Beautiful Birds, Medical (again), Sick Donald, Art, Fashion & Hidden Places.

November 23^rd “Well I woke up this mornin’ yeah, felt like I was half dead, yeah”. That’s my blues for the day, I did feel terrible so I made an executive decision and stayed at home while Huan and Yú went to school. I revelled in every minute of it!

Rotting away like Onslow was not on the cards after lunch, we had the weekly shop to do. Inside I forgot all about trying to find something to show you so here are some flowers from outside instead. Don’t you think they look nice?

There’s just one problem, they are all fake. Personally I have no problems with fake flowers, in certain places, such as our kitchen balcony. The boss however disagrees. What the photos don’t show you is that the fruits are made of metal and the flowers of a very soft plastic.

Once we got home I left Huan to cook today’s dinner and set off for a solo walk. My feet needed it and my head needed the cobwebs clearing out. Your first photo shows the local fishermen, (or boys), having their lunch break. Spot the mobile phones!

With the river level being low I crossed by the stones today and not the bridge.

I thought it best to obey the sign and not go swimming in the irrigation canal.

The Fire and Rescue guys were training again today, this time using boats to rescue someone who was at the top of the weir. They kept repeating the process, I suppose so that all the trainees got the chance to do all the jobs as well as be the victim. From what I saw today, what I’ve seen previously and what I’ve seen and read on the news, they do a very good job.

That was my day apart from the odd chat to some of my canine friends.

November 24^th Escort duty beckoned today, the ladies needed walking to school. Just before we arrived there we passed the croquet court which was actually in use today.

For some reason these next two photos reminded me of ‘Steampunk’, I guess it’s the colour of the little creature that elicited that response. The texture also looks more burnished copper than it does organic, what do you think?

Feicui park was my route today, the clockwise way up and initially an undecided way down. Twice on the way up, once for a couple and the second time for two young ladies, I acted as a cameraman for them and took pictures with their phones, I was feeling genial! For a change I walked a little bit higher than we usually do and checked out the pool where #1 son and his lovely lady decided not to go any further when they were visiting. These days we are not so sure if we can go much further. More photos were taken here, this time of an older couple and their dog, which of course didn’t want to look at the camera.

On my way back down I explored a little path I had noticed on the way up with a guy sat on a chair seeming to be doing nothing. I asked him if the path went anywhere and he said not. A bit more chatting brought out that he was a bird watcher and this is one of his prime spots in Wuzhishan. He showed me his photo on his phone, all camouflaged up with a camera and an enormous telephoto lens. Today he didn’t have that camera with him, he was mostly recording bird song although he had still brought his little tin of maggots with him that he uses to attract the birdies. I asked if he wanted a photo of himself sat on his chair but he thought it would be better if he shared some of his bird photos with me.

His name, which can be seen on the photos, is泽民, Zémín. As well as these two lovely photos, he asked if we could have a selfie so, here it is.

Passing the bridge on the way down it was even more crowded than when I came up. In fact there were a lot of people about today, some still on the way up as I was going down.

What would a Blog post be without the odd car or two eh? Here is the first one for today, this is a snowbird from Jilin making use of the free water! Someone else had been washing their car as I was on my way up, this gentleman had been in the queue.

And for all your young granddaughters, or if you’re like me great-granddaughters, here is a “Hello Kitty’ car complete with not very convincing ears.

Having spent so long with other people on today’s walk, what with all the cameraman duties and chatting to the bird watcher I went back the same way I had come making sure that I had time enough to meet the ladies and escort them home again!

Finishing the day on a slightly more despondent note, Huan called the immigration department, I still have to have another medical despite the fact I haven’t been anywhere and that it’s less than a year since the last one. Huan also called my prostate doctor in Haikou to see when I should report for inspection again. I had been hoping it was all over, or at least I would be able to wait a year, but no, he wants me to go back and see him next month.

November 25^th One of my friends commented on last week’s post, “never a dull moment”. That was certainly the case today! Up nice and early again for a trip to Sanya for my visa medical. Things were going well, we didn’t even need the sat-nav, or so I thought. I turned off the main drag one set of traffic lights too early but fairy quickly realised what I had done. In the process of then trying to get back on the right route Donald, (the car), decided he would catch a virus and run a high temperature. This is not something new, it has happened once before but after a thirty minute stop he was fine. Today we were early but the clinic shuts up for the day at eleven so waiting somewhere in the car was out of the question. Driving Donald was also not on the cards because under those circumstances speed becomes a snail’s pace. Eventually we found a place to leave him and set off by taxi.

Each time I have to have a medical, which now is every year or less, the amount of paperwork seems to increase exponentially. Even the x-ray man seemed confused by how much there was. The only one not confused was the one hanging out in the Gents’.

With nothing untoward, as far as I could see, except for my blood pressure, we set off for the bank, passing this bridge on the way.

The trip to the bank was needed to bring my passbook up to date, check balances, change some money and withdraw some too. This can all be done by an intelligent terminal usually but I didn’t have enough space left in my book so a visit to the desk was needed. After a long wait, a young lady came up to check what we wanted, Huan explained, she said I had to go the machine! This we did, and of course the book didn’t have enough space to update all entries, back to the queue we went. We thought we would be there forever, the bank was busy today. Most people these days use ATMs and in China their phones too, so those people actually at the desk are never there for a quickie! Somebody else turned up and told us to try upstairs where another branch was temporarily residing. That worked fairly well although the chap seeing to us did need help from a superior. I also caused trouble by querying the last couple of entries in my book, there seemed to be about a thousand RMB unaccounted for. Eventually, the teller printed us out a short statement and all was cleared up, the book had printed two on one line! So, money changed, money withdrawn and Huan repaid we set off back to the car, back over the bridge.

Our first port of call was somewhere for lunch, we chose to walk down a road with no shops or restaurants at all, not on our side anyway, just construction. Finally, turning down the road where we thought Donald was waiting for us we found a Pizza Hut. Now I am not a fan of American, or any other, fast food places but I do like a nice pizza. Once we had thrown away all the special offer leaflets and found the ordinary menu, Huan chose Spinach and Beef, and I added a little tray of snacks. We did notice that there is no salad bar, at a rough guess I would think people here would over indulge if there was one. Today we didn’t need any salad, what we had ordered was enough and very tasty. Out came my freshly filled wallet!

By now we had already walked about three kilometres so we set the exercise app and went off once again looking for Donald. It took a long time, I had to download a map app, then using what Huan had recorded on her phone and a couple of pictures she took, we eventually got there, adding another five kilometres to our distance for the day. We both instantly recognised the place but neither of us could remember how we ended up on that particular road!

The next stop was the service centre to tell them Donald was sick. They did confirm for me that if there is an overheating problem the car will only crawl! Before too long they were back with the faulty part, which was duly replaced and we were on the road. Out came my wallet again!

That little part set me back ¥399.00 but I guess I shouldn’t really complain. Donald is over six years old now!

Back on the highway with Huan serenading me with her snoring we made good time but not good enough for her to cook today’s dinner. No problems, our weekly dining out video was brought forward a day and we visited 谢香林温泉醉鹅, Xiè xiānglín wēnquán zuì é, or if you need a translation, Xie Xianglin Hot Spring Drunken Goose. To see why it is called that you can watch the video here - https://youtu.be/XXiFVGSyQC0 Out came my wallet again!

November 26^th Donald was treated to a nice bath today, he must have thought it was his birthday! I gave the Queen a lift to hulusi practice this morning, picking up a new friend on the way; I guess that’s another name I will have to learn! Once I’d dropped them off, new friend at school and Huan at the Police Station I found a car wash that was open, and more importantly, with no queue. While Donald was being scrubbed clean I went and bought a few more baps, we had run out yesterday but Huan had put the order in last night. Here they are at home, unfortunately still too large and too aerated. Ah well, beggars can’t be choosers.

I stayed with ‘admin’ and got stuck into the bathroom where both the bath and the bowl needed some attention. I ended up removing the toilet seat completely.

Why did I do that? Well, the seat would not sit correctly anymore and had also become a little loose. I think that over the years the rubber has perished a little and my continuous tightening of the screws probably didn’t help either.

After lunch I got Huan to order some new fittings from Taobao, cheap as chips with no added delivery charges. Huan being on Taobao gave me the ideal opportunity to order a couple of bottles! First a nice bottle of Jameson’s for some seasonal Irish coffees next month. Second two bottles of tequila, one for me and one for the neighbours the next time they try and make me drink baijiu. I will turn up with the tequila complete with salt and lemon and see how they go.

November 27^th Market day again but before that we popped into the library where they had an art exhibition, I believe of Li and Miao ethnic minority art. Here’s a small sample.

We were suitably impressed with the standard of work on display, not just oil paintings but watercolours and other mediums too, far too much to share here. From there we headed off down the riverside to the market looking for something different. Would you consider a photo of me with a camel as different? OK, I know it’s not a real camel, it’s just a cute little model advertising powdered camel milk. PS It was naturally leaning my way.

Next up we found something that we had never seen before. I had previously seen some of these under the sea but Huan had never seen one at all. It turned out to be one of the “Tetraodontidae, family, a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, toadies, honey toads, sugar toads, and sea squab.” For me it was a pufferfish and known to be poisonous to eat. The stall holder told us that this variety was safe to eat. Perhaps she was right – “The majority of the pufferfish's species are toxic and some are among the most poisonous vertebrates in the world. In certain species, the internal organs, such as the liver, and sometimes the skin, contain tetrodotoxin, and are highly toxic to most animals when eaten; nevertheless, the meat of some species is considered a delicacy in Japan (as 河豚, pronounced fugu), Korea (as 복, bok, or 복어, bogeo), and China (as 河豚, hétún) when prepared by specially trained chefs who know which part is safe to eat and in what quantity. Other pufferfish species with nontoxic flesh, such as the northern puffer, Sphoeroides maculatus, of Chesapeake Bay, are considered a delicacy elsewhere.” It seems that nowadays fish farms also produce non toxic versions. We decided to give it a miss!

Snack time was taken care of by some Xinjiang bread, here’s a piece with a smile behind.

That was enough for us; we walked back the other side of the river, much less crowded. Despite it being Saturday I was “excused cooking” this week, the Executive Chef had decided that we would have pizza for the weekend and that she would cook it. No argument from me, Huan makes a mean pizza and it had been a long time since we’d had one. There was one problem for her though; it had been so long since she’d used the oven that she had forgotten how to turn it on! Bring back the days of simple knobs and dials I say. Her problem was soon sorted and we both ended up eating far too much!

November 28^th Up before the crack of dawn today, again, all dressed up this morning, again, with somewhere to go, again! Once again we had the pleasure of being invited to the Yatai Rainforest Resort Hotel, this time to a fashion show. Not only had Sam invited us but Huan’s deportment teacher had too, she was involved with it in some way.

As usual we were early, so we had a little prowl around the grounds. The first thing we found was a few motorbikes, not small ones either.

This next one took my fancy, I could just picture me with my goggles, Huan in the sidecar with her hair flowing, or perhaps sat behind me with her hair flowing and a nice big dog sat in the sidecar enjoying the breeze. Of course Huan was not of the same mind at all!

Here’s a question for you, what are these supposed to be? My initial thought was that they were hippos, only when we saw a couple more later with horns did I realise they were water buffalo.

On our way down to the catwalk area we bumped into the general manager. Today he wasn’t alone although his partner wasn’t very talkative. I did get to feed him though.

Before the show, and in fact all the way through it, these ladies were busy at the front. The weaver is from the Li ethnic group and the embroiderers are from the Miao.

We were also asked if we would change our masks before the show, to ones that they had made specifically, so here I am modelling mine.

Unfortunately, because of where we were sat, I wasn’t able to snap very good photos today. In retrospect, I should have taken the Fuji with me. Anyway, the (almost) group photo at the end gives you some idea.

I had been a little worried that I would have been bored and would have had to leave Huan to it while I wandered around. As it happened, the show was short, about twenty minutes, and as the first ‘catwalk’ show I’d ever been to I quite enjoyed it. If you are interested, you can see many more photos here - https://as.alltuu.com/album/1060402713/?from=qrCode

A lunch stop was needed on the way home so we had that in Nansheng, soup noodles for both of us. Here’s Huan patiently waiting for it to be served.

And here’s my soup. I have to say it tasted a lot better than it looked.

That mountain air must be good for us, we both needed an afternoon kip when we got home. PS, see my earlier post about the bathroom. Since we presently are using our loo sans seat, when we woke up I decided to Google “Why do we have toilet seats?” Very interesting!

November 29^th Life just keeps on rushing along; it’s a week since our last Monday! This one is different though, no shopping today, we have more than enough victuals in the house. That meant we could walk together, a nice change for a Monday, and we took the Feicui Park route. (That is the mountain park route for those who have forgotten.) On the road up we spotted something that we had never seen before, we think it has recently been uncovered again. Other people spotted us exploring but didn’t follow us.

I took a lot of photos of the inside, most of them not so good. I’ve chosen two for you, one fairly clear showing about as far as we could see, the other not so good but showing what Huan thinks is water seeping through the rocks from above.

And the last one from there is me practicing being the grumpy old man that lives there!

Next up I decided to show Huan the ‘birdwatcher’s path’ and check out if it did go further than Zémín had told me earlier this week. He was right, as expected, and we ran into a fenced off farm. However, coming back I spotted this, a remote earthquake monitoring station.

Today must have been a day for finding things because after I had taken Huan to the pool that I had stopped at earlier this week, and we were on our way down I spotted another hidden door. This one however had been sealed off and there was no indication of what it used to be.

Here we are on our way down again, just after I managed to get Huan to show her face.

And finally for our morning walk one of the views on the way down.

After dinner Huan dragged me to Baijiahui, the supermarket, they had a birthday sale on. One of her classmates this afternoon had bought some lamb so we had to go and look. Now the translation of lamb and goat is different but the translation of the meat is the same. Looking at what was on offer I think it was a badly cut haunch of goat and not lamb. That would make sense considering the number of goats we see around here.

I thought I would buy a small box of what looked like chocolate profiteroles. I obviously didn’t think they would be the same as fresh ones, but the box and the contents were very different!

Well what a busy week that was, stay tuned to see if we have a more relaxing one this week. Take care, don’t fall over in the snow, (if you have any), and if you’re in Hainan watch out for those (almost) single figure temperatures! We’ll see you next time.