When I woke up on Saturday 20th November I had messages from Captain Caveman who had spotted that my mom had been spoofed on Facebook, he (and others) had received a friend request from a profile of the same name and birthday but it wasn’t my mom. He’d let her know and then I messaged friends to let them know to delete the 2nd Anne Williams. I had buttered toast for breakfast and then tackled trying to find the Turkish app where I can view my vaccine status. I was going to need this to go to England so it was important I figured it out and was pleased to get it working. It was a sunny day, there were more leaves on the bougainvillea and I met the lady outside Maizie Moo to bring her to look at my rug (not a euphemism) which she paid me for and took it with her. In the afternoon I popped over to my mom’s, then Vanessa’s to help her with some paper work but ended up having some wine which we had to force our way into when the cork broke! In the evening I had a lovely meal with Ann, Angela, Nick and Maddie – Ann had cooked us two delicious pies with roast potatoes and broccoli and it was so good. I met her dogs, we drank wine, listened to music and ate so well! Amazingly my stomach was absolutely fine and I even managed a nice sized portion of Ann’s homemade cheesecake too – it was such a marvellous Saturday!
Sunday 21st November was also a lovely day in Dalyan and I had both cornflakes and toast for breakfast seeing as my stomach was as normal as it could ever be. The building site villa next door was definitely taking shape and I decided to order some things from Sara and Emma for the Christmas Fayre. Sara was doing chocolate truffles and mincepies, Emma sausage rolls and meat & potato pies. For lunch I had a home made chicken wrap and had arranged to try something new later on. Since I’d been in Dalyan I hadn’t tried a Sunday dinner at Heybe’s yet, mainly because I prefer to eat the Işkender kebab there but when Vanessa suggested it, I was definitely up for it, for a change. I had a beer to start off and we sat at a nice table inside, Vanessa had wine and soda. The soup was a very tasty tomato, we both had beef for our mains and the food was very good and plenty of it. The best bit was the 2 Yorkshire puddings which were definitely as good as I make and you could tell that Donny had mastered them well. I took home leftovers of beef, potato and broccoli so that I had room to try the dessert. The apple crumble came in a margarita glass and was served with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, I don’t like chocolate ice-cream so I took that off but I don’t think it goes with apple anyway. I also had a glass of red wine and we had a good old natter, as usual, including discussing our Christmas plans. We finished the night off with a lovely Turkish tea and then went home for an early night.
Sunday 14th November was a really good day for me, I’d stopped being ill and managed a probiotic drink and toast for breakfast. I decided I would make a beef stew in the slow cooker and I finished off my parents’ laundry ready to take it over to their’s the next time I was passing. My eczema was really quite bad again, even though I had been remembering to put cream on from Maizie Moo’s and I could only put it down to eating normally for the last few weeks. Captain Caveman had returned from Tu Lan but was too tired for a chat today and I read that Austria had introduced a type of lockdown for all unvaccinated people, more here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59283128 On the building site the concrete floor got poured and the workers clocked off. I had some of the beef stew for lunch and it was so delicious that I hardly wanted to save any. That afternoon I noticed that the number of Corona cases in the province of Balikesir, further north in Turkey, was having a surge, despite 81% of their population being fully vaccinated and I wondered if planning a trip up there might be a bit hasty, so near to us needing to travel back to the UK. For dinner I reheated the Mac & Cheese I had in the freezer and finished off the last of the plums. My finger was hurting and so I left the plaster off of the cut to try to get some air to it, watched Start Up on Netflix, then had an early night.
I woke up on Monday 15th November to some interesting news; Cambodia had opened the country to vaccinated people, read about it here: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50971077/cambodia-throws-the-gauntlet-at-asean-as-it-obliterates-entry-restrictions/?fbclid=IwAR01Gplpv86AOPTcKE99WqT9xlIXutKql4fSzS7Jim8sk0Nrh2d6Ntt_dlM Meanwhile, in Saigon this monkey was causing concern: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20211115/onefooted-monkey-attacks-residents-in-ho-chi-minh-city/64149.html In Vietnam they had allowed certain tourists in and had reached only 34% of the population being vaccinated, Dong Hoi had cases which had resulted in new lockdowns, but there was talk of vaccinating children so that more schools could reopen. In Turkey the lira had hit 14 to the pound and I was also concerned that I still needed to book and pay for my flight from Dalaman to Istanbul but was waiting for nearer the time in case there was any lockdown here or in the UK. I ate all my meals at home today as I was trying to save a bit of money, ready for my trip back at Christmas as England was probably going to be expensive compared to what I’m used to. I was also trying to keep track of what I was eating more. I went to the supermarket for some provisions and stopped off at the chemist for plasters that I no longer needed but were good to have. The shopping from Migros with prices in lira:
1 pack of pasta 3.36 1 pack of salami 4.15 1 Bounty 4.95 1 pack of cheese triangles 6.25 1 bag of crisps 8.00 1 litre of milk 8.75 4 probiotic drinks 17.00 1 chicken 19.36 1 bottle of HP BBQ sauce 21.95 3 chicken breasts 26.11
Total spend 115.63 lira (£8.26)
It was a bit expensive for a Bounty but I was really craving a chocolate bar, especially an English one. My absolute favourite is a Double Decker which they don’t have here.
The builders next door were receiving the latest concrete pours for the columns on the next floor of the structure. I had a call from Captain Caveman, he was well but he said he was feeling the cold a bit now as Phong Nha had definitely cooled down. When I checked that the housekeeping staff had put his duvet back on he replied that he only had a sheet so he was cold in bed without me. As soon as we finished talking I had a group chat with the Elements Collection staff, in my terrible Vietnamese, to ask that the duvet be put on. For dinner I had some Lancashire hotpot which I’d made a while ago and put in the freezer – it’s also gluten free because instead of thickening it with flour I used red lentils.
I had another easy going day on Tuesday 16th November and made a big batch of chicken noodle soup in the slow cooker, while catching up on a few things. The Dalyan main bar street and the walk way by the river were about to get a make over which many people on Facebook were taking umbrage over. I saved a couple of the photos and didn’t bother going to see for myself as it looked a bit uneven for someone with a dodgy leg anyway. I had planned to take my parents’ washing back and return Vanessa’s suitcase so I thought I could do them all at the same time, but then I forgot and it got too chilly to venture out. I had a couple of red wines, my first alcohol since Friday, with my gorgeous chicken noodle soup, then finished watching the rest of Start Up on Netflix. Tomorrow I had nothing planned but sometimes Dalyan has a way of changing that!
There was some excitement on Sunday 31st October as I was about to meet up with a good friend from Sheffield, who I’d not seen for almost 2 years. I woke up and was looking a bit better for having slept in and I had my cornflakes for breakfast without any issues. I spoke to Captain Caveman who was doing well in Phong Nha and didn’t really seem to be missing me too much. I was missing him but I played it cool and pretended I’d been too busy to notice even though I was missing his cooking and foot tickles a lot! It was a bit cooler today but it wasn’t raining yet, as predicted, although I did get my warm slippers and the old raincoat out. Vanessa and I had arranged to meet for a Lukka bar Sunday dinner at 2.30pm and when I got there she was already there with a white wine and soda – we were so pleased to see each other and we did have a hug! Mehmet could see that I might need more than a glass of wine and so I got a bottle of red wine while we caught up on quite a few things; family, health issues, Dalyan plans and lots of digressing in-between. We both had the roast beef Sunday dinner and it was really good, this time I managed to eat almost all of it and still have room (after a good rest) for the apple crumble and ice-cream. We both have similar stomach issues and both think we have food allergies/intolerances so when I told Vanessa my plans to get tested after being here 6 weeks, she was also up for joining me. The gravy, cauliflower cheese and Yorkshire pudding are usually a no-go for me but I was pretty good after eating it all. My parents joined us for a drink, by which time we were merry, Sarah and Katrina had also sat down next to us and I couldn’t finish my wine. We decided to leave Lukka with my wine being saved behind the bar with my name on, Vanessa went home and I said I’d join ma & pa for dinner, even though I was still quite full from lunch.
They had chosen to go to Kebapçı Yusuf again and it’s always excellent service with great food at very reasonable prices. I had a mixed pide but had to take more than half of it home, my mom had a chicken shish and dad had meatballs, we shared some chips and they gave us a complimentary salad which I took half of home too. My parents, who hadn’t been drinking in the afternoon decided to continue their night but I just couldn’t carry on so I took my leftovers and went home. Instead of being out doing anything Halloween related (which I don’t celebrate anyway) I was in bed by 8.30pm reading a post on Facebook that reminded me that, although I wouldn’t have to automatically self isolate in England when I land, if anyone tests positive who have been on any of the same planes, I would have to – that was a bit rubbish as I could see in various Facebook groups that it seemed to be quite a common occurrence!
The end of October had definitely come round very quickly and it was hard to believe that I had been in Turkey for almost 6 weeks. I had been living an almost normal life with less walking than I’d have liked and more alcohol than probably wise. Having said that, I was 0.5kg lighter on the last day of October than I was at the beginning. I’d been lucky enough to meet up with friends and was organising more of that right through to the end of the year. I’d visited more new places and revisited old favourites with the highlight of the month being getting to see my parents again for the first time since 25th October 2019! Of course I wished Captain Caveman was able to be here in Dalyan with me, enjoying all the trips and good times but I also understood that it would not be that easy for him to return to Vietnam and we could not put his job at risk, I just hoped we were lucky enough not to have to wait a whole year to see each other again. There were still things I missed about being in Phong Nha that I had to keep putting to the back of my mind, knowing that coming to Turkey was the right thing to do and had ultimately meant I could become a resident here, in Dalyan. This blog was doing well and had 353% more views this month than the previous one, I was now looking in to ways I could monetise it without compromising it too much, ready for next year. In October the top countries for viewers were UK, Turkey, Vietnam, Netherlands, Australia and USA and it was good to see a couple of new countries popping up on the stats, including a couple of views from Azerbaijan.
People I knew seemed not to be following the Corona numbers any longer, due to various reasons, but I couldn’t shake that habit off and checked daily. Here’s a Corona data October summary for the 3 countries that have an impact on me and the people close to me:
Vietnam: October Cases 130,367 October Deaths 2,782 October Recoveries 211,503 October mortality rate 2.13% Total Cases 921,122 Total Deaths 22,083 Total Recoveries 820,334 Total mortality rate 2.4% Population 98 million
Turkey: October Cases 850,000 October Deaths 6,557 October Recoveries 880,000 October mortality rate 0.8% Total Cases 8 million Total Deaths 70,611 Total Recoveries 7.5m Total mortality rate 0.9% Population 85 million
UK: October Cases 1,200,000 October Deaths 3,970 October Recoveries 1,040,000 October mortality rate 0.33% Total Cases 9 million Total Deaths 140,632 Total Recoveries 7.36 million Total mortality rate 1.56% Population 68 million
In Vietnam the number of Corona cases in October were a third of the number in September which was good news that the strict lockdowns were definitely reducing the number of cases, it was reassuring to see that the number of deaths in October were only a quarter of the number of deaths in September. The number of recoveries were less in October to the previous month and the mortality rate had reduced too. A good news story but would it be short lived as the number of people with 2 doses of vaccine were still very low and now most of the lockdowns had ended people were free to move from infected areas to go back home, would this mean an increase and another wave for Vietnam? In Turkey, although the number of cases and deaths were still high, there was some good news; the number of cases and recoveries for October were 1,000 more than in September but the number of deaths were 1,000 less. The mortality rate had decreased too and hopefully as the winter months followed things would continue to improve. I still didn’t like not knowing how many cases there were where I lived but I guess it was still better than being told there were cases nearby when there wasn’t, like we were in Phong Nha. In the UK the number of cases in October were a 20% increase on September cases, the recoveries had increased too and the number of deaths were slightly less in October than September with the mortality rate showing a decrease. I just hoped it didn’t get any worse or result in lockdowns or travel limitations before I could visit. The world data was showing improvement with the number of cases and deaths dropping but the total number of deaths in the world attributed to Corona had now passed the 5 million mark.
My November was looking promising; I had another 12 days with ma & pa, I was finally going to find out what foods I was allergic or intolerant to, there would be more day trips, nights out, nights in and even my 2nd Pfizer vaccine so I had a lot to look forward to while Captain Caveman looked forward to getting on with his job at Oxalis!
After 34 days of eating all the things I thought I could be allergic to, without much reaction, I thought I was safe to go on a full day trip on Sunday 24th October – I would be very wrong! When I woke up I saw some news from Vietnam and was glad to hear from Captain Caveman that everyone in Phong Nha was safe, unfortunately people in Tam Ky hadn’t been so lucky – here’s the article: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20211024/vietnamese-province-evacuates-2500-residents-due-to-floods-landslides/63742.html. In Dalyan we were very lucky as the weather was dry and it was meant to be hot later in the day but at 8am it was pretty chilly, as I got ready for my pick up for the Mediterranean Highlights trip with Volkan Adventures. Our friend, Murat, picked me up and there was already a couple in the minibus. The next stop was to pick up ma & pa who were also very excited for this trip as it included a visit to Patara, where none of us had been before, and was also the last one of this particular trip for the year. We continued to pick up the rest of the customers which included a family of 7, a single lady and our friend, John. Then we were off for our short drive to the first stop which was for a hearty Turkish breakfast in a nice little spot. When we arrived Murat explained that we were early and the staff were getting our breakfast ready so we had a bit of time to take some photos. The sun wasn’t out yet and so we were all a bit cold, this was the coldest I’d been for a while and I had to put dad’s jumper on over my hoody, while John got out his travel towel and a buff. We sat at the breakfast table and we all got a hot drink just to warm our hands up and then the food started to come, there was a lot of it. I had a precautionary Gastropulgite sachet in case anything gave me a bad reaction then I tried a spinach filo pastry, a small amount of cheese, honey, jams, bread, chips and a savoury doughnut type of thing and it was all very lovely. Unfortunately my stomach decided this was the time to not accept such a feast of a breakfast and I was feeling a bit out of sorts after 2 toilet visits before we left for our next stop.
Unfortunately, the main highlight of the Mediterranean Highlights trip was closed. Murat explained that we were no longer able to visit Patara ancient town or beach and so our next stop was going to be Kalkan. I’d not been before and it had been some years since ma & pa had visited the town so we were a little disappointed but still fine as we know Murat and Volkan’s tours are usually really good. We hadn’t been travelling long when Murat stopped the minibus and went to a small shop to get waters and a sweet treat for everyone. I followed him for an impromptu toilet visit in the staff squat toilet which I was very grateful for, my bad leg wasn’t such a fan though. I felt a bit better and took one of mom’s imodium instant tablets, even though I’d already had one of my normal ones. A bit further along the journey we had a quick stop at the roadside to admire a view, by which time my mom said I looked grey and I felt terrible. I got off as I thought I might be sick and wasn’t sure whether I should ask to stay there and get a taxi to come to take me home while the others continued on. Murat reassured me that it wouldn’t be a problem to continue on and they would stop at any (or every) services they could for if I needed the toilet. The next couple of stops had very good western style facilities which I took full advantage of, all had toilet paper and soap, one even had toilet seat liners, but I wasn’t feeling any better. As everyone had a complimentary choc-ice I had to head back in to the toilets and this time I was vomitting. On the bus I put my mask on, had my hoody on and tried to sleep for a bit, but I felt cold even though the temperature was warm.
When we got to Kalkan it was a picture postcard type of town with very steep winding streets and a harbour, the beach was pebbled and it was nice and sunny as we headed to a restaurant called Gusto for our (included) lunch. Obviously, I could barely look at the menu so I had just a soda water and no lunch while my parents ordered a beer each and chicken wraps for their’s. Next to me were the grandparents of the family, who both had a mussel casserole (that didn’t help my sickly feeling one bit) and the mother of the family sat opposite me, had calamari. Others ate halloumi salad, pasta, noodles and generally everything I thought best to avoid. Although lunch was included the drinks were not and so when my mom went to pay for the beers and soda I was astonished that the beer was 45 lira (£3.44) and the soda 20 lira!!! This was almost twice the price of Dalyan and so rather than go somewhere else for drinks we decided to walk to the beach. Because both me and mom have bad legs we found it hard to walk on the pebbles so we decided not to go in the sea, Dad was going to but then he changed his mind and left the beach. I’d popped my shorts on and so had to hurry to catch up, then we walked back to where we started and bumped in to John. We had a little saunter along the harbour front, John got an ice-cream, I felt ill still but now there wasn’t really any going back and I didn’t want to ruin the day for my parents so we decided to carry on. I had more toilet visits and imodium, thinking I’d not be able to go for a week after this but they just weren’t working. One of the ladies on the trip said it could be the Norovirus which had been going round and I thought she might be right at first, or food poisoning but everyone ate the same and they were all fine.
I managed to get to Kaş where Murat lead us on some steep streets and we had a little tour of the lovely town. He also pointed out a meeting spot for later and gave us free time to do what we liked. I thought I’d try to check out some ideas for a girls weekend away as everyone was up for a visit to Kaş but I didn’t get very far as I found it harder on my leg than I thought I would. I found it difficult to concentrate on finding a place to go for a drink because I was trying to will myself to feel better too. My Dad’s eyesight was ok but he wasn’t forthcoming with suggestions and my Mom just said it’s up to us – all I wanted was to lay down and sleep! A lot of the places on the front were very pricey so we decided to go down the back streets but lots of places weren’t serving alcohol. Eventually I spotted a gorgeous little place called Frida’s and we plonked ourselves down. My parents had a couple of beers at a more reasonable price of 32 lira each and I avoided alcohol again. From there we had a short walk to the meeting point and then we walked to the bus as a group, we drove about 10 minutes to where everyone (but me) would eat our evening meal.
When we arrived it was clear that there would have been time better spent if we had got there an hour or so earlier as the sun was just setting and it was a lovely alcove beach with a nice spot for swimming. Some of the family on the trip still went in the sea but it was too dark to see where we were going for me and Dad. I had started to feel like I could probably eat but I had a word with Murat to ask if it would be possible to get my dinner (also included in the trip) to takeaway, which of course was fine. It was like torture for me when I had to dish out food to the others on the table and I really wanted to eat the garlic prawns but of course it wasn’t worth the risk – I had a 3 hour drive back to survive yet. As the evening was drawing to a close Volkan and his dance partner did us a few dances and they were pretty impressive. I drank only soda water (a bargain 5 lira) and willed myself to be able to make the minibus ride home without incident. At this last place, which was 10 minutes outside of Kaş, the drinks were normal prices and the food looked delicious, by this time I was looking forward to eating some of my doggy bag when I got home. The drive home was uneventful and we arrived back in Dalyan just before midnight – I was so ready for bed but I ate 2 small cubes of chicken shish, a slice of bread and some salad before bed. The cost of the day trip was £75 but it was a shame I had been too poorly to really enjoy it and I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see Patara. We even joked that instead of a Mediterranean Highlights blog, I would be writing a bog blog about this day! I looked forward to next season when we could enjoy some more of Volkan Adventures trips and be in better health.
I woke up early on Sunday 10th October and was trying to do some blogging but the power was off. I had quark with pomegranate sauce and honey for breakfast. The cyst was very sore now and, as the doctor wasn’t open on a weekend, I walked to the only open pharmacy in Dalyan to see if I could get some antibiotics/cream or something. When I spoke to the lady behind the counter and then showed her the offending shoulder cyst, she was quite alarmed and said I needed to go to the hospital straight away. I explained I would go tomorrow but I needed to get some antibiotic cream at least as it was now getting more difficult to find clothes that didn’t irritate it and I’d stopped wearing a bra. She reluctantly sold me some cream for 23 lira (£1.95) and off I went back home to have a rather painful exchange of messages with Captain Caveman about Tupperware! I had asked him to take a photo of the locking style Tupperware that we use in Phong Nha, instead he sent me a screenshot of a photo of a generic Tupperware box from the internet, I’d already managed that myself but I needed to explain to a Turkish person exactly what I wanted to buy. For lunch I made some of the bolognese into a pasta bake, this time with non-vegan cheese which was much better. I went to the bank to get the cash I needed to give Sonuç for my health insurance renewal and I went to meet Annie. She was flying back home to England tonight and so we decided to have a drink at Dalyano’s, they do lovely cocktails but we stuck to beer. We’d not been there long when John cycled past but then stopped and did a U-turn; John is the bloke who 2 years ago I had pushed in a wheelchair so that he could still take part in the 5k Caretta ‘run’ to raise money for charity. The 3 of us had a good old laugh and I didn’t want to leave, we really should have arranged it sooner, but I was booked in for another Sunday dinner at Lukka bar where I had agreed to meet Katrina and Sarah.
Annie and I said bye to John and walked to Lukka, we sat out the front and ordered a beer, she was sad to be leaving but also looking forward to going home after 16 days holiday. My Sunday dinner was very filling and, again, I had to take half of my dinner home but of course, I managed to eat all of the delicious apple crumble with ice-cream. We said goodbye to Annie and hoped she might be able to get a reasonably priced flight out for later this year but we would see. Sarah and Katrina decided to not eat Sunday dinner and wanted to order from the main menu, Sarah had the steak and cheese baguette, Katrina the chicken schnitzel and both looked very good. Back home I wanted to watch Netflix but, after the power cut this morning, it had stopped working. I had an early night as I knew that tomorrow I was going to see a doctor.
I was awake before 7am on Sunday 3rd October but I went back to sleep for an hour before getting up to do a few chores. I did most of the unpacking of my stuff that I left here in boxes, laundry, washing stuff in the cupboards and getting ready to welcome Melissa and her family to Dalyan later. I had fresh bread and butter for breakfast and then I decided to rearrange the furniture so that the kitchen table is up against the wall near the stairs and not so cramped in the kitchen – it would give me a better space to write from too. For lunch I had hummus with bread and olives and I decided to try something new by doing baked potatoes in the slow cooker, to see how they turned out and they were pretty good.
There was some excitement that afternoon as I had booked in to Lukka bar to have one of their Sunday dinners. I joined a table with Katrina and her friend, Tunc, and enjoyed a glass of red wine before the meal came. This was my first Sunday dinner in Dalyan, having not been in the UK for 3 years and not in Dalyan for 1 year 8 months I had missed eating proper Yorkshire puddings so I was looking forward to a nice roast dinner. I’d previously rather enjoyed the Phong Nha Farmstay Sunday dinners but due to money and then lockdown, I’d not had one of them for ages, either. When the plate was placed in front of me I was amazed at how good it looked, especially as the photos on the Lukka Facebook page didn’t show how big the portion was and a photo can never describe how good the gravy is, which there was lashings of! The cauliflower cheese was great, the beef just melted in my mouth and I had to save some of it to take home so that I could fit in my pudding, which is included in the price. The apple crumble was made to perfection with just the right ratio of apple to crumble for my liking, topped off with a blob of ice-cream. To enable me to fit in the dessert I had to have a good hour or so gap, with a couple of extra wines before I tackled it. Because I’m no longer having gluten free meals I got to enjoy the whole thing without any special dietary amendments and it was so good. The cost of it was 110 lira (£9.32) which isn’t the cheapest Sunday dinner in Dalyan but you certainly get what you pay for, the meat quality was top notch and I had enough left for a 2nd meal. I went home very full and, as I sat down to watch some more Line of Duty, I got some good news; my friends who I met in Phong Nha (Mik, Kendra & Bryan, Hamish & Ania) were coming to Dalyan later in the year for a bit of a reunion holiday – how exciting.
I had an amazing day on Sunday 26th September; on the first night I had arrived I’d been invited to join friends on a day out. The boat trip was with Captain Boris Boats and they are really good, my last trip with them was a boxing day one which I thoroughly enjoyed and their food is always outstanding. The owners are such a good laugh as well as being extremely accommodating. Sarah came to call for me on her new tricycle with 2 giddy dogs and I checked if she realised we were going on a boat. She was going to leave her bike by the river and the dogs would make their way home, apparently. There was quite a party of us, the organiser wasn’t feeling too well but was determined to soldier on, another lady doesn’t like boats and was a bit unsure about going but was there, most of the rest were people I’d already met up with in the few days I’d been in Dalyan. Jamie was hungover as he’d been up drinking until 6.30am but he was still the first to get an alcoholic drink. There was an issue with the white wine so I had a rosé with Jax and Captain Boris made arrangements for a prompt restock of the white for our lunch. Once we stopped at Köyceğiz lake Nick and Annie bravely had a dip in the cold water, but I didn’t go for a swim – it felt a bit too chilly compared to the Vietnamese temperatures, even though it was a hot, sunny day. After the lake Captain Boris was having a quick wine pick up in Dalyan and then on to the area at the back of the beach for our lunch and an optional dip. More white wine was delivered but we lost one of the party as the lady who didn’t have her sea legs on got off, the rest of us stayed on and went to the beach. I enjoyed a white with soda water while I caught a bit of sun on the comfy seats at the front of the boat and admired the gorgeous scenery along the river. The buffet lunch was fantastic, there was lots of different dishes including chicken, köfte, prawns, salads and mezzes that were so delicious that I had to have more than one helping! More booze flowed for most of us, I’d moved on to the red wine, followed by some music from Onur, who had brought his guitar and is a great singer. In memory of Graeme, Jamie’s husband, we all were treated to a cocktail called Mr G and it went down well on the front of the boat with the sun shining. The day had gone so fast and had been such a relaxing trip, my first on a Dalyan boat in 1 year and 9 months. When we got back a few of us decided to have a nice cocktail in the Rum Bar, where I bumped into my next door neighbours, who’d just arrived in Dalyan. That night I didn’t need any dinner that evening, I started watching Series 3 of The Fall on Netflix but I was having trouble staying awake.
Sunday 19th September was one of those remarkably good days, it was my 25th day of #STFAH during the lockdowns and Captain Caveman made me the best breakfast ever! Beans on (Lake House sourdough) toast with Stu’s smoked bacon, it was so delicious and I had missed baked beans more than I ever thought I would. The number of Corona cases in our district were none and there were none in Dong Hoi. This was good news because tomorrow I was attempting to leave Quang Binh again; I had booked to have my PCR test at Medlatec in Dong Hoi, which I had booked on their Facebook page, I’d booked a taxi there and back with the Phong Nha Farmstay receptionist and I had also decided to combine it with an ‘essential’ shopping trip. Captain Caveman got on with writing a shopping list while I got the suitcases back out and had a repack. We knew, in order to leave Vietnam for Turkey, that I needed to have a flight out of Turkey before my free 3 months visa was expired there. Even though I fully intended to renew my expired residency in Turkey, the rules don’t allow for me to not have an onward flight out of Turkey booked, so Captain Caveman had a look for a cheap flight for me while I had a dip in the pool. Before we knew it we had found a flight, booked and even managed to get it within the dates of me having my 3rd and 4th vaccines in Turkey, assuming I will need them to get back in to Turkey and possibly to get in to the UK without quarantine, by then. So, I now had a flight booked from Istanbul to Heathrow which would land on Saturday 11th December at 4pm, how exciting that I would probably get to use it too. It was only £35 so a bit of a bargain and I could now go back to my home town for Christmas, even if I had to self isolate for 10 days down south first!
In the afternoon I still didn’t know if I was leaving or not, we would find out tomorrow, but we did decide to do something a bit naughty. Veronika had invited us over to say bye and drink some sparkling Lindeman’s white wine at her Jungalo Collection private pool villa, next to the Phong Nha Farmstay. Captain Caveman had already gone to Stu’s to pick up some ‘essential’ pork products while I took Veronika’s remaining box of kitchen stuff, in the jeep with Duyet. There was no longer a blockade between Elements and the Farmstay so it worked out ok, Captain Caveman was there to meet me and carry the box when I arrived. Veronika had hummus, roasted peppers, olives and rice crackers too for us to have with the chilled bubbly. We thought, if my plan comes off, it would be the last time I would see her for a while, so we ended up having 3 bottles of the fizz, Bich and Ben came over and they gave us pizza and calamari. It was the end of an era as I said my goodbyes and I was sad that we didn’t know when I would see them all again. I was also pretty tiddly and it probably wasn’t the best thing to do when I would perhaps be having the longest day in quite a while, tomorrow! In my head I was expecting that I would be still in Phong Nha for Christmas so it was all a bit unknown right now.
I read the news while eating dragon fruit and a small slice of peanut butter on toast for breakfast on Sunday 22nd August. A Vietnamese woman had been caught selling vaccination appointments to people in Saigon, people are desperate so were paying to get them when they will be given them for free, more info here: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210822/woman-nabbed-for-selling-covid19-vaccination-slots-in-ho-chi-minh-city/62713.html My finger, the one I burnt on the oven door a couple of days ago, was now sporting a blister, my phone wouldn’t recognise the fingerprint unlock function and it was really quite sore. I’d tried putting a plaster on but we only had the really basic ones which as soon as they got wet, were useless. I ended up having to cover it in Sudocrem and put a bandage on it. Captain Caveman had arranged for us to go over to Stu’s house, The Belafonte, to have lunch with him and the boys. We packed our swimmers and Captain Caveman bought some beers to take round to drink. We left the Elements Collection at around 11.15am on Trigger, the motorbike, which I was so grateful of due to it being so hot and we were in for a pleasant afternoon. Stu had prepared some chicken and salad which we had with fresh baguettes – it was delicious and I managed 2, Captain Caveman had 3 when Stu insisted he had another sandwich and politeness didn’t stop him. We only had a couple of beers as it can effect my tummy and Captain Caveman was driving so we spent quite a bit of time in the swimming pool. It was my first time in the big pool which is quite deep and has no steps to get out so I was concerned I might be in there a while. I think we were in the pool almost 2 hours just chatting shit and enjoying swimming in a bigger, deeper pool. When it came to get out I managed it with just a bit of help from Captain Caveman and was absolutely fine. Unfortunately my stomach was still a bit temperamental and so we said our farewells and headed back home for a siesta. Later that day we decided to seriously look at my leaving plans, after all I legally only had 18 days left in Vietnam. We came up with this itinerary, initially for in a week’s time:
Monday 8am PCR test, pick up results at 2pm. Leave at 7pm and drive to Hanoi, Tuesday arrive at Hanoi airport at 5am, Check-in 9.30am, Fly at 12.30pm via Singapore with 8.5 hrs in transit at the airport, then fly on to Istanbul, then fly to Dalaman, Car pick up to Dalyan.
It would be possible to do it earlier than I needed to leave but we both agreed sooner would be better now that we had decided. The good thing about booking this flight was if it cancelled there was another one at 18.50 the same day or 12.30 the next day so less room for problems (hopefully). Captain Caveman said he would book it when he got back from his 3 day work trip on Wednesday, as by then we were both expecting I would have had my 2nd vaccine. I was feeling fine again by dinner time so Captain Caveman made us a spaghetti dish to finish off a lovely weekend.
I was still in bed asleep on Sunday 15th August when Stu popped over to drop us the bacon and pulled pork off, Captain Caveman was already up and about in the kitchen making coffee and warming a croissant. He brought me up a cup of jasmine tea and then for breakfast I had a croissant, a banana and a mangosteen. I caught up on the news of various cities of Vietnam who were now facing longer lockdowns and stricter checkpoints to go in or out, locals had to provide documentation just to go to work and the hospitals in the major cities were at breaking point – makeshift ones were being built or disused buildings were being turned in to medical or quarantine facilities. I read about a terrible situation that occured with a sick man (not with Corona) who needed emergency care but didn’t get it (from 5 different hospitals) because they were dealing with more Corona cases, here’s the article: https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/20210815/man-dies-at-home-after-being-rejected-by-five-healthcare-facilities-in-southern-vietnam/62591.html When I went to get my towel for the pool it wasn’t there and Captain Caveman had decided to use mine, it was already wet through and round his waist. He already had one in the bathroom and one next to his bedside lamp – honestly! I went back in the bedroom with a face on and watched Sexy Beasts on Netflix which made me laugh. For lunch Captain Caveman tried to make amends for the using of all pool towels unnecessarily and went to make us some bruschetta. I’d already chopped the cucumber, tomato and onion for the salsa style topping but Captain Caveman had to toast the bread and add mango and olives to it – he forgot the olives. In the afternoon I was hungry (as is usual) so we had a mid afternoon snack of tortilla with the last of the pickled onions. While Veronika went to the Farmstay for Sunday roast, I made us a cheap dinner at home; BBQ jackfruit with potato wedges, red cabbage and carrot which was also pretty healthy too.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
joloyolo 