Being Landlords, Committee Dinner, Gentleman Bob

September 11^th On the road again today but thankfully, not an early start. A trip to Ledong was called for by the Minister of Finance to renew the lease for our tenants there and of course, get some loot. This time they only extended until May next year when they will return to Harbin. They’re a very nice couple, both in their eighties, and always glad of a chat. I find it amusing how they are so different to each other in their ‘temperature needs’. He is always hot and she is always cold. Today, on this semi-tropical island, she was in bed with an electric blanket before we arrived. He is always in his shorts although we are told that he’s down to his undies if there are no visitors. Luckily Ledong is less than an hour away so we were back in Wuzhishan before lunch. I did take one photo in Ledong though, what do you think about this little bit of poetry?

In the afternoon Huan’s singing partner’s daughter came round bringing gifts for our dinner. They insisted because we had brought them from Haikou to Wuzhishan. Our protestations about being there anyway fell on deaf ears. What gifts did they bring? They brought steaks, which they had ordered from Taobao on the 9^th. They arrived this morning in a polystyrene box padded with some ice bags. Included were some sachets of black pepper sauce. Of course I had one for dinner but I forgot to take a photo of it. Instead you can have a photo of the three different kinds they bought for us. Not bad at all and if you are in China definitely worth ordering.

September 12^th Huan had to go to her singing class this morning, but not to sing. The ‘chosen’ group were doing their thing along with some dancers so the other students had to go and ‘be the audience’. Being the gentleman I am, I walked her there. Right outside our door we spotted this little creature and Huan gave me explicit instructions not to touch it as its hair would burn my skin. Needless to say, I obeyed!

I was able to go for a nice long walk of course and test out my nice new monopole. It does the job well enough and is a great improvement on the one that seized up on me. As well as the videos I took some still with the Keymission and then tried to stitch them into a panorama. It didn’t work but I was able to take ‘pairs’ of the eight photos and stitch them together. Here are two of the four results.

An old people’s nap was needed after lunch, it turned into nearly two hours, much too long. Still, I read this week that an afternoon nap a couple of times a week is good for you! After our nap the rain came back with a vengeance so that was it apart from our usual educational lessons. We are both improving, honestly!

September 13th Today is 中秋节 (zhōng qiū jié) – the beginning of Mid Autumn Festival so Huan is on duty! There will be a celebratory lunch for our committee and for members of the new maintenance company. (Yes, they actually did it, the old company is out, and a new one is in. I wonder if anything will change.) So, Huan had to start by going downstairs to help prepare all the vegetables and then return upstairs to steam the shrimps. I stayed out of the way and went for a walk. I had to keep it short though, only seven kilometres, as I have to look fresh and presentable when we go downstairs again.

Well our dinner went well, lots of nice food, good company and far too many ‘bottoms up’! I didn’t take any photos but I did take lots of video footage. Here are a couple of screen shots of the food and the drinking.

Followed by an unusual one of ‘er indoors with a drink in her hand.

And finally one of me during one of my breaks on the balcony!

Now the boss and I are not so used to lunch time sessions, in fact we’re not used to them at all, so another OAP sleep was taken when we got home! We had planned an evening walk to try and remove some of the calories we had consumed but wouldn’t you know it, rain stopped play yet again. Still, we both managed a bit more music practice, although, to be honest, I’m not so sure mine sounds anything like music yet!

September 14^th Huan decided we needed a ‘small’ mountain walk today, off San Yue San, the main road out of town. She fancied walking up to one of the many smaller reservoirs but we, or should I say I, took a wrong turning and ended up going to a small village called Fan Dao Cun instead. It was still a ‘small’ hill so Huan was happy enough. Today was a Fujifilm camera walk as we hadn’t been that way for quite some time. Not many photos were taken, only one hundred and twenty two! Don’t worry; they won’t all be included here.

Let’s start off with the animal world and tree climbing chickens. I suppose it happens a lot in the mountains but when we see them they are usually grubbing around on the ground. These three reminded me of three old dears having a gossip.

Staying with chickens, I learnt something today. Here’s a few hanging around the village rubbish bin. Even though I couldn’t get near them, they seemed more docile than some. Huan explained that they were male chickens who had been made into females. She pointed out that they had the head and front of a hen but the back of a cockerel. Of course I had to Google this when I got home and I guess what they are is ‘Capons’.

When we reached the village we were very surprised to see just how far the highway construction had progressed. The last time we were up here, there were only holes in the ground where the four front supports are in the photograph.

We always stop and buy water in this village before retracing our steps back home. This is the shop that we usually use. It seems the government decided it was a dangerous building. Luckily for us, we found a little hole in the wall shop just a bit further up into the village so our thirst was quenched!

And now it’s back to the animal world again. I took quite a lot of photos of the water buffalo but this is the one I got nearest to. I did have in the back of my mind the lady that was injured by cows in the UK last week but this gentleman seemed fine.

And our last photo for today is full of students. You may notice that they are all wearing blue military uniforms except for the teacher who is wearing ‘olive greens’. Well, all Chinese students go through 军训 (Jūnxùn) military training in middle school, high school and university. According to the law this training should be carried out as soon as term starts or after National Day which is October 1^st. This week is the first week back at school, this particular school is a vocational college. You can find more info here: -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_education_and_training_in_China

Sometimes I think the UK should have something similar to this too, albeit not exactly the same.

Lunch today was the first of our ‘doggy bags’ from yesterday, cold tofu (the chewy type) salad. I added red cabbage, grape tomatoes and a little bit of vinegar, very tasty.

We were supposed to be going out for dinner but our guests were unavoidable delayed in the mountains so the second doggy bag came out for dinner. This one was chicken, potatoes and vegetables, nothing needed to be added. Aren’t we the lucky ones, no cooking today at all. Mind you, after what we’ve eaten this week, a full English was definitely not needed today!

In the evening we were visited by the ‘Quinn Boys’, Patrick, Podraig and Dodo, they had been to Shuimanshang for the day and Podraig was in need of some TV while Patrick required liquid sustenance. Dodo was just happy being here. The fourth member of the gang, Flora, was unfortunately a little too worn out after the day’s activities. A good evening was had by the men though, especially Patrick and myself, (Uncle Bob), putting the world to rights on the balcony. Patrick even showed me that my new guitar is capable of sounding very good, and sweet little liar that he is, told me I wasn’t doing too bad! Even though we live a very contented life here in Wuzhishan I do so appreciate the visits we get now and then from like minded souls. Needless to say, a little too much of the amber nectar went down the hatch and I ended up going to bed very late after allowing my stomach to settle a bit.

September 15^th Slept well last night, maybe I should have a few beers a little more often. This morning I had planned to go out for a nice long walk while Huan stayed in and waited for our friends to pop in before heading back to Haikou. My plans were thwarted, not by the weather this time, not by Huan either, but by the ‘leader of the committee of eleven’ who wanted me to make a video for her. As you know, we have a new maintenance company and she wanted a video showing the ‘state of affairs’ at the beginning of their contract tenure. There are dual reasons for this, one to show if and how things improve from now onwards, and the other to show all the absentee tenants how things are now. It’s done, the video was made, compiled into one and handed over. Personally, I don’t believe a great deal will change and I think they have no idea of the actual costs of putting right many of the things that are presently wrong. Ah well, we’ll wait and see.

Once we had seen Patrick, Flora, Podraig and Dodo off we sat down to an easy lunch, boiled eggs with toast. Perhaps we’ll go back to fry-ups next week.

In the afternoon Huan did lots of music searching, I did lots of Facebook surfing. Dinner was next, re-heated dumplings and sweet potatoes that Huan had previously cooked, simple and tasty. There’s nothing like a relaxing day now and then. In fact it was even more relaxing than planned. We were going to at least have a stroll around the river this evening but, would you believe it, rain stopped play, again!

September 16^th “Monday is washing day, is everybody happy, you bet your life we are.” Of course, for us it’s not washing day but shopping day. We’re still happy though!

Happiness can be fleeting. Our tenants in Sanya are giving us headaches. In order to increase the rent by a mere ¥200.00 a month we are going to have to fit a new front door, probably costing us over ¥2000.00. To ease Huan’s troubled mind I agreed to this but there is no way we are going to rent it to them for a further year next time. The wife there is very clever and as far as I can see is just trying to take us for as much as she can. Lesson learnt, maybe.

To relax ourselves a little we had a stroll around the town in the evening and then Huan hit the keyboard and I hit the guitar and a bit more Chinese.

September 17^th Highway bridges again today, on our way to Sanya. No walkies, we were off to see about a new front door for our tenants. As usual, when we go the mountain route to Sanya, we stopped for coffee just outside the city, underneath a highway bridge. Don’t you ever wonder just how all those tons of steel and concrete, (or tarmac), are held up? I know it looks like they are on big fat legs, but take a closer look. The surface area that actually supports the bridge is much smaller than the support itself. I’m not even sure if they are physically joined together or if the highway just ‘rests’ on the supports. What do you think?

So, in due course, we arrived to meet our tenants. Huan sat getting the contract signed and hopefully the money transferred while I went to measure and photograph the old door.

Now you would think it would be fairly easy to locate a ‘door shop’ locally, after all, we can do that in Wuzhishan which is hardly a big city. It took us a little longer in Sanya and, contrary to what we expected, the prices were higher here than in our own town. We did eventually settle on one for a price of ¥2,800.00 That includes removing the old door, fitting the new one, cleaning surfaces around the door, (sort of), and then disposing of the old door. That alone costs ¥300.00. Hopefully this will keep our tenants happy until next year.

It was not an especially warm day, or so we thought. However, this was the temperature when we got back in the car, and it stayed like that until we stopped for lunch. PS I wasn’t feeling any sadness, I actually love the heat!

The place we stopped for lunch was a new one for us, a little shopping centre complete with a ‘snack street’. Here’s what it looks like.

You might notice that it’s not very full. Well, that’s because Chinese people have their lunch earlier than we did today. What did we have? Huan had what looked to me like fried noodles but it was cold and a little spicy. I had ròujiāmó (肉夹馍), (translates as ‘meat folder’), which unusually, was made with chicken and flakey pastry. I had to ask because to me it tasted a little like tuna fish inside, possibly because the chicken was “chicken floss”. (You can Google that.) Whatever, we both enjoyed our slightly different from usual lunches!

Our first stop when we got back to Wuzhishan was Huan’s bank, we hadn’t seen a branch all day, and we wanted to be sure that the rent had been deposited for her and, more importantly, that it was the agreed contract price. Sighs of relief from both of us, all was hunky dory. No music for either of us today, both ‘brains’ not functioning at 100%. On the plus side, I did get a little Chinese practice in.

September 18^th Today started with rain so I surfed the web while Huan went to pay our electric bill and maintenance fees. She paid only for September to December, due to the change of companies. Usually we pay¥1662.00 per year, more than most because we have a three bedroomed apartment. The fee for everyone is ¥1.21 per square metre per month. Now, people complain that things don’t get done, but when you see how little money is collected it’s no wonder. Many of the apartments here are unattended most of the year, some have never been lived in since they were bought, which means most people either pay a reduced charge or don’t pay anything at all. I have no idea how private apartments work in the west but I’m sure it can’t be as inefficient as this is.

What a couple of layabouts we were this afternoon. Despite the weather improving we just lay around like beached whales again!

Of course, after dinner we were forced to go out and buy our lottery tickets for the next two days. We strolled around the river and managed a little over five kilometres, we felt pretty good about that. Then got home and forgot to turn off the fitness tracker until we’d both had a shower. I guess that will be a long 5k! No photos today.

September 19^th Her Imperial Majesty suggested the reservoir walk today, the one we got wrong last time, so I agreed. It would also give us a chance to check out how the highway was coming on in that are. It is usually quite a pretty walk and a lot of it still was today.

Unfortunately, as we got nearer the construction area it changed, just a little.

We managed to get through this part reasonably well and eventually saw the progress we had been looking for. It will still take a little while longer to complete methinks.

We carried on up the mountain until we reached the reservoir. This also used to be a fish farm which, on one occasion, we watched them stocking up. It looks as though that business has gone into liquidation because there was no sign of life in the buildings at all. I was able to go upstairs and check, on some very dodgy stairs though, I made Huan stay down. We couldn’t see any fish at all although there were a couple of people fishing across the other side. Today was another Fuji walk so I tried a panorama and failed miserably. I just can’t seem to get it right; a visit back to the handbook may be called for. However, the trusty Nokia phone came through as it always does so here is the panorama.

Having seen what we came for we started on our way down again. The first stop was in a little village near the top, cold water was required, especially for me, I was parched. From there we took a detour via another country road that we had spotted on the way up. The plan was to keep our shoes a little cleaner and give us an easier walk. It worked, for a while. When we got to the highway construction area, we had to cross the road the trucks were using. This caused a slight problem, slurry I think you would call it. It was only about five metres wide but there was no way round it, and a long walk back. There was nothing for it, ‘Gentleman Bob’ to the rescue once again. I carried Huan over this part. It’s a good job I did, this is what my boots looked like afterwards.

Almost back home and Huan did something that she doesn’t usually do, picked up an animal. She thought this kitten was so cute but would only consider having one if it never grew any bigger. Anybody know of any ‘Peter Pan’ kittens for sale?

Having drunk two bottles of water on our walk, which by the way was longer than we both remembered, (over fifteen kilometres), we decided that lunch could be skipped in favour of milk shakes. They went down well!

I had another OAP kip in the afternoon, Huan, being the hero she is, did some housework. After dinner, we both managed some more music practice. I wonder when my fingers will be hard enough to practice for more than fifteen to twenty minutes at a time. Mind you, there’s no deadline so I shouldn’t really worry just yet.

September 20^th With the weather on our side and not having had a lot of rain in the last few days we decided to go on our ‘normal mountain scenic walk’. We both started to realise that we have lost some fitness over the summer months. It was enjoyable, just not very fast. It’s uphill all the way to the bridge, near which today was a Godsend, a little waterfall coming from up above. Cool, clear water, what a refresher. Mind you, I didn’t drink it, only used it to cool down. The last time we drank stream water still brings back bad memories! Who knows, this may well have been OK but, once bitten, twice shy.

Going down was much easier, so much so that I was able to convince Huan to carry on and complete our daily ten. I did stop off for a couple of bottles of water though, don’t want to overdo it now, do we. I almost had another OAP sleep in the afternoon but just managed to stay awake through the ‘nodding head’ stage.