Veronika and I were meant to be going to the market at 7.30am on Thursday 29th April but the rain was just too heavy, we would try tomorrow. It was too rainy for me to even accompany Tatas for breakfast at the Farmstay so she left without me. Posts on Facebook showed that Dong Hoi had started to have some water on the roads that looked quite deep for the time of year.
I had toast for a late breakfast and was fine so I went berserk and made a chicken pasta for lunch which wasn’t gluten free and gave me a slight reaction. Plans to go to  The Villas were moved to tomorrow as there was no free shuttle and the cost of a taxi meant I wouldn’t have enough money to spend on booze – Captain Caveman’s budget didn’t stretch to transport but 9km each way is a bit too far for me to cycle.  Instead I decided to watch some Netflix and try to have a relaxing day.
For dinner I had a very healthy chicken, rice and sweetcorn while making plans for tomorrow, as some friends from Saigon would be in Phong Nha. Captain Caveman was due back from Son Doong tomorrow too which meant we could perhaps meet him at The Villas before his Chay Lap gala dinner. Andrea was staying at one of the Farmstay houses, as the Farmstay itself was fully booked for the Reunification day and Labour Day weekend. All in all a quiet day staying at home and taking it easy.

Photo credit – Dong Hoi, Facebook.

Wednesday 28th April was not as calm and relaxed as I was hoping. The loud tannoy announcement at 5.30am woke me up but I tried desperately to ignore it. I read the news to find it was getting worse in Cambodia for Corona cases, should Vietnam be more worried? Here’s the article:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/international/20210425/cambodia-closes-markets-to-curb-covid19-thousands-plead-for-food/60554.html
Tatas was on the train back from Hanoi by 6am and was hoping to meet me at the Farmstay later, all being well. I had been sworn to secrecy about Caroline being in Dong Hoi as she was on her way to Phong Nha to surprise people and she had booked to stay for 1 night at the Phong Nha Farmstay. I’d said nothing and agreed to meet for lunch, so I got there early (cycled the short route) and was the only person by the pool aside from a rather warm Ben, who was moving furniture. When Poison_I_Vee (Caroline and the dog on the Himalayan) arrived I managed to get a video and watched her unpack the dog from her special doggy back pack – they looked hot!

We decided to have lunch by the pool and I ordered the bun cha, Caroline ordered a salad and just a beef patty for her canine companion and we had a glass of white wine each. Veronika joined us for lunch then a few more people arrived in the afternoon to say hello to Caroline and Vee and I decided to do the sensible thing and cycle back home while I was still sober and have a shower and change for dinner later.

I got a lift back with Duyet and I was very sensible and didn’t have the pizza I wanted as my stomach had been dodgy most of the afternoon, even though I’d not had anything with gluten or dairy in. I had the beef in bamboo for dinner which I really enjoyed with red wine and we had all eaten by the time Tatas arrived, fresh from a business trip to Hanoi. The night finished with just Caroline, Multi, Tatas and me chatting on and trying to prevent Multi from riding his motorbike home shitfaced! We even had to pretend we were going home to convince him to leave and then we came back and had another bottle of wine – this confused the staff who also thought (hoped?) we had paid and were leaving! We had a good evening and Tatas stayed at mine, the rain was very heavy as we left but we still arranged to go to The Villas tomorrow to see Caroline again and hopefully meet for a cocktail – instead of a Margarita Monday we would have a Thirsty Thursday, perhaps!?

Our Monday morning on 26th April started with our SE8 train from Danang to Dong Hoi being delayed by 30 minutes. We sat in the crowded train station in our masks and waited, then it was delayed further, meaning we didn’t get going until 01.35am and Captain Caveman certainly had on his grumpy trousers and was being mean. I decided not to bother talking to him any more as he was in an argumentative mood, because he didn’t get his takeaway. I was also not looking forward to the train journey because Captain Caveman had only been able to book top bunks which, even with fully functioning legs, was a struggle for me to get on. As we boarded the train the guard showed me a message asking if we wanted to get our own cabin but Captain Caveman said no, we were fine with top bunks. In our carriage on the 2 bottom bunks were a family of 2 adults and 2 kids so another guard asked if we wanted to take another carriage by ourselves but, again, Captain Caveman said no. My knee ached after climbing up but it wasn’t too bad, I had some painkillers and then tried to go to sleep. The family below us were fast asleep and quiet whereas Captain Caveman was snoring so loud that I got no sleep at all. Early in the morning I needed to pee and I really struggled to get down off the bed (it was harder than getting up) but I had to do it and I managed with difficulty to get back up again. I fell asleep about 5.30am, just as everyone else was starting to get up. The cases of Corona in Vietnam had started to creep up a bit and there were 13 today, meanwhile Turkey had overtaken the UK for total number of cases but were still lower for deaths. Vietnam was still relatively low in comparison but it was likely that the next wave could hit at any time.
Our driver was already waiting when we arrived at Dong Hoi train station but I needed the toilet and to meet Kimmie with my passport who had got me another visa extension done. I was now allowed to stay until the 9th May and the agent had previously quoted me $60, it ended up being $65, but she said next month would be $60. Captain Caveman was still grumpy but I was even mardier and so tired I could hardly function. The driver had been instructed to drop us off at the Glass House in Phong Nha and Captain Caveman was trying to insist that I could wait there until he’d seen off Howard’s Son Doong tour then he would drive me home on a rented motorbike, once he’d got one. I was having none of it and insisted he at least drop me on the highway and I would walk. I wanted a shower and a sleep, where I lived, which we were almost passing anyway. Eventually he agreed and I got home, still in a mood and desperate to go back to bed.

When Captain Caveman returned from Phong Nha just after 10am I had accidentally fallen asleep after my shower. There was no more snoozing to be had, though, because we were off to meet Hanh, a friend who I was meant to meet in Hoi An but she was in Phong Nha for a couple of weeks. We decided we would go to East Hill for an early lunch of BBQ chicken and sticky rice by motorbike, even though it isn’t very far from our place. I managed the steps up pretty well and Hanh was already there, ready for our early lunch. I decided to have a pepsi and this was the first time I noticed the odd sugary fizzy drink was creeping in to my diet – it always seems to happen when the hot weather comes. Captain Caveman did the honours of cutting up the hot chicken and we tucked in, all rather hungrily. As always, the chicken was excellent and the views were stunning, it was lovely to see Hanh, who we hadn’t seen since she left Phong Nha last year, when her Bun Cha restaurant had to close due to lack of customers. Captain Caveman had a shandy so I decided a strongbow would be nice and refreshing on such a hot day. The steps back down were still a bit harder to do but Hanh helped me, then we said our goodbyes, hoping to meet again and headed home before what looked like a storm brewing.

I had another short nap and then there was a huge downpour and a storm. Unfortunately Captain Caveman’s next Son Doong briefing was at 6pm so we shared the falafel salad (the one we brought all the way from Nomad’s Kitchen in Danang and was still really good) and then he had to venture out in the rain. He had been suffering terribly with hayfever too, since returning to Phong Nha, but luckily he had the motorbike rather than having to cycle the 9km there. While he was at work, the rain continued to pour down, it was bad enough for a frog to try to take shelter on Captain Caveman. The two-toed frog had tried to climb up his leg, maybe to take shelter under his shorts, but had to settle with a rest on his shoe! By the time Captain Caveman returned I was already in bed, all the excitement of Danang had worn me out!

The tannoy was back up to loud for the weekend at 5.30am on Friday 16th April. Captain Caveman was off to his next Son Doong tour and Tatas had confirmed she was going to be able to go to Danang on Sunday after her Tu Lan trip and was getting the overnight bus, we also agreed to meet up at The Villas for pizza night later, today she was off to lunch and karaoke with her customers.
Bich helped me out by asking Duyet to get me some eye drops for my irritated eye, he came over to check my eye and what kind of eye-drops I needed, which was nice. I ate peanut M&Ms for breakfast, gluten free quinoa crackers and an apple for lunch then started watching Series 2 of Love Island on Netflix. I snacked on dragon fruit and then made mushroom and egg fried rice for dinner because the oven had broken at The Villas so pizza night was cancelled, which also meant I didn’t meet Tatas there either.

I decided to cycle to the Farmstay on Saturday 17th April for breakfast of pho bo, soda water and a green tea. Bluey had to have her tyres pumped up but she made the ride there in 8 minutes 37 seconds, which wasn’t bad. I stayed at the Farmstay for a lunch of fresh spring rolls with pork and prawn and a ginger beer, beside the pool which was nice. My journey back was just 8 minutes 31 seconds and it was very hot and sticky! Later, I opened a bottle of wine and had a couple of glasses then some sourdough with laughing cow cheese-spread, which made me sick again – it was definitely Gluten and/or dairy! I had an early night watching Love Island, hoping the gluten intolerance would go away.

My stomach problem was back with a vengeance at 4am on Sunday 18th April and I felt terrible. By breakfast time I forced dragon fruit, water and jasmine tea in then rested a lot. By lunch time I had been really ill and hoped by eating gluten free quinoa crackers I might recover. I finished off Love Island and did some writing but the furthest I ventured was on the balcony to admire the views.
I saw the Corona stats were not looking good for Turkey as the number of cases rose to just 173,000 less than the UK and the deaths were 92,000 less, but they were catching up fast and with less progress on vaccines so far.
By dinner time I was feeling better so I ate a masaman curry which I added a couple of carrots, a potato and a couple of spoonfuls of peanut butter to before packing for my ‘holiday within a holiday’ . Tatas messaged me to say she had already left Phong Nha on the bus, 30 minutes earlier than planned, which would arrive in Danang at around 3am. I would join her tomorrow for a bit of an adventure!

Thursday 15th April had some excitement afoot; my leg was making slow progress but I was conscious that I needed to try to get out more to places I have been struggling to visit for the last year because of my injury. If I was going to make it on a trip away any time soon I needed to get used to walking where it is unpredictable and more difficult than the places I know well. I just had an apple for breakfast because we were off out for lunch as well as meeting Tatas later at The Villas for holiday planning, once she got out of her Tu Lan 4 day tour. On the way downstairs I tried for the first time putting one foot in front of the other to go down each step and I managed it (twice) for the first time since my injury. Captain Caveman and I went by motorbike to East Hill for the BBQ chicken and sticky rice for the first time in over 1 year. We had ordered delivery from there but had not been to visit because of my bad leg and the steep uneven steps they have. I managed the steps up ok, with a bit of help from Captain Caveman and we had a whole chicken to ourselves which was so gorgeous and, as long as I could get back down the steps, we said we would visit again soon. I did need help with the way down, especially where the handrail disappears but I made it – I wouldn’t have made it in the dark though.

Afterwards we went back to the Glass House so that I could collect a few things and Captain Caveman could sort out the allocation of Son Doong tips then get his washing repacked for his next trip tomorrow. Our next stop was at The Villas to wait for Tatas before Captain Caveman went to his briefing at 6pm but by 5.30pm I’d not heard from her and she hadn’t arrived. Captain Caveman ordered a pizza and I had 2 pieces of it and a lemon juice, then some red wine. Tatas finally messaged to say she was at Chay Lap with her customers so wouldn’t be coming out. I sat and caught up on blogging with wine while Captain Caveman went to his briefing then I had a chicken and bacon sandwich which I took most of the bread off and only managed a few chips before I had a bad stomach. Since the gastroenteritis my gluten intolerance was back with a vengeance, it appeared and we even had to do an emergency stop on the way home because of my stomach. Captain Caveman was not impressed and insisted I needed to give up gluten and dairy completely now and made me promise to. In the news there were reports that Asia was suffering from not having enough room for Corona patients in hospitals, after a record amount of cases and new lockdowns imposed, more info here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/international/20210415/hospitals-run-short-of-beds-as-asia-s-covid19-cases-surge/60383.html
Before I went to bed I noticed that the bit of dust I had got in my eye on the way home had made it bloodshot and a bit sore, it even made it difficult for me to get to sleep.

Captain Caveman brought me my breakfast in bed on Wednesday 14th April; a banana, some strawberries and some grapes. He had a day off and we had been awake since the 5.30am tannoy which had been a bit quieter today. I’d hoped we might be spending the day doing something different but Captain Caveman had already arranged to go to Phong Nha and then off on a rented motorbike for a reccy of a cycling route for a race coming up this summer. I was hoping for an extra nap when the housekeeping staff knocked on the door to come in to clean. I decided to sit outside and admire the garden while catching up on the To Do List. Mr Ky, the dog, was off his lead and wandering around so he came to say hello when I called him. For lunch I had an apple, a small piece of crust from the fresh bread and the last of my vegan meals which was braised root vegetables. When Captain Caveman returned I made him an omelette, it’s the only thing I’m good at cooking but won’t eat and we decided to open a bottle of Lindemans sparkling white wine. While he ate the sour cream Pringles, I had some cashew nuts which we bought at Funny Monkeys. For dinner Captain Caveman made us a tasty pasta dish with salami, mushrooms and peppers and we had a relaxing evening. Even though I had eaten gluten I was not ill from the pasta, which was good news!

I’d already pre-ordered some fresh bread from the Lake House for Captain Caveman to pick up on Tuesday 13th April. Veronika had also ordered sourdough for all of us via Bich and so we were about to be rather full of bread in our house, just as my gluten intolerance returns! The tannoys this morning were quiet with only a short announcement which was a relief for anyone with a hangover. Captain Caveman went out for the shuttle service but it was late by 15 minutes and he then didn’t even go to The Villas for his breakfast, just to pick up his bicycle and call in to his work. I had a banana, grapes and strawberries for my breakfast at home and then plonked myself on the sun-lounger by the pool for the rest of the day. I had more Earth Cafe food for lunch with a delightful vegan spaghetti which I really enjoyed and could easily have eaten that dish again.

When Captain Caveman returned I suggested we have a walk to the Farmstay as a bit of exercise for my leg and we took my walking poles. The walk took us 32 minutes and 45 seconds which is still slow but Captain Caveman took videos of my walking and it looked to have improved.

We sat with Veronika, Karl and Sue and I had a couple of ciders, Andrew and his 1 year old were in the pool but joined us and then Bich joined us too. For dinner it was shepherd’s pie night with a new deal which is 300,000vnd (£9.30) and includes a drink and a dessert, we decided we would have something different today. Captain Caveman had meat pie, chips, veg and gravy which is 120,000vnd (£3.72) and I had duck a l’orange for 160,000vnd (£4.96) and both are great meals. When we got home, though, I wasn’t too well again and had a bad stomach, I was beginning to wonder if I was just allergic to eating out! It was just typical that I would be ill again when Captain Caveman had the day off tomorrow too.

I was awake at 3.30am on Monday 12th April with terrible indigestion resulting in me having to get out the Maalox. The tannoy was on form at 5.30am for an hour, so by 7am I had done quite a bit of blogging, writing and languages. I had a banana and some strawberries for breakfast and then had another vegan lunch from my Earth Cafe takeaways. This time I tried something which was a first for me; tempeh with green banana and mushrooms. The taste was very different but I really enjoyed it and found it very filling with a piece of fresh baguette. Phuong picked me up at 2.30pm for my ride to The Villas to celebrate a whole week of no alcohol and a couple of days of eating vegan food. Captain Caveman would meet me there after he got out of his Son Doing trip. Even with the shopping trip spending I had been very frugal with the housekeeping this weekend and so I still had 1,000,000vnd (£30) left to splash out on a bottle of wine, even though it was technically Margarita Monday. I decided to have a bottle of white wine with an ice bucket, some soda water and a bowl of peanuts. Captain Caveman arrived, having had an excellent tour group and was drinking the wine a bit too fast. We had a margarita and then the car for Chay Lap arrived. It wasn’t my intention to join Captain Caveman, Dat and Coc for their gala dinner but Nguyen, the head guy of the fertilizer company, invited me and insisted I join for the fish and goat BBQ. Before we sat down for dinner we had a few margaritas at the bar and then we all sat in the garden at a special table. The men from the tour made various speeches about how much they enjoyed their trip and how appreciative of Captain Caveman’s input they were, which was lovely to hear. Captain Caveman did a speech to thank them all and then the lads got even more on the booze than they already were. We ate soup, morning glory with garlic, roast pork, rice crackers with snails, river fish and goat. Coc had made an amazing video of their tour which we watched and applauded at the end. Captain Caveman was drunk and when the group CEO asked for Captain Caveman and I to do a duet love song he desperately needed me to help him out. I’d had 2 margaritas by this time so I told Dat and Coc to load us up Lose Yourself by Eminem and, if I do say so myself, I took one for the team! The group absolutely loved it and then insisted we all sing more, most of the group were great singers and a lot of songs were sang, in the end Captain Caveman had to sing Country Roads, which was then the cue for me to take him home. It had been a great night with the men from Ca Mau, and we now had another place that we wanted to visit when we get chance for a trip down south again. When we got home I set the alarm to make sure Captain Caveman got up in time the next day.

There’s nothing like a bout of stomach flu to make your clothes feel baggy! On Friday 9th April I was already awake early, before the time Captain Caveman would have left for Son Doong and I hadn’t spoken to him yet. He’d been too busy and so he called me from the bus on his way and I didn’t get to chat too much. I was starting to recover from the sickness so I had decided I would book Phuong for a shopping trip tomorrow and arranged for a 9am pick up. My shopping list was quite long because we’d not been on a shopping trip in ages so I was looking forward to getting stocked up. I decided I was feeling well enough to venture to the Phong Nha Farmstay for an early lunch and went to sit outside, to admire the plants, while I waited for Duyet with the van. For lunch I ordered a mushroom soup and some veggie spring rolls which were nice, then went home for a bit of a lay down. In the afternoon I ate some plain crisps and felt a lot better but decided not to go to pizza night in case I was contagious still. There was mention on the Farmstay noticeboard of a free shuttle service between Farmstay and The Villas which I was pleased about, so I messaged to book in for Monday, in case I fancied a Margarita!
I contacted Mo, the owner of Earth cafe in Dong Hoi, to preorder several takeaway dishes for me – after being poorly I fancied getting some healthy food in and wanted to try her new takeaway menu.
For dinner I toasted some sourdough then added a tomato sauce base, salami and cheese to make a very small pizza style meal – I was definitely feeling much better. Phuong messaged to ask could we move the shopping trip to 7am the next day to accommodate an airport pickup so I agreed and set the alarm for 6.15am.

I try to keep focused on the fact that I’m pretty much living an amazing life out here in Phong Nha, Vietnam, but every now and then there are things that crop up to make me a bit sad that I can’t visit England or Turkey. Tuesday 6th April was one of those days where I had a little wobble because, written in my diary on today’s page were my flight details. At 7am I should have been on a flight from Manchester to Dalaman in Turkey for a few weeks holiday in between the two weddings of friends, both of which had obviously been postponed due to the Corona situation. Of course my EasyJet flight had been cancelled and I still needed to choose another date to move it to, so I randomly picked 29th September. There was hope that, because of the vaccines in the UK, the flight could go ahead but, if I’m honest, I wasn’t sure that Vietnam would have vaccinated the 96.5 million people here by then, but we could hope that maybe I would get back to the UK before then!
I had leftover pizza for breakfast (with no ill effects) early when the tannoy went off, did some writing, watched more of The Serpent then went back to sleep. For lunch I just had bread and butter and my stomach was fine still and as it was Tuesday it would normally be Shepherd’s Pie night at the Farmstay but I decided to get some chicken out of the freezer and cook something for dinner instead of going out. I had chicken with steamed rice and sweet corn and with the left over cooked chicken I made masaman curry to eat, refrigerate and freeze, using the paste Quyen had brought us from Saigon. It was a quiet, easy going day which ended with me finishing The Serpent on Netflix which, if you like serial killer documentaries, is pretty good.

On Wednesday 7th April I did not expect to spend my day as I did; at 4.30am I woke up feeling as sick as a dog, was in the bathroom for a whole hour and felt terrible. My previous gluten intolerance reactions usually happened within 10 minutes of consumption but could it have changed to me reacting more than a day later? I doubted it and was convinced I had food poisoning. By 5.30am the tannoy was going and I felt hungry so I decided to have a small amount of the chicken masaman for breakfast. That was a big mistake as it made me worse and I spent the rest of the day mainly in the bathroom, sweating in bed or sleeping. I managed to drink water, sometimes with rehydration tablets, jasmine tea and I forced some gluten free pasta with the tiniest bit of tomato sauce down in small portions for lunch and dinner.
I’d not felt this bad since I had gastroenteritis in Goa years ago – oh no, I had caught the stomach flu which some others in the area had suffered with!

Thursday 8th April wasn’t a good day for me, having hardly had any sleep and being quite ill. The loudness of the tannoy woke me up at 5.30am but I was determined not to get up as I needed some more rest. My temperature was high but I could now keep fluids in a bit better than yesterday. The thought of eating anything, especially meat, made me feel nauseous and I was very weak and exhausted. I thought that having some peanut butter would be good for energy but when I opened it and saw how much peanut oil had settled, that also made me feel sick. I went back to bed with the Aircon and the fan on, checked Facebook, watched some Big Bang Theory and then fell asleep. Captain Caveman was half way through his 8 days in the Big Cave but called with some good news, he would do his briefing tonight then come home to see me, spend the night at home then go back in tomorrow. I really wanted him to come home, of course, but I was sensible and told him he’d be better to stay at the Glass House tonight because if I was contagious and he, or any of his customers, got what I’d had it would ruin the trip for everyone! Despite me having zero appetite I decided to force myself to eat a small portion of masaman curry with steamed rice and sweetcorn for my dinner. It felt fine eating it, the food was tasty and all was good until about 1 hour after I’d eaten it – I was back to feeling horrendous again!

Hamish and Ania had decided to fly to Saigon on Monday 5th April for a few days before continuing their travels to other places in Vietnam. Captain Caveman said his goodbyes and went off to his Son Doong trip which would run consecutively with his next trip and so I wouldn’t see him until the 12th or 13th April – we were glad that he still had plenty of work in the current climate. Last night a suggestion of lunch at the Lake House had been made but in our hungover state we settled for the Farmstay and I got a lift with Duyet at 10am to join Hamish, Ania and Tatas who had already had their breakfast. I had an orange juice and a pho bo then felt loads better so decided to stay for lunch. Tatas had her Son Doong briefing that night so she went home to pack and we ate our last meal together, until we meet again. I had the fresh prawn and pork spring rolls with a can of full fat coke while Hamish had sausage, chips & curry sauce and Ania had the beef in bamboo (one of my favourites). I was meant to have an online meeting which I had already moved and so I went back home to accommodate that, then ended up missing it.
Hamish and Ania’s transport to the airport was coming at 6pm so I went back up to the Farmstay to see them off. I said goodbye to our friends who gave me some Polish vodka to look after until they came back and a yoga mat for Tatas. I had a cider and talk to Karl and Sue and Trang and Andrew. I decided to order a pizza to take home and was pleased to not have any reaction to the gluten or the cheese, when in the past I have reacted more to the pizzas at the Farmstay compared to the ones at The Villas. Margarita Mondays looked to have slowed off lately, so I didn’t attempt to go this week. I had an early night with a lot less alcohol to start this week, I was looking forward to a quiet few days but as you probably know, Phong Nha can be somewhat unpredictable!