Still Dining Out, Still No Windows.

April 14^th Yesterday I was happy, something got done. That happiness would be enough to keep me going for a day or two, or three. Even the weather looked good this morning.

We got the expected news a little late so we didn’t go too far, just down the river a little, where we took a right fork up to the road to nowhere.

That led us to one of our favourite views. You wouldn’t think that this is just a few minutes away from the city, a few minutes away from our house. China is not always crowded!

The weather must be warming up, this pooch couldn’t even be bothered to come out and bark!

Of course Huan’s day is not complete if she doesn’t find something for me to photograph!

I lost her for a minute or two and when she caught up with me she said she had been taking photos of two lizards. They were on different trees and I rather like the photos she took. Just look at the different colours of them both on the different tree trunks.

I had gone ahead to see what had been happening in a new hall like structure that we have watched being built. It is a large open air restaurant area, probably very busy in the evenings. It was a bit early for our lunch though. There is more beyond the back of this photo; it is probably twice the size of what you can see here.

Coming back through town Huan bought two little stuffed steam buns for her lunch. The last time we had eaten buns from there I hadn’t like them so I bought an imitation pizza from the bakery. Here they both are, ready to eat.

Both of us were exhausted for some reason so we had a nice long nap after lunch. In the evening we walked out for dinner, on the way passing the floral preparations for SanYueSan festival.

We chose a spicy food place for dinner.

Here’s the lady in waiting.

And here’s the grub. Neither of us chose to have the spicy option, Huan chose the mushroom soup option and I chose the tomato soup one. The sauces and drinks were free. I think I put far too much into my bowl; I often do at these places!

April 15^th I bet you guessed correctly that we would be free again this morning. Window Man told us that perhaps the workers would arrive this afternoon. However, he also told Huan that the workers would have to come from Haikou so I have my doubts about today at all. We took just a small town and river walk, starting from Tea Street where the beautification continues. I will wait until it is more complete before taking more photos but here’s a starter.

My plan was modified when I saw that they are building something in the river. It is some kind of stage for the SanYueSan festivities which may begin on 17^th of this month. We think that they are also trying to fill up this end of the river before then.

Just before we reached the Fodelai Bridge we met another foreigner. This was a chap here with a media company to do something with the upcoming show. When I heard his accent I asked if he was German, very bad of me! He was in fact from the Alsace region of France. We had a nice chat about cameras, food and even operating systems. Perhaps we will meet again sometime.

Our change of plan took us over the bridge where we could see the whole stage laid out in front of us. That would be a good vantage point during the show but the bridge is always closed off to the public at these events.

And here’s a final view, for today at least, from the other side of the river.

Urgent shopping was required today; I had no coffee this morning!

All that was left was to buy lunch. Some people like eating out all the time; I don’t, I would rather make a variety of different sandwiches every week. One day normal life will be resumed! We both had the same today, here is Huan’s. It’s a vegetable steamed bun, a tea egg and a sausage. The egg and sausage were for the added protein!

In the evening, on our way to dinner, we had to pass by the lottery ticket shop for Huan’s regular purchase. While she went in I marvelled at this car and its many ornamental appendages.

As for dinner, well that was taken at a chain restaurant, quality always good, price always cheap. Today, with my insides still playing up, I decided that I’d better have rice too. Mine is the one with the rice, obviously, and Huan’s is the soup.

April 16^th Finding my inner peace today and trying not to worry about the Window Saga. Huan seems relaxed enough so I’ll try and follow her lead. As you’ve probably guessed we were ‘free’ again today so another bus‘n’walk was the plan. On our way to the bus stop we passed this little lady. For all her bravado she doesn’t look too happy does she, I would say she is bored.

Either a #1 or a #5 would have been OK, but either one would also have run into the same problem. The ‘Tour of Hainan’ is passing through Wuzhishan today and tomorrow so traffic was a bit hung up. We got off early and walked the last bit.

I will apologise in advance for the collages today, our plans got changed on the way around and Huan took well over one hundred photos, in fact she took more than I did. Consequently lots of binning, editing and sorting was needed. First of all though, a not a collage view.

Behind the villas I gave Huan four choices, she must have been feeling sorry for me, she chose the easiest one. We would take a ‘long cut’ from the fourth road to the fifth road. Newcomers may have to read previous Blog posts to find out what I’m on about.

It is a pleasant walk through the woods, with cool weather today, just right.

The path ends at an old army camp, now deserted.

Back on the road we met some snowbirds who were walking the other way around. They had not done it before so I hope our directions were good enough for them and that they didn’t get lost on the way. My reputation would be in tatters if that happened.

Huan found a tail being displayed just a little further on.

Then I found a rather frightened little pooch so I gave him some love. Sometimes I think I should carry a little stool around with me so that I can sit with these dogs for longer and build up their trust. I could use it for resting and bird watching too.

We both saw this and thought it was rather a large rock and we both wondered why we had never seen it before. Only when we got home did we realise it was a tree with a protective net on it. I can’t tell you what kind of fruit is being protected though.

Huan found more lizards; her eyes are still very good when we are outside.

She wasn’t really a happy bunny though as she had heard peacocks. We had to go looking for them and hope the hotel would allow us into the grounds. This was the place and the security guard allowed us in. Like many hotels here in Hainan it is also a spa and wellness resort.

We were obviously in the right place!

The buildings looked good inside, obviously renovated very well.

In the past the land behind the hotel had been a fish farm. Now it has been transformed beyond all recognition. You can even feed the fish if you want, we skipped that for today.

We crossed the little island in the middle where ‘Grandma’ tried to get the young lad to speak English. He told us that he doesn’t speak English but that his father can!

Then it was time for me to bound over the bridge and finish off our peacock piccies.

Far too many were taken so here are some collages for you. If you want to see more, drop me a message and I can send them to you. Aren’t they beautiful?

Did you know that they also like to climb trees, especially when there is fruit to be had.

We couldn’t find a brochure for the hotel but they did give us a key card holder. The location details and the phone number are on there. Huan said that the prices are not at all bad and include three meals a day and vouchers for the rather large gift shop. Who knows, we may even put visitors up there in the future. There is one downside though, no swimming pool.

I took another photo out of the bus window on the way back home. There are times when I miss being involved in media activities, although retirement does have its good sides.

After lunch and our usual daytime naps, I spent ages trying to sort through over two hundred photos. All done and out for dinner we went. I followed this car into the electric charging park, the drooling was almost obvious!

Here’s the lucky young man driving it and his Mum too who understood a little English. It seems that this particular car cost over ¥800,000.00 although the latest model is a lot cheaper. The latest model is also PHEV which is a plus point for me.

Here I am again, in the first photo telling his Mum where we live, and in the second photo talking about the gripe that many people have with electric cars. The gripe is a universal thing, it is not just foreigners, many Chinese people don’t like it either, especially those with a lot of driving experience. What is the gripe? Why, no physical buttons of course!

And our last one for today is our dinners. Huan’s is on the left, she got what she ordered. Mine is on the right, I should have had fish ball soup and dumplings out of soup. No problem, once the photo was taken I just put it all in one bowl!

April 17^th Window Man tells us that the workers from Haikou will be here tomorrow. Huan believes him, I don’t. Anyway, that gave us the opportunity for a trip to Sanya today to visit the bank. I want to make sure that there is enough Chinese currency in there before our trip to Haikou next month, just in case. Here’s the highway.

Here’s the Sanya traffic including two trams, two different colour trams at that.

In the bank we first went to the international office to verify how much I could actually change in a year. The limit is far more than my pension so no worries there. Back in the money place here is a smiling Bob awaiting our turn at the cashier’s desk.

Slowly, after our number was called, my smile disappeared. I have no idea what the actual problem was but it took a long time for us to get approval to exchange the money. The cashier’s initial question was to ask if I had proof on where the money in my account came from. We explained that it was pounds we wanted to exchange for RMB and that they already had all the relevant paperwork for that. I also explained that we did not want cash at this moment; an exchange within my passbook was all that was required. The questions kept coming. When did I retire? Did I work for the British government? I pointed out the multiple payments of state pension and private pension into my account, an account that we have held with bank for nineteen years. They even wanted to know about my time, and my job in Harbin. Why? It’s the rules. By now my patience was rapidly running out of the door! Other people were also being held up, waiting behind us. At one stage one of the managers kept asking me to sit down to which I replied, “I don’t want to sit down, I am getting angry!” That was maybe not the right response but I really was getting fed up. Eventually they did what we had asked for right at the very beginning and changed some of my pounds for me. The cashier did offer an apology, which I accepted, but I still have no idea what actually happened. I signed a paper with my ‘new and updated’ information, which as far as I could see contained nothing of the sort! I then signed the exchange papers which were correct, and off we went. P.S. While all that was going on a German gentleman was also facing problems at the next teller’s window. We exchanged stories about banks and their foibles.

By now it was lunch time so we found a little hole in the wall.

All I needed now was a coffee and, yes you’ve guessed it, the first fag of the month! Here are two photos of me in different places with two fags. However, the first one didn’t get smoked, just a puff or two, as I was busy chatting to an Englishman who has a company in Sanya. If you want to open a business here in Hainan, he’s the man to contact. Details are available if you wish. The second photo is the second fag, which was not wasted, at our usual stop on the highway to home.

All that was left was the final drive home, too late for naps today!

Two very tired little teddy bears didn’t go very far for dinner this evening.

April 18^th I was right, Window Man didn’t turn up this morning, but we were too late to do anything about it. We were told he would turn up in the afternoon, he didn’t. At one stage he told Huan he was downstairs and that our windows were about to be delivered. We went downstairs and there was no sight of him anywhere Ah well, time for dinner. This week Huan had gone through her pension proof of life process, much easier than ours in the UK. So the first order of the day was to go to her bank to check that her monthly pension had been paid in. It had.

We had a visit to our smaller and older Baijiahui supermarket to buy some tomatoes and cucumber for tomorrow’s lunch. To our surprise it is closing down, all prices reduced. I suppose our town doesn’t need two of the same supermarkets really.

For dinner we went to Wallace’s Burger place and had a whole chicken between us with some chips. It was a very small chicken; we think they have shrunk since we last had one.

Ice creams were our desserts, much enjoyed too.

Later in the evening, Huan called Window Man again, he would definitely be here tomorrow. I will not be holding my breath!

April 19^th I was right not to hold my breath. Window Man called in the morning and said the workers were late waking up. After lunch he called again and said that the workers were busy elsewhere. I guess you could call this a gig economy, he only finds workers when he needs them and then he has difficulties because of his reputation for not paying them fairly and on time! He told Huan that they would be free on Wednesday and when she asked if he was sure he replied that he could be 100% sure about Thursday.

We went out early for dinner so that I could show Huan the place she has to visit next week if, as I expect, Window Man fails us yet again. I had already done my research and we went to the ‘Wuzhishan City Market Supervision and Administration Bureau’. The staff there explained how we could proceed should it be necessary next time. Fingers are now crossed and we will try and relax for the next few days.

We then headed into town looking for dinner and just to surprise me, Huan said hello to a pooch!

Today is still officially a holiday so the riverside market still had holiday activities for the children and food for all.

Walking back up the main street we saw quite a few activities going on. They were Li and Miao cultural activities which people could join in as they wished. We were too tired.

A spicy if you want it restaurant was our destination this evening.

Here’s Huan carrying her sauce under the restaurant’s name.

And here are our two dinners, Huan’s with soup and mine without.

Finally for today, going through Baijiahui to buy a little dark chocolate for my health we bumped into a lady who is an English teacher at #1 Primary School here in Wuzhishan. Two of her three children were with her; they all speak English although the two present were a little shy. WeChat details were exchanged, I scanned her QR code, and then when I got home I couldn’t find it. Huan thinks I pressed the wrong thing when I should have confirmed. She may be right. On the off chance that someone knows who she is please give her my apologies and ask her to try and find me, it’s easier than me finding her.

April 20^th Our plan was to enjoy a relaxing day, I even considered driving us somewhere. However, I awoke with a headache, possible some kind of cold so I relaxed with my daily Wordle and Chinese lessons before we had a stroll out for lunch.

We spotted this little gentleman sitting on his Dad’s work vehicle and Huan said it was one of my old friends. I didn’t initially recognise him until he told us that he had seen us both before. The first time we ever met him he extended his hand for a handshake, we repeated that today!

When we met him we were right outside today’s restaurant choice, somewhere new to try.

This is what we ordered; I can’t seem to translate the description of the noodles correctly.

And this is what it looked like. It was very good, although I think I would have preferred some protein in the way of meat in mine. Next time maybe.

After our afternoon naps, and as is now the norm, we went out again for dinner. After walking all round the town we ended in the Hong Kong place again, fish and veggies for both of us.

We sat next to a mother and her son who had a chat with us. The son was a little shy but quite liked trying to communicate.

And that’s it for today, and for this week. I did try a top of the trees silhouetted against the night sky on the way home but I failed miserably. Sorry! Stay tuned for the next episode where we hope to have work started on our new windows. Until then, bieeeeeee!