February 1st “If you don't believe me, If you don't like my plans, You mustn't
tell me”, another song to start the month, this one called ‘February Air’ from
the band ‘Lights’. It wasn’t my first choice but ‘Xmas in February’ by ‘Lou
Reed’ didn’t have the right sort of lyrics. Anyway, a new month begins, the one
I haven’t been looking forward to. The nearer my operation gets the more I seem
to worry about it. I know I shouldn’t but those of you who know me will know
that, despite outward appearances, I am a worrier.
So what did we do today? Well, we went for a walk of course. We’re
sticking to easy walks until later in the year so we went around the river
again. I was hoping to make a video about the firework stalls but they aren’t
open yet. They’ve also changed a lot since last year, all in small steel
containers now. There was however a new, temporary, market along the riverside,
a farmer’s market. You’ve seen pictures of various birds in cages before so
I’ll skip them. I was a bit surprised to see this though, a porcupine. Whether
it’s native to Hainan or not I couldn’t tell
you but it sure seems a shame that he will end his life as a New Year dish.
February 2nd Yet another
‘blue sky’ day, lovely for walking. We were following this woman for a while,
carrying her shopping. I guess it’s fair to say that Chinese people, or more
broadly speaking, Asian people, always know where their food is coming from.
Yes, that’s a live chicken in the bag on the left. I wonder if it knows where
it’s going?
The town is definitely looking good for the Spring Festival
holidays, here’s the centrepiece of the town square. When I see these, and
there are a lot of them in Hainan , I always
wonder about the cross migration of peoples between continents all those years
ago. This ‘totem pole’ is concrete but we have a lot of wooden ones too.
Also in the town square were lots of small orange trees. I believe
that these oranges are not for eating, just for display. You can see them in
pairs outside many businesses during the holiday season. Here’s a peach among
the oranges.
February 3rd More walking of
course! We thought we would take a stroll past the ‘Golden Mermaid’ and see how
she is getting on these days. We passed through the apartment complex that she
shares her space with and a resident told us that there will be a ‘seven star
hotel’ in front of said mermaid. That would be to the right in this picture.
Now I don’t remember what her face was like on our last visit but it
seems to me as if someone has tried to give her some make up. She also seems to
have been damaged on her neck. Either you get vandals everywhere or she wasn’t
made very well to start with!
Somebody else who seems to have a problem is this little duck. I
couldn’t get close enough to get a good shot but have a look at its wings.
Those white feathers wouldn’t go back inside. We watched for a while in case it
was some kind of mating ritual or perhaps a way to dry the feathers but each
time it flapped its wings those white bits ended up sticking out again.
February 4th Up at ten to six
this morning, must be old age setting in. Good that I was though, we were at
the supermarket before quarter past eight. Today is a ‘busy’ shopping day in China
Being New Year’s Eve and because Huan will have a busy three weeks
at the end of the month looking after me, I said I would be the cook today. It
would be a little difficult for Huan to cook her normal New Year’s spread
anyway with only one electric hob. Yes, the gas is still off! Today we had
Western instead, here’s a roast lamb with herbs.
The menu said three to three and a half hours so I took it out after
three. I’ll know better next time. It was still tasty enough though and what’s
left will give us a good stew for tomorrow and maybe even another day. So as
New Year’s Day will be tomorrow, Huan and I would like to wish you all 过年好 (Guònián hǎo), which in case you didn’t know, is yet another way of
saying Happy New Year!
February 5th Not a bad night’s sleep for a Chinese New Year’s Eve! It’s usually
like a war zone for at least a couple of hours but we weren’t disturbed much at
all. We think maybe it’s something to do with a sign we saw on the wall of a
fireworks stall where lots of areas are now restricted in the use of them.
Here’s one of the stalls, #2 of 6, with the container behind, which we assume
is supposed to ‘contain’ any untoward explosions. Looking at how much stock is
outside the container I reckon they must take a lot home with them at night
time!
Today was a great day. We were very lazy this morning although Huan
did make some dumplings for freezing. We were both so happy with how quiet
everything was. Standing on the bedroom balcony, all we could hear were birds.
Even on our afternoon walk it was still remarkably quiet, on our street all the
shops were closed with the exception of a ‘convenience’ store. It reminded me
of how Boxing Day used to be in the UK
February 6th My feet
are swelling up again, probably because I’m staying off the Aspirin until I’ve
had my operation, so walking is a must this month, as often as possible. Today,
I decided a Fujifilm walk was called for, mostly because I wanted to enter the
weekly competition on Facebook, the theme of which was reflections. I made a
mistake. There was just a little too much wind ruffling the surface of the
river and no decent shop windows as most places were still closed. I did find
the toilet though and after all, that is where many people go to sit and
‘reflect’!
I am still learning, (or trying to), how to use the Fujifilm so most
pictures were sent straight to the bin today. There are a couple of wildlife
ones for you though. The first is my friend who is kept chained up outside the
local restaurant, poor chap, Don’t worry, he is not on the menu, he is for
breeding. The owners have a problem though, his mate ran away! As you can
probably see, he is always pleased to see me.
The previous pic was a four legged friend, this one is eight.
However, if you look closely he seems to be missing one leg. He ‘fell out’ of
his web right in front of us and I think he was trying to find a way back. I
didn’t fancy giving him a helping hand, just in case!
February 7th Another lazy
morning with an walk after lunch. The adult vocational college down in the
middle of town has changed the use of its sports track. It is now a facility
free for the public to use. Parents can exercise here –
Children can join in of course, or play here –
And ‘seniors’ are not left out, they can play here –
As you can see, the kids have been playing here too! What about me?
Did I exercise or play while we were there? After all, as well as what you see,
there is a small football pitch, a tennis court and some basketball courts. Well,
I went through the motions even if after many years I may have forgotten the
correct starting position.
Evening time saw us finish off the lamb, another nice stew! It also brought
us a visitor from ‘oop north’ young Jake Canning. I do like to see other
foreigners from time to time and we spent a few merry hours on the balcony
lubricating our engines. No evidence though, I forgot to take any photos!
February 8th Jake was off
cycling this morning so Huan and I went for a San Yue San Da Dao walk. For
those who have forgotten, that is the main street through town. On the way the
Shangri La complex has had new advertising posters put up. I thought you might
like this one. Great advertising and would have been almost true until they
knocked almost all the mountain down around the complex.
Evening time brought more visitors, Patrick, Flora and Podraig. That
meant another evening on the balcony for Jake and I, along with Patrick to help
us empty the bottles. It was an evening I really enjoyed, haven’t been to bed
so late for a long time! However, future invites may be not so forthcoming if
my little friend Dodo is not brought along!
February 9th Another morning
walk for Huan and I. The cobwebs certainly needed blowing away after yesterday
evening! Very lazy with the camera but I did take a short video for uploading
on the YouTube channel. This was the accordionist and his resident choir. Both
he and the singers are of course snowbirds. Here’s a screenshot.
February 10th Relaxing day
today, well for me anyway, all I had to do was go and buy the makings for a
salad. Huan was busy making pizzas for our lunchtime guests. We had them all
round for lunch because Jake was on his way back to Haikou
February 11th Another Monday, another shopping
day. For some strange reason the supermarket was quite empty today, when we
arrived and when we left. Afternoon sleeps required all round, I guess we must
be getting old!
My evening plan was to have
drinks with Patrick. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. Patrick, Jake and
Podraig all had what appeared to be food poisoning. That of course got Huan
worrying! However, she, myself and Flora were all fine so I tried to reassure
her that it was not her cooking! Flora did pop round in the evening, to print something,
and, she brought Dodo with her this time. I guess we can invite them again
after all!
February 12th A lazy morning, waiting to cook a lunch time
fry-up for the visitors. In the end, I cooked just for Huan and I, Patrick
still had an upset tummy. An afternoon walk was our only other activity,
another ‘stroll’ around the riverside. I have decided there will be no
‘strenuous’ walks until I’ve been ‘seen to’!
February 13th A fry-up for me for breakfast, we have to
try and empty the fridge and freezer before we trek off to Haikou
February 14th Valentine’s Day
but Dr. Bob was still in the house! Huan was still feeling a little fragile so
we had a fairly lazy day although Huan did go out for her D2. (Have
you forgotten what that is? Check back to refresh your memory!)
February 15th Huan located a
‘Bank of China’ for me, in Ledong, so that’s where we went this morning. I
wanted to confirm my pension payments, to change a few more pounds and to make
sure we have enough money for the upcoming hospital trip. The bank branch is so
new that the Sat-Nav didn’t show it at all but a friendly chappie from the fuel
station led us to it. It’s actually on the same street we often eat in, very useful
for future visits. It’s a lot quicker to go to Ledong and back than it is to
Sanya.
Huan was dancing again in the evening so I decided to walk down with
her and then have a short riverside walk on my own. Passing the local college,
whose walls have just been painted, I thought I would show you these two
photos. This one is fairly normal, we have seen people wearing clothes like
this.
However, we haven’t seen anyone like this. I’ll be keeping my eyes
open from now on!
Now Chinese people have some habits that we may consider just a
little bit strange. One of them is walking on a cobbled pavement in bare feet.
It’s supposed to be good for you. I’m not so sure myself!
The ladies were going to dance in the town square tonight and as
luck would have it, there was another group rehearsing. They were a much larger
group, much more organised and I think they may have been getting ready for 元宵节 – Yuán xiāo jié - Lantern Festival. They look like local costumes
but it's a bit early for 三月三 - Sān yuè
sān (3rd day of 3rd month), a local Hainan
festival. I managed to get a video for Facebook, not one of my better efforts
though. Here’s a couple of screenshots.
February 16th Back to a
semblance of normality with a morning walk around the river. We had to stop on
the way to ‘charge’ our phones with money, just in case. Huan found that for
some reason she had been using data which meant she had used a lot more. She
was not a very happy bunny! On our way round, we passed some more billboards
where we spotted the following gem. If anyone has any idea what they are trying
to say feel free to let us know. It does make me wonder, yet again, why are the
people who make these signs too proud to ask for help with the English
language. It used to be the same in the UAE.
February 17th Oh dear, Huan’s new monitor has
decided to ‘underline’ the top portion of the screen with quite a broad green
line. Checked it on my PC, same results so took it off to the shop this
morning. Thankfully the problem still showed up there. I was dreading what used
to happen in Hong Kong, the other way around, when the ‘girls’ would complain
about the equipment in the communications centre which would miraculously be
fine when I turned up to check it out. I used to blame it on their nylon
underwear! Anyway, they agreed to replace it but then couldn’t find another one
in the shop, not even from another manufacturer, of the same size and
configuration. Maybe it will be sorted this week. . .
February 18th “Listen to the pouring rain, listen to it
pour”, (Jose Feliciano). Well at least it wasn’t a walking day, only a ‘small’
shopping one. Yes, not much needed this week as we’ll be off on Thursday, up
North to the chop shop, otherwise known as the hospital. We started preparing
early instead, charging Huan’s pad, checking my laptop etc.
February 19th ‘SWMBO’ (She who must be
obeyed) told me that I am not allowed to walk, I have to rest before we go up
to Haikou
Lo and behold, the ‘rules’ were
bent again and I was allowed out in the evening to make a video of today’s D2,
which just in case you still can’t remember is ‘Dama Dancing’. Our
neighbourhood group only had four members tonight, probably because today is
Lantern Festival, the last day of the New Year celebrations. Fireworks are
going off outside as I write this. If you want to see the ladies dancing you’ll
have to follow this link:
In the meantime, here are three of the group walking up to Sany Yue San Square,
the fourth member joined them there.
February 20th Happy Birthday to me! Sentiment
stolen from the internet.
So, “What’s the recipe today
Jim?” (You may just have to google that, especially if you’re a youngster.)
Well, breakfast was the usual Chinese birthday one, long noodles and egg, with
a few extras such as meat and vegetables. The long noodles symbolise a long
life, not sure about the egg, rebirth perhaps? Lazy day after, tomorrow being
D-Day! We did our packing in the morning, following the prepared list, worse
than going on holiday! Nap time in the afternoon. For me at least, having been
woken by Huan taking down all the New Year decorations at what seemed the break
of dawn.
On our way out for my birthday
dinner we passed two new friends at the gatehouse. One is a little shy and I
haven’t had time to get him (or her) to relax yet. The other one is quite a
boisterous little chappie, friendly too.
So what was my birthday dinner?
Well Huan had all these ideas of where to take me, how to spoil me, maybe even
Western food for a change so I think she was quite surprised when I declined.
With us travelling up to the hospital tomorrow alcohol is off the menu anyway
and I didn’t really feel up to a slap up meal. Instead, it was what we call a
‘choose food’ place, where the choices are laid out buffet style. There’s a set
price for two meat and two veg but I went expensive and had two veg, one meat
and two chicken legs. It cost Huan the princely sum of ¥35.00, (less than four
pounds). Here’s our dishes, Huan’s is the top one, mine the bottom.
A bottle of Nescafe Smoovlatte
when I got home and I was fine. I sent Huan off dancing again so I could finish
this tonight and get it posted.
