Final Preparations for the Royal Visit

“Who are the ‘Royal Visitors’?” I hear you ask. Well, that would be #1 son Christopher and his lovely wife Amber, back for yet another helter-skelter of activities for a couple of weeks.

August 1^st We’ll start with a bit of repetition, it’s Jethro Tull Again, this from the song ‘Stuck In The August Rain’ - “Brings jasmine tea on a painted tray, and bends to kiss my frown away. But I'm still stuck in the August rain; stuck out in the cloudburst once again.” As you probably guessed, it’s raining again. Not to worry, no walking was planned for today anyway. The car was due a service and being August, the insurance needed renewing so a trip to Sanya was called for. In order to get back in a day the alarm clock, (my phone), was also called for. We were there nice and early, before nine o’clock, and as usual were straight in. We never have to book in advance and we never have to wait because most Chinese people, even with a new car, never take it back to the dealer for a service. They find a ‘cheap guy on the corner of their street’; I’d prefer to play safe. It does work out more expensive for us but probably not as much as you guys would pay. Today the service was about ¥950.00 (£113.00) and the insurance was ¥3800.00 (£452.00) so that’s my pension gone for this month!

Mind you, I did fall in love while I was there, with the successor of my car model. I have a Dongfeng AX7, (they do love their numbers) and the new one, although still being an AX7, also has a name, AEOLUS. (I had to Google it – In Greek mythology, Aeolus (quick-moving, nimble") was the keeper of the winds and king of the island of Aeolia, one of the abrupt rocky Lipara islands close to Sicily. Later classical writers regarded him as a god. Not a bad name for a car I suppose. Anyway, here’s just one photo of the many I took.

This one has a BMW 1.6T engine where mine has a Peugeot 2.3. I guess the BMW is a more modern engine, it certainly appears to give more power and better fuel consumption. There are only two things wrong with it. The first one is that it doesn’t have a 12V socket in the boot for our cool box, (necessary for our shopping safaris to Haikou and Sanya). The second is SWMBO won’t let me buy it, just because we don’t have the money!

Speaking of money, it was also time to pop into the bank, yes, even that is in Sanya, we don’t have one in Wuzhishan, to check that my pension is up to date and to change some more money for normal expenses plus monthly hospital costs. The difference in exchange rates from when we arrived in China in 2007 until now is absolutely amazing, or should I say horrendous, and definitely not all due to the infamous ‘Brexit’. If it had stayed the same, I would be far better off and could possibly even have saved some and bought the car we saw today! Have a look at this graph.

On the way home, where we usually stop for a break, the local authorities have tarted up their village quite well. We’d be very happy if our main street was made to look like this.

We’re more worried that they will not only knock down the buildings they have emptied and closed off but also knock down the trees and build multi-storeys in their place. Hopefully we are worrying about nothing.

August 2^nd It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring. Well, he wasn’t exactly snoring but then again he wasn’t very busy either. Walking was out today so we both had a lazy day. We did clean and polish our bedroom this afternoon though, one more job out of the way.

August 3^rd We went to bed with the rain and woke up to it this morning. It did ease off though, enough for me to go shopping. I needed a new mouse as my old one had gone crazy and was ‘double clicking’ all over the place. Consequently, I was opening web pages twice, once in a new tab and once in the existing one, and also closing web pages when I didn’t want to. It was very frustrating to say the least. Before going, I checked on my phone dictionary the Chinese translation for ‘computer mouse’ and thought I was all set. When I got to the shop I had to resort to miming again because my phone dictionary was wrong! These things are sent to try us. I managed to get home before the rain came down too hard, only walking just over four kilometres today.

Rain doesn’t just stop play here; it also stops work, and in some cases destroys it. Here’s what happened to the riverside where they had made a road for the trucks carrying out the work on our new park. As you can see, it’s disappeared.

This view took my fancy today, clouds almost down in the city.

The rain then decided to stay all day so once again no walkies. It did give me a chance to do some more work in the house though. The second bedroom has now been prepared for our royal visitors and all the photos on all the walls have been dusted off too. We’re getting there.

August 4^th I beat the weather today! Well, if I’m honest, the rain didn’t show its face until later in the evening. In the morning, when we thought there was a strong possibility of it raining, I decided I had to go out anyway, after two days indoors. I walked Huan to her dance class and then carried on to do my daily ten. Only one photo, reflections.

The afternoon was spent sorting out the office, scanning all the paperwork on my desk, filing it, both in ‘real’ folders and in PC folders. Every inch was also cleaned and polished, that’s a big job when you have to move all the books and the knick knacks. By the time I finished I was ready for the knacker’s yard and a shower.

August 5^th Today I was under orders not to go out and walk which was a shame as the weather was pretty good. Instead I was ordered to stay in and sort out the living room and dining room so that’s exactly what I did. You would think it was a simple job but I can assure you it isn’t. Everything on the wall units and cupboards has to be removed and washed, the cupboards cleaned and polished and then everything returned again. By the time Huan returned from dance class I had just about finished the living room.

After lunch, being Monday, it was shopping day. This week is only a small shop as we will be off on Friday up to Haikou again for a needle and also to meet our visitors. Yaaay! When we came out of the supermarket the rain had reared its ugly head again so I rushed to the car and got Huan’s umbrella then loaded the shopping in the back. It was then my turn to get in. Should be easy enough, open the door, bend forward to get in the car, close the door and Bob’s your Uncle. I managed to get the first part wrong and bent forward then opened the door, quite forcibly, into my head!

Huan was ready to give me the rest of the day off but I carried on and finished the dining room when we got home. The ‘homework’ is nearly all done now. No walkies for either of us after dinner, the rain was still around.

August 6^th SWMBO told me I had to stay in again today and sort out the kitchen. Kitchens may be small in China but they can still get dirty. Ours wasn’t too bad although I did learn that perhaps we need to do our ‘deep spring cleaning’ a little more often than we do. I found that the batteries in our battery operated knife sharpener and our battery operated scales, both of which haven’t been used for quite a long time, had corroded badly. The corrosion was so bad that both of those two items had to be thrown away. Lesson learnt for the future I think. Anyway the kitchen is now complete so there is very little left on the list, who knows, I may get out for a walk tomorrow.

We did have a gentle stroll today after dinner, collecting Huan’s lottery winnings! Needless to say we will not be moving house or buying a new car yet.

August 7^th Free! No ‘homework’ for me today so I had a leisurely stroll around the town, buying my monthly aspirin, a new lighter, today and tomorrow’s lottery tickets and looking for a mains to USB charger. I went to meet Huan from her dancing class and what do you know, she finished early today. A very relaxing morning even though eight kilometres was covered. The only photo of interest was this lovely motorcycle, a Honda Goldwing. It seems too nice to call it a motorbike. Huan was wondering if I wanted to buy one. Much as I like it I doubt if I would have the strength to pick it up if it fell over, or even keep it upright while driving it. It is a beauty though, don’t you agree?

The rest of the day was very lazy for me but not for Huan. She cleaned out the shoe rack, poor girl. Some of the shoes haven’t been used since we left Abu Dhabi in 2007 so they went straight to the recycling bin. After that we joined forces to try and stuff the sofa cushions back in their covers which had been washed, never an easy job!

August 8^th Today was a little easier than the previous few days. Once our bedding was washed and hung up to dry we went shopping to buy the mains to USB charger that I had seen, necessary for the spare bedroom visitors! Huan also bought some mothballs to put outside the front door and hopefully keep little creatures, mostly lizards we think, away from the shoe rack. On our way home, we stumbled across someone trying to drive his car across wet concrete. He was reversing across it with a front wheel drive car and as you’d expect, he sunk! With a bit of cajoling from me, we got the workmen to help and a few of us were able to push him out. His daughter ended up ankle deep when the car caught its footing. Unfortunately, Huan was holding the shopping and didn’t have her camera with her either so the only photo I have is of the aftermath. I tried to explain to the driver that his first port of call would need to be the car wash to quickly wash off the concrete while it was still wet. I have no idea whether he understood me or not.

In the afternoon we finished off tarting up the house and then relaxed before packing in the evening. We have to be in Haikou two days before our visitors because I have yet another hospital visit tomorrow.

August 9^th We were up at half past four and on the road by five this morning. We weren’t as early as we usually are but we were doing fine until we were part way into Haikou itself. We heard an enormous bang and then the sound of a wheel almost on its rim. Luckily for us, it happened just a couple of hundred metres away from a tyre service place. Here’s the flat and the place.

Once they got the wheel off we could really see the damage, we’re pretty lucky on two counts, first that it didn’t happen on the highway and second that it wasn’t a front tyre.

By the time the (two) new tyres had been fitted, (that took some explaining to Huan), and we’d had breakfast we were even later than we had expected at the hospital. First off, we went for a blood test to check my PSA levels; we had got this paper from the doctor last month. This was the beginning of my nerves, I hate needles! The results will be available tomorrow afternoon. Then it was ‘hormone time’. As usual, joining lots of queues was necessary. When we got to the front of the first queue the cashier told us that the doctor had no free appointments today. Huan explained that this was a monthly repeat prescription so we were sent off to the doctor to get a note from him saying that he would see us which we could then take back to the cashier. From there it was back to the doc again to get the prescription, for which a photo of the ‘needle box’ was needed from my phone. I’m not sure why they couldn’t see the details in my file. Prescription in hand it was then back to the cashier, pay the money and then off to another window to wait for my name and window number to be called. Box in hand we returned downstairs to the ‘needle room’ which seemed a little busy today. However, four people were there for one poor little baby who wasn’t happy at all. I don’t blame her; I had to leave the room! Before long it was my turn and as planned, Huan took a video of the procedure. By now I was quivering in my boots. However, even though there was a little pain, this particular nurse was as good as the one on the ward and it was nothing like the last few months. Here’s a screen shot, notice plugged up eyes and ears!

A very happy me and probably a relieved Huan, who has to put up with me, then went walking. I took us past a guitar shop that we know and we just happened to pop in. Upon seeing a couple of guitars hanging on the wall with strings hanging off the guitars we then popped out very quickly. I then managed to get us both lost, a fairly normal occurrence and we ended up doing about eight kilometres.

After a little snooze in the afternoon we set off looking for a hotel I had seen on the web, on Haidian Island, with a sea view and a swimming pool. Eventually we decided that the web was wrong and that this particular hotel does not exist. I managed to get us lost yet again so by the time we got back to the hotel, after a nice dinner, that was another nine kilometres clocked up. Considering we weren’t planning on walking at all today I think we did well!

August 10^th This was a day best forgotten about. Trying to book a hotel for us and our visitors and the problems were plenty. First off my laptop was refusing to play so finding all the hotels I had previously checked from home didn’t work. Secondly, when arriving at various hotels the prices were not as advertised but a lot more, in one case nearly double. In the past, in Hainan, we’ve checked online and then got cheaper prices at the hotels, not any more it seems. Thirdly, all the hotels would give a cheaper price if you used WeChat. This won’t work for all foreigners who may or may not have WeChat, or like me may have the international version which doesn’t include the ‘wallet’. We did manage to sort something out in the end and booked two rooms at the Eadry Royal Garden Hotel. The staff didn’t know what the first word meant either!

August 11^th I had managed to leave the flight details for Christopher and Amber on my desk, at home, in Wuzhishan. “No problem” I said to Huan, “they arrive at 11:45, we’ll be fine.” Just as well that we were early at the airport because the arrival time was 10:45 and the plane was on time. (See how busy the airport is!)

The ‘arrivals’ took some time to come out, they were successful but their luggage wasn’t. It seems their first flight had been delayed and the suitcases weren’t quick enough’ to join them on the second flight. Chris wasn’t worried though, he made a new friend immediately.

The hotel we had booked is not far from the airport at all. It’s quite a big place; they even give you a map to help you find your way around.

There are plenty of photos, you can find them in my Royal Garden Hotel album by following this link
https://photos.app.goo.gl/BRXjEwhhZgzy75dy6.

Mistakes had been made with our booking but all was sorted out, the staff are helpful enough and some have a smattering of English. Once ensconced in our rooms we met for coffee and a sandwich, very nice indeed and not too expensive, at least the sandwiches weren’t. Chris and Amber then went for a kip; they needed it after such a long flight. Huan and I had a ‘swim’ in the pool outside our room! You can see the pool in the photos. It should be deeper, 1.2 metres, and then we could have swum more easily. Still it cooled us down and I even got a bit of sun.

Evening time and the sleepyheads were awake so we set off for dinner. Before we even reached the restaurant Chris had found numerous lizards and a new friend, a chipmunk.

We ate in the Cantonese Kungkuan restaurant and all four of us can heartily recommend it. The food was great; the beer went down well too. The only thing we noticed was that we were the only customers, maybe we were too early or maybe all the Chinese guests were in the ‘Western’ restaurant. Chris managed to find another little friend on the way home, I wish I still had eyes like him!

After a little bit of exploring around the hotel we decided an early night was called for. I had a little later night as I had to transfer the files from my camera and from the dashcam to my portable HDD.