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 and Dong Hoi – 5th May

I woke up at 6am on Wednesday 5th May feeling like I could drink a dirty puddle and did not welcome the leftover Jameson’s nightcap on the bedside table next to my pillow or the amount of daylight streaming in to the room at Phong Nha Lake House. Tatas was still fast asleep, in the bed next to mine, completely under the cover and grinding her teeth. Luckily there was water in the fridge and I had slept in the robe provided rather than my own dress so I drank water then tried to go back to sleep and couldn’t. Tatas had her overnight bag with her because she had planned to stay at mine but I had nothing but a short backless dress to go to breakfast in! Tatas said she would be ages getting ready so I went without her and had a pho bo and an apple juice trying to sort out my hangover from hell.

I remembered that I had agreed to go to Dong Hoi on a shopping trip with Veronika in less than 2 hours! Tatas said she would give me a lift home on her motorbike and when we arrived at Elements Collection the gardening lady, who had seen me go out last night, saw me arrive in last night’s clothes – I’d be the talk of the village again! I went to get a shower but there was a huge spider in the bathroom so I had to message Duyet to come and get it, with his gloves on! I had just a bit of time for a lay down on the bed until 11am when we went to sit outside to wait for Bich to pick us up.

A firm favourite, Tree Hugger cafe in Dong Hoi was our first stop, for lunch. Veronika was tetchy because she hadn’t had any coffee and was being a bit demanding about having her coffee immediately, but the waiter had to come back upstairs to the table to say they didn’t have my chicken salad, only beef salad and she asked he get her coffee now! I shared my salad and some spring rolls with Bich who had a mixed smoothie with extra ice-cream in.

The afternoon was a long one as we went to every supermarket and organic shop in Dong Hoi for the next 3 hours. Medicare, VinMart, Toan Viet Gourmet, Thinh Tien, An Nong and Co-op Mart all with a hangover still and a tight budget, but I managed to get most things on my shopping list. Captain Caveman had returned from his 4 day Tu Lan trip and had gone straight to Chay Lap for the after party that night and so he decided to stay at the Glass House. I had some bread and butter with crisps for my dinner, 2 of my favourite foods and didn’t get a bad stomach! I tried to go to bed early but couldn’t sleep and so I finished watching Below Deck on Netflix.

For those of you who like a list and love to know how prices and produce can vary in a different country, here is what I bought, while hungover and not too focused on what I was doing, on Wednesday 5th May:

Prices are in VND I’ve listed the cheapest thing first in each shop. (£1 is around 32,500vnd).

VinMart supermarket
A baguette 9,000
1kg of carrots 14,504
10 eggs 26,700
2 cans of Strongbow cider 37,000
M&Ms 75,400
270g mushrooms 75,522
250ml extra virgin olive oil 91,300
700g of green grapes 96,466
400g pasta sauce (Bolognese) 122,000
250g butter 137,000

Tuan Viet Gourmet supermarket
1 pack of plain crisps 11,000
Green beans 14,100
Tissues 15,000
500g Rice noodles 25,000
1 red cabbage 33,000
Spaghetti 59,000
Pasta sauce (tomato) 99,000
GF crispbreads 105,000

Tinh Tien supermarket
Wild berry boiled sweets 65,000
2 jars of popcorn kernels 104,000
1 bar of 85% dark chocolate 105,000

An Nong Organic shop
1 small white cabbage 18,560
1 tin of coconut milk 40,000
6 bananas 40,275
1 chicken thigh fillet 87,500
1 box of brown rice crackers 90,000
1 chicken breast fillet 102,675

Co-op Mart
I spent nothing as the only things on my list that I still had to buy weren’t available – BBQ sauce and pickled onions.

The shopping total came to 1,671,867vnd which is £51.83 in English money. My lunch and a coke cost me around a fiver so quite an expensive day but a fuller cupboard and fridge.
How does this compare with your shopping? Did it surprise you that butter is so expensive here?

Dong Hoi and Phong Nha – 10th April

Phuong, of Phuong’s Transfers, picked me up at 7am on Saturday 10th April for our shopping trip in Dong Hoi. I was feeling much better but didn’t eat anything before the drive there (just in case) and our first stop was to buy Captain Caveman 2 new pairs of porter sandals for work. After being ill I desperately needed more basic provisions and some healthy food so I was looking forward to my trip with Phuong by myself. Our first stop was Co-op Mart which was empty and it took me only 20 minutes to get as much as I could from the list before coming out to a heavy rain shower. We loaded in the bags and went to out next shop, Tuan Gourmet Viet, the security guard helped me by sharing his umbrella and walking with me on the wet slippy marble as he could see my compression bandage on my knee. Since the last time I’d been in this shop the amount of western products had reduced so I didn’t buy as many things as I thought I might but I splashed out on a punnet of strawberries! Our final supermarket visit was the Vin Mart and I go here to get the remaining things the other shops don’t stock but it is generally a bit more expensive than the Co-op. Before 9.30am I had got everything except for popcorn from my list and we were on our way to Earth Cafe for breakfast. Phuong had already nipped off for some eel for his breakfast but did come to join me for a coffee. Mo, the owner, was busy making sure my order was completed because I had decided to order a few dishes from her takeaway menu to help me get back to full health, as well as having the udon soup at the cafe. It had been a very successful shopping trip where I had learned I could be quicker than Captain Caveman and that although the Vincom shopping centre didn’t open until 9am the VinMart supermarket opens at 8am and there is a lift to the first floor. The rain continued to be pretty heavy on the drive back to Phong Nha and when we got back Phuong brought a lot of the shopping in for me.

For my lunch I ate the mushroom vegan burger from Earth cafe, still warm, and it was really good. Then I had a rest before doing a few tasks and eating some peanut M&Ms. For dinner I had more of my Earth cafe takeaway meals with the vegan fresh spring rolls and peanut sauce which are one of my favourites. I’d really enjoyed today, I was out of the woods with being sickly and had a fridge full of lovely, healthy food.

As I had been to 3 supermarkets and bought quite a lot of shopping, I decided to compile a list of my items and the costs. I also made a list of all the takeaway vegan meals I bought at Earth Cafe and their prices too. For info 32,000vnd is equal to £1 and all prices are in Vietnamese Dong.

Co-op Mart
• Carrots 8,352
• Washing up liquid 23,000
• Pringles (sour cream) 29,000
• Pringles (original) 32,200
• Laughing Cow cheese triangles 32,600
• Peanut M&Ms 39,600
• Dragon Fruit 39,859
• Sweetcorn 40,200

Tuan Viet Gourmet
• Tissues 15,000
• Diet coke 18,000
• Gluten free stock cubes 22,000
• Coconut cream 26,000
• Pasta 37,000
• Mushroom pasta sauce 65,000
• Butter 73,000
• Gluten free crackers 105,000
• Gluten free crispbread 105,000
• Strawberries 160,000

VinMart
• Notebook 8,900
• Baguette 9,000
• Bananas 21,800
• Crisps 22,000
• Mushrooms 35,500
• Salami 38,300
• Red peppers 45,000
• Mouthwash 58,500
• Grapes 68,000
• Apples 102,900

Earth Cafe
• Vegan tofu rolls 35,000
• Fried spring rolls 40,000
• Pumpkin soup 45,000
• Pineapple fried rice 45,000
• Vegan spaghetti 50,000
• Braised root vegetables 50,000
• Vegan Burger 50,000
• Tempeh and green banana 70,000

There were no dates or alcohol bought this week and so I got quite a few things, including the transport, for around 2.5 million vnd (£80). Except for the apples, grapes and strawberries (always expensive in Vietnam) was there anything which surprised you?

Phong Nha – 9th March

The first things I did when I woke up at 7am on Tuesday 9th March were; drink water, double up on oresol and check my purse to see how much money I had spent last night. Captain Caveman was away for over a week so my day 1 of managing my ‘housekeeping’ had gone a bit mad. I’d spent about £17 (530,000) yesterday and didn’t even have any dinner! I was starving so I had some toast then went back to bed. I was hungover all day, my stomach was really bad and I didn’t do anything or go anywhere. There was no chance of me going to get Bluey, especially when Veronika said the journey back had been terrible, much harder in the opposite direction.
I eventually managed to get myself sorted and go for Shepherd’s Pie night at the Farmstay where I learned that Matty had still made it to work and Mik had managed a train back to Danang. I was feeling rough and so had water and half my shepherd’s pie before I had to go back home. I forgot to pay the 160,000 vnd (£5) but thought I would go up for breakfast tomorrow.
I was grateful for being in bed by 8.30pm that night and had a word with myself not to get too giddy on Margarita Mondays in future!

Phong Nha – the 1st weekend of March

Knowing that I’m going to snaffle as much pizza down me as I can every Friday night has made me conscious that I need to get more active. Friday 5th March was one of those days, there was no tannoy noise but I was up and doing my writing by 5.30am so that I had enough time to fit everything in I needed to do.
I decided to cycle to the Farmstay for breakfast and chose the long way, taking just 18 minutes 15 seconds to get there, which I was pleased about. I had a soda water, a big bottle of water and a pho bo. There were a couple of new guests arrived, who were friends’ of Matty and I met one of them, Hamish. I chatted to Bich and Ben who were getting ready for a busy group booking at Phong Nha Farmstay and I said bye to Matty who was off to Saigon for the weekend. It started to look like it might rain, thunderstorms were predicted, so I cycled back home the long way again. I managed it in 18 minutes 49 seconds and was delighted with that, although the Elements Collection staff thought I might be dying because of my purple face and sweatiness. It is definitely harder on the way back. I had lunch of masaman curry with leftover rice and was looking forward to pizza night!

I love The Villas’ all you can eat pizza night and so on that evening I had agreed with Matty to look after his friends, Hamish and Mik. When I arrived Colin and Mark were sat together outside but there was a lot of mosquitoes so I went inside. Tatas came to join followed shortly after by Hamish and Mik then we rearranged the indoor table to fit Colin and Mark too. Tatas and I shared a bottle of wine, the new blokes in town were on the G&Ts and before we had each eaten more than 1 slice of pizza I knew it was about to get messy! Hamish is a fan of tequila and so he insisted on us having a shot. Luckily for Tatas after eating her spaghetti and having 3 tequilas and almost half the bottle of wine she got summoned to go deal with something work related and left early. Hamish and Mik turned out to be really good company, very funny and we got on well straight away. I don’t know what it is but when I meet English and Irish people when I’m so far from home it’s refreshing to have that banter that I miss and for us to be able to understand each other so easily when we are speaking. The pizza was great but a surprise anchovy and chilli one caught Hamish off guard and more tequilas had to be consumed. Mik, from Ireland, who also has a wicked sense of humour struggled to keep his last shot down so, alas our taxi was summoned and we all went home followed by the adding of each other on Facebook.

Saturday 6th March began with only a slight hangover, considering how much we all drank and there had been some loud storms in the night. It was Captain Caveman’s final day of his trip and the second day that the tannoy had not been active – hopefully it was broken! I checked my purse to see how much of my budget I’d blown and was pleasantly surprised, thus establishing that Tatas paid for the wine and Hamish had paid for most of the Tequilas, meaning I had easily spent less than £10 on my night out.
I cycled to the Farmstay for my pho bo and soda water breakfast and took the long route which took me 20 minutes and 5 seconds but it was a strong wind. I had not arranged to meet Hamish but when I arrived he was in reception with his luggage. It turned out he was changing rooms as he was off on a trip to Hang En the next day so we had breakfast together. Mik joined us and we decided to take the piss out of him as he is a fussier eater than me, apparently. I left, taking the long route again in 19 minutes 58 seconds – the second day in a row of doing 9km.
I chose some swimwear and a pair of shorts from Mommy Shark in Hoi An, arranged delivery and asked Captain Caveman to pay for them later that afternoon. I had just toast for lunch then some popcorn in the afternoon while I watched more of Amazing Hotels. Veronika had come back from Dong Hoi but was at the Farmstay so I still had the place to myself. I took off my bra, got comfy and settled on the sofa for a quiet night on my own, or so I thought!

As I was watching another episode of Amazing Hotels and having a pre-dinner glass of wine on Saturday 6th March, I heard the door open. I knew it wasn’t Captain Caveman as he had gone straight to his gala dinner at Chay Lap after his tour and was staying at the Glass House tonight. Footsteps came up the stairs and I could smell a faint fishy smell as Duyet’s smiley face appeared. He couldn’t really explain in English and I didn’t understand what he meant but he had brought me a plate of squid and prawns because they were having a party outside with the owners of the place, Hien, Khanh and their guests. Next, I heard Hien shout hello and she came in with a bottle of (sweet) red wine which she had already started. Because Women’s Day was coming up they were celebrating and so she insisted we have a drink together but, as is usual in Vietnam, she was chugging the wine with every cheers. She taught me how to say Happy Women’s Day in Vietnamese (chúc mừng ngày phụ nữ) and she asked if we were still enjoying living here. Next at the door was Hien’s daughter, Han, and more wine was drank, followed by Duyet returning with pizza. We were sozzled and when I asked what date Men’s Day is they thought I was quite the joker – apparently it is every day! By the time they left, the karaoke was booming outside, the party was in full swing and I could barely hear the TV so gave up. It was actually a good night and at least I got to have a small celebration with Hien and Han.
On the budget front I had managed to spend less than £18 on food and drink these last 4 days as well as about £28 for 3 items from Mommy Shark, let’s hope they would fit!!

Without speaking to Captain Caveman I had arranged for us to have lunch with Uy and Chung in Phong Nha on Sunday 7th March. The weather wasn’t great though and in the end it got cancelled as both Uy and Captain Caveman had to get prepared for a tour tomorrow. Chung had bought me a gift of Banh Ep from Hue, which is rice cracker with pork and spring onion and is such a delicious snack – she remembered how much I love it. I didn’t have any breakfast as I was waiting for Captain Caveman to come home so we could go for a cycle to the Farmstay. We went the long way and managed it in under 20 minutes and then we ordered a big lunch each, despite it being Sunday roast tonight. I had a pork clay pot with steamed rice and vegetables, Captain Caveman had a salami pizza and I had a couple of orange juices. While we were sat there my delivery of swimwear arrived and I was astonished that it had took less than a day to travel 350km. I was excited to see if they fit so we cycled back home in 20 minutes and 2 seconds so I could shower and try on.
OMG they fit! I can not describe how excited I was especially as my current swimming costume is over 5 years old and falling a part and my bikini is about 10 years old and a bit too big for me now! Even Captain Caveman was impressed with my 3 purchases for less than £30 including delivery. I now had 4 pair of shorts in total, including a pair of cycling shorts I’d found mixed in with the washing.
Captain Caveman went off to his next Son Doong briefing and I caught up on a few chores before going out.
I joined Veronika and Ben for the Sunday dinner with the kids having Vietnamese food. Later Captain Caveman came for a beer and paid for another month’s rent, as well as the laundry and the food and drink for today. He also gave me some money for while he would be away again.

Photo credit – Ben & Bich, Phong Nha Farmstay, The Villas, Mommy Shark, Hien, Han.

Phong Nha – the 1st week of March

Monday 1st March started off as quite an ordinary day for me, here in Phong Nha.
I’d decided that March was going to be a good month to get a bit fitter and healthier but I still had carrot cake in the fridge from last night so I had buttered toast for breakfast with a pot of jasmine tea before eating the cake as my lunch! It was quite warm out and felt very muggy but I didn’t let it put me off going for a ride on Bluey. I cycled to the French Road and back, which took just 9 minutes 44 seconds and, when I got home, I made popcorn.
Captain Caveman came back from Son Doong and was off to his usual gala dinner at Chay Lap at 5.30pm so he suggested I meet him at The Villas. It was Margarita Monday and I arrived first, Captain Caveman arrived shortly after me and we ordered a couple of margaritas. Matty arrived next and Captain Caveman had to leave before Tatas arrived, Matty and I had another margarita and a pizza each – he had a prosciutto and tomato one, I had salami, mushroom and pineapple. Captain Caveman sent me a few messages to say he was drinking rice wine with his customers, that he was on his way back to The Villas, that he was late, and that he was just setting off but never arrived so I took a lift back home with Matty and Bich.
I didn’t know it at the time but we probably drove past Captain Caveman who was drinking with his colleagues at a cafe that used to be Yummy’s. For once I was the sensible one and didn’t have that many margaritas compared to last week.

Captain Caveman was extremely hungover on Tuesday 2nd March and didn’t remember much of the previous night. He had to sort himself out, though, as he had his next briefing tonight and was back in to Son Doong tomorrow. I made him cheese on toast, I had jam on toast and I ordered myself a shepherd’s pie for tonight. The weather wasn’t great either so I didn’t do any cycling. I booked a bus ticket for Captain Caveman to go to Hanoi in a couple of week’s time as he was off to see our friends, Phil and Hoa in the north for a week. In Saigon they ended lockdown restrictions and in Hanoi they reopened restaurants and bars.
I got peckish in the afternoon as I’d had no lunch but didn’t want to spoil my shepherd’s pie eating abilities so I had a date, some walnuts and a rice cracker. Captain Caveman set off early to his briefing so that he could pick up his bus ticket, on the way back he picked up three loaves of bread from the Lake House and he got back in time to join us for shepherd’s pie, after all. Bich had also got Veronika and I two sourdough loaves of bread and so now, Captain Caveman was about to be away for most of the month and I had 5 loaves of bread.
I restricted myself to just one glass of wine with my shepherd’s pie while dining with Captain Caveman, Veronika and Matty – I even took home some left over pie and veg to have tomorrow.

Captain Caveman went off to his next Son Doong tour on Wednesday 3rd March so we were both up early as I also had some work to do. As the ‘being frugal with the housekeeping’ mission seemed to be working well and Captain Caveman was impressed that I was trying to save money, I decided that each time he was in the cave I would do the challenge and see how I did, even though this time he left me 2 million Dong (£62)! The idea behind it being that we had more to spend on my monthly visa extensions, trips away and to keep living somewhere with a pool so that as it got warmer I could afford to replace my very old swimwear and get fitter by swimming.
I was downstairs slicing bread, all 5 loaves, and boxing them up for the fridge or freezer when Veronika came downstairs, dressed for winter and a bit hurried. She had decided she was going to ride her motorbike to Dong Hoi with Ben and told me not to worry if she didn’t come home as she may stay over. I had a very quiet day working through my To Do list and managed to polish off most of the crusts from the bread, the leftover shepherd’s pie, 3 satsumas and a small chocolate bar (bought for us as a Tet gift from Ai, landlady of the Glass House).
Instead of going out on Bluey in the rain I did my exercises and then started watching Amazing Hotels on Netflix. For dinner I had hummus and rice crackers and a couple of small glasses of wine while watching the TV

I woke up at 7am on Thursday 4th March, I had toast for breakfast and decided to take myself out for a ride on Bluey to incorporate lunch out at the Farmstay. I cycled the short way there in 9 minutes 43 seconds but it wasn’t a pleasant journey because there was quite a lot of mud on the road. I ordered a ginger beer and some fresh pork and prawn spring rolls for lunch and had a good chat and a laugh with Bich. I only spent 130,000vnd (about £4) and would be eating at home later. I chilled out a bit and contacted Mommy Shark in Hoi An to enquire about swimwear in western sizes as I was desperate for new swimmers. On the cycle back I decided to do the longer route, along the French Road, by the river and it took me 21 minutes and 37 seconds. I was knackered when I got in and had to have a little rest while watching more Amazing Hotels. That evening I had chicken in a tomato and olive sauce with green beans and steamed rice, washed down with a glass of wine. A friend who had also watched Amazing Hotels had commented how nice Brando’s in French Polynesia was – it reminded me of Le Domaine in Tam Hai during it’s early years, a lovely place. The housekeeping staff arrived to clean the balconies and windows and brought some lovely flowers and I had an early night – I even set my alarm to get up for cycling.

Photo credit – Bich, Phong Nha Farmstay

The Shopping basket – 8th February

Are you the type of person who wonders what is in other people’s shopping trolleys or fridge? If you have a partner who goes shopping without you, do you like to know what they bought and how much things were? I am that person, so on Monday 8th February when Captain Caveman got back from his shopping trip to Dong Hoi, I had a good check at all the stuff he had got and how much it was. If you’re interested in what we bought for the week, read on! Today’s exchange rate makes 50,000vnd equal to £1.55, US$ 2.17, AU$ 2.80 or 1.8 Euro, so you can work out costs of items.
Here’s a list in order of most expensive first in Vietnamese Dong (vnd):
• 1 box of dates 238,500
• 24 cans of Huda beer 238,000
• 1 bag of walnuts 149,000
• 1 jar of cashew nuts 129,000
• 1 jar of tomato based pasta sauce 126,000
• 4 apples 120,000
• 1 tub of hummus 100,000
• 5 chocolate and nut protein balls 100,000
• 1 packet of bacon 98,000
• 1 whole-wheat/sourdough loaf 80,000
• 1 packet of dried dragon fruit 78,000
• 1 packet of unsalted butter 73,000
• 1 jar of pickled garlic 71,000
• 1 big tupperwear box (for rice) 70,500
• 1 big bag of Naturals crisps 70,000
• 1 packet of contraceptive pill 67,000
• 4 red peppers 60,000
• 10 ibuprofen 400mg 60,000
• 24 sanitary towels and 20 liners 60,000
• 1 tube of Sensodyne toothpaste 55,000
• 1 jar of popcorn kernels 52,000
• 4 Snickers bars 48,000
• 1 box of biscuits 47,000
• 2 chicken breasts 45,000
• 1 packet of Haribo cola bottles 45,000
• 1 packet of mushrooms 42,000
• 3 washing up sponges 38,000
• 3 toothbrushes 36,000
• 1 box of raisins 36,500
• 2 dragon fruit 36,000
• 1 bag of cherry tomatoes 33,150
• 1 tube of Pringles 32,000
• 1 big bag of Lays crisps 31,500
• 10 eggs 28,500
• 3 rice crackers 22,000
• 1 packet of radishes 19,500
• 1 packet of watercress 19,600
• 1 baguette stick 9,000
Some of it surprised me as, although I know nuts and dates are expensive here, I wasn’t expecting some of the items to be so highly priced. Also, I only eat apples for convenience of getting fruit in to my diet but I think they are too expensive here. Chicken is cheap and very good quality so we bought a few packets. What surprised you the most? Do any of you analyse your shopping and make changes to help keep in budget?