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Monday, 11 April 2022

Life Is Still Good, It’s Getting Better All The Time!

April 5th Today’s photos are filed under Tuesday Traipse, just for a different name. Walk(ies) was getting rather boring. Before even leaving our buildings I was savaged by a cute little friend, she always comes running to us.

Across to the island we proceeded where I spotted a woman from a distance doing strange things with her arms. When we got closer we realised that she was exercising with two tennis balls on ‘wires’, it looked a bit like hard work to me!

Next is the officially authorised daily portrait of the C-in-C.

Huan did take a few of me posing in the same place but I didn’t use them. I went back in to take a photo of a little crawly coming in from the sun on the other side.

Huan also took far too many photos of me coming back out again, so, I made a gif.

The island appeared very busy today, it was Qing Ming holiday, so we made a couple of panoramas to show you. Looking at the photos at home had us wondering where the people were!


Our musical neighbours were there, as they are nearly every day, but there was also a new, much more colour coordinated group of ladies too.

To my surprise, Huan had never seen this before, so at her request I took a photo or two. With it being the ‘old’ way and artisanal I decided B&W suited it better.

It’s that time of the year again and some little creatures have already made the move to their new homes. Those homes are the outer casings; here are two of the old homes. I’m always surprised by how much detail is evident in the empty husks.


The trees by the river are also bearing their first fruit of the year. As usual I had to stop her ladyship eating any of the fallen ones!

Dogs and cats and bugs gave us more subjects as did tomato plants and flowers, but we’ll keep them on the home computers. Instead we’ll show another panorama, this time the numbers of people are obvious. Tea drinking is going on full force!

Is it food, or is it medicine, or is it poison. The lady called it something that translates as Milletia root, she recommended adding it to soups and stews for the health benefit. The wonders of the internet (Wikipedia), also told me that it is used in Chinese medicine as a blood tonic and as a cancer therapy. The same article tells me that is also has a nickname in some places, ‘fish poison climber’, “The natives smash the plant parts against rocks, and let the juice extract run into the water. Fishes are easily stupefied and subsequently paralyzed. Then they are collected by hands or nets or baskets.” What shall we use it for?


Finally for today, we bring you another tame chicken. One of the places where I have a few canine friends also has this bird. We’ve seen it many times so Huan asked today how old it was. It’s been living with the people and the dogs for six years now.

My plan today had been to walk to the fourth bridge upriver from our house and then back home again. Just after we had passed the third bridge I decided that the fourth bridge was probably just a bit too far and turned back for home. Tomorrow, weather allowing, we will do the same route but in the opposite direction and leave the fourth bridge route until Thursday.

April 6th I’ve been feeling so sleepy these last few days, Huan thinks it could be the after effects of having wires stuck through my veins! On the other hand she is sleep too so it could just be the change in the weather again. Today’s walk was the Wednesday Wander and the first photo is a sneaked one in the lift.

Going round yesterday’s route in the opposite direction the first thing we found, from a distance, looked like a small rat. Getting closer we realised two things, one that it wasn’t trying to run away and two, that it had a completely different snout.

Google image search wasn’t too much help today, it came up with the “Long-eared gymnure (Hylomys megalotis)” but that is native to Laos and maybe parts of Vietnam. For Hainan I found the “Hainan gymnure (Neohylomys hainanensis)” also known as the “Hainan Moonrat” but that is supposed to brown in colour. It also has a much shorter or even non-existent tail. If any of my Hainan readers can shed any more light, let me know in the comments below, I’m sure the scientific readers will be very happy.

A lucky break today, one of those white birds, a small egret I believe, was flying overhead and despite a lot of fumbling I managed to get a fairly decent photo.

Huan had to pay a visit to China Unicom on our way home, to see if we could pay the internet charges for our Ledong apartment without actually going there. China is fairly good with its IT networks in all branches of life and government but it does have some strange foibles. All the telecom companies are national companies but you can’t pay your bills in different cities, even in the same province. While she was in there taking a long time to get an easy answer, I took a photo of a company car. Can you spot the problem?

Director Huan then asked me to take a photo of “The Great Wall Of China”, which as you can see here is not so great. It is a pretty addition to the Chun He hotel though.

Some more camera fumbling by me while Huan was in the bank led to this snapshot. As you can probably see, I almost missed it. I wonder whether my licence allows me to ride that sort of three wheeler, it could be fun.

How about another bird, not so clear this time though. It was another shot ordered by the director and I guess it’s not too bad. You can just about see the crest on the bird’s head.

And here’s a little flora for you, covered in dew drops. Well, it’s more than likely covered in water fro the road cleaning bowsers but it’s pretty anyway.

And our last photo of the day is of the huntress showing what she has caught from the great jungles of Pinduoduo, otherwise known as the delivery drop off behind our house.

Both of us needed another OAP kip this afternoon, me for longer than Huan. Maybe we should consider using the term afternoon siesta instead, it doesn’t make us sound so old!

April 7th Lazy morning due to arising behind schedule or in other words, I slept late. After lunch, instead of going out, I decided to watch a few instructional YouTube videos and begin repairs on Huan’s chair. I have been using her chair because mine broke some time ago but a couple of days ago this one failed too.

Method #1 on t’internet was to firmly pull the caster while giving it a bit of a wiggle. The caster came off but the spindle didn’t!

Luckily the videos also showed how to use a screwdriver to either lever the whole caster or to just lever the spindle. Levering the spindle meant a pair of pliers was also needed.


Levering the caster also worked well, far better than trying to pull and wiggle. If you lever it out far enough some pulling and wiggling is still needed but at least it all comes out. There was a third photo showing that event but because I was so fast it was far too blurred!


After dinner Huan had a call from her hulusi hobnobbers asking if she was going to go out to play. As I had planned a walk, that worked out well for both of us. Huan had a good practice and a lot of chinwag and I had a five and half kilometre walk.

April 8th No excuses today, just plain old bone idle. Even when Huan went out after dinner I stayed in. I think I am allowed to be lazy on the odd occasion, don’t you?

April 9th My guilty conscience made sure I got off my fat behind today, exercise was needed. Before setting off though, Huan sent me this photo. It is the entrance to the apartment buildings across the road from us, compulsory Covid testing is being carried out for all the residents there. It may be that someone has been to Sanya or Haikou and is possibly contagious.

Bugs of another kind next, a scarab beetle, at least I think that’s what it is. Why it was in the middle of the pavement far away from any vegetation I have no idea but Huan, being the kind soul that she is, made sure it reached safety.



Quite a few shops were closed today and someone told us that all large markets also had to close. Consequently the riverside market was not there today. We did find a handful of stalls up at the far end but no vegetable, meat or poultry stalls.

Our friend from Xinjiang was there with his flat bread. Normally he would be making it here but he told us that he was not allowed to make it in this area for the time being, so he made it at home and brought it here. We bought our usual two, good for lunch today and tomorrow.

Spring is definitely in the air, made me feel good to be out.


Later on I found a tree with one its trunks severed leaving behind a nice little seat for Madame.

Two more little creatures to finish off the day’s pictures, the first being a pooch that we can’t get near to. Even going right up to the gate I can’t reach it and it’s also on a chain so it can’t reach me. I like it because when I call, even from the other side of the road, it always greets me by standing up and wagging its tail.

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you who chose this last subject, the conversation went along the lines of “Oh look, there’s a bird” “Yes dear, I suppose you want me to take a photo of it” “Maybe it’s too far away” “More than likely dear”. Of course I did what I always do and obeyed my leader, at least these days it’s digital and not film!

When we got home we had covered more distance than on any other day since I left the hospital, six and a half kilometres, and it felt good. We did both require a nap after lunch though.

In the evening I had the pleasure of Huan’s company, there was to be no hulusi practice. Our maintenance company have mandated the use of masks within our complex which makes it rather difficult to blow your own horns!

April 10th A Sunday Stroll was called for today, mostly so that we could check on shopping locations for tomorrow. Lots of neighbours have been telling us about the lack of vegetables and certain shops being closed. On our way we did spot some of the farmer’s three wheelers with pork and beef for sale so there’s obviously no problems with the supply of meat.

There’s that Spring feeling again, that’s something to feel grateful for.

At the main road we turned for home, still more places to check out. For a change we headed down to the actual riverside where Huan decided photos had to be taken.


And here’s the view looking back towards the bridge, nice isn’t it?

On Saturday we showed you that the health authorities were testing outside the apartments across the road from us. We found out why, we received WeChat messages explaining who had been tested positive, where they had been and who they had been in contact with. Well, this was the scene today, about one and a half kilometres away from there.

People are taking more precautions but life goes on much as it did before. Here I am scanning the QR code before entering the town market. This serves two purposes, if my scan result is green I am allowed in, yellow or red starts a different sequence of events. Should anyone else scan yellow or red at this location then we will be informed, it works quite well.

Once in the market we could see that there are no problems with supply at all. If Baijiahui is closed then all vegetables, meat and fish can be bought here. We headed back along the main road through town so that we could check both the Baijiahui supermarkets. The older of the two was still open and in fact receiving deliveries as we passed. However, the newer larger one was closed, with a sign outside暂停营业, Zàntíng yíngyè, translates as ‘Suspend business’ but I think it’s more like temporarily closed. It seems the person(s) in question from the testing process had been inside so it was closed for disinfection.

Arriving home we found the maintenance company hard at work, building another parking area for the myriads of bikes and scooters. There’s no sign of it yet but they will more than likely provide charging points for the electric ones too.

They weren’t the only ones working; Huan had me at it too. The new casters arrived for her chair, they went in very easily, so easily that I didn’t need Maxwell’s Silver Hammer!


April 11th Message from the doctor this morning, he would not be available today, it would be better if we went on Wednesday. He saved us a wasted journey so I am not complaining. It gave us more time for our morning shopping in the older and smaller Baijiahui. First off we had to get there, and after three weeks standing idle the car had problems. #1 problem, I couldn’t get in, #2 problem, after using the mechanical key within the electronic key to get in, the car wouldn’t start. I thought it was going to be battery problems again. I was only half right, it was a battery problem, but not the car battery, it was the electronic key battery. Luckily we have a garage right downstairs so the problem was quickly solved.

Baijiahui was fine, not too crowded, everything available, although I couldn’t find any 1% milk except coconut milk. That worries me because it has a little sugar, more questions for the doctor. Both of us completely forgot about taking any photos. Huan did catch me at the market entrance again; I have no idea why she likes to take pictures of my rear!

Last night I had a great chat with one of my younger brothers, the internet can be a marvellous thing. Unfortunately I got so excited, (Huan would say clumsy), that I knocked the Fuji onto the floor yet again. This time I managed to damage the lens mounting, probably irreparably. There will certainly be no more camera photos for a while.


So, for tomorrow we are still confined to the riverside, after I see the doctor on Wednesday we may start venturing further afield again. For my family, I promise to avoid big hills and stick to roads and paths, at least for the foreseeable future.

For all of you, dear readers, take care of yourselves, see you soon!

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