March 25th The second week of our incarceration begins, luckily the weather is warming up for us. The first thing we did today was create a video of one of Haikou’s many canals. They are not navigable because most of them disappear underground at various places along their route. Trying to take a screenshot was impossible, for some reason this laptop crops the screen. In the end I had to use the camera to photograph the screen.
The first bird photo, while being reasonably clear, does not show the birds face at all so I skipped it. Instead, here’s a warning for you, understandable, but wrong.
The next pair of birds were fine.
Our video included views from the top of the university bridge. Luckily, I took a photograph too so this is not a screenshot snapped by the camera. Just look at that glorious sky.
Often we read about the ‘internationalisation’ of Hainan but when I see sights like this I wonder. If this was in Europe, at this time of day, (late morning), it would be busy with people drinking tea, coffee, soft drinks, maybe even wine and eating nibbles and snacks.
For a change, instead of a photo of me, here’s one of the Commander-in-Chief.
Back at the hospital we had lunch from the street vendors. Mine is the sweetcorn and egg.
Being early we walked around the buildings and past the canal again. This was the first bird.
And here are the second two, glancing across the bank at each other. I wondered what they were thinking as they don’t appear to be the same family.
Soon, they timidly advanced on each other.
All we needed now was some Ennio Morricone playing in the background!
I had been hoping to catch them even closer together but that was not to be.
Maybe I should have taken a video instead. Ah well, our room was calling, nap for Huan and editing for me, not as much as usual though.
In the afternoon it was a sit on the wall, followed by a reclination in the machine. I wish they would let me take photos of it; from my angle I can see two big eyes way above me. This was treatment #3, no side effects are noticeable yet.
Back in the room I whiled away the time by finishing my Ian Rankin book. Next it will be Dan Brown. Our dinner was from the same greasy spoon that we often use, they have a buffet style choice, which is cheap, quick and convenient.
As always, there are no prizes for guessing whose is whose.
Day eight over, just a few more to go!
March 26th Today was another waiting game. In the last couple of days my ear has started playing up again. Initially I thought I would ignore it but eventually I realised that I couldn’t keep asking Huan to repeat herself. When Dr. Liáng came on his rounds, I mentioned it to him and he suggested that he get the doctor to come and see me. That meant of course that we couldn’t go out.
Huan went out at lunch time and got some sweet corn for us. After the afternoon zapping we were still waiting.
The ENT doctor turned up at twenty past five, just before her knocking off time. After a brief inspection and some Q & A she asked us to tell Dr. Liáng in the morning to book an appointment in the main hospital. They will clean my ears out and then give me a hearing test. If I fail that it will be yet another CT scan.
Once we were free again it was time to go out for some dinner. A small noodle shop in front of the main street shopping centre was the location.
And here are our two dishes, fried noodles for Huan and fried beef noodles for me. Can you tell the difference? Apart from Huan’s having a shrimp on top which she had eaten by the time I took the photos I couldn’t really. Normal is up, beef is down.
March 27th Doctor’s rounds and the first thing we had to do was ask Dr. Liáng to arrange and ENT appointment for this morning. After his morning rounds, he came back with the required paperwork. Here it is, plus me grabbing a bit of sun while wating outside the surgery.
Here I am waiting for a camera to be shoved in my ear.
Then it was off to the testing room. By golly, things have changed. I still had to push buttons whenever I heard the tones but I didn’t have to say or point “left or right”. I did have to sit in three different rooms though.
I won’t bother sharing the results with you they are all in Chinese. Suffice to say that I still have very good hearing. I do have problems though, both of my ears have 湿疹, Shīzhěn this translates as eczema. My right ear also has 霉菌, Méijūn, this translates as mould. I guess I must be fast approaching my sell by date! Medication will be required, probably more needles!
Despite being an inpatient Huan still had me working!
The afternoon brought the usual nap for Huan and then the wait on the wall for both of us.
Medicine for my ear would not be arriving before tomorrow morning so we could go out. Our plan then was to visit the university grounds and try to capture some egrets there. Unfortunately, the rules have changed. To enter the university grounds now you need to apply on Weixin, (WeChat’s original parent) three days before. So, it was a walk around the streets instead. Coming back through the morning market the wrong way we decided to eat here.
One of us had wonton soup, the other had dumpling soup, can you tell which was which?
We thought we would walk back along the canal bank, just in case one us spotted a bird. I did see this one but it lifted off faster than my camera did.
Someone at a canal side coffee shop was doing a photoshoot.
Outside the café owner’s daughter was walking the cat. It’s on a leash in case it wanders off. Its name is 黄豆, Huángdòu,, also known as soy to us, or yellow bean.
We found another bird in the river but I don’t consider it is good enough to share with you. Instead, here is me yet again chatting to someone’s pet.
Soon we were walking down our driveway to our temporary mansion.
Oh, what fun it is to be retired, love every minute of it!
March 28th Another waiting day but the only visitor we got was the duty nurse. She was there for my daily temperature and blood oxygen level checks.
We waited until close of play at half past five before going out for dinner. The doctor, it seems, arrived after we had left. Maybe tomorrow? On our way to dinner I was the pack mule again.
We found a soup and bread restaurant, here’s the bread.
And here are the soups. Huan’s is the top one, various innards and vegetables, mine is the bottom one, lamb and vegetables. For some reason Huan thought I would not like hers, despite me cooking innards dishes for her. Whatever, both were fine, the day ended well
March 29th Our initial plan today had been to drive out to meet friends for coffee and lunch but we had to postpone that. There was a (slim) chance of the ear doctor visiting today. He didn’t, but in retrospect it was just as well that we stayed in. This was the morning weather.
The medicine that they delivered last night was a cream, and I have to apply it to my ears twice a day. This is done by using a cotton bud, Huan had to have a photo!
Huan went out in the rain to buy lunch, pork bread and boiled eggs. However, I couldn’t let her go along for dinner so we both went out. The computer told us that it wasn’t raining, the reality was different. Huan shot a video for Facebook.
Soup from the greasy spoon cafes is usually pretty terrible although it is free. We both needed one today because the rain was quite chilly.
As for the ‘main course’, well I ordered too much.
Dinner over it was back to the ward in the rain, not much photo work today, a short post here. I started another TV series, Grace, from ITV in 2021.
March 30th Well, what a boring day. No ear doctor presence, just plenty of rain presence. I spent most of the day in bed, Huan went out to buy lunch for us. In the evening, we went out for dinner, just across the road, to another greasy spoon that we last used six years ago. Downstairs was just the same, a buffet style choice with just a handful of tables. The upstairs overflow had changed considerably, so much so that initially we thought we were in a different place. There are now living quarters where we used to sit before.
There were more tables than just the one you can see there so finding a place to sit was easy enough. Our dinners were fine, filled a space and warmed us up a bit.
Back to our five-star hotel room we went to relax, even more, and to prepare for the next treatment tomorrow. Hopefully there will also be an ear doctor’s appointment.
March 31st Last night before turning the laptop off I checked the weather forecast for today. It was a ‘first’ for me. It was the first time I had seen both maximum and minimum forecast temperatures exactly the same. It was wrong of course, but it was still cold and miserable this morning. Hospital life goes on, Dr. Liáng brought appointment papers for the ear doctor with him this morning. Well, I say appointment, it’s more like a licence to jump the queue. We couldn’t jump the whole queue mind you so here’s a look at the weather and me standing behind the crowds. They got bigger while we waited, more than you can see here.
It wasn’t too long a wait for me and then I was back with my English-speaking ear doctor. We do still have a little miscommunication though. The medicine they had given me on Friday evening had instructions saying twice a day for fourteen days. As it had only been two days my ear was still swollen inside. The doctor suggested that I may have an allergy? Doubtful. Anyway, he sent Huan to fetch the medicine and when she came back, he utilised a small syringe to get the medicine into the depths of my ear. It seems that, despite following the instructions, I had not done it correctly. No cream twice daily is required and I now have to return in three days. I will not argue, hopefully the swelling will go down before then.
We bought lunch on the way back to our luxury suite then Huan went off to the local Pinduoduo collection point and I went ‘home’ to make hot coffee. Huan came back with sachets of coffee that she had not tried before; it is very sweet!
Once the morning’s laptop work was done it was ‘zapping time’ again. At least the therapy room is nice and warm! They had to ‘ink me’ again, other than that, no worries.
Back to the room again, change clothes and go out for a little shopping and dinner. Huan caught me hiding in the bushes first and then she tried her hardest to catch a birdie or three, unfortunately they were all too far away.
What used to be Carrefour was our destination, I needed a small pair of manicure scissors to trim my ear hair. Mind you, I will ask the doctor before I use them. I also needed Mach 3 razor blades, my travelling washing kit has no spares. That’s an error on my part. So, I succeeded with the scissors, failed with the razor blades and managed to buy Huan a new pair of shoes. All in all, we had a good trip to the shops. Dinner was next, this is a chain which we have used in the past here in Haikou, and in Sanya, and even in Wuzhishan.
Dinner was fine, the first dish was the good lady’s, the next two were all mine!
And there you have it, the end of the day and the end of the week. I am now seven treatments down with twenty-six more to go. Worryingly I think the urinary and defecatory side effects may well be beginning. That may limit our walks outside the hospital. Still, I shouldn’t complain, life could be much worse. Here I am in what amounts to a private room with en-suite, a live in nurse (SWMBO) and everything we need within walking distance. Cheers!
