Binglanggu, Visitors, Chinglish, Fame & Drama

October 1^st Well, we were there at the airport at one o’clock in the morning to meet #2 son and lo and behold, unusual for Chinese airlines, (or so they tell me), his plane was actually three minutes early! I did take a picture of the proud Mum meeting her son after what seemed like aeons, actually only a few months, but the photo was atrocious so not included here.

Got up the same day we went to bed! Not too early out though. I don’t know, youngsters of today! No sightseeing in Sanya as we had to get ourselves off the Binglanggu which was to be our only ‘touristy’ thing during the few days Sheng Sheng was here.

We spent a very enjoyable two to three hours there and I would recommend it to anyone. You can see more photos in my Binglanggu album along with copies of the brochure and ticket details. https://photos.app.goo.gl/42vX6bKmpCLUNEWp8

Back in Wuzhishan and off to Do & Me for food, no cooking for Huan today. Huan is now convinced that whatever I order in this restaurant will be problematic. Being a little tired after the last couple of days I thought I would just have Chǎofàn with a fried egg. Well, Huan’s dinner came first, followed a few minutes later by Sheng Sheng’s and a few minutes later my egg came! Much later, when Huan had nearly finished my fried rice came. Perhaps the delay was a miscommunication between Huan and I as it turned out to be Seafood Fried rice which I must admit, despite the delay, was delicious!

October 2^nd After a much needed sleep, we got down to the prime purpose of Sheng SHeng’s visit. He wanted to learn to ride a bike which is why I had taught Huan last month. Deciding that too many cooks spoil the broth and knowing that Huan and I would not see eye to eye about how to teach him, I decided to stay away, either indoors or shopping! We have no photos of Sheng Sheng’s first day at all but they did tell me that he fell off a lot!

October 3^rd Sheng Sheng was quite a quick learner and was managing to go at least in a straight line by the afternoon. Here’s a couple of screen shots from a video I took.

Of course falling down did come with disadvantages but unlike his Mum, Sheng Shemg didn’t get bruised, he just got chopped to pieces!

October 4^th The intrepid duo rode their bikes back to the holiday bike rental shop in the morning, it would seem not without incident, but they did quite well really. I met them there and took them off up the hill to our favourite hotel. No swimming, Sheng Sheng can’t swim. That’s what he wants to learn on his next visit! He does take a better selfie than me though!

Time being of the essence and me being in the car, I took them part the way down and then let them walk the remainder of the way through Wuzhishan Park. Like many young Chinese, Sheng Sheng decided he’s not too fit! Despite my explicit instructions wifey never got any photos of the descent.

Following that I took them up the other road to the reservoir so that Sheng Sheng could look down on Wuzhishan and see where we live.

Sheng Sheng was so busy with his camera here. He thought the sky was so blue, unlike anything in Shanghai. I guess growing up in a city and then moving to an even bigger city to work does give you a jaundiced view. He also couldn’t get over how fresh the air was.

Once home I managed to prise him away from the games on his telephone so that I could get a picture of him and his Mum on our bedroom balcony. The blue sky had disappeared and the rain had appeared!

Our plan for the evening had been an early dinner for the three of us followed by an early night. Failed! Again! Our tenant, who runs a restaurant, asked us to join them for a celebratory ‘Moon Festival’ barbecue. Now ever since we moved back here, Huan has resolutely refused invited there, partly because they are our tenants and I guess she doesn’t want to be beholden in any way. I have no idea why she changed her mind today! Anyway, here’s the first bottle I saw on the shelf.

I decided to avoid the temptation, especially as I was the only wine drinker. They put on quite a spread, more fruit than an orchard. This was one table.

Sheng Sheng had never celebrated the ‘actual moon’ day before. For many Chinese, the 1^st October being National Day is the main celebration. In fact when he was young, his Mum and Dad only had that day off! This evening, as well as good food and good company which he enjoyed, there was also the moon, large and very visible. I took no pictures of it but we did get pictures of a dinner plate sized moon cake! Unusually, for us anyway, it had different fillings inside depending on where you cut it.

I couldn’t let a day go by without having a visit from a friend of course and here is one I never met before. A very grubby fellow, but very friendly.

So, we were home by half past ten I suppose, which most of you probably think is early. It’s an hour after Huan’s usual bedtime! Both she and her son were quickly off to bed. I stayed up a while to finish photo editing, (a lot more than you see here) and loading them onto an external drive for Shen Sheng to take with him. Of course, while we were at the restaurant, Huan had asked me to also load for him all the photos from the shows I have done! By the time I was done it was after midnight and we had to be up at ten to four in the morning!

October 4^th Well we managed to get up, all of us. I managed to stay awake long enough to get Sheng Sheng to the airport on time. No photos of the departure, just as well because we a had a teary eyed Mum and I’m almost sure her son welled up too. Back to normal for us then, visit the bank, change money, withdraw money, visit the second bank, deposit money. Visit Corner’s Deli, buy some necessities, drive back home. Not only did we have an afternoon kip, we also went to bed early, Huan before nine and me just after half past nine. It may take a few days before we are back to normal.

October 5^{th to} 7^th Housebound, too much rain, so blog catching up instead as well as watching YouTube, catching up on Facebook etc!!

October 8^th We were expecting a return visit from our TV people so Huan decided that our house needed to be spotless. Guess who had to do the polishing? Lots of hanging around after, not knowing when they were coming. As it turned out, they never came back to the house!

October 8^th Word of warning to those of you who live in warm humid climes, you car can go mouldy on the outside! This is what happens if you don’t wash your car as often as you should! Luckily it came off easily.

October 12^th One of the things about living here in Wuzhishan is that we can have all sorts of different weather in one day. Today we had a very cloudy start followed by glorious sunshine. Walkies time!

In the afternoon we had to have our weekly drive, remember the car battery? Well, it was a little cloudy when we left the apartment, but as soon as we closed the doors and started the car the rain came.

Lo and behold, in the evening it was nice and clear again.

More days of hanging around followed, waiting for the TV people. We had warned them that the weather had turned miserable and the forecast was not so good either. We didn’t hear from them but eventually heard from Patrick, (www.tropicalhainan.com)  that they would be arriving on the 21^st. Patrick, Flora, Podrig and Jake arrived on the 20^th so we were all ready for our big day.

October 21^st Call from the director at 8:30. Off we all went to our proposed location, it seemed this was not going to work, they wanted to see mountains. So, we took them up the reservoir road, all five cars and twenty or so crew, not including our group! Some of the crew are in this photo, more of them were hanging around by the cars while we, or should I say the director, decided what we were going to do.

Now Huan and I had been told previously that we would be filmed walking / hiking, so we had dressed accordingly. Our director then asked if we could find a ‘track’ as opposed to a road, preferably near the river, with mountains in the background. All things are possible of course, but not without some advance warning to do a few recces! We knew of a perfect spot for filming, but unfortunately, no cars could get there! Finally it was decided that we would stay where we were and forget the walking. Huan and I stood on the grassy slope of the reservoir while all kinds of things were going on around us. The TV people were taking photos and videos of us, then taking more photos and videos of Patrick and Jake taking photos of us! I always thought stage acting was harder than doing adverts but now I’m not so sure. On the stage you become someone else. Doing an ad you are continuously being asked to smile, not so easy. If there’s a next time, I will act being an actor!

Patrick and his son were both unlucky and found some of the perils of being in wet, mountain areas. Here’s a picture of a friend that Patrick picked up!

Once it was all over we left the production crew to move on to their next location where they were going to take videos of Patrick and Jake on their motorbikes. I’ve seen some of the ‘rushes’, they look pretty good. We decided to walk back down the mountain, via the scenic route and the 21 Hotel. Personally, I thought this would have been a good spot for a video!

Life then went back to normal. I guess there will be no more fame for me for a while!

October 22^nd We don’t have enough Chinglish on here do we? Well, here’s a sign we saw outside the ATMs at the China Postal & Savings Bank. Can’t understand why I never noticed this before. After all, we have been here over two years now! I wasn’t sure what it meant, so I just stood behind Huan!

October 24^th Huan decided that she would get stuck into one of her many cookbooks that I had bought her for Christmas last year. This was the result. I have to say that it was excellent. If I had paid for it in a restaurant I would not have been disappointed at all. The Chinese name is鲜番茄肝扒, which doesn’t translate very well. We decided it was Liver Steak on a bed of lettuce and fresh tomato sauce. The liver is ground and then mixed with mashed sweet potatoes. It was Huan’s idea to add the lettuce to give the dish a bit of colour. I am now very much looking forward to her next culinary experiments!

October 26^th Not quite Chinglish but it is another sign. As you can see it is very well placed and you will have no problems at all getting to where you are going!

 On the same walk, we managed to get inside the compound of villas on the way up to 21 Hotel. We were able to get inside and have a look at some of the villas, not impressed with the architecture. Also find it hard to understand why people would buy them and then just leave them standing empty for years!

And of course the swimming pool, being October, has already been drained for the ‘winter’.

October 27^th Found out that I can upload long videos to YouTube as long as my account is verified so started doing that. Some of you may know, and there again, some may not, that I used to be an ‘actor’! Not a famous one of course, well not anywhere else except Abu Dhabi. If you follow this link you will get to YouTube page where the videos are playlisted by drama groups. I also have two “life In Hainan’ playlists. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQdDjjD_0qYthEuj9UwQeuQ/videos Here’s a picture of ‘Pish Tush’ from ‘The Mikado’ relaxing in the ‘Green Room’.

October 30^th Decided I hadn’t taken enough photos this month so here’s some clouds. Aren’t they pretty?

October 31^st And finally, I have decided to take part in ‘Movember’ this year. I will try to grow a moustache and also ‘move’ 100 kilometres! (Not all at one go of course) I could probably do more than 100km but just I case I get any sponsors I thought I had better keep it realistic, and cheap enough for those who wish to help. And here is my ‘before’ picture.

No, I am not naked, I am wearing my shorts! And on that note I will leave you. See you next month to show off my moustache, or my caterpillar on my top lip!

Haikou, Xiuying Fort, A Birthday & Visitors

How about this then, writing about September, in September. Wow! It’s a Monday today, shopping day, now too warm to go for a walk and we can’t go swimming, the pool hasn’t been cleaned since the typhoon. Might as well scribble down a few words.

September 2^nd Swimming again and looking for wildlife. We are certainly spoilt for butterflies here, Look at these two pics. I am not really sure if they are both of the same butterfly or not.

September 3^rd Shopping trip to Haikou. We were a little early arriving so went for a walk in the afternoon and stumbled across this place.

This is Xiuying Fort, an old defensive position. Before we went in, the ticket seller told us that it contained anti-aircraft guns so I thought, OK, let’s have a look. It only cost us ¥8 each to get in. Now, there isn’t an anti-aircraft gun in sight anywhere, but, it is still money well spent. The first thing you see is this, (not Huan, the gun!)

As you walk around you can see all the different gun emplacements, the ammunition stores, the barracks, the command post etc. You’ll find more pictures in my Xiuying Fort album here-
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sGW4qmvL4yWDJKfU8
Because of the way we went round, we found the information just before we left. If you want to read this first, then once you go inside, turn left and go up the stairs to go round anticlockwise.

All in all I really enjoyed this site. Make sure you take your own refreshments though. By the time we were finished I was gagging for something to drink and there seemed to be nothing close by!

We did find a roadside kiosk once we were back on the ‘main drag’ as it were, so sat awhile and then continued our walk towards ‘dinner’. We passed this dragon on the way. Perhaps it’s the camera angle, but he doesn’t look very fierce does he? In fact, he looks more startled!

September 4^th The main reason we go to Haikou is to buy sausages, (not English, in fact not even South Chinese) and bacon. These we buy from the wholesale market on Binhai da dao. We will also top up on other necessities if we need to, things that we would normally buy in Corners Deli in Sanya. (We go there because we can do the return trip in one day. We prefer to spend the night when we go to Haikou.) There is an added benefit in Haikou though; there is a Carrefour and an RT Supermarket. Any of you expats who haven’t found them yet, you should! This time we topped up with whipping cream, hard cheeses, Parmesan, dark chocolate, marmalade and these! Well, Christmas is on the way, fresh ones can’t be found anywhere, and unlike most Brits, I actually like them!

September 5^th to 13^th Lots more swimming, Huan is now doing 20 to 24 lengths and I am usually doing 30 although I did manage 40 before the typhoon came along and stopped us going.

September 14^th to 16^th Stuck in the house, listening to the wind and the rain. We can’t complain though, it is very unusual for us to be bothered by typhoons where we live. They usually manage to give us a wide berth. Even this one passed by to the south of Sanya but it was a wide, and powerful one.

September 17^th We tried going to the pool again only to find it full of vegetation. It may take them a day or two to clean it. I should have taken some pictures I suppose, but I didn’t think about it. We then took a drive up to the reservoir to check on our ‘precarious tree’. It still survives! Looking at the picture, when it does come down it’s going to bring a fair bit of the mountain with it.

Still on the same day, in the afternoon, Huan decided that she wanted to learn how to ride a bike. Contrary to stereotypes, not all Chinese people can ride bikes. In fact my students in Harbin who could were very much in the minority! Huan’s son will be visiting next month, he can’t ride a bike either and he wants to learn in the few days he is here. Huan hopes to be able to teach him. We scrounged a bike from one of our neighbours and off she went.

Eventually, I left her to it. I remember when I was a little lad, my father gave up trying to teach me and ten minutes later I was haring passed the house shouting “Look Dad, no hands!” I was rather hoping the same would happen here. Huan is a very determined woman when she sets her mind on something. Well, she hadn’t succeeded when she got home, but she had improved. Unfortunately, she had also come a cropper a few times! She’ll get there, I have faith in her. Here’s the result the following day, both legs. Needless to say, no practicing today, a very necessary ‘day of rest’ instead!

September 20^th Success. Not perfect yet but a lot better and a lot more confident.

While Huan was busy getting better I went walkies again. Do you ever wonder just how your memory works? I passed this ‘knocked down building’ which was demolished less than a month ago and now I can’t remember what it looked like before! We’re told that they will widen the road and beautify the riverside. I don’t believe them; I think it will end being another apartment block

Remember the villas with no people and nobody working on them because there are no house books, (title deeds)? Well I thought I’d give you a closer look. They could be OK if they ever get finished. They even have lifts inside for old codgers like me!

Carried on walking up the hill towards 21 Hotel but turned off at the bridge corner to come back down the scenic way. Quite a bit of typhoon damage, not enough to block the way though. However, with the fallen leaves being still wet it was still slippery in places, care was needed.

You can see where some trees were uprooted and others were snapped.

I also made a video while I was coming down; you can check that out on my YouTube channel it’s here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtRpCcjiOF8&list=PLrm74YBD3qG5g0eyBM4Rmz3jmW7dZNYBx&index=15&t=0s

September 21^st Back in the pool again. Huan decided to rescue the wildlife and fished this chap out of the pool. There was a baby too. I did lots of blowing on them to try and dry them off before moving them both to a sunnier spot away from the pool. They were definitely alive when we left although I’m not sure how they really felt! They had gone by the next day but whether that was because they had flown off or because we had more rain I can’t really say. I like to think we made a difference!

September 23^rd Once again at the pool, where else? I didn’t swim though, the sun was hiding and I thought the water was a little dirty too. Every cloud has a silver lining though. While Huan was doing her dutiful 20 lengths of the pool I had a visitor. There were two but I had to disturb them to fetch my phone. Only one returned but it stayed for quite some time. This is probably the best picture I got.

September 25^th Huan’s birthday. It’s not nice to mention a lady’s age so let’s just say that in Roman times she would have been LV. Of course that means she’s still a spring chicken compared to my LXVII! I had all these wonderful plans for our evening but as is often the case, they went awry. This was Huan’s birthday dinner. I shouldn’t complain, hers was probably only £1 and the total was only £3. I had more ‘real’ food and no rice.

September 26^th We had a visit from CCTV Beijing and CCTV Hainan. They were doing a recce prior to coming back next month to shoot part of a video showing Hainan. I wonder if anyone knows why the director liked to take so many black and white photos.

They were a good group of visitors though, brought us a lot of fruit which I didn’t see until they had gone. We’re still eating it four days later! They stayed quite a while, we chatted about all sorts, why I chose Wuzhishan, etc. Some questions were more difficult, but that’s just me. I have no favourite food, no favourite music, etc. They even wanted me to sing for them! I politely refused especially as I haven’t sung properly for over 10 years now. Anyway, they seemed to enjoy their stay, some of them even tried some of Huan’s Quiche Lorraine! I’ll be letting you know more about the filming next month. Here’s the group with Huan, it’s a better picture than the group with me!

September 30^th The day Huan has been looking forward to, the day, (or night), that her son arrives from Shanghai. Of course we had to book into our usual place, the Pearl Hotel.

We had a very long evening ahead of us, the plane wasn’t due until 1 o’clock in the morning so we went for a walk along the beach at Dadonghai starting from the Pearl and finishing at the Marriott. Quite a pleasant walk.

We’ll leave you this month with a much different view of the Pearl Hotel. It is the curved building you can see across the bay.

And that’s it for September. Stay tuned for #2 son’s short visit and whatever else may come up in October!