Bug Life, Needle, Fame at Last

May 1^st “When I was small, and Christmas trees were tall”, (was a long long time ago). It’s good to get some words that match the day though isn’t it? (1^st May by The Bee Gees) I was free this morning, Huan stayed in, so I decided to try the landfill route. I was hoping that there would be less work because of the date and therefore less dust. I was half right. Anyway, the first thing I noticed was the police checking all cars coming into Wuzhishan again. It seems they are looking for pigs, trying to keep African swine fever out. Hainan had been free until recently. I don’t hold much hope for them though; they are not checking every road into the city.

As I mentioned, I was half right, some work was still going on today, here they are preparing the bridge over the Changhao road, you can just see the pillars coming up in the background.

You may remember that the landfill walk goes up for five kilometres, not vertically of course. Here is the view almost at the top, and then going down the other side.

I took a lot of pictures of flowers today, most of which you have already seen though, and I also took a lot of black and white, (ACROS on my camera). I particularly liked this one and I thought you might too.

Evening time saw Huan wanting to walk so being the gent that I am, I joined her. When we got back, we bumped into the dancing ladies who were also going out for a walk so Huan followed on with them. This time, I didn’t need to be a gent, I went home!

May 2^nd We went looking for a fish farm today but both our memories were defective so we didn’t find it. We still had a nice long walk though, eleven kilometres. Mind you, it shows that we are out of practice; we were both slowing down a lot as we neared our destination. Nansheng village is where we were headed so we set off down the main road. We briefly saw another of those beautiful lizards before a couple of boys frightened it back into the undergrowth. They told us they only wanted to catch it ad play with it. I wonder how they expected to catch it with a sandal in the hand in the ‘thwack’ position! A short while further on we did come upon some more wildlife, a very small example though. What kind of insect this is I don’t know but it’s pretty.

Lots more photos taken on the way including the now obligatory black and white ones of older buildings. Another creature was next for you though, a dragon! Someone had started carving a dragon but had obviously given up just after the head. Not a bad effort though.

Once we arrived in Nansheng it was time to get the electric bus back home. It was a warm ride; the A/C was off in the bus. Huan and I were thinking that perhaps they are not making enough money. Walking back to the house we bumped into the Mighty Quinns. (Come all without, come all within, You'll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn) Eat your heart out Manfred Mann, you only knew one, we know three! They came round in the evening so Patrick and I had to have a couple of small glasses of beer!

May 3^rd We were very lazy today and couldn’t be bothered to go anywhere at all, even had a nap in the afternoon again. We did go out in the evening though. Patrick and Flora invited us out for a meal and it would have been rude to refuse wouldn’t it. It was a new restaurant for all of us and I broke the doctor’s rules by having not only fish, but lamb too. It was a very enjoyable meal and our thanks go to them for the invite. Both of us ate too much and had to wait a while after we got home before our stomachs would let us go to bed.

May 4^th Saturday, so it should be weekend fry-up breakfast but as we ate so much last night we gave it a miss. Tomorrow and Monday will do. After yesterday’s lazy day we decided a trip up the hill to the bridge and back was called for. On the way up we played good Samaritans and helped a worm across the road. There was no way it would have made it alone before being flattened by a car. Here’s the before and after screenshots from the phone video.

The weather changed in the afternoon so an evening walk was out of the question. Never mind, we did a little over twelve kilometres this morning despite ‘Endomondo’ saying it was just over ten. Sometimes my phone stops the fitness tracker when I film a video and it did exactly that today with the worm. Silly me, it took me two kilometres to notice!

May 5^th Clouds all over the mountains this morning so I convinced Huan we should walk up to the reservoir. We did turn off a little early, a few hundred metres before the end, and look what we saw before we started down. One of my favourites!

And to our surprise, on the way down, the crab was back in the tree. It scooted inside fairly quickly so I had to use the flash but you can get the general idea.

And staying with animals in trees, how about this one? I thought it was a great shot.

The rest of the day was peaceful for me, working on the computer, speaking to #1 son on Skype. Huan, on the other hand, was rushed off her feet. She had singing lessons this afternoon and walking on the stones this evening. One thing I learned is that I can read Western sheet music much better than what Huan brought home. Hers has numbers for the position of the notes on the scales along with annotations to show pitch and octaves. It is also used in the west as the Tonic Solfa System, but I don’t know which came first. I guess if it’s what you learn first it is probably easier than conventional sheet music.

May 6^th Woke up alone this morning, Huan was out before half past six for some dancing on the ‘bridge to nowhere’ with the only other dancing lady left here. After a Monday fry-up, unusual for us, it was back to usual and shopping. I noticed something today and wonder how on earth I haven’t noticed it in the last four years. Check out this escalator warning sign. I thought I read “Be careful clothes sandwich”. It’s only when I took the photo that I realised I was wrong and there was even more to giggle at.

For the rest of the day I was a LOG, which I believe means Lazy Old Git, but Huan did go out for her evening dance, again on the bridge to nowhere. She and the other lady have both decided that mornings are too difficult so will return to the evening schedule!

May 7^th Another very overcast morning, made even more gloomy by the receipt of this text on my phone; “Your car, on the 2019-04-28 10:52 in the province directly under the jurisdiction of the county-level administrative division Haishu Expressway 97 km 650 meters Jiazhang Daoqiongzhong to Haikou entrance, recorded by the traffic technology monitoring equipment driving medium to upload Class trucks. It is an illegal act that a motor vehicle other than a dangerous goods transport vehicle exceeds 10% of the prescribed speed. Please accept it within 30 days from the date of receipt of this notification.” Translation courtesy of Google, probably not quite right but the gist is there. Don’t you just love how it says “Please accept”, as if I have any choice in the matter. We did check the dashcam footage and I can’t really argue with them even though I entered the tunnel at 83kph and not 97kph as they say.

So, once the gloom had lifted we went on a walk around the river again, no hills today, and we didn’t quite make ten kilometres. Still, it was enough, as the rain started just as we arrived home. Not as many photos taken as usual, deliberately, and some of what we took you’ve already seen. Here’s one you haven’t seen, another bug. It’s not a cockroach although it does look similar and Huan tells me that some Chinese people eat these.

The weather was still pretty miserable in the evening so Huan had one of singing classmates come round so that they could have a little, very little, practice. I got roped in to sing a song or two from my ‘singing folders’, (from my singing in a restaurant days), but I’m afraid I am very much out of practice!

May 8^th Huan out early this morning, twenty past eight, for a singing lesson at nine o’clock. The lesson lasts two hours so I set off up the mountain to the bridge again. Without Huan I was able to go a little faster but still not up to last year’s standards yet. I did ten kilometres in just over two hours. This is a view you haven’t seen before, on the way down.

On my way home, it was a trip to the bank. I had received that text message yesterday from the traffic police which said I had been speeding into a tunnel on the highway and I had to present myself at the police station. I was worried about how much I would have to pay for this offence and any others I had committed since last August.

Just before our house, I saw the ‘hairdresser’ and as you haven’t seen her before I thought you should see her in her salon. Initially, in the other photo I took, I thought she had a cut-throat razor in her hand but closer inspection showed it to be a comb.

After our afternoon nap, a nice shower, and a good spray of deodorant for me it was off to the police station. Surprise, surprise, they only wanted to warn me not to be a bad boy in the future. Maybe it’s because the highway is new and not all the tunnels have the same speed limit. An even bigger and better surprise was that I had no other traffic offences on the computer. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that they’re not lurking in a queue somewhere! The money from the back will still come in useful tomorrow though, another trip to Haikou for some more of those female hormones and a surprise birthday party for Patrick Quinn.

Dancing again in the evening for Huan, and as the teacher has returned ‘oop north’, Huan is now in charge of the mp3 player and the relevant tracks. They don’t call her ‘boss lady’ for nothing you know! I just stayed in coming down with a cold…

May 9^th “On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again” (Willie Nelson) And of course that’s where we were this morning, on the road again to Haikou for another instalment of female hormones, episode 3! The weather was dismal so no screenshots of today’s drive.

The injection was met with my normal trepidation and I swear the nurse really makes sure that it is subcutaneous! Still, it’s over for another month. We left the hospital and went to Mova looking for a gift for today’s birthday boy, Patrick Quinn. He doesn’t know it but there is a surprise party for him at Guomao Chimac tonight. I found a ‘Chinese’ Swiss Army knife and a squeaky pig key ring. Well he was born in the year of the pig!

From there it was a trip to ‘Tropical Hainan’ office where I was to be interviewed by Josh and filmed by Patrick and Jake. A good job was done by all although I don’t really have any decent photos to show you. You’ll have to make do with this one of me with a sticky up eyebrow answering one of Josh’s questions while chewing on Hainan salted chicken. If you haven’t tried that, then you should, it’s really tasty and despite the name, not too salty at all.

We then rushed back to find a hotel, get checked in and change clothes before walking up to Chimac Pub. The hotel we found, definitely within walking distance of Chimac, and as an added bonus within walking distance of both Corner’s Deli and RT Supermarket, is called “Ye Hai” hotel. It is reasonably priced, ¥300.00 for a room with twin beds, (¥400.00 if you want a ‘big bed’). We can recommend it.

Patrick’s party went very well and we were all very well fed and of course watered, some more than others. For some reason all my photos of the evening were foggy and out of focus, and before you mention it, no, I didn’t have too much to drink! Instead, I will share with you the business card of Chimac and highly recommend that you visit. The food was great, the service excellent, a lovely ambience and all in all a wonderful evening.

May 10^th Awake at a reasonably early hour, out for breakfast before half past seven. We didn’t try for breakfast in the hotel but we did see people eating when we got back so it’s worth checking out if you do stay there. After breakfast it was shopping time, RT first for some of their wonderful bread followed by Corner’s Deli for some more jars of pickled red cabbage. Huan also found All-Bran cheaper than Taobao! Here’s the scene while we were walking around RT waiting for it to open.

An uneventful journey back to Wuzhishan, I think I avoided any of those pesky cameras although I am becoming more paranoid by the minute. “They’re out to get me!” No walkies today, we ate out for a change at a buffet style place and then dancing for Huan in the evening and dashcam work for me.

May 11^th Huan’s choice today so it was up the mountain to the bridge and back again. Before we went, I had to take a snap of the river. Because of the work they are dong the water has only one way to go around the island now. As a result, the small bridge is under water!

Once over the bridge and coming down the other side we stopped at something that has always puzzled us. It’s a Chinese pergola with something that always looked like an upturned table in the middle but set in concrete with odd shaped legs. Well, eleven years since Huan first saw it like that, it has now been completed. It’s a fake well!

There is a bucket at the end of that rope and the wooden base has been removed so the bucket rests in water. As is normal, not only in China, there is now rubbish in that water. It isn’t a functional well of course but I still had to go through the motions! Note how the effort has made me sweat.

We had a 'full English' when we got home and then I had a lazy day. Huan practiced her singing in the living room, she’s coming on well, and I did my photos and blog. In the evening, she danced and I, after all the effort trying to get water from the well, rested!

May 12^th Another lazy day, well, lazy for the photographer but not for the walkers. Huan said she only wanted a short walk so it was up to the bridge and down again but she still managed nine kilometres. I carried on and did twelve. The only photo I took was one to show that the Chinese, perhaps contrary to expectations, do take the environment quite seriously. They are doing a lot of work here at the moment, installing underground electricity cables, revamping the drainage systems, laying gas pipes for the whole town and replacing a lot of the water mains. For conservation in action see how the water main has been re-routed around this tree, and this is not the only example.

May 13th “Tossing and turning, I'm tossing and turning, all night” (The Ivy League - 1965) Seems to happen a lot these days, perhaps it’s just part of getting older. Anyway, I was up not long after half past five. When Huan woke up, she yelled at me to come and take photos on the balcony. Well, you know me, always listen to the director. It was (only) another dragonfly, although, to be fair, the wings did look different to any we’ve seen before. I took five photos, the other four were rubbish and I’m not too impressed with this one either!

Today being Monday, the rest of the day was shopping and relaxing.

May 14^th A not so early start, I slept well and a little late! We headed off today to see if we could remember where the fish farm reservoir is, it’s been so long since we’ve been there. Our route took us through our local garden centre first.

This was followed soon after by a couple of creatures, neither of which I was going to put my hands anywhere near. The first looks like some kind of centipede (or millipede) and the second a hairy caterpillar that looked as if it was carrying a passenger.

We were on the right road and found the fish farm reservoir with no problems. Last time we were here, they said they were doing it up ready to receive visitors. As you can see from this photo, not much has changed. We met a different person who told us, “We have the money and are going to do it up ready to receive visitors.”

The reason we knew we were on the right road is that we passed the construction of the Wuzhishan to Haitang Wan highway on the way. I couldn’t get a decent shot on the way, but on the way back I got a fairly good shot of one of the many tunnels they will be boring through the mountains. They wouldn’t let us near enough to look inside!

As we wended our way home we passed the usual pigs, ducks and chickens, which I took many photos of, but I thought you might prefer a couple of geese. It was quite funny getting the shots because they were cackling away and almost being a little threatening at times. Here they are giving me the ‘evil eye’!

We walked fifteen kilometres in three and a half hours which we thought was not bad at all. The rain beat us home by five hundred metres though so we were soaked even more when we got home, outside and inside!

Evening time was dancing for Huan, but no walking for me. I think we did enough, don’t you? Instead, I got started with Yoyo Chinese again. I had begun learning with Yoyo some time ago, but when I reached the end of the free part, there was no way for me to pay to continue. Late last year they added ‘Alipay’ to their payment methods which meant I could then pay, but I wanted to know how much the hospital was going to take from us first! Yesterday, Yoyo’s Facebook page mentioned a 30% discount so I decided the time was right. Having left it so long, I went right back to the start!

May 15^th We left the house together but then parted ways by the gate. Huan was going singing and I was going walking. I also wanted to make another Keymission video to prove to my old army buddies that I am not just adding the ‘shopping kilometres’ every day.

I had completed thirteen kilometres by the time I met Huan at the ‘classroom’, fifteen by the time we got home. Today it only took me three hours, with stops! Even better is that we beat the rain home. In fact the rain decided to sulk and not turn up at all today!

The rest of the afternoon was taken up with a visitor, this time not from ‘oop norf’ but from ‘dahn sarf’. It was Jerome from Sanya who we had met during my hospital stay in Haikou. He stayed for a nice ‘Bob made sandwich’ for lunch and then an even better ‘Huan made burger and chips’ for dinner. Here we are ‘posing’ before eating dinner.