We stayed in bed until 8am on Sunday 6th June because Captain Caveman didn’t get up and go to Oxalis today, he did get up and make us a great breakfast, though! I had bacon, mushrooms and brown sauce on the fresh baguette and it was fantastic. Captain Caveman and I decided to roast some veggies so that we could have them for lunch and dinner later, I made a tray of roasted pumpkin with garlic then Captain Caveman did aubergines for his Baba Ganoush. We ate some of it for lunch and it was pretty impressive on toast, so much so I demanded a second helping. I had a couple of Tootsie Roll cocktails in the afternoon at home by the pool and did a bit of swimming as it was cooler today after some rain yesterday. It was a joint effort on dinner as we had chicken, lettuce, cabbage, spinach (which was actually amaranth), radishes, and gerkins in a baguette with roasted pumpkin and garlic. It was delicious and the amount of bread I’d eaten today hadn’t affected me badly at all. Our conversation after dinner was mainly around what I’m going to do if I have to leave next week and where I will go. Given the risks and restrictions in England, it looked like the sensible option for me would be to go to Turkey. We shared a couple of mangosteens for a dessert and then changed our plans for tomorrow. We were meant to be going to the Lake House with Tatas and Hanh but moved it to Wednesday instead, as that was the day I would know if I was leaving or allowed to stay 1 more month.
Captain Caveman was up at 6.30am on Saturday 5th June and cycling to Phong Nha once again while I did some blogging. I agreed to be ready at 9am, though, with a bag full of Captain Caveman’s clothes to be altered by Thao’s mom, as we were off to Dong Hoi. In the meantime Veronika and the rest of the Farmstay family were on an Oxalis family tour. The news reported that Vietnam has now had 53 Corona deaths but the daily new cases seemed to be calming down slightly.
We went to Co-op Mart first and I always find it so frustrating shopping with Captain Caveman because he has the shopping list on his phone but won’t shout anything out for me to help. When I eventually got him to tell me some vegetables or fruit to select I was getting one or two at once, then taking them to the counter, next to the stinky durian, for the assistant to stick the price on. I went there more than 5 separate times because of this and it was a bit ridiculous. In the end I just walked up and down each isle pushing the trolley and letting Captain Caveman look for everything himself. While he was at the checkout I went over to the Minigood shop to look for some easy to get on and off shoes for kicking about in, I found some excellent shower shoes in a strange colour but they would do the job. It was too warm for trainers and I had nothing else that was comfy, even my porter sandals give me blisters these days. Next we went to Toan Viet Gourmet where Captain Caveman again didn’t say what he still had on the list and so I went round asking ‘do we need this?’ to which he didn’t answer so I left him in there and went back to the car. Our next stop was the Vincom shopping centre where I stayed in the car while Captain Caveman went on a mission to get every item I had missed from Thursday’s shopping trip.
We decided to have lunch at Earth Cafe so we could give the sewing to Mo, to pass to Thao, but when we arrived Mo was just closing up for the day because it was quiet. We had a little chat then walked to Tree Hugger where I had one of my favourites, beef with veggies and brown rice, and Captain Caveman had a cheeseburger. I had a cup of my favourite Tree Hugger tea as well as a cup of the complimentary herbal tea and then the delicious free fruit.
We walked back again to get the car from outside Earth Cafe, in the rain, then Captain Caveman went to the sports shop to buy a headband to stop the sweat from going in his eyes when he’s cycling. Next was the wine shop where he bought Vodka and Kahlua which I’d said to leave off the shopping list, seeing as it wasn’t really essential. The last shop was the organic shop where Captain Caveman completed the rest of the shopping except for a few out of stock items. We drove back, I was dropped off with all the shopping, then Captain Caveman got dropped off at the Glass House so he could cycle back. Duyet helped me carry the shopping in, I stocked up the fridge, freezer and cupboards while looking at what we had. I couldn’t fit everything in the fridge so I ate 2 bananas and an apple then had some of the gluten free biscuits from Ly Ly. That evening we had steak for dinner with mushrooms, green beans, garlic, onion and potatoes and we washed it down with a cheap bottle of red wine – fantastic!
Here’s our extensive list of shopping items, 32,300vnd is £1.
Co-op Mart 1 white cabbage 9,672 2 green peppers 11,780 1 bag of garlic 12,524 1 lettuce 13,090 Tissues 16,000 1 box of tomatoes 18,250 2 avocados 23,972 Mints 27,200 5 onions 30,536 Tin foil 39,900 Tweezers 41,000 3 toothbrushes 41,400 6 cans of tonic 45,600 1 packet of bacon 55,500 2kg of potatoes 56,713 Deodorant 78,000 1kg of chicken breast fillets 90,000 4 apples 98,000 2 cartons of orange juice 107,000 Olive oil 188,000 24 cans of beer 234,000
Minigood Shop 1 pair of sandals 139,900
Toan Viet Gourmet Shop 250g of salted butter 73,000 2 bottles of red wine 620,000
VinMart Supermarket 1 bag of spinach 12,705 2 baguettes 18,000 4 cans of Strongbow 74,000
Sports shop 1 X sweatband 70,000
Wine shop 1 bottle of vodka 230,000 1 bottle of Kahlua 290,000
An Nong Organic Shop 400g of mangosteen 52,500 2 beef fillet steaks 76,500 200g prawns 129,150
This time Captain Caveman was in charge of the money and receipts and he did well to get most things and spend just less than 2.8m vnd (£88) on shopping and 180,000vnd (£5.60) on lunch. The bargains of the day were cabbage and steaks, what’s missing that you would have added to the trolley?
I woke up on Friday 4th June to the sound of a mooing cow sounding like it was in distress so I asked Captain Caveman to investigate on his way out to see if there was anything he could do (he’s really good with cows, as it happens). I had 2 bananas and some gluten free biscuits for breakfast but then had a bad stomach, it seemed to be from eating fruit now! In the news today Vietnam reported their 50th Corona death since the pandemic began, he was a 67yr old male with lung cancer. Captain Caveman came back from Phong Nha so I checked with him why the cow next door had been so vocal this morning and it turned out the cow had needed the toilet but hadn’t been let out of his gated garden so was trying to tell someone to open the gate – how clever. Friday night is pizza night and so Ben had sent a message saying we needed to wear masks at all times and then picked us up at just after 6pm. Shannon was already sat at the table, Veronika had gone in earlier on her motorbike and was by the river, Hanh and Tatas also joined the table, then Ben a bit later. I had 3 glasses of red wine and 6 slices of pizza, all of which were great and I realised I missed coming to The Villas on other occasions, like breakfast or for other kinds of food and Happy Hour and a half.
On Thursday 3rd June Captain Caveman had gone to Phong Nha by bicycle and I had my phone on do not disturb until 8am, hoping for an extra bit of sleep. At 7.45am Veronika was knocking on the door to tell me we were getting picked up for the Phong Nha Farmstay shopping trip in 15 minutes and I’d missed calls from her and Bich. I rushed around to be ready and let Captain Caveman know I was going without him because we were having an earlier than usual trip. The shopping trip participants today consisted of me, Veronika, Bich, Ben, Michael, Howie and the Farmstay receptionist, Maya. By 9.40am we were stopping at our first shop, The Red supermarket, I bought just 3 items and was at the checkout first, followed by Mai, then Veronika. The organic shop was next where I grabbed radishes and green beans. At gone 10am we were at the VinMart and by 10.40am I had done all my shopping and had quite a few bags, I did notice that some usual items were out of stock though. We sat in the cool Aircon of the Vinpearl hotel foyer and waited for Ben to finish a meeting while his eldest son walked around reception in a Trump supporter hat. I had an expensive Pepsi at 50,000vnd (£1.55) while we waited and then it was time for lunch at Geminai. I wasn’t very lucky today and although I ordered first and went for a tofu in plum sauce, I was told a while after they had no tofu so I asked for beef fried rice instead. At 12.20 I was still waiting and most people had almost eaten their food, there was also a kitchen next to where we were eating and they were burning some oil and chillies which made me, Veronika and Mai cough and our eyes water. While I was eating my food, which tasted nice but just had beef in, no vegetables, I started to get a bad stomach and was ill as soon as I had finished it. Mai mentioned she thought it could be that they had fried the rice in butter and I’d never thought of that – she could be on to something there! On the journey home I read in the news that the UK/India mutant variant wasn’t a new variant as Vietnam had initially thought, it is just another version of the Indian variant, more here: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210603/who-rules-out-new-hybrid-covid-variant-in-vietnam-nikkei/61305.html Corona cases here were continuing to increase quite quickly in this latest 4th wave now and authorities were planning for a worst case scenario. After I had put all the shopping away I had a couple of gin and pink grapefruits by the pool. We had chicken sandwiches for dinner and had an early night.
As usual I made a list of all my shopping items and their cost in VND. £1 is about 32,300vnd and I got a few bargains this week;
Red Supermarket 1 can of Ginger Ale 32,000 2 bottles of Grapefruit 110,000
An Nong Organic Shop 1 bag of green beans 32,500 1 box of radishes 38,250
VinMart Supermarket 1 chopped pumpkin 6,090 3 aubergines 6,605 1 baguette 9,000 1 bottle of chilli sauce 11,000 1 packet of rice macaroni 12,000 2 cans of diet Coke 19,000 1 dragon fruit 19,632 6 bananas 24,100 1 packet of rice noodles 26,000 10 eggs 27,700 1 packet of mushrooms 35,500 2 cans of Strongbow dark fruits 37,000 1packet of salami 38,300 500g chicken breast fillets 47,900 1 box of toothpicks 52,900 2 packets of M&Ms 70,000
This week I spent just over 620,000vnd (£20) on the shopping and 250,000vnd (£7.75) on a drink and lunch! I didn’t get any of the expensive fruits or wine this week. What items do you cut out when you have a tight budget?
Des, in Danang, updated me that he had set up an online English teaching business, the link is here; https://www.italki.com/i/reft/GFADfA/GFADfA/english?hl=en In the afternoon we went in the jeep to the Farmstay for a drink and I arranged to send my passport to immigration in Dong Hoi to request the visa extension. I started looking into flight options more seriously because I could have only 9 days left in this country. I also had to weigh up where I would go and via which country I would choose to transit through, as there were no direct flights to England or Turkey available. We stayed at the Farmstay for sunset and had a couple of happy hour drinks while chatting to Steven and his girlfriend who had returned from Hanoi. We didn’t eat at the Farmstay because we were on a budget and I’d already got the prawns out of the freezer for dinner. When we got home I cooked the prawns with onions, garlic, cashew nuts and rice noodles and we had a bottle of red wine between us.
On Wednesday 2nd June Captain Caveman headed over to Phong Nha, I had gluten free cake and a pot of jasmine tea for breakfast while catching up on the Corona news. There was an interesting article on the consequences of not wearing a mask in public in Vietnam: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210602/maskless-woman-berates-police-at-ho-chi-minh-city-convenience-store/61275.html Unfortunately death number 49 was reported and plans were made in Saigon to build a makeshift hospital to house 1000 patients if required: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210602/ho-chi-minh-city-plans-to-build-1000bed-makeshift-hospital-to-treat-covid19-patients/61287.html While Captain Caveman was having coffee with colleagues at Tree House I took a call from Bich to say there would be a shopping trip to Dong Hoi tomorrow and would keep me posted on the arrangements. When Captain Caveman got back I was already in the pool and the weather was pretty scorching hot! I had a couple of rum and ginger ales, he had gin and tonics and we swam for a bit, before having some crisps. For dinner Captain Caveman made a lovely meal of chicken, potatoes, courgettes, green beans and carrots which I really enjoyed. Graeme, the gecko, came out to say hello and Captain Caveman met him for the first time.
It was extremely hot on Monday 31st May so I had a very relaxed day. For breakfast I had gluten free biscuits with peanut butter from Ly Ly of Funny Monkeys which were so delicious. The news I read this morning was unsettling as more info on the UK/India mutated variant of Corona was being reported: https://vietnamtimes.org.vn/how-dangerous-is-new-hybrid-coronavirus-variant-found-in-vietnam-32332.html Information from various places on Facebook stated that Vietnam was cracking down on illegal workers on tourist visas and unfortunately this included people we knew. Captain Caveman’s Son Doong briefing for that night did not go ahead as planned and the tour tomorrow was cancelled, later there was news that all Oxalis tours would be cancelled for 14 days, aside from any customers who were already in Quang Binh province, due to the increase in cases in other provinces. I started to get messages from friends in England who were really worried about us in Vietnam from the news they were hearing, which was very interesting because it had been a while since the UK had such low numbers and they didn’t seem to be worried at all, in fact the UK was still getting ready to take the last steps in the reopening and ‘getting back to normal’ while the number of cases were still relatively high. Captain Caveman gave me the previous day’s cases so I could show a bit of perspective; The cases in the UK for yesterday were 3,240 and the cases in Vietnam were 214 (which was a big number for us), we’d had no deaths in Vietnam for yesterday but the UK had 6. We can’t access the BBC News sites here so we have no idea what drivel and spin the people of the UK are being given. For lunch Captain Caveman and I shared a bag of crisps and I had 2 gin and ginger ales by the pool. I’d noticed my bikini had shrunk in the wash a little and so I probably needed to shed a few kilogrammes next month. It would be difficult with Chef Captain Caveman back in the kitchen for a couple of weeks though. He made chicken with spaghetti for dinner and we shared a bottle of red wine.
Overall May was still a good month despite some disappointments; we started the month getting to spend time with friends who were visiting Phong Nha, Captain Caveman had less work with only 2 Son Doong tours and a Tu Lan 4 day tour and so we got to spend some time together. My blog (https://joloyolo.com/) was doing well and better than the last few months, which was good. The top countries for where people were reading the blog from were changing again; 1)Vietnam, 2)UK, 3)Australia, 4)USA, 5)Ireland, 6)Singapore, 7)Turkey, 8)Hong Kong, 9)Sweden. I was even surprised to have a reader from Costa Rica for the first time! As the UK opened up more and more friends were able to do much more and where previously people were stuck at home with more time to read about my life, now they actually were getting back their lives and that was no bad thing. My phone had started playing up a bit in May and was unable to give me screenshots which was annoying for keeping data. Thanks to all who are still reading and, although I can’t promise June to be any more exciting, I can tell you that I won’t even know where I will be! Will it be Vietnam still, back to the UK, or off to Turkey? I don’t even know yet!
I decided not to have any breakfast on Sunday 30th May because I had arranged to meet friends at East Hill for lunch. I read in the news that the church related Corona spreaders in Saigon were facing criminal charges, info here: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/hcmc-religious-mission-faces-criminal-charge-for-spreading-covid-19-4286287.html I cycled with Captain Caveman the 5 minutes to East Hill and on the way I noticed that my bangle had started to bubble and appeared to be struggling to cope in the heat. As we pulled in to the path Hanh was arriving on her motorbike and when we got up the steps to the seated area Tatas was already there and had ordered BBQ chicken, sticky rice and extra cucumber. I was beginning to think Veronika was right to stay at home because it was too hot to go out but at least there was a bit of a breeze where we were. The food was, as always, delicious and we moved seats when the natural breeze stopped, to sit near a fan. Hanh and I had a couple of ciders, Tatas and Captain Caveman had a couple of Tiger Crystal beers and we shared a chicken combo which I’d told Captain Caveman not to be too greedy over, this time. We invited the girls back to our place so we could have a dip in the pool but Hanh had to go to an appointment.
Video of the BBQ chicken arriving at East Hill
Tatas was at Elements before us, the cycle back was brutally hot and I was desperate to get in the pool, the water was so hot though. Captain Caveman got word from a customer on his next Son Doong tour that he had cancelled his trip from Saigon later today because he was an F2 case and was having to self isolate at home. We should have been coming back from our holiday today but I’d managed to forget about it by having a nice day in Phong Nha, instead.
At 5.15pm Captain Caveman and I headed off to the Farmstay in the funky new Elements Collection jeep. We took advantage of the Farmstay Happy Hour with gin and tonics for Captain Caveman and Tatas while I went off piste with a rum and diet coke for a nice change. Captain Caveman and I shared a chicken quesadillas and Tatas had fresh spring rolls which she liked so much that she ordered a second portion of. She didn’t have the Sunday roast but we did and the Farmstay family joined us. The food was fantastic and I had trouble saving some to take home. I even had 2 pieces of crackling this week so I was very pleased with that. Back home we read the news together in bed; from midnight tonight HCMC was going in to a type of lockdown where some locations would be under directive 15 and others directive 16. This was not good news for Vietnam who have been keeping the virus under control quite well, but it was necessary to protect what medical resources and healthcare workers they did have, as well as doing everything possible to prevent the spread of this new mutated version of the virus.
Tatas took a video of our first trip in the Elements Collection jeep
Captain Caveman’s time lapse video of our first trip in the jeep
On Saturday 29th May, it was all kicking off with the religious group in HCMC who had been spreading the Corona virus expecting that God would save them. The news told everyone who had been in Saigon to check a big list of where they had been, to see if they may be F1, F2, etc. Captain Caveman checked the list and had not ventured anywhere near in the short time he’d been in Saigon, luckily. There was also the first discovery of what looked like a new hybrid variant, between the UK and Indian viruses, this would later turn out to be very important. https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnam-discovers-new-coronavirus-variant-with-uk-indian-mutations-4285878.html Captain Caveman headed over to Phong Nha and in to work in the morning, followed by picking up some homemade cookies and gluten free biscuits from Ly Ly at Funny Monkeys. When he returned I sampled them and they were absolutely delicious and a great idea for snacks or a breakfast item with peanut butter, which Ly Ly also sent a cute little jar of. I’d already unpacked my bag but when Captain Caveman unpacked his, he had some treats for us which I was excited about; gerkins, pickled onions, 3 bags of Naturals crisps (no longer available in Phong Nha) and a lovely gift from his customer, Thien. I made rice with egg, courgette, garlic and sweetcorn in for our lunch and Captain Caveman was going to cook a nice dinner. I updated Captain Caveman of how hot it had been in the pool these last few days by demonstrating the elbow test, which had meant the temperature of our pool was too warm to bath a baby in, but I wasn’t complaining because most cities with Corona had insisted on the closing of all swimming pools – we were lucky to have our own private one. I’d had a can of strongbow by the pool (classy, I know) but we decided we would drink the bottle of white wine from Thien with our chicken in a homemade tomato sauce. I had my chicken with rice, Captain Caveman had pasta with his and the chilled white went down a treat. The day was a lot calmer than recent days and, although we weren’t having a great night out in Saigon with some of our favourite people, we made the most of being together – safely in Phong Nha. I was just upset that it meant I wouldn’t see a few people for quite some time as they were leaving Vietnam pretty soon. We decided that our day out tomorrow would have to include a bit of cycling to one of our favourite lunch spots.
I had Tree Hugger takeaway pancakes and fruit salad with honey for breakfast on Friday 28th May and they were delicious. Captain Caveman was booked on the second of two flights from Saigon to Dong Hoi and so this morning he was doing nothing, going nowhere and keeping out of the way of any Corona risk. In the news there were reports of the use of market coupon QR codes for shopping without crowding in Danang, read about it here: https://vietnamnews.vn/society/958234/residents-of-da-nang-begin-using-coupons-with-qr-codes-for-shopping.html Unfortunately death 47 was reported, who happened to be the youngest Corona death in Vietnam so far, more here: https://vietnamnews.vn/society/958724/health-authorities-reported-youngest-covid-19-related-death-in-viet-nams-fourth-wave.html I did some crossword type puzzles and watched some Hell’s Kitchen on Netflix to help me not stress about Captain Caveman getting home before any further restrictions. By 11am it was raining a little bit so I messaged a few Phong Nha friends to see if they fancied pizza night at The Villas later. For lunch I had more Tree Hugger takeaway with veggie fried spring rolls and finally Captain Caveman confirmed he was boarding the plane and would be back in time for pizza. When he landed at Dong Hoi airport he fell lucky and was able to share a car back to Phong Nha with his boss. Veronika had already gone to The Villas on her motorbike but I got a lift from Bich. When we got to The Villas everyone was sat down already; Hanh, Tatas, Veronika, Shannon, Captain Caveman, Uy, Chung, Mark, and Phuong – it was quite a turn out. Ben, Bich, the kids and I joined the table and started eating pizza. Tatas and I had Margaritas and Captain Caveman stuck to beers as we were on a budget. The pizzas were as delicious as always and my two favourites were the smoked duck and the Showstopper. It was a good night and a few of us decided we would arrange to do something together on Sunday.
At 1.30pm I got a call from Captain Caveman saying not to get on the flight to Saigon as they were starting to put parts of the city in to lockdown. He was in a restaurant, with Ania and Mik, and had been told they would be closing in a few hours and they were asked to leave before 6pm today, more info here: https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/only-takeaways-allowed-in-hcmc-as-new-coronavirus-cluster-surfaces-4284858.html?fbclid=IwAR23pm89dbsltB98pvt9QCc2vMy6ZQf6IoXyYVRz2Ga4Ki3-eDHhC4rNcp4 Of course I was disappointed not to be able to go on holiday but I was more worried that Captain Caveman would get stuck in Saigon. There was a flight back to Dong Hoi this afternoon which he wouldn’t have time to make, but would try his best to get on a flight tomorrow (there were 2 available). My car for Dong Hoi came at 2.30pm and I explained to the driver I wanted him to take me to Tree Hugger, wait one hour there and then bring me back which he was ok with. When I arrived at Tree Hugger I ordered a beef and veg stir fry with rice and a herbal tea, plus I decided to order some takeaway food for later and tomorrow. I was eating my late lunch when the visa agent arrived with my passport. I was so relieved, even though I now wasn’t travelling anywhere.
I took my takeaway bags and Tupperware home and had just had a shower when Captain Caveman called me, in Saigon things had taken a turn for the worse and no one was allowed out unless essential so he was having Baba’s Kitchen takeaway and drinking wine. He told me he would definitely be back tomorrow and not to worry but with a total of 227 cases today (the highest in a day so far), I wasn’t so confident, more info here: https://vietnamnews.vn/society/958354/227-local-cases-detected-thursday.html For dinner I had my delicious Tree Hugger takeaway which was a cheeseburger and chips, then Veronika called me over to her balcony where we shared a bottle of fizz – it was good to celebrate getting my passport back, at least. By 10pm a District 1 Saigon hospital was under lockdown and an announcement that all international incoming flights would be stopped from coming to Saigon from 30th May (although this decision would be overturned soon after). Before bed I ate more of my takeaway which I was saving for tomorrow which was meant to be a cheese and ham toastie, unfortunately they forgot the cheese. Even though I’d eaten gluten and dairy for dinner I was fine, too, but went to sleep wondering what dramas tomorrow would bring!
I was feeling less optimistic on Wednesday 26th May but at least I knew I was no longer going anywhere and could stop feeling in limbo. We went to Mr Bull’s for breakfast again and the Bo Ne really is so tasty – it’s probably the best breakfast in Dong Hoi.
Back at The Nest Hotel we packed and got ready to check out, I double checked that my passport still hadn’t turned up then I decided that going back to Phong Nha was the best option, staying in Dong Hoi was costing too much. We now needed to restock up on provisions as the fridge and cupboards were a lot emptier than usual, due to our planned going away! I messaged Bich to check if there was a shopping trip that we could join that afternoon and if not we were going to go shopping by ourselves. Ben replied to say the Phong Nha Farmstay were on their way to Dong Hoi for lunch and shopping and we arranged to meet them at 7th Heaven, one of my favourite restaurants. Captain Caveman ordered a cheese pide, I ordered pork fried rice, the others ordered pizza, chilli con carne, chicken schnitzel (with mashed potatoes and vegetables), beef salad, chicken wings and chips. There was a new dessert to try which we were given 4 to share for free and it was really good. Tham, the owner was there and we chatted to her and I told her we had stayed at The Nest Hotel to try it out. While we were sat at the table Captain Caveman went on his phone to book a flight to Saigon, he had decided he would leave later today. After paying the bill and grabbing our bags we got in the car to go to our first shop of the day, the An Nong organic shop.
I was so excited to buy more cherries at the Organic shop on Wednesday 26th May and, if I wasn’t able to go on holiday, I was also treating myself to some prawns! Captain Caveman was still with me at this point, as I added cherries to the shopping basket and I would have got more fruit but the whole shop reeked of durian and I had to get out. Our next stop was the VinMart which we had requested because I also needed the Medicare shop. Unfortunately I had a bad stomach, probably because I had a piece of Captain Caveman’s pide and a spoonful of the dessert at lunch, so I left Captain Caveman in the supermarket to go to the toilet. When I came back he hadn’t bought anything from my shopping list because he was off to Saigon tonight and also hoped I would be following him, tomorrow. I did manage to find tampons in the Medicare shop, it’s a really difficult product to get in Dong Hoi and impossible in Phong Nha. At 72,000vnd for a box of the 16 regular sport variety they aren’t cheap but they are essential. I also needed rehydration tablets so got the multivitamin versions which were 44,000vnd for a tube of 20.
Back outside, the Farmstay family were sitting out by the Vinpearl Hotel having coffees so Captain Caveman sat with them and joined in, while I helped the youngest read the shop names on the big sign! I wasn’t too sure about Captain Caveman going to Saigon without me, especially if the Corona case numbers meant more lockdowns but I could understand why he wanted to. Captain Caveman mumbled something about running some work errands while he was in Dong Hoi so he gave me a quick peck on the lips and we said bye.
I was cheesed off, to say the least, at leaving Dong Hoi without my passport, so I tried to have a nap on the way back to Phong Nha. On reflection I don’t know what I was most upset about; the potential losing of my passport, Captain Caveman going on holiday without me or me missing out on the best Indian food in Saigon that night. By 4pm I had unpacked my bag, at 4.02pm I got a message from the visa agent to say that my passport had arrived in Dong Hoi this afternoon. At 4.17pm she had got the passport and I was online trying to book a flight to Saigon. I wouldn’t make it back to Dong Hoi airport in time for the 5.45pm one but there was an 8pm one, although I didn’t know if I could get a taxi organised in time. That flight was unavailable and so Captain Caveman booked me an alternative, 6.55pm tomorrow. I was so excited, at last I would get to meet up with friends, some of who were leaving Vietnam next month, eat some great food and buy another bra (which was lucky as I’d already had to throw 2 away recently). By 7pm I’d organised to go to get my passport earlier than required tomorrow so I definitely had it in plenty of time for the flight. By 8pm Captain Caveman had reassured me that despite the concerning news of an increase in Corona cases all seemed pretty normal in Saigon, taxis were running and he could go out for dinner – he’d even booked us a nice riverside apartment and told me to bring an umbrella (it is rainy season down South).
Feeling super happy and relieved I went downstairs to slice the bread that had arrived while we had been in Dong Hoi. I had all of the cherries and half of the blueberries with cashew nuts and walnuts for dinner then went to bed, so much happier. I was disappointed we wouldn’t be able to go to Tam Hai but we would still get a nice city break and would go once we could enjoy more than a couple of nights there. Captain Caveman sent me a message to say he had booked us a table at Baba’s Kitchen for when I arrived off the plane and to go straight there tomorrow night at 9pm.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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!?
joloyolo 