New Year, Birthday(s), Visitors, Qipao, Achilles

February 15^th New Year’s Eve, and the last view of my ‘Movember’ moustache. Chinese tradition says that if you have your haircut, (I assume that includes moustaches) after the New Year, your mother’s brother will kick the bucket! Well, I have no Mums left and no Uncles, but better to be safe than sorry! PS I also had to shave it off because it ‘wouldn’t go’ with the shirt Huan had bought me for my birthday.

Huan was busy in the morning too, putting up the New Year decorations, with a little help from me of course.

She was busy all afternoon cooking our New Year’s Eve Dinner, this time, I’m afraid, with no help from me. Better that I stay out of the kitchen! Well, Chinese kitchens are a bit on the small side. This was a small dinner, because a big one would be coming later in the month.

February 16^th My ‘first’ birthday. Chinese people add one year, each year on New Year’s day. For those of you who don’t know, they are also one year old when they are born. This means if you are born just before the New Year you will be two years old when in actual fact you are only a few days old.

February 17^th Nothing special, another short walk. We even found some inspiration on the way.

And a friend who is now famous through ‘World Street Photography’.

And my inspiration, I’d be lost without her.

February 18^th My ‘second’ birthday. Chinese people don’t always celebrate their birthdays by the solar calendar, but instead go by the Chinese Lunar calendar. Using good old Google, I found out that I was born on the third day of the first month, which this year falls on 18^th February. (Now include your ‘actual’ date of birth and you start to understand why some young Chinese students have no idea when their birthdays are!)

February 19^th My ‘interim’ birthday. We had invited our friends from Haikou, Patrick, Flora, Podraig, Jake, Winnie and of course Dodo to come and help me celebrate my birthday. Here’s the boys, just relaxing on the balcony, while the girls catch up indoors.

As always, Huan did a brilliant job. Here’s the spread, all cooked by Huan, with the exception of the small apple cake at the bottom right. That was yours truly. Dinner was superb. And just like foreigners of course, all the leftovers went into the freezer. As I write this, on the 1^st March, we are still eating them. Much better than foreign leftovers though, each day is a surprise!

And here’s Huan celebrating that it all went well. Can’t think where she got the sign language from?

February 20^th My ‘third’ and actual birthday. Here’s the gang posing before going out to dinner.

Now, we were going out to dinner, or should I say lunch, not only for my birthday, but also as reciprocation for the ‘committee’ dinner we had been invited to. My ‘loss of face’ came when my left shoe fell to pieces before we got there. The chef actually repaired it for me. He needn’t have bothered, because on the way home, the right one fell to pieces even worse! Anyway, here we are at the door of the restaurant, with a poor little girl who was being forced to pose with the Wàiguó rén. Look closely, think about movies, and you will understand why the moustache had to come off!

As always, it was a good spread. We never managed to finish it all off. This picture shows some of it.

There are hardly any photos of Huan for this day, and what there are don’t show off her smile at all. So, none will be uploaded here. Unfortunately, almost as soon as we arrived upstairs, Huan began to feel queasy. This happens now and then but is usually over by the evening. The girls certainly missed her, the boys probably just enjoyed the beer and the ‘craic’. Anyway, here are the girls.

And here are the boys, nearly all of them anyway

And here are the boys again, being led astray by the girls. We really didn’t want to have our glasses filled and drink more toasts, but what is a gentleman to do if a lady insists?

It looks like our visitors enjoyed themselves.

I certainly did! I had to have a sleep in the afternoon when I got home, too much food, too much beer, and of course too much cake!

In the evening, after our little naps, we visited 'Time' Bar, the one that is pictured above. The problem with bars in Wuzhishan is usually that you can't just buy one beer. This time, as there were three of us, and it was 120RMB for 12 bottles, it wasn't a bad deal. What a noisy place it was though. The locals were playing some kind of dice game which seemed to require an enormous amount of banging and shouting. It was so bad we only had 30 bottles of beer!

Not sure what we did on 21^st February, probably just relaxed after our visitors, and ourselves of course, had enjoyed a full English. Well, as full as we can make it here!

February 22^nd Well, I had been putting it off long enough, because of the New Year and Birthday celebrations but today I decided another visit to the doctor was in order. Not only was my Achilles tendon not improving but I now had a swollen left foot. I must say that this doctor was a marked improvement on the last one. He prodded, he felt, he asked questions. I suspect he has a little English because he laughed when I asked Huan if she would give me her kidney! No answers today, but a lot tests organised. The first was a urine analysis, which luckily for me, could be done straight away. They tested for 22 different things! Some I could work out from the three letters (e.g. KET=ketones) but others were in Chinese only. The good thing, the thing I could understand, was that everything was ‘normal’! Tomorrow of course, brought another day.

On our way home, passing through the main street, we came upon the Wuzhishan Cheongsam (Qipao) Association. Elegant ladies one and all, although to my mind it could have been better organised with some decent Chinese music.

February 23^rd Today was the day to have the balance of the tests, three blood tests and a circulatory test. Arrived at the hospital early to give the blood samples. There were four phials instead of three. It seems one test requires two samples. Results would be ready in the afternoon; we decided to wait until morning. The second stop was the Ultrasound Department. It seems they were checking for thrombosis, to see if my circulation was OK and of course to check the cause of my visit, the Achilles tendon. Again, we waited for the morning to get the results.

February 24^th Results day. Blood test results 1 – 31 ‘points of interest’, all normal. Blood test results 2 – 3 ‘points of interest’, all normal. Blood test results 3 – 26 ‘points of interest’, not all normal! Ultrasound, seems I have very good circulation for a ‘man of my age’. Since I nearly always suffer from cold hands and cold feet with the slightest drop in temperature, I found this hard to believe. No signs of thrombosis, good. Unfortunately though, there was a problem with my Achilles tendon. I had ruptured it.

So back home we went. Now, to make sure we got to see the same doctor again, we had asked him when he would be ‘on duty’. This month it was Tuesdays, so we had to wait before presenting him with the results. That meant that –

February 25^th Spent half the day, or more, using Doctor Google. Did I have liver problems, just how high was my cholesterol and sugar, would I need my ankle cutting open? If I did, would I be able to recuperate at home? If I would have to be an in-patient would I be able to use a computer? Would I be allowed ‘conjugal’ visits?

February 26^th Remember the broken table? Well we had tried to call the shop where we bought all the dining and living room furniture but with no success. As we only had their mobile phone numbers we thought we would try and visit the shop which is in Sanya. Well, the shop is no longer there. That is, the building is still there, it is still a furniture shop, just not the same one. So, for the moment we are stuck, unless good old Taobao can help.

February 27^th Time to see the doctor again. I must admit it was with some trepidation that I sat in the waiting hall.

The verdict? Well, my liver is suffering a little, not enough to warrant drugs. My cholesterol is a little high, not enough to warrant drugs. (In fact it was much, much higher in Abu Dhabi.) My glucose is a little high, again not enough to warrant drugs! In fact all of these are probably a little high with the amount of food, especially meat and chocolates that we’ve had since Christmas and the amount of beer drunk over the Spring Festival. Finally, the Achilles Tendon? No surgery required! Yeeeeaay! I will be on Light Duties for quite some time though. No fast walking, no ‘long’ walks, no ‘lifting heavy things’, (partly stress on the ankle but also stress on my ribs, remember last month?)

Well, there you are, the end of a busy month. I would like to thank Patrick Quinn for some of the photos, (he gave me many more but they are on my PC). I would guess that with me being on 'Light Duties' March will be a much quieter month. See you then!

New Years’s Coming

Busy month this one but not much in the way of touristy things. First of all, a little bit of learning for those of you who didn’t understand the ‘Eyeballs In The Sky’. Here’s an explanation.

“The Eyeballs In The Sky” (Taken from britishcomics.wikia.com)

The Eyeballs in the Sky was a recurring theme from the long running newspaper strip ‘The Perishers’ by ‘Maurice Dodd’ and ‘Dennis Collins’. Every year, when the four 'kid' characters went on holiday to the seaside resort of St. Moribunds, ‘Boot’ the dog would go to look in on the ‘Crabs in the Rock Pool’, who had effectively formulated a religion around this annual event, the appearance of a phenomenon they referred to as "the Eyeballs in the Sky" because all they ever saw of Boot were his eyes and nose. Generally, the Eyeballs storyline would go on for a couple of weeks and would usually involve a clash between two factions of "crabkind", one led by a priest or prophet figure who believed the Eyeballs to be a godlike entity dedicated to punishing them for their iniquity, the other led by a scientist who was determined to prove that the Eyeballs did not, in fact, exist. This, the scientist would often do by creating a rocket or other such device which the priest warned would "rend the fabric of the Pooliverse". Meanwhile, other crabs would be watching the proceedings while heckling, fighting or (implied) fornicating. There was a great deal of innuendo and coarse humour in these sequences, which enabled the creators to enter areas which the main 'kid' strip did not allow for. Traditionally, each storyline would end in a strip which was basically just one huge panel of absolute chaos.

Relevance? Springtime of course!

February 1^st Woke up in the hotel that we had managed to find. We will not be going there again! No wardrobes, no dressing table, no place to put the laptop. Huan had to use a plastic bag tied around the shower to hold it in place. And these were my slippers!

We decided to return to Wuzhishan a different way and came back via Baisha. Quite a pretty little town, nice park, great little three wheel rickshaws, (although the photo is not so good) and lovely scenery outside the WC. Definitely worth a visit.

Now I’m not quite sure what the ‘BenBen Trail’ is, but I’m sure if you surf the Chinese web you can find more details. Whatever it is, it includes ‘Pubu Waterfall’. This is just at the side of the road, which in this case is wide enough to stop and take pictures.

And so, home, to Wuzhishan. Straight to the car wash as the car was filthy, in fact, as we would have said in my army days, it was ‘heaving’! Luckily for us, our favourite car wash includes a coffee shop. Note the word ‘HOME’ on the bar. Foshan coffee is always welcome.

February 2^nd A nice lazy day. I did do a little cooking though. Looking through my files I found what you see here. How could I not cook it, when it has such a wonderful name – ‘Rumbledethumps’? This is a traditional dish from the Scottish Borders. The main ingredients are potato, cabbage and onion. I cheated and added a little minced pork.

February 3^rd My friends are often envious when I tell them I live on a tropical island. Of course that is not quite true. Hainan is classed as having a ‘Semi-tropical’ climate. I wonder sometimes how climatologists decide these things. For a few days we froze our cotton socks off. I had to wear my half gloves to surf! Luckily for use, we did have the means to keep reasonably warm. Heaters from Abu Dhabi, (bought to dry out the walls in one flat that had a leak), and a hot water bottle, inherited when my Mum passed away.

February 4^th Back to our more normal routine, walking around the city. Not always comfortable I hasten to add, my ankle was still playing up. You can find some gems; this gentleman was found in a housing complex, built by the same man who built ours. Of course, it’s all rapidly falling into disrepair, just like ours.

One thing I do like about China is the ‘outdoor gymnasiums’. I wonder if this idea would work in the UK or if the local drunks would just ruin them all. It’s not always easy to get on the apparatus here, it’s nearly always busy, but we had a little play around.

And here’s me practicing for old English toilets and Huan ‘shaking her booty’!

February 5^th We had a visit from TropicalHainan.com, just a flying one. They were doing a ten day trip on the ‘centreline’ Of course, my best friend, Dodo, came too!

February 6^th After two and a half years, we still find new flowers now and then. I loved this one, with the little black tips on its multitudinous petals. (How’s that for a word then?)

January’s summary from Endomondo received today. Not so good, my ankle is still playing me up.

This week is a soup week. First off, “Leek and roasted-sweet-potato soup with Welsh-rarebit croutes”. Not bad at all, even if I do say so myself.

February 6^th Next up, “Funges – Mushrooms and Leeks, with "Huo Shaobing" (biscuits/scones-Not English ones) in this case with added milk.” This is a medieval recipe, again not bad at all. Huan cooked the huo shaobing.

February 8^th Another walkies day, again not so fast, damn this Achilles! So people in the UK pay out once a year for a ‘poinsettia’ for Christmas. In China, they buy small orange trees. The oranges can’t be eaten and the trees don’t last. Prices can range from a few hundred renmimbi, (tens of pounds) to a few thousand (hundreds of pounds). I think most of these were around 800RMB.

And look what we found in the same place. Shame they weren’t there before Christmas, we had to go to Haikou.

I could put many more pictures of the flowers from the garden centre but I won’t. Well, apart from this one, with ducks! I failed to buy one, ah well, maybe next time.

Being Spring Festival time, all the ‘snowbirds’ have returned. Some of them like to play music and sing by the riverside. Here’s one playing the accordion. It wasn’t such a good picture but it doesn’t look bad in black and white.

Here’s our local ‘walkway to the stars’.

Reflections on the way home.

And finally for today, the sluice gates.

February 9^th There was a block party, of sorts. No food and drink, but there was some entertainment. Now, had I been organising it. . .

February 10^th Every year, just before Spring Festival, there is a market down by the river. It’s something I quite like to see. It is quite busy but I should imagine a lot easier to navigate than those in the big cities.

Quite a crowded day. In fact Huan and I are convinced that it gets busier and busier in Wuzhishan every year.

Pick’n’mix anyone?

And finally, a ‘pub’. Not only that, it’s ‘The Beatles Pub’! I still haven’t got around to going inside yet. I wonder if I should try some Beatles’ songs?

February 11^th This notice appeared on our door, a little later in the month, but I have filed it here for a reason. Huan tells me that it basically says “No Fireworks”!

Then of course, when we go for one of our regular walks, what do we see? Well, on the other side of the river, a much safer place should there be any unfortunate accidents. Is the annual fireworks market. You can’t use them but you can buy them? I wonder how they expect that to work.

There’s even a children’s stall!

On our way home, we found another new bar. Looks like Wuzhishan is growing.

Right next to the bar is one of the small electrical shops where we had previously seen a ceiling LED lamp that we liked very much. I decided to buy it for Huan as a New Year gift. They came round and installed it in the afternoon.

February 12^th Just when I thought things were improving. I had to ask Huan to translate this for me. I’ll let you work it out for yourselves. Such a beautiful dog too. . .

February 13^th Decided to take a walk across the bridge to nowhere and around the irrigation canal, looking for photos for the Facebook ‘World Street Photography’ group. I think I used these two.

And back home through the busy streets once again.

In the afternoon, I decided to put the old living room light in the dining room as we didn’t like that one very much. I thought, as you do, that I would stand on the table to do this. After all, it is a stone table top and therefore very strong, right? Well, yes, the top is strong. Unfortunately, it was only supported at the four corners, the table legs, and not along the length. Yes, I broke the table! Let this be a lesson for all you DIY fanatics out there!

As time goes by, a sense of community is beginning to grow where live, among the snowbirds who are now beginning to stay longer each year. This evening, one of our neighbours, a Shanghai snowbird, brought us a plate of Shui Jian Bao which he had cooked himself. Very tasty they were too. (PS Neighbours in China appears to mean anyone who lives in any of the nearby buildings, in our case any of the six apartment blocks and numerous villas in our complex).

The neighbour’s Shui Jian Bao were very tasty as I mentioned above, but most were saved for lunch the next day. Yes, I had been cooking again! This time it was ‘Bob’s All In Minced Pork Stew’. It lasted for days and we still have another serving in the freezer!

February 14^th A visit to the Markey for our small New Year’s Eve dinner. Look at the size of these prawns. Expensive though, 170RMB for ½ kilo! We gave them a miss.

And outside, we found turkeys! A bit late for this year but the lady gave us her phone number and told us to give her a call when we want one, she will kill it and prepare it for us. 500RMB for the whole turkey, a lot cheaper than Corners Deli and fresh to boot. We will be visiting her on Christmas Eve this year!

Did you know that turkeys can move their ‘snoods’. I had never seen it before,

New Year Next!