“Time to remember, the kind of
September. . .” I was idly thinking about September songs today, as you do, and
I thought the best one for us would be “It might as well rain until September.”
That’s based on the weather we had in August. Can you think of a better one for
us?
September 1st Today called for a trip to the landfill. No, we weren’t disposing of
anything, just taking one of our usual walks which includes some quite steep
hills, and today was a good day for it. The sun was mostly behind the clouds
and there was a bit of a breeze, just what you need for walking up hills. Our
first stop was, would you believe it, another ‘fish farm’. We’ve passed this
one many times, it’s still not open yet, and I’ve always remarked about the
flat faces on the lions. What do you think?
Stopping to take photos of
them today did show us that we have missed something before, for the last two
years! One of the lions has a little one on its paw. Even this one has a
‘human’ face.
Remember the
Wuzhishan-Haitang Wan highway I mentioned last month? Well, since the last time
we walked this route, the landscape has changed considerably.
I guess we have found the beginning of the Wuzhishan part. It’s a
shame to see the scars on the landscape but all necessary in the name of
progress I suppose. The good thing is that once the work is done, nature will
rapidly move in and fill the gaps again.
There is supposed to be a tunnel somewhere, not
started yet though. We couldn’t find the ‘entrance’ but we did find what could
be this year’s Christmas dinner in a little village on the way. At one stage
they all came running towards me. Perhaps they thought I was going to feed
them. They ran away when I put my hand out though.
Now we call this particular
walk the “Rubbish Walk”, because of the landfills of course. If you wonder what
they are like here, I took a couple of photos for you, from a distance. I can’t
really compare them to anywhere else; it’s not been a hobby of mine! My
criticism here in China
Last one for today is a
sign, of impending doom perhaps? As you can see, somewhere behind the foliage,
it’s a sign of a steep descent. The bamboo is blindly following instructions.
In fact quite a bit of the mountainside seemed to have followed the
same instructions and if we had driven today, we would have had to go back the
way we had come. Maybe one day I’ll be rich enough for that big 4WD!
September 2nd And another good day for walking. The first sight we saw reminded me of
something I did in Dubai
Once again we decided to
explore one of the side roads. At least this one wasn’t too long. We came up to
an old army base. It appeared deserted apart from one or two motor scooters but
Huan said the sign on the gate said that the place was monitored by security
cameras. We decided it would be best not to venture inside. This is what it
looked like from a distance.
As we arrived home I
spotted one of the bikes that I fancy, one of the few that I think would fit my
legs! Of course, I wouldn’t be able to ride once I reached the age of 70
because I will then be limited to 50cc!
September 3rd A nice day again so we took our local walk, up the hill towards the
hotel, across the bridge and down by the riverside. We went a few metres
further up to the rest stop, and here we are.
On the way down we passed
these two. We have seen someone bringing food up the trail for them before so I
think they were hoping we would have some. Shame we didn’t.
Both of us needed the ‘loo’
so we stopped off at a pretty nice one on the way down.
Our day was spoilt when we
got home though, water had been leaking from upstairs again, this time into our
kitchen. The water is turned off to their apartment so we’ve no idea where it
comes from.
Huan disappeared to see the building maintenance people again and
eventually got a letter off them to take to the police. The plan being to get
the police to open the apartment and then let us sort it out, with them
witnessing we are not a pair of thieving criminals. The police decided they
would have to go to the government housing office tomorrow to confirm that they
had no phone number for the occupants.
At least the day finished well. We had hot dogs
made with Kay Feske’s sausages. Lubbly jubbly, they were the best hot dogs I’ve
had for a long while. Kay is from Germany ,
lives in Haikou
September 4th Stuck indoors waiting for some kind of response from the local
constabulary. We were supposed to be going to Ledong today to hand over the
keys to our new tenants tomorrow, with enough time for a swim this afternoon.
Once again you will have to wait for that report. We will now be going this
evening and coming back in the morning to see if there’s any progress from the
old bill.
I suppose I could have gone out for walk on my own today but I
didn’t. Instead I spent all morning and most of the afternoon uploading
photographs to a new Facebook group page set up by my old family doctor in Abu Dhabi Harbin
Lunch was very nice today, thanks once again to
Kay for his Polish sausage this time, and to Corners Deli for their German
bread. Are you drooling yet? We’ll be looking for Kay’s place when we next go
up to Haikou
So, we got a response from the old bill. They turned up after four
o’clock with the locksmith, who proceeded to ‘bash’ the lock on the upstairs
apartment. The police went in before us and took photos as evidence for when
the occupants eventually return. There was a lot of water on their dining room
and kitchen floors and a blockage on their balcony drain. I had my ‘dyno-rod’
with me and I was all prepared to clean not only the blocked pipes but the rest
of the water as well. The police would not allow me to do that. Once the
blockage had been removed they said we had to leave. I just hope it doesn’t get
blocked again soon!
Once they had gone we had to get ourselves over to Ledong in
preparation for our new tenants in the morning. I was dreading what we’d find
when we got there but it turned out that I needn’t have worried. All the walls
were still in good condition where we had repaired them earlier this year.
There was a ‘damp square’ on a different wall, the one between us and the
empty, unfinished apartment next door. (Spot the trend here?) However, Huan was
able to clean that without too much difficulty.
September 5th Breakfast first at one of the local noodle restaurants. Can you guess
what this is? Believe it or not, it is tea, a big plastic jug full of it. I
gave it a miss!
New tenants happy to be able to move in, although they won’t do it
for a few days, something to do with Buddah. Yet again their daughter tried to
get us to buy another fridge-freezer for them. Huan politely refused, again,
pointing out that not only was there already a perfectly serviceable one there,
the rent was also unusually cheap.
We drove away from Ledong with an extra ‘big blue washing up bowl’
and some fabric bags. These were a gift from the old gentleman moving in, well,
sort of a gift. It seems his bank had given them to him as a free gift and he
didn’t want the security guard to have them so we had to have them instead!
Back to Wuzhishan and home, via my bank to
withdraw oodles of dosh, then Huan’s bank to deposit same, so that I could buy
a new camera for ‘rainy days’. As you can probably guess I spent the rest of
the day on the internet comparing cameras and prices, no decision though.
September 6th Shopping
day, late this week. Then more and more browsing for my camera. I’m not sure if
browsing is such a good word for the internet. After all, browsing around your
local library or bookshop is fairly relaxing whereas browsing to research and
buy something is most definitely not! I did eventually stop dithering though
and we ordered a Nikon Keymission 170, a GoPro like action camera. I know, I’m
not ‘Action Man’, but we needed something to take photos and videos in
torrential downpours and this fits the bill. I had been going to buy a quad
proof JVC, (look it up on the web) but decided I could buy a ‘good’ camera in
the future. The Nikon gets some reasonable reviews but it didn’t take off for
some reason so the price came down! This made it half the price of a GoPro
Hero5 and much cheaper than Hero 6. I’ll include some pics when it arrives.
September 7th Walking was the
plan, not to be allowed. Huan had some admin to do, too complicated to bore you
with the details. I stayed home just in case I got a call that I was required
along with my passport, visa, marriage book etc. As it happens, I wasn’t needed
but Huan’s mission was not completed. ‘Original’ paperwork required from Dalian
After lunch we had a small walk, just into town
to buy me some new reading glasses. We were looking for some plastic ones this time;
the metal framed ones keep corroding and giving me a black nose. This mission
was successful, apart from getting caught in the rain on the way home. What do
you think? Clark Kent, Buddy Holly? Definitely
not John Lennon.
Our evening walk was cancelled, raining again.
September 8th Today this appeared on my Facebook feed, where I had asked if anyone
remembered the ‘curry club’. I love the sentiment!
It was a nice day for walking again so off we went. As we were
passing one of the local clinics, they were doing free blood pressure and sugar
tests outside so of course we had to stop. We couldn’t have the sugar tests
because they are supposed to be done on an empty stomach. Our blood pressure
results were not bad. Huan was 139/90. They said it was ‘normal’ and checking
the web, it’s not bad. She had been walking uphill just before we got there,
and quite quickly with me in front. Mine was 130/86. I was amazed! I don’t
think it has been that low for twenty years or more!
So, back to the walk and once again we went
where we hadn’t been before. We stumbled across a few villas that looked as
though the ‘rich and powerful’ lived there. One had a ‘China Power’ sign
outside the front gate. There was also a hotel there where I snapped these two
pictures. Now I know what they are doing in the second one but who knows what
they’re doing in the first?
September 9th Once again we had some great walking weather so we started off walking
by the riverside. The ‘walkway’ was too muddy and slippery for us to walk on so
we just ambled along the top. Looking down I thought the mud looked pretty
artistic so took a few shots. Here’ one of them.
And here’s a high
resolution crop from the same photograph but with the application of
“auto-contrast’ in Picasa. What did I say, modern art at its best.
Often, during our travels
around Hainan , and especially on the winding
mountain roads, we spot ‘secret cars’ as I call them. Manufacturers love to use
Hainan for testing and I can’t say I really
blame them. Usually we are moving too and our dashcam doesn’t pick up enough to
share with you. Today however we found two with their drivers and back-up team
just getting ready to leave the Fudelai Hotel. The company is ‘Singulato’, a
new company, and these particular cars are supposed to be capable of 400kms
between charges. They are SUVs too so I expressed my interest but also my reservations
about charging. The ‘boss’ reckoned that by 2025 there would be no fuel
stations left in Hainan, only charging stations, everywhere. He couldn’t answer
my question of ‘charging at home for all those people living in apartments’
though! Anyway, here’s the beasts in question. Photo taken with their
permission!
September 10th It must be a car month! Being Monday it was our usual shopping day but
look what we saw in the supermarket car park, a Ford Mustang! What do you think
of the colour? I quite like it; I find it strangely attractive although I would
probably prefer a yellow one.
We have done a fair bit of
Taobao shopping this month, here’s Huan’s latest purchase. I don’t know if
she’s going to cook with it, or keep me under control. It weighs 2.5kg!
September 11th We had a lovely long walk again, over nine kilometres, but didn’t see
anything worth taking pictures of. Not to worry, plenty when we got home!
First was the delivery of
my “action cam”! Yes, I can hear you all having a little snigger. Well I had
decided I needed something that we could use when we get caught in the rain,
which is by no means a rare thing. My phone also has a habit of pausing my
fitness tracker when I shoot a video, and I don’t always remember to restart
it. Anyway, after lots of searching I ended up buying a Nikon Keymission 170.
Why not a GoPro? Well this is a third of the price. Why not a Chinese make?
Well this one doesn’t need a cover to go ten metres underwater. I probably
won’t do that but if it’s good for ten metres it should be OK for me. For those
who are interested, it cost ¥1018.00.
Lucky me had two Taobao
deliveries today; I also got a new chair. The one we had bought in 2015 was no
longer doing too well. This time I went for a cheaper model, definitely no
leather; and white wheels so as not to scuff the floor so much. It took me half
the day to put it together! It should have been easy but sometimes in China
September 12th Another lovely day for walking and for us, or should I say me, to test
my new toy. We shot around twenty eight short videos and I have to say that
apart from a few minor niggles I was quite happy with it. Obviously the videos
can’t go here, but we did take a few stills as well. Here’s two, a selfie one
and a forward looking one.
September 13th We got the
weather completely wrong today. There’s a typhoon passing north of Hainan and it’s supposed to be raining, all day. So far
we haven’t seen any. Still, it gave me time to catch up on FB, and on this
blog. It also meant I could spend a long time in the kitchen cooking a nice
beef curry.
September 14th Another walk for another Keymission test. What a wonderful name for a camera,
makes me feel like 007! We didn’t go far, only nine and a half kilometres, up
the hill towards the hotel, over the bridge, before the hotel and down the
other side back home. We shot a little video on the way up, did an underwater
test at the rest spot, and a battery duration test on the way down. The
underwater test was OK but the water was dirty so we’ll need to do another one,
maybe in the swimming pool! Battery duration
is definitely not as advertised, we only got 35 minutes and not the advertised
one hour. That could be because the batteries have been in store for a couple
of years though. I don’t think it’s a big problem as I won’t normally be
creating long videos anyway. So, no pics from today except this one taken on
our way uphill before starting any videos. You can definitely see the 170º
curve there can’t you?
If you want to see more of my videos you can go to my YouTube page, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQdDjjD_0qYthEuj9UwQeuQ,
the Keymission videos are in Playlist Life In China 3. (Life in China 1 is Hong Kong and Harbin ,
Life in China 2 will be
normal videos but there are none there yet, and Life in China
September 15th Weather pretty good so another long walk planned which necessitated me
wearing my boots just in case the ground was too boggy on our return path.
We’re both fairly sure that my boots, which I haven’t worn since last year,
have changed colour! We think they were more of a green shade before.
Of course, since I hadn’t worn them for so long, and since they’ve
been sitting on the outside of the window, for airing you understand, the laces
broke before we had gone even one kilometre. No worries, engineer Huan sorted
me out.
It was rather a strange walk today, the weather
was fine, not too hot, with a little breeze, but we hardly saw anyone when we
went the hilly village (Zali Cun) way. In fact not only were there hardly any
people, we didn’t see many pigs or chickens either. Still, we couldn’t leave
you wanting for pictures could we so we found this for you. Believe it or not,
it’s a tree. I suppose that those things that look like seashells are probably
fungi of some sort. An image search on Google didn’t turn up anything that
looked like it.
After lunch it was
Christmas again for me, and another new camera was delivered. This one will not
be used on our daily walks, the Nokia phone and Nikon will do the job there. No,
this one will be used when we actually go sightseeing so that we can hopefully,
upload some decent photos. There is only one minor detail to overcome; I have
to learn how to use the camera! I just wish it had an English manual. I know I
can get one on the PC, in fact I had already downloaded it before I bought the
camera, but I much prefer to sit with a book in my hand and learn.
September 16th A check of the weather told us that we should be OK as long as we got
back early enough. There’s another typhoon going past to the north again. We
knew about that and thinking about it, that may explain why the villages were a
little empty yesterday. We decided to do another Keymission video, this one an
‘Empty Places’ one around a villa complex where work has been stalled now for
over two years. We’re becoming quite the adventurers aren’t we? Anyway, we
decided that you probably didn’t want to see empty buildings and so we saved
for you ‘test photographs’ with the new camera.
“But they’re both the
same!” I hear you say. Well, nearly, one is shot in VELVIA and one is shot in
ACROS. Believe me, I have a lot to learn. My frogs came out of it OK though
don’t you think? And the close up of the flower is not so bad. I know nothing
yet of focussing, never mind exposure, aperture and ISO controls etc. so don’t
be too hard on me. I’ll be using the camera on Auto for a little while longer.
September 17th Monday again, so
shopping it is. Typhoon Manghut was still wending its way north of us so it
rained all day. No walkies hence no photos, only this.
September 18th Still piddling down with rain and the forecast shows a lot more this
week. Despite the rain, I decided it was time to wash the car, it was showing
green streaks around all the chrome trimmings again! After that, we did what we
had planned for yesterday afternoon and that was made another Keymission video,
this time of the market here in Wuzhishan. We stuck to the inside because of
the rain. It wasn’t too bad, a little wobbly here and there and a few to many
unintelligible umms and ahs from the commentator! The video is with the others,
on the YouTube page. Here’s some screenshots. Yes, I even managed to film Huan
today!
September 19th At last,
walking was allowed. There were some ominous black clouds around and Huan’s
weather forecast said thunder storms all morning. We decided to take the risk,
I needed to walk, my left foot was swelling again, and if it had been pouring
with rain I would have had to resort to my ‘granny stockings’ again. We were
lucky and stayed dry all the way round for about twelve kilometres. I made
another ‘Empty Spaces’ video for my YouTube channel. You saw those villas in
last month’s blog, August 30th so we won’t bore you with them again.
I also made another video, ‘A Riverside Walk’ around the Nansheng River
September 20th Lovely weather again today and no lottery tickets to buy so we decided
on the landfill route. You’ve seen those photos before. The first thing we
stumbled on today was what we thought was yet another dead snake. Closer
inspection though shows it is probably a worm of some sort. It was somewhere
between 20 and 25 centimetres long I guess. Google was no help to me, maybe
someone out there can shed more light on it.
Going down the other side,
and as we were not as soaked as we usually would be, we decided to explore
another ‘new’ road. It started off as a normal village road with its cement top
but eventually led to a fork where both turnings of the fork became track. One
ended up just a few metres away in a pile of rubbish so we chose the other one.
It wasn’t a bad walk, and
it was all downhill, so I had some idea where were going. Huan’s sense of
direction had her completely lost, as always. What I wasn’t expecting was to
stumble on a ‘farm restaurant’ being constructed. These are restaurants,
normally around a small lake, where fresh fish and of course local farm produce
is on the menu. This looks like it may be a big one and may even include a
hotel.
Not far from there we found ourselves back on San Yue San Da Dao,
the main road through Wuzhishan and so headed back home. Nearly ten and a half
kilometres done today, not bad eh?
Bad news in the evening. Huan happened to look
up at the corner of the ceiling when she put the office light on. We now have
water damage appearing there too! The office wall backs onto the kitchen wall
and the upstairs neighbours still have problems, and still have not returned.
What gets me is that there will be a fair amount of expense to sort our
apartment out and there will be no recompense from them at all! We just pray
that they will return this winter.
September 21st Nice morning so a walk to Chang Hao village was
called for. Of course, we decided to wander off the main road, it’s getting to
be a habit now. The first place we ended up was a small village called Fanyu 1
Cun (Fanyu Village 1). They often have villages with the same names and an
identifying number when they are close together, sometimes across the road from
each other. We didn’t see the others but here’s Fanyu 1 Cun.
Not long after we passed a
four legged spider. Well it looked that way. Perhaps he had four pairs of legs
crossed. The snap I took didn’t turn out so well though. Continuing along the
road, we met a man who told us that we could keep going and find a way back to
the main road, so on we went. We came across an orchard, no longer being
farmed. It’s going to be changed into a hotel. Seems a shame really.
Our walks do provide some
wonderful scenery. We have retired to a great place, with only one thing
missing, the beach. Ah well, there’s still lots of water for my Pisces
personality!
September 22nd Just a town walk, we needed to buy the good
old lottery tickets and it was supposed to rain later in the day. It didn’t!
September 23rd Another mission today! Off with our secret agent camera to do a video of
the ‘north’ side of Nansheng
River
The video went quite well. I had been worried about battery life but
the total filming time was 46 minutes and we were still OK. The video has been
uploaded to my YouTube page.
September 24th Monday again
so shopping again. I don’t usually mind shopping but today was ‘Moon Festival’
day. Consequently the supermarket was full with those who would usually be
working and the early arrivals of ‘snowbirds’ from up north.
Afternoon time was a nap for Huan and repair
work for me. Our dining room balcony doors had been steadily getting worse and
worse so it was time to change the wheels. We had already bought replacements,
from Taobao of course, but were just waiting for the ‘right time’ to replace
them. Today was it. Now usually when I work, Huan loves to take photos for
posterity, and for your amusement! Because she was sleeping, there aren’t any
today. However, you can see the before wheels and the after wheels. Here are
the before ones, notice the corrosion and uneven wear.
And here are the after
ones. Can you spot the difference? The doors are sliding quite well now; let’s
hope the new ‘double’ wheels last a bit longer.
September 25th Once again rain was forecast for later in the day. As long as the
forecast is correct that’s not such a bad thing because it means the weather
when we do go out is not too hot. Today I had planned another Keymission. Our
job was to walk the full length of the irrigation canal if we could. We had
only just started when we met those cows again! Yet again the calf was inquisitive
and had a good old sniff at both Huan and I. This time we remembered to catch
it on video too. Not long before we reached the other end of the canal, my
camera picked up a hitch hiker. It rather looked at one stage as if it was
trying to mate with the camera! Anyway, Huan managed a few shots and this one
is a crop from the high resolution of the last one she took. (PS Fuji
Today must have been a day
for beasties, when I got home this one fell out of my clothes before ending up
on me! Only after it had crawled all over both of us and we released it on the
bedroom balcony did we realise it was a spider. Hopefully it wasn’t a delayed
reaction poisonous one!
And lastly, for today, it
was Huan’s birthday so I was the cook. Here’s the result. If you think it looks
a bit dry, that’s because I left the sauce off while I took the photos. It’s
nowhere near as bland as it looks as the chicken has been marinated before
being roasted. Lovely taste, and more importantly, Huan loved it and cleared
her plate!
September 26th Today I had a
plan! We were to walk to Nanshengzhen and then take an electric bus back and
make a video of that journey. The walk was fine, around eleven and a half
kilometres, including another little road to nowhere. We ended up in the woods
with only a narrow track through the forest in front of us and a cowshed on our
right. I think you’ve seen enough cows this month! The track could be worth
exploring another day, but not when it’s been raining. We have very ‘tropical’
weather at the moment, the mornings are great and then it rains either in the
afternoon or evening. That means the ground through the forest would be too
wet. Anyway, we continued on to the village, had our bottles of water and then
jumped on the bus. That is when the plan failed. Keeping the camera steady on a
bus is by no means an easy matter. I suppose the video may have been watchable,
if you’re not prone to travel sickness! However, the local lady in the next
seat to us decided to make a phone call not long after we set off. It was a
very long phone call, over three quarters of the journey. It was also, as they
often are, a very loud phone call. Result – no video worth uploading!
September 27th Rain was forecast for eleven o’clock so we
decided to stay around the town. Another day with no pics, don’t want to
overload the interwebs! We managed to get ten and a half kilometres in by the
time we got home. I still can’t understand why all this walking is not leading
to a drastic reduction in my waistline!
September 28th Out to the countryside today, what we call our ‘farm’ walk. Because of
the rain we’re still sticking to hard topped roads, well most of the time
anyway. Photos abounded today so I’ve had to go through them with a fine
toothcomb. First off, not far from home, “this little piggy went to market”. If
you look closely, the pig is not on a leash at all, just being controlled with
those little twigs in his master’s hand. Speaking of his master, he was full of
grins when he saw us, not really sure why.
Huan, (I always blame her,
poor lady), then decided we should go off on a tangent again. I of course,
dutifully obeyed. We then came across an ‘offering site’ at the edge of a
village. We think it’s the god of wealth and happiness but neither of us is so
sure. I did wonder who had been drinking the water though …
Of course when the village
ended so did the hard road surface which meant we ended up skirting around
farmer’s fields looking for a way back to the main road again. I really must
stop wearing my sandals for this lark.
Huan of course was as happy
as a pig in you know what! However, I promised her I wouldn’t show you that
picture. Instead here’s a lovely panorama that I took before we eventually got
back to a road of some kind.
Shortly after we found the
road again we came across a bunch of workmen putting in new irrigation channels
and a culvert under a side road. Before we passed their MPV transport, I
realised that they were sneakily taking ‘pictures of the foreigner’ so as I
passed their car I leapt out and took one of my own. The young guy had ‘got me’
before I passed the car, the guy on the right and I ‘got each other’ at the
same time. At least we all had a laugh about it.
Earlier on in this month’s
missive I mentioned that you’ve probably seen enough cows for this month. Such
a shame because we found more today, in cowsheds, where I had a whale of a time
trying to stroke them (the ‘yellow’ cows) and letting them sniff my hands, (the
water buffalo). On the wildlife side we also saw hundreds of ducks and chickens
today, but nothing out of the ordinary for photographs. We took another side
road a little further on and ended up at a small reservoir, whose name we have
both forgotten. However, it was just north of the village of Tongting Hainan , this one was full of ducks but I couldn’t get
close enough for a decent picture of them.
On the way back down we
passed the cows and buffalo again, another bout of stroking and sniffing. I
think the locals think I’m just a little bit strange! Finally, we started with
a pig today, let’s finish with one too. This one was all alone, in the ditch at
the side of the road. It was drinking the rather dirty water and unusually
didn’t run a mile when it saw us. Looking at the poor thing’s flanks I doubt if
it would have had enough energy to run very fast anyway.
September 29th Baldrick was my name for today, I had a cunning plan. The forecast
was for rain, all day. I convinced Huan that we could probably walk for a while
without any problems. My plan was to ‘get caught in the rain’ and then take a
Keymission video. Well guess what, it never rained! So what have we got for you
from today? A pigeon that wouldn’t fly away from me, just kept running away. What
colour are pigeons? What colour are concrete roads? No photo, well not one
worth sharing anyway.
We did find something though. We only walked
around the town areas today, about ten and a half kilometres again. On the way
we passed this tree. The locals call it水瓢果 (Shuǐ piáo guǒ), which roughly translated is ‘Water Scoop Fruit’.
Trying to find the real name has taken me a couple of hours this evening, I
hope you appreciate what I do for you! It is commonly known as a ‘Calabash’,
scientific name ‘Crescentia cujete’. Here’s the wikipedia entry - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescentia_cujete
and also interesting here’s a page from a Philippine sales website - https://lunti.ph/products/calabash-tree-grown-cuttings.
However, the one that got me the answer was this one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qySWFPrAjNo.
PS It’s not ‘miracle fruit’ although some in the Philippines
September 30th A very busy walk today, seventeen kilometres and loads and loads of
photos. I guess they need to be trimmed down a little so let’s see what I can
do.
The first photo opportunity
was right outside our compound where the wall around the flower bed in front of
the security room had fallen down. That’s the first edited out. Our second
opportunity was the new highway, it’s in operation now. It officially opened on
the 28th September. We are going to give it a miss until after the
National holiday when the novelty may have worn off. Anyway, here it is, in
use.
Today’s walk was Huan’s
choice, Chang Hao village which I readily agreed to as it was part of my plan
for Keymission videos, Hainan villages. On the
way we took a short detour through the village of Fanna
Her husband was fishing. I
wonder whose idea it is to come here every year?
Lots of photos were taken
because I thought it was actually a very pretty village. Instead of showing you
all of them how about just two panoramas from the riverside? I did try to
stitch them together to make one ginormous panorama in a similar vein to the
famous Chinese “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” but the software
couldn’t find the right places to stitch.
I couldn’t resist this next
one, it will be uploaded to Drivespotters, one of the ‘tribes’ in the famous
‘Drive Tribe’ created by Clarkson, Hammond
Eventually we arrived in Chang Hao and I did our video of it for
YouTube. We also went back into Fanna village and made a video of that too. I
hope somebody will watch these videos. I do have subscribers now, all two of
them. One is a friend from days gone by and I think the other wants me to use
her music for my videos! No need for any screenshots of either video!
On the way back we passed some workmen taking
soil samples from small boreholes. One was kind enough to hold up his sign for
us. Google translate says “Drinking water project in the town of Changhao Township
and surrounding villages in Wuzhishan
City
I had by now decided that
we had enough photos for today but of course something else came along. You may
remember that on September 21st we saw an orchard that was to be
changed into a hotel. Well today, just as we were passing that turn-off a woman
turned up there on her scooter, child in front as usual. Possibly through
eyeballing us, I don’t know, she lost control and fell off. Instinct kicked in
of course and I was off like a rocket, lifting the scooter off her and trying
to see the damage, if any. She had hurt her left wrist and kept complaining
about the pain and holding it out to me. Huan told me later that she wanted one
of us to pull it. No way were we going to do that! Huan offered to call 120,
the woman wasn’t having that and called her husband instead. We offered to see
her up to her house. She asked if I could drive the scooter. Well, I’ve never
tried but I’m sure I probably could. However, she would then have wanted her
and her son to ride me behind me so I said no. You hear all these stories of
good Samaritans ending up in trouble so we just made sure she could walk and
that her son was fine before we went on our way.
We took another picture from a few yards further on showing the bike
standing by itself and no sign of the woman and child, she had begun her walk
home. It’s sad really that we felt we couldn’t help any further but that’s how
it is …
Well what a day! We did see goats on the way home and a chicken in a
tree but I think I’ve overloaded you with enough photos for now.
The good lady and myself will be back next
month, see you then!
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