Storm Damage, University Interview, Dining Out (A Lot).

October 19^th Escape, at last! Huan had a deportment class this morning and the weather was not too bad. Rain was definitely in the air but I was sure a walk could be taken before lunch. I let the ladies go on their own, they walk too slowly for me and I set off around the riverside to check on any damage from the previous rains and typhoon. One hundred and thirty two photos were taken, far too many for here of course, so I trimmed them down to just sixty four. Obviously that is still far too many so I’ll just share a few. The first two show how the vegetation has been destroyed.

The water had been almost as high as the pathway over the last couple of days and at times it may have been higher. Here are the cleaners removing soil and vegetation.

The culvert crossing was totally impassable over the last few days; today the water level had reduced enough for me to walk that way. As you can see the flow is still strong but there is only one gate open at the weir bridge.

On our little island you could see a tide mark showing just how much had been submerged. From the island you could see water all the way to the weir bridge where normally there would be boulders and vegetation. Crossing the island I checked out the not yet completed dam. You can see that the water has caused landslides, all the beautiful landscaping will have to be done again or maybe even raised a metre or two.

The dam is not unscathed either. Despite the water having an easy route to the right of centre it has still piled a lot of debris on top of the left side of the dam.

Carrying on upriver, this is the view back to our house, normally a sedate flow around the boulders and all the various river flora.

Across the other side of the bridge the river cleaners were busy removing all the debris that had been forced downriver. Mind you, they had a small problem; the debris included one of their home made rafts!

Carrying on around the river I could see that a lot of vegetation had become caught up on the balustrades along the pathway, which itself was also covered in mud, definitely not the best place to walk. I stayed up top and snapped the workers down below.

What may not have been obvious in the last photo is just how many of the balustrades have been moved by the force of the water. We have never seen damage like this before.

In Wuzhishan, apart from the rain, the storm (typhoon) was not too bad at all but I guess somewhere upriver it must have been a lot worse. The surrounding mountains protect us from most storms, what we are seeing are secondary effects.

There were many more photos of muddy paths, stuck vegetation and missing balustrades but I think by now you’ve got the idea. I carried on to the last bridge, taking a photo of the cloud on my left on the way. When I took the second picture I was actually getting very wet. I couldn’t see or hear the rain, perhaps I was in the cloud!

This next photo is just to show you the path on the way back past the tea shops. Quite a few times today I almost went a over t, all the surfaces get very slippery after the rains. I will take a few days of sunshine for them to dry out again, some get no sun and therefore take longer. I blame my mother (pick your feet up when you walk Robert!) and the army, (heel first boy)! Local people don’t slip and slide half as much as I do.

Just a little further on I came across the river cleaners again, they had succeeded in getting the damaged raft out of the river. Here are both rafts for you perusal.

Lots more missing balustrades, vegetation and mud photographs were taken but I think we’ll just finish with the approach to home. You can see the dam being constructed on the left and the big hole on the right. For all the damage I’ve seen today the flow of the river must have been far stronger than we’ve seen in the last six years.

The town itself was fine, I didn’t see any real damage at all, I guess we are lucky living where we do. I would lay bets that both Haikou and Sanya were more severely affected as well as other cities and towns on the east coast.

For me, I was pleased to get out again, the air was good, the walk was long enough, seven kilometres, even though it was fairly slow due to me snapping away here there and everywhere. As for the weather, it stayed reasonably OK until after lunch when the rain came back yet again!

October 20^th Life is definitely returning to normal, I just hope I am not speaking too soon. The girls had a hulusi class this morning so I walked them there before going for a meander. Through the town square I went first where I spotted this row of tents, but access was not for the general public. Huan translated when I got home, it was for ex-forces people looking for jobs locally.

As I was leaving the square I heard a strange gurgling noise so I looked around for the cause. It was coming from a telecommunications cubicle and before long smoke followed it. I learnt two very important lessons, first I don’t know the fire service phone number, and second my Chinese would not have been good enough to explain the problem! Luckily another passer by knew who to call and what to say.

I did have another walk around part of the riverside, today I could walk nearer the bank, but I think you saw enough yesterday. There were a couple of photos though, the first one a lizard looking very puzzled and wondering where his house has gone, or maybe even wondering if he drank too much last night and got lost on the way home!

The second photo is another little creature, this time a mouse, quite a cute looking fellow isn’t he. He had been rifling around in that rubbish bag then popped up allowing this snap. Unfortunately he was off into the bushes before I could get any nearer.

And that was me for the day; the girls were out again this afternoon, another deportment class. The teacher decided that as they’d missed one because of the typhoon they should make it up.

October 21^st Another beautiful day for walking today and we could have had a nice long one; if we hadn’t been so lazy and if we had started out sooner. Never mind, we got out and that’s the main thing. I thought we’d start with birds again today.

A mantis was next but no matter how hard we tried we couldn’t get this one to walk on either my hand or Huan’s, very unusual.

Snowbirds are multiplying again, albeit slowly. Here are a couple making music.

We passed my little four legged friends in the market next, but as you’ve recently seen them there are no photos here. I did take some of course; they’re on my PC and backed up so that at the end of the month my children can be bored stiff by them! Finally, would this, or its English equivalent be allowed in the UK. Many drivers voluntarily display a sticker with the last two characters on, it means novice driver, someone who’s passed the test but needs more experience. This sign, with the warning and the added character means “Danger! Female Novice Driver!”

After lunch my first job was to cut Huan’s hair and her first job was to cut mine. I also needed to get rid of a couple of weeks worth of facial fuzz. Why did I need to be clean and smart, and even wore a shirt? I had an interview with a university, not a local one but a British one. Am I getting off my bum to study again? No such luck even though a few years in London would be nice. No, the university wanted to interview me for their “Grown Up Children from Military Families Project”. I was very happy to help with their research; perhaps their findings will benefit other “pad brats” or even “expat brats” in the future.

October 22^nd We had a slow start today, or at least I did. The ladies had a hulusi class, I stayed home and did my Chinese lesson before heading off to join them for lunch. Zōushūxián returned from Jilin yesterday so Huan invited her out, along with the rest of the committee of course. She felt that it was our turn to be the hosts and rather than trying to fit them all around our dining room table and cook everything on one hob, she chose a restaurant. I arrived to find Huan and Yú serenading the other ladies with their hulusis so along with the other men I waited outside! Being the hosts we were responsible for the “refreshments’, you can see the two bottles Huan bought and my little bit in front of me in the first collage. I didn’t manage to get away with such a small amount of Báijiǔ though, someone made sure my glass was filled.

Being a Friday I could have done our weekly video today, apart from one small problem. This particular restaurant has already been featured. I must say that the ladies, Huan, Zōushūxián and Yú did a much better job of ordering this time, it was all I could do not to eat the table clean!

Here they all are, well lubricated, with the exception of Huan and the lady on her right. I need to add her name to my list, at the moment I know her only as ‘bridge lady’; she’s a retired bridge engineer. As you can see, getting them all to look the same way at the same time was not easy.

Huan took the car provided by the restaurant along with our guests, I walked back along the river. I needed to try and walk some of that food off. Unusually, I spotted three egrets, not far from our house, but just as usual, I could not get close enough for a decent photo. The rest of my day was wasted trying to recover from an overindulgence of both food and drink.

October 23^rd Huan was free today, the weather was not bad today, it was the riverside market today, “let’s go there” said the boss. It had been a while since she had had a wander around and I enjoy it too so off we went. It’s getting busier down there although the snowbird count is still a little low for this time of year. This week’s market picture is something we haven’t seen for a while, and something I don’t think I would try, an outdoor dentist!

We passed by the other market, where we used to buy our baps, and found the ‘new’ stall. If we want some we will have to phone and order, I think we can do that! For a change we took the back road out of that area.

Further on I conned Huan into exercising knowing full well that I was going to create a gif when I returned home. Do you think we should rename this outdoor gym “Flushing Meadows”?

An inspection of damage control followed, we wanted to see how the repairs were coming on and if anything different would be done to prevent future occurrences of the same. It looks very much as if the stones and rails will be reinstalled in exactly the same way so we can expect similar damage in the future.

The egrets had bred since yesterday and there were at least half a dozen around the weir bridge this morning. The director was giving me instructions like wildfire, all for shots that were too far away. Across the road where I was I managed a much closer shot, unfortunately it was an aerial shot so you still can’t see too much.

Not having made the weekly food video yesterday I planned to do it this evening. As is often the case, SWMBO interfered with my plans but although she didn’t eat so much I still managed. You can find the video here - https://youtu.be/t3CWmBcMB_0

October 24^th No long walks today, instead almost a mirror image of Friday. We were out for lunch, with the same people, at the same restaurant, but with somebody else paying. I’ll only show you one dish because I quite liked it. The squeamish among us would probably not even try it but I will usually try anything once. This dish is large intestines, surprisingly tasty and with a texture that felt good to eat.

Breaking from my tradition of only having the one glass of Báijiǔ to show willing, for some reason today I decided to show the ‘men’ that I was more than capable of keeping up with them. After quite a few glasses, many “bottoms up” and a terrible rendition of Charlie Rich’s ‘The Most Beautiful Girl’ they decided that I had “rù xiāng suí tǔ” which basically means “come to the homeland”. On our walk home I knew that I had overdone it ‘just a little’. However, Huan managed to keep me on the straight and narrow. Surprisingly she was more amused than expected; it has been a long time since I’ve been a little tipsy!

October 25^th No weekly shop required today, we had enough doggy bags from yesterday’s lunch and other stuff left in the fridge. Huan needed fish though so we did have a stroll to the market. Have you ever wondered which shops appear to ‘go down’ and which ones always seem to succeed? This one across the road from us is yet another alcohol shop having a grand opening. Unfortunately they have neither tequila nor Jameson's!

Next up a soft drinks shop, the Chinese equivalent of a café, but using mostly powdered drinks. Most of these do not last long either, but I got Huan to pose with their teddy.

Another mouse, or rat, joins us this week, but in this case I only got it disappearing.

Going into the market we spotted these creatures next. They are locusts, minus their wings so it seems, but still alive. Huan was telling me that when she was younger they lost a lot of crops to swarms of these so had to eat them instead. Some people still do that.

Arriving home we found our maintenance company busy building a motorbike shed so that people can keep their bikes outside instead of bringing them into our downstairs foyer. They also plan to install electrical points for the electric versions.

After lunch the ladies were out again for their deportment class so while we were waiting for Yú I got Huan to pose again.

Having dropped the ladies off I had a nice quiet walk down by the riverside.

Coming back up to street level I managed a sneaky photo of a bunch of snowbirds.

And that was my walk, apart from an empty swimming pool that you’ve seen before. I decided to pass by the supermarket and buy some milk, the only thing that we may run out of before we decide to do another shop. Sods law struck, there I was with no basket, three cartons of milk, some ‘ugly’ oranges and a cheapo can of spam stuck behind three ladies in the checkout. There was only one checkout in operation and the three ladies, who were together, appeared to be buying enough either for a small hotel or a house they had just moved in to. One day we will get my phone sorted out so that I can use it for shopping!

So another week bites the dust, the new week weather started off well but more rain is forecast from tomorrow onwards. I guess that is sods law again. Hopefully mornings will be clear enough for me to go rambling while Huan goes gallivanting, (she calls it school)! Take care of yourselves and each other; see you soon!