Phong Nha – 6th to 8th August

On Friday 6th August, while I ate buttered toast for breakfast and Captain Caveman rested on the bed, I saw that Vietnam had almost 400 deaths in a day yesterday and that we had a warning text from the authorities for us all to observe the rules and be careful. As Captain Caveman was still feeling a bit tired from the effects of his 2nd vaccine I decided to cook a chicken dish for lunch, with a sauce, the last of the cashew nuts and the steamed rice. He said he also felt a little bit unfocused and he couldn’t remember what he came downstairs for, Veronika and I do that a lot but it was unusual for Captain Caveman! After eating our food I was sat at the bedroom table when I heard a cracking noise near my right eye and ear. I put my hand up to try to feel what it was and my glasses fell off in to my hands, having broken at the part where the arm is joined to the frame – maybe I was turning in to Carrie!
It was finally Captain Caveman’s pay day so we sat down and did some budgeting together – it was going to be a tough month. He paid for my visa, a total of 2.3 million vnd (£73.60) and we had requested from the Phong Nha Farmstay receptionist our bill.
Pizza Night, which was at the Farmstay again, was a good one; we were joined by Stu and the kids and we had a good laugh. We also ordered a 3rd pizza to share and Captain Caveman had eaten 4 slices of it by the time I got back from the loo, I took 2 pieces home for the next day.

It was a very relaxed day on Saturday 7th August, and at 7am it was cloudy and less than 30°C (but not for long). Vietnam’s Corona deaths continued at a high rate and now the total deaths, since the pandemic had began, were over 3,000. The mortality rate was 1.53% which was worse than in Turkey and catching the UK up. Only 31.6% of the cases had recovered which was lower than we had been used to, so far. I had my leftover smoked duck pizza for breakfast and Captain Caveman cycled in to Phong Nha. When he returned he had fixed my onyx ring so that you couldn’t even see or feel the join and I was so pleased! Unfortunately the glasses didn’t hold at all and were completely broken. For lunch I ate a dragon fruit and an apple but then needed a snack later because I was still hungry so I ate the last of the gluten and dairy free brownie I had in the freezer, while Captain Caveman swam in the pool.
For dinner we had chicken with steamed rice, carrots, green beans and peanut salt but while I was stirring the chicken my onyx ring broke again and landed in the pan!

Our alarms went off at 6.45am on Sunday 8th August and I was still very sleepy. Bluey didn’t need her front tyre pumping up but her back one had gone down quite a bit so Captain Caveman obliged. I managed to cycle to the Farmstay in 9 minutes 4 seconds which was a minute faster than my last ride there. Captain Caveman ordered Eggs Benedict and I went for Pho Bo for our breakfast while we waited to say our farewell to the lovely Czech family, Lucie and her son, Martan. She was able to get her 2nd vaccine and so they were travelling back home to Hanoi with 2 other Phong Nha Farmstay guests. Because there were still no domestic flights or trains from the nearest town of Dong Hoi to Hanoi they were sharing a private car to travel the 500km North, this was also what the cavers would have to do and probably what I would need to do, when we left. After our delicious breakfast we cycled back in a hot headwind which I found difficult and it took me 10 minutes 3 seconds!
Captain Caveman mentioned that when he had picked up the mangosteens from Mina he had been given the mushrooms that I had ordered but I needed to check because I had accidentally ordered embryos. When I looked in the bag there were 2 fairly substantial mushroom embryos so that we could grow our own. Captain Caveman found it hilarious that I had now accidentally become a mushroom farmer of mushrooms I would probably never get to eat as I would have left! My friend Khanh Linh, Mina’s colleague, sent me the instructions in English on what to do and I set a plan of watering and watching them.
The housekeeping staff had been and done a little spruce up of the bedroom, made the bed and straightened the towels, they didn’t know they may also be helping grow mushrooms this time next week. Later Eric, the bee, stopped by for lunch and while Captain Caveman had a sandwich I made myself vegetable and egg fried rice. It was Watto’s birthday today and so there was a party at Bom’s River House for him. Captain Caveman went there but I didn’t, the return taxi fare is 300,000vnd (£9.60) which, to put it in perspective, is more than a crate of 24 beers, so he went by bicycle and planned to stay over at the Glass House. I made myself some veggie pasta for dinner and had a diet coke while watching a bit of Netflix.

Phong Nha – 1st August

It was a weird one on Sunday 1st August, it was rainy first thing and Captain Caveman didn’t need to go to Oxalis so we had a lazy morning. I had jam on toast and a mangosteen for breakfast and then saw an unexpected message about my visa extension. Immigration said that they could only do my visa extension if I had proof of a flight booked within the next 30 days. Once they had that they would then do the extension but it would be dated to my flight date. As there were no flights from Dong Hoi to Saigon or Hanoi at this time I didn’t want to be forced to book a flight that I may have to cancel as it may mean I wouldn’t get the refund in time to book a different flight or airline. Captain Caveman had found a flight from Saigon to Singapore on 9th September for £31 which I wouldn’t use, but could book it, as a last resort just to get the extension. I replied to say I would book a flight when I got my passport stamped and we would see what would happen with that but, as it was a Sunday, I got no further messages about it. I also decided not to worry about it and if they wouldn’t agree then I would look for a flight – it would perhaps be cheaper to pay an overstay fee for up to 10 days than the visa extension fee anyway.
We had a healthy salad for lunch and a couple of gin cocktails in the afternoon, I’d already prepped the vegetables for a Sunday dinner at home, pay day was not far off but we had barely any money left to go out so we had chosen to use what we had left for tomorrow night. We inadvertently decided to take a sourdough loaf off Veronika’s hands, which she gets from Dong Hoi and are pretty big, not realising it costs 200,000vnd (£6.40), when we came to pay for it later. We needed to make better choices on spending until I leave and agreed that once pay day arrived we would plan a budget together and stick to it.
We had a lovely homemade dinner of chicken, potatoes, pumpkin, carrots and green beans that evening and it was even pretty healthy.

Phong Nha – 24th & 25th July

I’d not been feeling too well when I got in bed the previous night and had a headache at the back of my head on the left side. I woke up extremely early on the morning of Saturday 24th July extra sweaty, a worse headache and feeling hot or cold intermittently. There had been rain during the night, it was a bit cloudy and I had to force myself to eat my gluten and dairy free pancakes with banana and honey for breakfast, hoping I’d feel better. I took some paracetamol and ibuprofen and read the news, this time there was some good news. Apparently, Vietnam was going to mix first and second vaccine providers, so those of us vaccinated with Astra Zeneca, may get Pfizer as their 2nd vaccine, read more here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210724/vietnam-to-prioritize-pfizer-as-followup-jab-for-people-who-received-first-dose-of-astrazeneca/62222.html
Reports came of chaos in Hanoi as the stricter social distancing measures were to commence, more info here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210724/people-rush-in-out-of-hanoi-before-strict-social-distancing-implementation/62228.html
Captain Caveman stayed in bed all morning on his phone and eventually got out of bed at 12.30pm, made his own lunch and then sat on the balcony in the rain with a beer. I had a red dragon fruit and popcorn for my lunch and, feeling hot then cold most of the day, I watched a cooking show on Netflix and rested up.
For dinner Captain Caveman cooked chicken and veg while I got the job of peeling chopping and roasting potatoes, garlic, onion and pumpkin which took so much time to cook that we had dinner in two sittings. I still felt unwell so I went to bed early, during the night there was a massive storm and I was even a bit scared as the thunder and lightening sounded like they were hitting the roof.

On Sunday 25th July I still felt unwell and was awake really early taking some painkillers for my headache which still hadn’t gone and I also had a touch of indigestion. It was cloudy so there was no sunrise to see and Captain Caveman didn’t cycle in to work, with it being a Sunday. I had another nap to try to shake off the head and neck pains.
Captain Caveman made us bacon sandwiches for breakfast, we’d ran out of brown sauce so I had to have Vietnamese tomato sauce which is ultra sweet, and I had orange juice, jasmine tea and lots of cold water to keep hydrated too. I took over the oven and did a mass roasting of potatoes, shallots, pumpkin and onion ready to make our Sunday dinner. We do love the Phong Nha Farmstay dinner but 600,000vnd (£18.60) for the 2 of us is out of our price range at the moment. Instead we would prepare a healthier version at home, no wine and no cake for a start. I was a hot sweaty mess after being on roasting (literally) duty and so Captain Caveman made us lunch and in the afternoon I had 2 dairy free White Russians as I thought I’d started to feel better.
By the time it came to dinner time I was feeling much better, the headache had almost gone, I was a bit less sweaty and I managed to tuck in to a lovely dinner of chicken, potatoes, onion, pumpkin, carrot and broccoli with a dash of BBQ sauce on the side for dipping.

Phong Nha – 18th July

At 5.30am I was up and taking photos of the sunrise (my camera doesn’t do it justice) and I had pineapple pancakes and jasmine tea for my breakfast on Sunday 18th July while reading the news;
An announcement that Hanoi was to go in to lockdown too, more here:
https://vietnaminsider.vn/hanoi-tightens-covid-19-restrictions-as-vietnam-reaches-new-height-in-daily-infections/
This was hopefully not going to be a problem for a friend who was heading up there for a few days before his international flight, as well as another mate who was already there and would be stuck in his Hanoi hotel for another 9 days. This would be the airport I would leave from and so I would change my plans to stay less time in Hanoi and I’d take food with me so I didn’t have to go anywhere. The good thing about being British is we know how to queue but in Vietnam it is practically alien to do so, meaning the Corona situation worsens as people don’t understand not to crowd, more here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210718/tens-of-thousands-leave-vietnams-southern-hubs-ahead-of-mass-covid19-social-distancing/62134.html
Captain Caveman had stayed at the Glass House last night and had taken himself off for a birthday breakfast of Eggs Benedict at The Villas on his journey back home. We had organised a birthday lunch for him at one of our favourite places and had invited some of his friends and colleagues.

We had took a chance to book a table at East Hill for BBQ chicken and beers from 11.30am – it gets busy on Sundays so we usually avoid weekends. Captain Caveman pumped up Bluey’s tyres for me and we cycled it there in about 10 minutes, being overtaken by Stu and Jack on the way. On arrival East Hill had very kindly reserved us a table and even had a sign with my name and the time on. We ordered 2 chicken combos when we arrived, we don’t preorder because often the Vietnamese contingent can arrive late and then the chicken has been snaffled already. Next to arrive were Colin, Watto, Howard and Deb who had impressively cycled it from Phong Nha, then Mark arrived and we all ordered cold drinks and waited for others to arrive. The Funny Monkey’s team arrived and brought Captain Caveman a gift of homemade cookies which was so lovely. BBQ chicken arrived, the cavers ordered 2 more and we all started on the first lot of food. Mr Nguyen was last to arrive, looking very smart and carrying 24 cans of beer – what a legend! More beers were had and some photos taken and I had the bright idea to order even more chicken, thinking that any latecomers would show up soon! It was a really good lunchtime treat and it was good to see so many people celebrate Captain Caveman’s birthday.

Having left East Hill after a wonderful lunch we arrived back at Elements Collection about 2pm. Thankfully Tatas had taken the beers on her motorbike as Captain Caveman has no basket and I would have struggled to carry them on Bluey. It was so hot that we got in the pool straight away, Tatas hadn’t brought her swimmers so sat in a deckchair in denim dungarees. We all had a beer and it was at this point that Captain Caveman revealed what had happened to Tatas’ carrot cake on Tuesday; he had taken it, in the seat of the motorbike but had decided to take it to Oxalis and gobble it down for his hungover breakfast then pretend it had been stolen from the bike! He confessed from the pool, Tatas and I were shocked especially as we had lots more cake at home! Hien popped round and brought Captain Caveman a bottle of red wine, which was really lovely. Tatas and I ‘persuaded’ (it didn’t take much doing) Captain Caveman we should go to the Farmstay for a happy hour drink to finish off his birthday with the Farmstay family. We ended up having chicken quesadillas, pitta bread with dips and wine! A birthday cake was presented and we sang Happy Birthday to Captain Caveman before all having a piece of cake. When we got back home there was a tiny surprise which I had forgotten about until the next day.

Phong Nha – 10th & 11th July

On Saturday 10th July I had 2 gluten free, dairy free pancakes with banana and honey for breakfast and read the daily Corona stats. Unfortunately in Vietnam there had been 2 more deaths, one of them didn’t have long between diagnosis and dying, which was concerning. More info here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/989833/two-more-covid-related-deaths-reported-in-viet-nam.html
There was an updated list of categories for people receiving the vaccine in Vietnam and I would have been at the very bottom had it not been for Oxalis and Captain Caveman. Unfortunately the vaccine progress was still slow here and therefore cases were going to keep coming and deaths were inevitable, especially for those with underlying health issues already.
For lunch I had the left over buffet from last night’s party and in the afternoon I decided to tackle the rather expensive pomelo for a snack and realised it would last me for days. Around 5pm, I was swimming in the pool when Veronika asked if I’d like to share some wine with her, it was very hot weather again, after some storms in the night, so of course I agreed. She even got some crackers from Momma D’s out and an avocado for nibbles. Veronika kept topping up my glass and by the time it came for me to reheat my jackfruit seed curry for dinner I was rather merry. The curry with steamed rice was absolutely delicious and very filling but, as is usual with masaman curry, it made me ill as soon as I’d eaten it.

I started what was about to be a mammoth task on Sunday 11th July; transferring all my photos and videos from the laptop to one of the SD cards. I had a slice of buttered toast and a slice of toast with jam for breakfast (with no issues) and read the news. Because the number of daily cases was getting bigger each day they were proposing even tighter measures in Saigon, more info here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/989958/hcm-city-sets-up-mobile-teams-for-covid-19-testing-at-home-tightens-travel-from-nearby-provinces.html
Reports of bringing in a quick PCR tests at Hanoi airport meant this could be better for when I leave so I wouldn’t have to travel or wait long for my result to enable me to fly to Turkey, more here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210711/hanoi-airport-offers-covid19-testing-service-to-passengers/62001.html
For lunch I ate some pomelo and was expecting Tatas to come over for a swim in the afternoon. She arrived later than I expected which meant I had totally cleared everything of mine from the laptop and it was starting to function again, I could now view photos and videos, so started looking at old memory sticks. Tatas and I sat on the balcony with a cold beer but she hadn’t brought her swimmers. I had a bit of a swim and we arranged to go to the Happy Hour and Farmstay Sunday dinner with Veronika at 5.30pm ish. The Elements Collection staff brought us a plate each of warm jackfruit and peanut salt. I love it and was keen to tuck in to ours with another beer.

After pool time (for me) and showers for both of us all 3 of us got a lift with Duyet to the Phong Nha Farmstay. Tatas and Veronika were on the gin and tonics and I had rum and diet cokes (2 for 1 as we love a bargain) and we ordered our roast dinners. We met the first person I have ever met from Bhutan, a lovely customer from Tatas’ last Son Doong tour. Tatas had my pasta, I had her crackling, pumpkin and Yorkshire pudding and the food was excellent – I do enjoy a roast dinner almost as much as wine. Tatas decided to try a Pina Colada which she was now getting in to. She insisted on buying a bottle of red wine for us to share and we also got a glass of wine included and a carrot cake each – we took the carrot cake home as we were too full after such a substantial portion!

Phong Nha – 3rd & 4th July

While Captain Caveman went to Phong Nha on Saturday 3rd July I packed my suitcases, one of which was a hand luggage case I’d borrowed from Vanessa in Dalyan, thinking I’d be giving it back 3 months later. I’d hoped for a message first thing about my visa extension decision but didn’t get one and so I had my usual pancake breakfast and read the news.
In Vietnam yesterday we had the biggest amount of cases in one day so far and this 4th wave was certainly continuing to be a worry:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/985492/viet-nam-sees-record-high-daily-increase-of-covid-19-cases-on-saturday.html
At 11.48 a text confirmed there had been no response from immigration as promised so we could perhaps assume I was still leaving, although it would still be double checked on Monday when they were back at work. This would mean that option 1 of leaving on Tuesday was definitely cutting it fine so when Captain Caveman returned we decided to go with option 2 of me going to Hanoi next Friday, but we would book the flight on Monday, which was Captain Caveman’s payday. This would also give me time to still attend my own leaving celebrations on Monday too. I researched new phones and found the one I needed which I would also be better off getting in Hanoi because of availability. I got a message from Funny Monkey’s to say that a friend from Dong Hoi had sent Captain Caveman and I a gift, what a lovely surprise. That night Captain Caveman made a massive mushroom risotto and we didn’t argue, he was looking forward to getting back to work and had even managed to be working on Monday, meaning he couldn’t come to celebrate me leaving Phong Nha.

There was some excitement on Sunday 4th July when we used our new gifts. Mo, from Earth cafe in Dong Hoi, had sent us each a cup for our morning drinks and it was such a lovely thing to do. I had jasmine tea in mine, Captain Caveman had Vietnamese coffee and I made more pancake mixture for my breakfast. For some reason neither of us had any lunch but we decided after some time in the pool that we would go to the Farmstay for sunset drinks. It was happy hour so to keep it cheap we both just had 2 for 1 Huda beer, which I hadn’t drank in quite some time. We watched the buffalo get fed and washed in the fields, we chatted about expats getting kicked out of Vietnam and cycling in hot sun with 2 of the Phong Nha Farmstay guests. The two of them were going to Son Doong next week and they were really looking forward to it.
Back home, while Captain Caveman cooked our dinner, I checked with East Hill that they could accommodate us tomorrow at 11.30am for my leaving lunch and started to get a bit concerned about fitting everything in that I needed to do!

Video of a farmer feeding his buffalo

Photo credit – Captain Caveman

Phong Nha – the last weekend of June

Captain Caveman was off to do some Oxalis work at a resort called Blue Diamond on Friday 25th June, while I had a lay in! I’d been up at 3am with a bad stomach and so I felt terrible and was extra tired. When I woke up again I had a lazy morning at home, reading the news and watching Netflix. In the Vietnamese news there were 2 more deaths, people with diabetes seemed to be a common thing, info here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/980341/two-more-people-die-of-covid-related-complications.html
In Saigon the Corona situation was not getting any better and now health declarations were needed for more locations in the city, more here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/979868/hcm-city-makes-online-health-declaration-mandatory-at-public-sites.html
Meanwhile Turkey was looking good on their vaccine progress, info here:
https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/turkey-exceeds-30-million-in-first-doses-of-covid-19-jabs/news
I finished series 1 of Hinterland and started to watch Too Hot to Handle, Emily looked really familiar but I couldn’t work out why.
For brunch I had a ham salad baguette with pickled onions and gerkins, some cashew nuts from Funny Monkey’s and 3 mangosteen.
Captain Caveman and I had decided that I wouldn’t come to tonight’s pizza night at The Villas because I would find it too difficult to resist the pizza (I was still trying to not have any cheese) so I was going to get an East Hill delivery instead. Unfortunately Captain Caveman had forgotten to leave me any money so that plan was thwarted. While Captain Caveman went straight for the all you can eat pizza night I made prawns and steamed rice with a tomato based sauce. It was very nice and would have gone well with a glass of wine but we didn’t have any. I lucked out for dessert when I tried walnut milk rice pudding for the first time, only to find it tastes pretty terrible, even a spoonful of jam couldn’t save it!
Captain Caveman returned with a tummy full of delicious pizza and I was very envious as we discussed what we should do about a holiday, now that I had my passport back. We were both hoping for a visit to Le Domaine de Tam Hai, which we could now travel to, but when we looked at how much time we had until my next visa extension submission, our money situation and the increasing amounts of Corona in other areas of Vietnam, we had to make the painful decision not to go anywhere. This would probably have been our last holiday together while we are both in Vietnam, as once the tours to Son Doong start again, Captain Caveman would be very busy.

Captain Caveman was awake very early on Saturday 26th June with a bad stomach, which he rarely gets. He got a lift over to The Villas to retrieve his bicycle from last night and treated himself to smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast there. I do miss The Villas for breakfast and can’t even remember the last time I had some baked beans or a pho. I had a couple of gluten free pancakes, 2 bananas and some honey for my breakfast, which were very nice but I do miss being able to eat normal food.
While I ate, I read an interesting blog post from a westerner about Corona in Vietnam, check this out for a bit of perspective as to how it is in Vietnam:
https://vietnamweekly.substack.com/p/vietnams-outbreak-splits-in-two
When Captain Caveman returned he had 3 pieces of information to update me on;
1) Oxalis had received confirmation of the Son Doong tours from the 6th July and he would be very busy, hopefully for the rest of the season (July and August tour dates),
2) We only have 1.5 million vnd (£48) left to last us until pay day in 10 days time, and
3) Captain Caveman had brought me some crisps from The Villas, the Naturals ones, which I love. He had also tried to get me a memory stick or a SD card and couldn’t, so I was still struggling to get my phone to work properly and, with the money situation, Captain Caveman said he would rather spend the money on gin. I didn’t agree but, of course, it’s his money so I didn’t get to make the decision.
Captain Caveman had a crisp sandwich and beer for lunch I had crisps with a small piece of bread, no butter, and a Strongbow by the pool. I roasted 6 aubergines and what felt like hundreds of cloves of garlic until I was a hot, purple, sweaty mess, in the heat of the kitchen. Captain Caveman made Baba Ganoush with the cooked aubergines once I had shoved it all in a jar with the peeled garlic (I can see why people buy the Lazy Garlic jars)! He made a lovely dinner of chicken, potatoes, onions and peppers with BBQ sauce which (again) would have gone well with a nice glass of wine. Wine is expensive here so I was trying my best to go without but a life without cheese and wine is not a good one and I missed it, a lot!

On Sunday 27th June Captain Caveman didn’t go to Oxalis but he did get a message to confirm his next Son Doong tour would be on the 9th July, with the briefing on the 8th, so he was very happy about that. I completed a few blogs in bed but couldn’t post them because of the phone issues and so lined them up in drafts for when I can. I finally got up to make pancakes at 11.45am and when I started making the mixture Captain Caveman appeared and started making a cooked breakfast without any consultation. He made us both bacon, mushrooms, peppers, potatoes and onion (him with added egg) and so mine was ready while I was still stirring the pancake mix. I ended up making a mess of it because I couldn’t remember how much milk and water I had added and put it in a jar in the fridge. After breakfast I caught up with more writing and apart from a break for a Baba Ganoush lunch I kept myself busy. I finally got in the pool after 5pm, Captain Caveman was already in there and, while Veronika and Howie went up to Phong Nha Farmstay for Sunday Roast dinner, we had decided that spending 600,000vnd (£19.20) from our remaining funds was not a sensible action and we made a chicken dinner at home instead. I roasted a whole pumpkin, in batches, so that we could have some with dinner and the rest I could make a soup with tomorrow. I even attempted Yorkshire pudding with the batter mix from earlier but it was not very successful, I thought it was the almond milk that ruined it but Captain Caveman thought that 230°C wasn’t hot enough! Before bed I found an app to track everything I eat and drink as well as my reactions and any symptoms for allergies, I added a week’s worth of data and it told me dragon fruit is my allergy of the week so far! It obviously needs more information so I will continue for a month and see what it comes up with.

Phong Nha – the 3rd weekend of June

On Friday 18th June I woke up aching and sweating profusely, my left arm wouldn’t move and my hip and shoulder were a little sore too. I was disappointed as we had arranged to cycle to Karst Villas to meet some friends for lunch but there was no way I could go, I struggled to put knickers on and definitely couldn’t manage a bra. Luckily I had taken advice from family to take paracetamol which was helping with the strange headache I had. Captain Caveman had gone to Phong Nha while I rested and read the news. In Saigon the Corona case count was getting worse, more info here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210618/ho-chi-minh-city-detects-nearly-150-domestic-coronavirus-cases-its-largestever-daily-count/61600.html
I managed to get myself a banana and some gluten free cake for breakfast but was a bit naughty for lunch and had a ham and cheese sandwich with just a bit of uncooked cheese on – I expected to be ill but was fine.
When Captain Caveman got home he said our friends might join the pizza night later but they were finding it difficult and expensive to get a taxi from Karst Villas to town and so they weren’t sure. I managed to dress myself by the time Ben came to pick us up for pizza night. At The Villas there was a few of us for pizza; Andrew, Trang, Chung Son, Veronika, Bich and Ben. I had a couple of glasses of wine and only managed 6 slices of delicious pizza. I was so tired that we decided to go straight to bed when we got home, before I’d cleaned my teeth and got in bed, Captain Caveman was already snoring away!

We woke up to a muffled noise in the living room on Saturday 19th June so Captain Caveman went out to have a look. We were having new cushions on the sofa in a brown fabric and they looked lovely. I also checked to see if I’d had a response from my message to Minh Thuy asking for a photo of my visa stamp in my passport, there had been a few cases where an extension had been granted but with the XC on it which meant having to leave at the end of this extension and I wanted to check if it had that. Now that I had received one jab I would really like to get the second one before I have to leave, and obviously just wanted to know but I got no reply.
After a month of Danang having no more Corona cases in the community there came a news article to say there was one, reported as coming from Saigon, more here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210619/da-nang-records-first-local-coronavirus-case-in-one-month-related-to-driver-from-saigon/61603.html
My arm was still aching and the headache was still bad enough for paracetamol, which I had almost ran out of, plus I still felt more tired than usual – it was hard to tell if it was the jab or the heat which caused it though! I didn’t bother with breakfast but I decided to have one of the frozen sausage rolls which Captain Caveman had brought back from Momma D’s. I knew I shouldn’t but it was really tasty and not bad for 40,000vnd (£1.24), still not sure if it was worth the bad stomach though! In the afternoon my day took a turn for the worst when I discovered that my SD card (in my phone) was not working and had corrupted with a huge amount of photos on it as well as the laptop deciding it was not going to work either! I was so mad because it now meant I couldn’t add any photos to my joloyolo blog so was taking longer than usual. Typically, it looked like we needed to get a new laptop, but that was going to cost too much so we would try to buy a memory stick to take stuff off the laptop and free up some space to be able to check my phone’s SD card. For dinner Captain Caveman made prawns with rice noodles (after I had deveined and cleaned them up) and I had no alcohol, which is unusual for a Saturday.

On Sunday 20th June I spent too much stressful, and wasted, time trying to move photos from my phone to the laptop, only for me not to know if it worked as I was unable to view them on either device! I made myself 2 gluten free pancakes which I had with banana and honey and made enough mixture to last a few days. My arm was back to almost normal, unless I touched it, and the headache had gone.
In the Corona news here announcements were made of Danang closing down after 23 cases in a day, more here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/977893/da-nang-closes-off-beaches-and-sit-in-dining-again-as-new-covid-19-outbreak-emerges.html
Overall there were still not too many deaths but Vietnam were now up to 64 in total as deaths 63 & 64 were reported on, read the details here:
https://vietnaminsider.vn/vietnam-reports-two-more-covid-19-deaths/
For lunch I had peanut butter on toast but didn’t join in on the drinking by the pool with Captain Caveman. I decided I would like to go to the Farmstay Sunday roast this evening and we booked Duyet in for 6.30pm to take us in the jeep.
I had 2 glasses of red wine with my food and I asked for it without Yorkshire pudding (which I love) and the side of cheesy pasta but I did have a bit of gravy. Veronika had already drove her motorbike up to the Farmstay so she could have a swim and then her and Ben came to join our table for their dinner. Captain Caveman had cheesecake for pudding and he took mine home, along with some leftover dinner for me to have. It was a nice treat to go out for dinner but it did mean we would need to keep an eye on the budget for the rest of the month.

Phong Nha – 30th May

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

Photo & video credit – Captain Caveman and Tatas

Phong Nha – 23rd May

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

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

Plan A: go to SGN 23/5 17.45 alone

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

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

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

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

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

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

Phong Nha – 16th May

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

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

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

Phong Nha – 9th May

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

Phong Nha – the 1st weekend of May

On Saturday 1st May I was unable to get to The Villas and so I delegated seeing Caroline and Vee off to Captain Caveman, who was cycling to Phong Nha anyway. The tyre on her Royal Enfield Himalayan motorbike had been replaced and she was leaving from Ho Khanh’s that morning, heading north for the next month!

Poison_I_Vee video by Captain Caveman

After catching up on the Corona news I cycled over to the Farmstay to meet Andrea and Captain Caveman for a late breakfast and I had a pho bo and an orange juice. Bruno and Rob joined us for lunch and I just shared a bit of Captain Caveman’s chicken quesadillas and then had lots of water and a coconut. I said farewell to Andrea and Bruno who were off to Chay Lap then on the Tu Lan 4 day Oxalis tour with the rest of the group the next day. My total cycling time was faster than expected at 17 minutes 3 seconds via the shortest route and I was getting better at keeping my foot and leg aligned.

Captain Caveman and Rob went cycling around the local area for a couple of hours while I put the chicken masaman in the rice cooker for later and added more potatoes and some carrots to it. When Captain Caveman returned home I had a surprise for him; as you can imagine he loves videoing my leg progress and was almost as excited as I was at my first walk down the stairs where I could step one foot in front of the other, instead of bringing one foot to the other on each step. I still had to hold on to the hand rail and the stepping wasn’t very smooth but my knee didn’t hurt at all, just my ankle was very stiff and a bit sore.
We celebrated with a bottle of fizz and the masaman curry which we had to enjoy in the bedroom as it was such a hot night and there is only Aircon in the bedrooms.

Captain Caveman’s video of me walking down the stairs

Captain Caveman was up at 6am on Sunday 2nd May and really excited to be on the same Tu Lan 4 day Oxalis tour as Andrea, Bruno, Johan, Rob and Anthony, even though he was still working he would enjoy having his friends on this trip. I stayed in bed a bit longer and read the latest Corona news which had started to get a little more concerning than usual. A temporary hospital had been set up in Ha Nam ready to start treating new patients if the 4th wave got worse, more info here:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/938430/500-bed-temporary-hospital-set-up-in-ha-nam-to-treat-covid-19-patients.html
Worryingly, it was confirmed that the first of the Indian double mutant strain is in Vietnam – people are worried:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210502/vietnam-detects-double-mutant-indian-variant-of-coronavirus-for-1st-time/60677.html
I cheered myself up by making gluten-free pancakes for breakfast and I made enough mixture to save in the fridge for a few more days. I did more writing and then I noticed that Below Deck had more episodes available on Netflix so I just had to watch it. I had fruit salad for lunch and had planned to go to Sunday dinner at the Farmstay but being on a budget and knowing it would be mega busy for the holiday weekend I decided to have veggie rice, a white russian and some walnuts at home – much cheaper and healthier!

Danang – 25th April

We decided to take Captain Caveman for a breakfast at Pho Thin on Sunday 25th April, even though he rarely eats pho. It was my 3rd time and his first but we all enjoyed our pho bo very much. Captain Caveman was very impressed with the hotel too and loved the industrial feel and bridge artwork at Bridges Danang Boutique Hotel.
In the Vietnamese news there were reports of increased risk of Corona outbreaks coming into Vietnam illegally and it was becoming a bit more concerning. Here’s the info:
https://vietnamnews.vn/society/933140/health-minister-urges-localities-to-be-vigilant-for-covid-19-amid-regional-outbreaks.html

After a bit of a rest our next stop was to meet Des at Roadhouse for a cheap beer because he felt bad about last night. Roadhouse was a small place and we got there just as the friendly owner was opening up for the day. Captain Caveman had a draft pint of Huda, Des stuck with a bottle of Huda and I had a soft drink, until the next round when I went on to the red wine. We decided to order burgers and Captain Caveman hilariously actually ordered by saying he would have a ‘big black cock’ because he thought that’s what BBC stood for (it was Beef, Bacon, Cheese – OMG)! I ordered a single dad naked which was without the bread and some chips and cheese. All the food was tasty and really good value so it was a great recommendation from Des.

Next we went to meet Steve and June at Dirty Fingers and bumped in to some of the others who were already enjoying a drink. There was a BBQ on and a promise of a live band later but we already had plans for a Sunday dinner. June and I sat chatting while the boys talked about sports and we had some very nice wine before Captain Caveman and I had to go back to the hotel to pack and check out.

I’d arranged for us to have a late check out from Bridges Danang Boutique Hotel on Sunday 25th April but leave our bags in reception from 6pm, we planned to get the 00.35 train to Dong Hoi and so would be back before midnight to collect them. Hamish had arranged a table at The Nomad Kitchen for 14 of us for Sunday dinner and a rather merry Des had decided to join too – he was having a second go at his birthday celebration! Captain Caveman and I were the first to arrive and we took some photos of me outside with the angel wings and all the motorbikes in front of the painting. We ordered the carafes of wine, which were great value, for me, June and Captain Caveman. Steve and Des had beer, Hamish and Ania were next to arrive with wine and join the table. They usually come with their mates on a Sunday for the roast dinner and so they had asked Captain Caveman and I to join them to put it to the test. Unfortunately there was some short staffing issues that night but we didn’t particularly notice it as we put our order in first, most of us going for buffalo meat, June had chicken. The meat was gorgeous, so tender and the veg cooked well except for a couple of us having undercooked potatoes. This was sorted out though and we were given a couple more nicely cooked ones. The Yorkshire puddings were marvellous and I didn’t get a gluten reaction from them which was great. The portion sizes aren’t big but for 130,000vnd (£4) it’s not to be sniffed at. Captain Caveman even ordered a dessert of apple pie with cream which went down a treat! Because we were getting the train just after midnight we also decided to order a takeaway; Captain Caveman enjoyed the buffalo meat so much that he chose to have that in a sandwich, I ordered a falafel salad. The Nomad Kitchen closes at 10.30pm so we ordered the food for then but, unfortunately, Captain Caveman was told too late that there was no buffalo left and so he didn’t get a takeaway. Because he was drunk he wasn’t best pleased that he had not been told earlier and had a bit of a strop, shouting at Daniel the chef – which was a bit embarrassing! We said our goodbyes to June and Steve then left to join Hamish, Ania and Mik, at Oi Bar for one last ‘end of holiday’ drink. I had a vodka and coke to try to keep me awake and then it was time to go get our bags and head off to the station. We said our goodbyes to Hamish, Mik and Des before getting a Grab taxi with Ania back to Bridges for our bags. It had been a fantastic week and I was grateful for all our friends’ hospitality and welcome, as well as very sad to be leaving. What a week, I think I was going to need a few days off to recover!

Phong Nha – 28th March

It was an early start, the 5.30am tannoy blaring out, and I had a slight hangover, on Sunday 28th March. Captain Caveman was off to Son Doong but still had time to make me bacon and mushrooms for breakfast in bed. After Captain Caveman had said goodbye and left for Phong Nha I tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t so I checked the news to see there was a report of a Phu Quoc Corona risk – more info here:
https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210328/vietnam-s-phu-quoc-island-grapples-to-prevent-covid19-threats-from-border-jumpers/60015.html
I went to the Phong Nha Farmstay as Bluey needed to be retrieved after I had left her there over night. I had a second breakfast of pho bo and bumped in to Annette, Sonya, Ania and Hamish, some of who were hung over too. I stayed for a lunch of fried veggie spring rolls and an orange juice which resulted in stomach pains and a few visits to the toilet half way through, so had to take leftovers home with me. There was definitely something odd going on with my stomach which couldn’t be gluten or dairy related and I was beginning to wonder if I was allergic to booze! I eventually left the Farmstay to cycle the short route back home in 9 minutes 6 seconds, having agreed that white wine and tequila is not a good combo and to meet back tonight for Sunday dinner.
I had to have an afternoon sleep because I was feeling fragile so when I made it back the the Farmstay, Veronika had already almost finished her meal, Annette and Sonya were just about to start, Hamish and Ania didn’t make it out for dinner. We were sat at the darkest table and so I only ate a bit of mine and took the rest home, along with a piece of frozen cheesecake. I’d spent a total of 460,000vnd (£14.26) for breakfast, lunch and dinner with a glass of house wine.