On Tuesday 4th October I went to the local doctors to see if I could get my Corona vaccine booster because my ‘Life Fits in to Home’ app had told me I was due one. This would be my 4th Turkish Pfizer jab, in addition to the 2 Astra Zeneca jabs in Vietnam prior. At the doctor’s they said they needed 6 people so they took my phone number to let me know when they had enough takers. I tootled off to Turkish class next and I really enjoyed my lesson. At midday I made a halloumi salad for lunch which was very nice then we waited for the temperature to drop a bit. It was still 30°C when Captain Caveman and I went out for a spot of shopping. Here’s what we got and the price in Lira;
Turkcell phone top up for the month 88.00 lira (£4.12)
By 5pm we were back home, on the balcony, sipping beer and nibbling on cheese while contemplating what to have for dinner. I cooked rice and a kind of chicken fajita dish which Captain Caveman had in a wrap but I just had rice with it. It was very tasty and set us up for the evening. By 9pm we were back at River Terrace where we joined some friends of Kate’s plus Gay Gaz who was a bit excitable. He had completed a microlight flight this morning and was now thinking he was immortal – he had booked to go to Babadağ to do the paragliding next! We limited our drinks to just 2 beers each and Debbie (Darling) came to join us for the second half of the live music. After, there was talk of more drinking in Sofra bar but we declined as I had a busy day tomorrow and we were trying to stick to a budget.
Captain Caveman was back to his sprightly self on Sunday 2nd October, which looked to be another sunny day. He went to Migros supermarket as they opened at 8.30am to buy some breakfast items. He bought 1 simit, 1 croissant and 1 chocolate & nut croissant for a total of 25.35 lira (£1.20). We ate breakfast and, while I caught up on my Turkish, Captain Caveman went back to the supermarket for a bigger shop. Here’s the shopping basket and prices in lira;
Migros Supermarket
1 litre soda water 9.75 Salt 11.50 Cheese 15.50 2 packs of chicken livers 16.81 Apple and cherry juice 21.60 A knife 22.95 3 tomato puree 23.76 Marmalade 24.40 Washing powder 29.06 Roll-on deodorant 30.45 Chicken 41.24 Paper towels 79.90 Toilet rolls 119.90 Olive oil 154.90
Total spent 601.72 lira (£28.83)
Back home, we had a nice chicken salad for lunch and then we had to get ready for the biggest event in Dalyan that I’d ever been to!
At 3.30pm we made our way to the Kaunos tea garden where Victoria Louise Scott was getting married to Bünyamin. A while a go I had received an invite to her Facebook group event which I had read out to Captain Caveman so that he could add the itinerary to his phone. These were the details he had: 4pm Wedding ceremony at tea garden 4.30pm boats to the beach, canapés & drinks on board, photos at the beach 6.30pm back up the river by boat to Paradise hotel for the evening meal 8.30pm evening wedding party. I decided to wear my pink dress and Captain Caveman wore trousers and a shirt, despite it being extremely hot. When we arrived at the tea gardens there were already lots of guests having a refreshment. There was very little shade and we were melting so we decided to grab a beer. We were joined by Mark, Kate, Debbie (Darling), Roy, Nikki and Bianca. Debbie (Darling) and I stood together to watch the ceremony which was very nice. There were lots of guests, as Victoria is very well known in Dalyan, she is also an Admin for the Dalyan Visitors Facebook page.
Captain Caveman and I followed Mark and Kate towards the boats after the ceremony, Debbie (Darling) and Roy were going to go straight to the hotel and see us there. When we got to the boat, Mark, Kate and Daisy were on Turgay’s boat but it was now full so we hopped on the next one. Captain Caveman ordered a beer and I had a red wine, both cost the same, 70 lira (£3.35). We had a couple and enjoyed some canapés as we sailed down the river. On the boats we had lots of music and dancing and we got involved in the celebrations, feeling so pleased to have been invited. All of the guests we met were lovely and it was an amazing day. Victoria looked absolutely stunning and everyone had dressed up for this momentous occasion. The traditional Turkish band followed us from boat to boat and were incredible (and loud), the young drummer was fantastic.
We arrived at the Paradise hotel and rejoined Debbie (Darling) and Roy who were already sat at a table and had a wine bucket crammed with bottles of wine. There was also a lot of bottled water on the table which, when we went to sit down, a guest came to move out of the way. She took the waters and a bottle of wine to another table and we thought maybe we were in her seats so we moved down a bit. The table was set lovely and there was a post box for us to put our money/cards in. I didn’t realise how close to the top table we were until Victoria and Bünyamin came in to sit at their table, right behind me. The food came out quickly and was absolutely delicious, Captain Caveman shovelled it in like he was starving and ate anything from my plate that I couldn’t manage. The wine on the table to toast wasn’t to my taste as I’m not keen on sparkling rosé so we stuck to our own red wine. We managed to see Deidre who we missed meeting up with in Holland and she helped me sign the wedding book. Because I had contact lenses in, I had trouble seeing what I wrote. Steve came over with a whisky and I had one with the boys to mark the happy day. We were having a lovely time with lots of dancing and drinking. We were pretty tipsy but we had to leave fairly early as we had Drew’s birthday at River Terrace to attend.
At River Terrace we managed to just catch Jamie and Drew before his celebration ended. On the way home my sandal strap broke and I had to hobble down lovers lane to the bar. We then sat to watch Daisy perform her singing but I really couldn’t drink much more. It had been a great day and we had loved seeing so many people having such a good time.
Our Turkish class was cancelled on the morning of Tuesday 27th September. This meant I could enjoy an unexpected easy day at home. For breakfast I had peaches, figs, yoghurt and honey while Captain Caveman made himself an omelette to have with fresh bread. Our Aussie friends had took themselves off to IKEA in İzmir and Captain Caveman had started to do some small jobs around the apartment. I got on with pickling some beetroot and onions and then we got an unexpected invite out. Kate messaged to let us know that Daisy would be singing at River Terrace that evening so would we come along to support her. Of course, we said yes but decided we would eat at home first. Captain Caveman had his first go at making the pizzas on wraps and they turned out pretty nice. He also did a Halloumi side salad and we opened a bottle of Tılsım red wine to go with it. We got to River Terrace before Daisy started singing and she was a bit nervous, she has a lovely singing voice though. By 10pm she was performing a great version of Country Roads, she was pretty good at an Amy Winehouse song too. The customers seemed to enjoy the music, the regular singer and guitarist were also very good but Ali, one of the owners, was totally impressed by Daisy. Kate and I even got up to dance with some other customers from another table so I’d say she had a successful night.
Captain Caveman went to Migros supermarket twice on Wednesday 28th September. The first time he bought 2 chocolate croissants and an onion loaf which cost a total of 40.45 lira (£1.98) and we had a lovely breakfast. On the second visit he bought eggs and bin liners for a total of 54.80 lira (£2.67). For lunch we had the onion bread with hummus, haydari, carrots, gherkins and olives, which was nice. I spotted a bicycle for sale and enquired about it as it would be great to have some wheels to get about, especially when I’m doing any house or pet sitting for friends. I arranged to go to look at the bike tomorrow and was looking forward to being mobile. That evening Captain Caveman and I went to the Retro bar quiz with Gay Gaz, Amanda and Greg. Surprisingly we managed to come joint first in the quiz but when we got home Tom, the quizmaster, had put a comment on Facebook that our score was wrong by 10 points so we didn’t actually win. I replied that we hadn’t marked our own so it’s not like we were cheating! I don’t really like quizzes because I’m not very good at them, whereas Captain Caveman loves a quiz. Tom Cree, the man who does the quiz, is very good and makes it more fun. I also like going to Retro bar as it is one of my favourites.
Captain Caveman dislikes that I don’t get up early so on Saturday 24th September I had set my alarm to make sure we got to the weekly market. This would be the first time in about 3 years that Captain Caveman had been and he was looking forward to it. We mainly purchased fruit and veg; onions, potatoes, olives, red cabbage, lettuce, spring onions, figs, plums, peaches, pears and honey. As Captain Caveman was paying and there were no receipts I didn’t note the amount we spent but to give you an idea the most expensive item was a jar of local honey at 80 lira (£3.80). On the walk back from the market I bit in to one of the pears, only to find it was bad. For lunch we had a lovely salad which Captain Caveman bought a fresh cooked chicken from the butcher’s to go with. That was also 80 lira (£3.80) which is still cheap in English equivalent but the last time Captain Caveman had been here they were only 15 lira but worked out at £2.50 then. I let him know that bread loaves, which used to be 1 lira, were now 3 lira so that he wouldn’t be taken by surprise at the bakery. In the afternoon we had peaches, plums and figs with a drizzle of honey on – that was delicious. By 5pm we were in the A101 supermarket buying more essentials, then we popped to Migros for what we were still missing;
We called in to Jiks pub after for a drink where we sat in the beer garden with Sue, Shiela and Ian. I had a cherry juice, Captain Caveman an Efes Malt. We noticed that the service in Jiks wasn’t as sharp as it once was and they had new staff. Back home, the lights on the pool were on and didn’t seem to be on a timer any more, there were also new additional lights that had been installed. The pool looked like someone had tipped some salt in it but it was still dirty and we hadn’t seen a pool guy yet. For dinner I decided to try an old favourite from when I used to eat healthy. I think it came from a Slimming World idea to make pizzas from wraps and keep the toppings basic. For each pizza I used 2 spoons of passata as the base, 1.5 slices of salami, 4 olives, 2 mushrooms, a few slices of red pepper and 3 small balls of cheese, sliced thinly. It takes only 7 minutes in the oven and it was the first time Captain Caveman had tried them. We enjoyed the low calorie pizzas, so much so that I got annoyed with Captain Caveman for snaffling it in too loudly. Captain Caveman was annoyed with me for commenting on his lack of manners so I went to bed early.
I only just managed to get myself out of bed in time to walk to Turkish class on Tuesday 20th September. It was at Casablanca Hotel at 10am and I was hungover. Nothing else much happened that day except for me eating an apple and Captain Caveman managing to get some turkey on offer for 52 lira (£2.47) so that we could have a salad for dinner. I’d forgotten to do weight and measurements this weekend so I did them today. I was now the heaviest I’d been in a couple of years, I’d managed to put 2cm on my bust, 1cm on my waist but lose 4cm from my hips in about a week. My leg measurements had either decreased slightly or stayed the same. We stayed in that night and took it easy while the Aussies downstairs went to the airport to pick up their friend, Chris. Tomorrow, we had organised another fun day out so we needed to recharge our batteries a bit.
We had booked a trip with Ivona and Ismail on their Princess of Ekincik boat on Wednesday 21st September. Amanda and Greg had suggested we get a private trip together for the 4 of us and their guest, Chris. We decided to extend the invite to more friends and fill the boat. Onboard with the 5 of us were Linda, Annie, Adam & Kath, Julie & Issy, Mark & Kate, Jackie & Chris, Dawn & Steve. We went to Ekincik Bay and had a lovely day out. The service and food on the Princess of Ekincik boat is superb and we had such a great BBQ lunch. We also were rather lucky that no one had booked the boat for the evening trip so we got to stay out all day and for sunset too. Not everyone knew each other but that didn’t matter and we soon got dancing to Kate’s party playlist.
When we came to pay for our boat trip and drinks it was more money than Captain Caveman had accounted for. The trip itself was 500 lira each (£23.70) but we managed to spend another 1000 lira (£47.57) in drinks, which was a little excessive for our budget but we had a great time. We had a bit of an after-boat-trip drink at River Terrace but Kate had to leave to meet Daisy at Sofra bar. She took her bag with Mark’s wallet and clothes in so Mark had to go with Captain Caveman to our place to borrow a t-shirt. Most people had one drink but Mark didn’t even finish his before heading to meet Kate in another bar. After River Terrace, where it was 65 lira (£3.09) for a beer we went to Dalyan Cafe for food and another beer.
I had in my diary to meet Amanda & Greg, our Aussie friends downstairs, for breakfast at 10am on Sunday 18th September. That didn’t happen on account of us still being in bed. While they went off to investigate where their favourite Turkish breakfast was, Captain Caveman took one for the team and braved a Sunday supermarket shop at Migros. It had been a while since he had been in a Turkish supermarket for a big shop but he did well, here’s what he bought and the prices in lira:
Plastic bag 0.75 Onions 4.36 Potatoes 5.47 Apples 6.33 Lemon juice 7.75 Garlic 8.55 Carrots 10.50 Cherry tomatoes 11.90 Tonic water 13.50 Rice 14.00 Big tomatoes 15.21 Red peppers 17.11 2 cans of Grapefruit juice 19.90 Orange juice 26.00 Bananas 26.95 Toastie Bread 27.95 Eggs 42.50 Minced beef 48.50 Turkish salami 49.90 Butter (Turkish) 53.95 Beetroot 59.90 Chicken 61.58
Total spent 532.56 lira (£25.77)
Prices had gone up several times recently in Dalyan so it was quite a pricey shop but we needed essentials. We probably could have done without the beetroot but it would easily make a big jar of pickled, that would last a while. I was rather surprised that he’d not bought any alcohol, especially as we had been invited round to a friend’s house in the afternoon for drinks.
We met a couple at Lukka bar so that Captain Caveman could buy a phone from them, then we ended up having a beer, as you do. At 2.30pm we met up with Brian at Lukka who needed a DVD player so we had a good chat with him then a quick drink at Tez bar because Lukka bar was full, for Sunday lunches. At 3.30pm we popped to Selçuk Market which is our corner shop and Captain Caveman chose a bottle of wine which he liked the name of. We bought some strange looking soda water which turned out to be diet lemonade. We arrived at Adam & Kath’s house where everyone else was already there; Mark, Kate, Daisy, John, Andrea, Dawn & Steve. They have a snooker table so we all played pool after a few drinks and they put on a rather nice buffet. We definitely drank more wine than we took with us, though, but we didn’t have too late a night as tomorrow we had a celebration to attend. On the way home we passed a bench with a life-sized doll on it, which grabbed Captain Caveman’s attention.
We stayed in bed late on the morning of Thursday 15th September, which was nice. Our room at Lefka Hotel had a shutter on the outside of the patio doors which made it dark and quiet. By 1pm we were eating leftovers for our lunch and decided to open the bottle of Cair red wine, which was great. In the afternoon we went to the supermarket to stock up on cheese, salami, crisps and deodorant before getting ready for our last night in Rhodes.
Michelle and Steve had kindly booked us our ferry back to Turkey tomorrow morning so we made the most of our last Greek evening. Captain Caveman changed some more dollars and we had a walk around the old town, including a mooch about the Gate of St Anthony. We watched sunset at the beach and had a cold beer at the Malt House, which was lovely.
Captain Caveman had booked us in for an eleven course tasting menu at Piatakia for dinner and it was great. The food was excellent and I was brave to try everything except for the tuna and mussels. On the way home we had one more drink to break up the walk back to our hotel, at a bar I forgot the name of.
Captain Caveman and I had originally planned to be back in Dalyan by Wednesday 14th September, however things had changed. Unfortunately, we would miss Sausage Dick’s departure without having seen him this time and there was still no sign of the missing sausages. One of the reasons we decided to stay longer in Rhodes was that Captain Caveman can only stay in Turkey for 90 days which means that he has to spend a month elsewhere this winter. At 6.20am I was waking up Captain Caveman to look at the stunning sunrise from our hotel balcony. We went back to bed after taking photos and I had an extra snooze before we got ready to check out. We were moving again and we were disappointed not to be staying for longer in Vlycha as it was really lovely.
Our next stop was back to Rhodes Town where Captain Caveman had booked for us to stay at Lefka Hotel & Apartments for 2 nights. We got the bus from Vlycha, outside the TUI Blue hotel, to Rhodes Town. We got off in town and then had to walk, via one of Captain Caveman’s shortcuts, which I was convinced was longer. When we arrived at the hotel there was no one in reception and we were too early to check-in. We left our bags and walked back in to town for some lunch. We went to a restaurant, called Nimmos, which was friendly and fairly busy. We both ordered beer, Captain Caveman had fried cheese and I had chicken kebab. The food was tasty, not the best in the world, but we had been rather spoiled recently. On the way back to the hotel to check in we called in to the supermarket to buy water. I happened to spot the same Cair Cabernet Sauvignon wine from Vlycha for €10 so we bought a bottle.
Photo credit – Captain Caveman
Lefka Hotel was very nice, we liked our room and the small, clean bathroom. We got ready and went back out for sunset in Rhodes Town. Captain Caveman insisted we try Piccolo Pizza which was a small stall in the old town that had the best pizza and had been recommended by Google. We found a gorgeous little wine bar, called Obscura, where we enjoyed a couple of glasses of very good red wine.
It was after 8pm when we set off walking back towards our hotel for a delicious meal at 4 Rhodies, which was on the way. We over ordered on the food which was outstanding and we had to take a doggy bag back to he hotel. Captain Caveman had liver and I had a huge cheese salad but we kind of shared, there was lots of bread. We had a carafe of the cheap wine which was actually very good for the price. The mains were an egg and potato dish for Captain Caveman and a pork dish for me, both excellent. We walked home stuffed and ready for bed, tomorrow would be our last day in Rhodes.
Tuesday 13th September was another wonderful day with a few surprises thrown in. We were up and about fairly early so we decided to check out and get an early bus to Lindos. We’d enjoyed staying at Summer Memories, although the WiFi wasn’t up to much, and would consider staying there again. The bus got very busy but by 10.30am we were in the super touristy town of Lindos. By complete coincidence an old school friend and her husband were going to be in Lindos today too so we arranged to meet up. Captain Caveman found us a nice little cafe called Eklekton and we went right up to the roof top terrace. I wasn’t feeling 100% so I just had an apple juice but Captain Caveman had something eggy on toast. Miraculously, Sam managed to find us easily and we caught up over a drink after almost 34 years. It was really lovely and of course there was lots to talk about – I bet Captain Caveman and Gerald, Sam’s husband, were in danger of having their ears start to bleed! Sam and Gerald didn’t have long to explore Lindos and we had to get to our next destination so we said our goodbyes and promised to meet up when I finally got back to Sheffield.
Captain Caveman and I had a short wander around the winding streets of Lindos with our backpacks on, and in midday sun, before stopping for a beverage. I had a grape smoothie (that’s not code for wine) and Captain Caveman had a Mythos beer at Pal’s.
We got a taxi from Lindos to Vlycha and ended up on the beach with our bags as the taxi driver didn’t know where our hotel was. Captain Caveman had very little cash on him so we didn’t get lunch at the beach bar, just a nice cold beer each. I’d spotted a turn off to our accommodation, Vlycha Beach studios and apartments, so we headed towards it. We checked in with the lady owner who was lovely, if not a little extraordinary. I had a dance with her on the balcony when she showed us our room and then she told Captain Caveman he had to walk to the top of a very steep hill for the nearest cash machine.
While Captain Caveman hiked in full sun, I relaxed at the hotel which was really lovely and one of my favourites of the trip so far. When Captain Caveman returned we went for a wander to the small supermarket below then drank wine on the balcony until it got dark. That evening, we walked a short distance to a new eatery called Gaea Beachfront restaurant and bar, part of the Lindos Aqua Terra resort, which looked fantastic. On the way we passed a working ATM machine which meant Captain Caveman needn’t have walked up the hill to the one further away. We ordered a bottle of the Cair Cabernet Sauvignon which was really good and decided to have a few dishes to share. The food was absolutely amazing and at a reasonable price, we even shared a dessert.
I woke up sweaty, thirsty and hungover on Saturday 3rd September in Brussels. The opening night of the Belgian Beer Festival, last night, had been great and Captain Caveman spending time with his brother was fantastic. We had to check out at 11am so we had a cheese and salami sandwich to sort us out. We left the Citadines Sainte Catherine aparthotel, which I’d definitely recommend, and headed through town towards the tram. We got the one to Uccle as we were invited to spend the rest of the weekend with Simon & Anna – we were both really looking forward to that a lot. We had not seen Captain Caveman’s two nephews for far too long and we had not met the third nephew at all, thanks to the pandemic. One of the things we really appreciate when we visit family and friends is to do ‘normal’ family things. I really enjoyed sitting at the big dining table to eat a delicious pasta lunch, I even had to give Captain Caveman a nudge to leave some for everyone else – he was also loving it. The youngest nephew is super cute and has a lot of similarities to Captain Caveman when it comes to meal times. In the afternoon we offered to go to the supermarket with Simon, while Anna looked after the kids. It was an experience, as Simon had chosen the self-scan method. We piled the trolley full and then the man in the queue in front of us had trouble letting us through because we had more than 10 items. It was good fun when Captain Caveman went to get our purchases of wine and some meat to contribute to tonight’s BBQ.
We managed a short walk through the nearby woods but it did start to rain a little by the time we were halfway round. The evening with the family was great and we got on the Prosecco surprisingly easily, considering last night’s shenanigans. I was impressed when one of the children managed to complete a house of cards but he was gutted when the little one wafted past, causing it to fall. By the time bed time came round I was tired and was looking forward to some sleep. I felt bad that we had kicked the youngest out of his room, he would sleep with Simon and Anna. The two eldest are so grown up now and when they argue they do it in French. They were both very polite and well behaved though, no arguments when it was time to go to bed.
I was woken at 4am on Tuesday 30th August by someone calling me from Vietnam. I had forgotten to put my do not disturb on and it would be 8am there, I didn’t answer it but then I couldn’t get back to sleep. As the call to prayer went off I checked emails then had a sandwich which I still had left from the airport lounge. In the afternoon I went to get my Turkish phone sorted because the SIM card was no longer working. It cost me 300 lira (£15) for a new one with 15GB of data, some texts and minutes. If you’re not a resident then it costs another £5. Next, I went to the pharmacy to get contraceptive pills and antihistamines. This cost about £7.25, much more expensive than when I last bought any. My last stop was to Migros to get toilet roll, noodles, spaghetti and milk at a cost of 86 lira (£4.30) – prices in Turkey were definitely increasing but seemed generally cheaper than the UK. When I got back to the apartment, I noticed that the outside lights were on, which was good but the light at the top of our stairs wasn’t working. The gate proved hard to get in and out of with shopping bags because of the overgrown garden and the broken wire netting on the gate. I had leftovers and a crisp sandwich for dinner then an early night. I decided to wait until Captain Caveman arrived so he could deal with what needed to happen about the pool and garden maintenance which definitely needed some attention. Captain Caveman was on a flight from Saigon at 9.25pm (Vietnamese time) and would be in Istanbul by the time I woke up in the morning.
I had a woolly head when the alarm went off at 7am on Sunday 7th August and I wasn’t fit for anything! Captain Caveman had to persuade me to get up and get ready as we were off to Dong Hoi on a shopping trip. We haven’t had the shopping trips with the Phong Nha Farmstay this year, which I used to like as they rarely left so early! The weekly trips had stopped running during the pandemic and never restarted, I guess because there were no other monthly renters so it didn’t warrant just taking us. While Captain Caveman had been working so much he didn’t need to go as often and I made do with whatever we had in the freezer. Captain Caveman had booked an Oxalis car and driver and he was here early. Rain had been forecast so we hoped to get some shopping done, meet a friend and get back before any predicted stormy weather. We got our usual driver, Dung, who’s always nice and friendly but professional. He also keeps the car clean and has the AC on, so we had a comfortable drive to Dong Hoi. By 9am our Bo Ne from Mr Bull’s was ordered and we were sipping the free tea, I was feeling somewhat delicate. I had my steak breakfast without eggs and it actually sorted me out a bit, until I started with a bad stomach.
We went to the Co-op Mart where we spent about 1.4 million vnd (£50) on groceries, including 4 bargain bottles of Merlot. Our next stop was the WinMart where we spent 666,000vnd (£24). For those wondering how we had managed to spend £74 on shopping (and we weren’t finished yet), here’s what we had bought in the supermarkets;
Co-op Mart 1 white carrot 7,134 1 lemon soda 8,500 Tissues 13,000 Hand sanitizer 14,900 3 carrots 15,667 Pasta 23,000 2 red peppers 26,733 Passion fruit 28,106 2 packets of crisps 36,000 3 mangos 64,326 Mushrooms 64,900 6 soda waters 105,000 3 cartons orange juice 132,900 4 bottles of red wine 612,000
Total spent 666,100vnd (£24). Butter seemed to be a similar price to the UK and Turkey and airfryers were now all the rage. There had not been any white wine in either of the supermarkets so I suggested we try the Wine Plaza, at the back of the Vincom centre.
Our next stop at the Wine Plaza was a bit unusual; we walked in to a birthday celebration of the owner. They had us join in the photos in front of the flowers and then gave us both a glass of red to join in. They were lovely people and we ended up in there for much more than the 5 minutes we told the driver. We left having bought 3 bottles of nice white wine, one of which was 900,000vnd (£32.40), the other 2 much cheaper. This was all before lunch time and we were meeting Thao at 11.30am for Banh khoai, crispy pancakes. Before that we went to QB Casa where Captain Caveman had a juice and I had a peach tea.
It was great to see Thao as we had not seen her for a while, we all ate the same thing and it was a little bit of a wait for the food because it’s so popular. After lunch we went around the corner for fresh coconut, sat opposite the market. Back home we watched a bit of tree moving from outside of Elements and chilled out by the pool. We finished off a lovely day with crisps, fresh sandwiches and white wine. I got a message from my mate who arrives in Dalaman airport 3 hours after I do to say we could meet up and we pencilled in Ölüdeniz or Fethiye for the 29th.
I had a bit of a funny turn at about 2am on Wednesday 6th July. Kat turned the light out for us to go to sleep and I lay down. I got an overwhelming feeling of not being able to breathe properly and my chest was very hot to the touch. I scared her as she wondered if I was going to need medical attention and I didn’t know what was wrong with me. When I sat up I seemed to feel better but when I lay down I got worse, I turned my head toward the Aircon and we left the torch, on Kat’s phone, on until I calmed down a bit and eventually fell asleep. Thinking about it, it was the same thing I had when I got on the plane in Singapore so I wondered if it was just from lack of sleep and a bit of stress. When I woke up, Kat had already been out to buy us some local food for breakfast. She had got me xoi ngo (or xoi bap), which is sticky corn rice with mung bean and fried onion. It’s very filling and tastes great. Kat had xoi xeo for herself, which was similar to mine but without the corn. We ate it with kombucha, which I didn’t particularly enjoy but it did cut through the stodge of the breakfast well. After breakfast I got ready and we decided to go over to West Lake so we could grab a drink at a cafe. Our first stop was at Mystic cafe where they put up a parasol for us to sit by the lake. It was hazy but hot and I borrowed a sun hat from Kat. I had a fresh iced tea and the menu looked good so we ordered lunch there. I had a chicken taco and Kat had chicken salad, both were great value for money. Next we stopped off at Huy Long cafe on a nice corner spot, Kat had a coffee and I had a fresh lemon juice. Kat had stuff to do in the afternoon so she kindly dropped me off at the accommodation which Captain Caveman had booked from tonight. We loosely said we would meet up later and off I went, to the Euphoria reception desk to check in.
I was excited to find we had been upgraded to a snazzy 2 bedroom apartment at Euphoria. I roughly knew the area too so, after unpacking and taking some photos, I had a walk to the shopping centre next to Fraser Suites. I was surprised to see that the Annam Gourmet shop sold Yorkshire tea bags but 80 were 450,000vnd (£16.20). I found that wine was cheaper and bought 2 bottles of screw top red and some croissants for breakfast tomorrow. I wasn’t sure if I would be eating out tonight but noticed the pizza place had 2 for 1 offers on Wednesdays which was good.
Back at Euphoria, I chilled out a bit and worked out how to operate the TV so that I could put my Youtube playlist on. Kat was coming over later but I got peckish and thirsty so I ordered pizza and started the wine. Kat arrived with treats of cheese, olives, Korean chocolate nibbles, some pastry things and peach cider. We had a bit of a picnic for our dinner, with wine and some great tunes. At first I was reluctant to try the Ricco Tiramisu gluten free sweets, but Kat insisted. I’m glad that she did because they are life changing and I need to have more if them in my life. We went to bed late and it was pretty luxurious to have a bedroom each tonight.
Captain Caveman had booked a car to take us on a shopping trip on Saturday 25th June. It wasn’t my idea of something good to do with a day off but Captain Caveman does enjoy shopping much more than I do. We were in the car and I was about to discuss my declined visa extension situation when Captain Caveman noticed a missed call from his boss. It’s not uncommon for this to happen on a day off early in the morning, so I wasn’t surprised. Captain Caveman was asked if he could be ready to go to do day 2 of a Hang Va tour, to cover for the Vietnamese tour guide who was on his way out. I thought we would have to turn the car around and go back but Captain Caveman pointed out that he couldn’t do it. This was the first time I’d ever witnessed Captain Caveman say no to one of his bosses asking him to do extra but, of course, I was pleased. In Dong Hoi we got the driver to drop us off at Mr Bull’s for breakfast where we ordered Bo Ne, I had mine without eggs. It was delicious but I sensed Captain Caveman’s mind was still on the Hang Va issue. The operations manager, called him to say it had been sorted but they had sent in Tatas to cover, so now could Captain Caveman cover for Tatas on her pre-briefing duties. He agreed as they were both on the same Son Doong tour tomorrow. This meant he had to be at work an hour earlier this evening, at Son Doong Bungalows. I was definitely getting an idea of how busy Captain Caveman had been these last few months and I knew he was going to be very disappointed that I wasn’t able to get a visa extension without having to leave Vietnam.
Our first shop on the shopping trip was the Co-op Mart, the biggest of the supermarkets in Dong Hoi, and it was busy. We spent a lot of money, I had forgotten to bring the shopping list but I think we remembered most things between us. The next place was VinMart, which is now called WinMart, and has new products in. I was so excited that they had small rice cookers for less than £20 so we bought one to take back to Turkey. Next stop was for tampons, also tricky to find in Vietnam, which they sell in the Medicare shop but were 174,000vnd (£6.26) for 2 boxes. Our last stop was the wine shop where Captain Caveman came back to the car with a box containing 3 bottles of white wine and 2 bottles of Bombay Sapphire gin for a bargain total of £50. We were meant to be spending some time in Dong Hoi and had planned to go to Tree Hugger for lunch and White Russian cocktails. Captain Caveman wasn’t in the mood now and suggested we just go straight back home.
It’s been a while since Ive done a big shop so here’s what we spent in the 2 supermarkets. £1 = 27,768 Vietnamese Dong (VDH)
Co-op Mart supermarket: 1 can of ginger ale 9,500 Baby wipes 12,300 2 onions 15,774 Bamboo Cotton buds 20,500 3 carrots 21,886 1 packet of pasta 22,500 Washing up liquid 22,500 1 packet of Grape haribos 25,200 Sugar free Milk 27,200 Passion fruit 30,751 4 cans of tonic 31,200 2 red peppers 32,347 3 mangos 39,063 Frozen sweetcorn 43,600 Mushrooms 50,500 2 chicken breasts 50,580 1 Tupperware 53,000 1 Tupperware 59,000 1 pomelo 59,988 Frozen strawberries 63,800 Tin foil 69,900 1 bottle of olive oil 130,000 3 cartons of orange juice 132,900 2 bottles of red wine 306,000
I was surprised at how cheap the bottles of Strongbow were as in Dalyan it was getting difficult to get even Turkish cider for less than £3 per bottle.
On the way back to Elements we came up with a Plan B and C for me and we decided I would apply for another e-Visa. I already had a flight booked from DaNang to Singapore, used as proof of leaving Vietnam after 1 month, so it made sense to take that. If another 30 day e-Visa was granted I would come back to Vietnam the next day and carry on as we were. If I didn’t get another visa then I would still come back in on the free 15 day visa exemption, get my stuff and go back to Turkey, or England perhaps. While I applied for my e-Visa, Captain Caveman unpacked the shopping and put it away. I got confirmation of my visa application, paid $25, and was told I would have notification by Wednesday. In the afternoon we didn’t really have much leisure time as we were busy with ‘Operation get me back in to Vietnam’ and Captain Caveman had to unpack, pack and prepare for work. I was lucky that Captain Caveman is so organised and calm in a crisis because I had been ready to have a mini meltdown. For dinner I had a bit of a concoction; yesterday I’d made tortilla but the frying pan was a bit iffy and it had stuck so it was more of a ‘deconstructed Spanish omelette’, I’d only made it to use up the potatoes, onions and eggs and had ended up with 2 in the fridge. I fried some of it up like a posh hash brown with some bacon and pickled white cabbage. It definitely wouldn’t win any awards for how it looked but it tasted great. For afters, I had fresh pineapple and passion fruit which was so good. I also noticed that the WinMart had charged us for 2 lots of pineapple but we only had one. When Captain Caveman returned from his briefing, having had to deal with a late joiner and more issues than he’s used to because that would’ve been Tatas’ job, he brought booze! His last group were disappointed that he was unable to do the gala dinner with them and had saved him some of their bottle of whisky – he said they were a really nice bunch of people. He kindly shared it with me and we listened to Kate’s Ultimate Boat Trip Playlist which she had shared on Facebook. There were some brilliant songs on there and it was about 24 hours long, I wondered if we could do a boat trip to celebrate when we returned to Dalyan and do the entire playlist.
The temperatures in Dalyan were heating up and, because all sides of the apartment were now blocked by buildings, there was very little draft through when I opened all windows and doors. On Monday 23rd May I was determined to take it easy as I was hoping to be refreshed and lose a bit of weight before going back to Vietnam. Captain Caveman had been working so much I was sure he would have lost weight and I didn’t want to look too fat at the side of him! I went shopping for a few essentials and made my sausage casserole in the slow cooker. I ate simit with cheese spread and plum jam for lunch and was a bit sad that I probably wouldn’t get to finish the jams I had left in the fridge – maybe I could give them to Dad as he loves a good jam. There was good news too, my Vietnamese visa had been approved and I could enter Vietnam at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) on the 5th June. It was valid until the 5th July so Captain Caveman booked me a flight from Danang to Singapore on the 4th July, for if I needed it. My original plan had been to accompany Des to Istanbul when his 30 days in Turkey was up, but that hadn’t worked out. Instead I got on with organising a leaving drinks for him, later this week. Before 5pm I had my Yorkshire pudding tin in the oven and decided to open the bottle of mulberry wine I had. It was a bit sweet for me but I managed a glass of it with my sausage casserole and yorkshires. After dinner, I finally got the TV fixed, which was good news. I was considering taking the Firestick to Vietnam so we could still watch the Grand Prix but I thought better of it. I had a bit of Kate’s fruit cake with butter before bed and I washed it down with a gin and pink grapefruit! It was nice to spend the day at home for a change.
joloyolo 