunch Andrea cycled down to Elements and we sat by the pool and had a chat while she had a beer and me a cider. We decided to cycle to the Farmstay taking the longer route so that Andrea could see the rice paddies, the harvesting and take some photos, then we would get some lunch before it was time for her and Rob to go to the airport. When we arrived at the Phong Nha Farmstay we were rather hot and sweaty so decided to have a Jasmine IPA beer with ice and share some lunch. We ordered the fried spring rolls and chicken quesadillas, both excellent dishes, to share and had another jasmine IPA each, none of which had any affect my tum! Rob joined us and he decided to have a drink and a last minute veggie curry, which he had enjoyed at the Phong Nha Farmstay before. I was going to miss these guys and after I’d said my goodbyes I cycled home the short way in 9 minutes 58 seconds and then got in the pool as it was boiling, it was so hot that the pool water was like a warm bath. I always forget how hot the summers are, here in Phong Nha, and the forecast for the week looked hot, hot, hot. I had a shower and a rest, watched something on Netflix and made some popcorn. I was glad of an early night as I was going to be up very early tomorrow morning!

Phong Nha – 7th May

Captain Caveman went off early to Phong Nha on the morning of Friday 7th May having made arrangements to see me at East Hill at 11.30am and he had told Rob the plan too. I messaged Veronika, who had gone walking with Sue, to let them know we would be cycling from Elements Collection at 11am to go to East Hill for lunch, should they still want to come. I also messaged Andrea and she was up for cycling to our place first, with Rob and Anthony and then on to East Hill with us. It was even an added bonus that one of them would ride my bicycle, Bluey, who’d I’d left in the car park at the Farmstay, as Rob’s bike was already at our place.
At 10.50am people were downstairs waiting for me to go to East Hill so I went downstairs, Rob had forgotten the key for his bike which was locked and had cycled back to get it, Sue and Andrea were ready to cycle and Veronika was deciding if she wanted to take her motorbike or cycle with us. We waited for Rob to return, luckily, because he had to borrow Bluey’s pump and then he said he knew the way and he would catch us up because he also needed a mask. By now it was 11.15am and so I lead the way, Veronika had decided to cycle with me, Andrea and Sue but Anthony was going to cycle with Rob.
When we came to the turning off the main road there was no sign, which is normally there, so I cycled past and then realised, so we all had to turn round just as 2 lorries were going each way on the highway. The ladies made it, including the detour, in 5 minutes and 12 seconds where Captain Caveman was already waiting with a shandy. Everyone but me decided they also wanted a shandy but there was no beer, nor would the guy order any and so they shared a beer and two 7ups while I had a coke. We ordered 2 BBQ chicken and rice combos and waited for Rob and Anthony to arrive, which they didn’t. Captain Caveman messaged Rob but no response and Andrea had Anthony’s wallet and phone in her bag. When they eventually arrived they had been to the Pub with Cold Beer (which was closed) and completely misunderstood where we were going! When the chicken arrived Captain Caveman tucked in heartily, as usual, Anthony just had rice as he’s a vegetarian and Rob had a lay down and went to sleep. Andrea found the chicken was too chewy for her, Sue and Veronika didn’t eat much chicken, so it was mainly Captain Caveman and I eating. Rob eventually woke up when there was just a bit of chicken left and had a couple of pieces and the rest of the rice. For the way home Captain Caveman suggested a slightly longer scenic route which Veronika and Sue didn’t want to do and set off the way we came. I also didn’t want to chance Captain Caveman’s ‘better’ way so tried to catch Veronika and Sue up but they were too whizzy. It took me 8 minutes 41 seconds to cycle back in the now blistering heat and when I arrived back Captain Caveman, Andrea, Rob and Anthony were just a couple of minutes behind. All but Rob and Anthony got in our pool and they all had a drink to cool down before cycling back to the Farmstay.

Later that evening Captain Caveman had his briefing while Andrea, Rob and I joined Veronika and Ben for The Villas’ pizza night, which I’d not been to since the 26th March, 5 weeks ago! I managed 6 slices including a ham & mushroom, 2 showstoppers, 1 capture, 1 Momma D’s and 1 veggie – luckily Ben and Rob liked the smoked salmon ones. Andrea and I shared a bottle of red wine and then had an extra glass when Captain Caveman joined us for a drink at the end, once he’d finished work. We got the shuttle bus back with Ben while Captain Caveman cycled his bicycle home.