February 14th Welcome to another week with us and a Happy Valentine’s Day to all! Actually I don’t mean that at all. When I first heard of Valentine’s Day, a few hundred years ago, Valentine’s messages were always sent in secret and only to the one you loved. It didn’t matter that the other person never knew who it was from. Cue surreptitious passing of notes around the classroom. Nowadays you can get cards for just about anyone, even your pets. What’s more, you can even get cards to send from pets. It’s a big money making machine!
Last night I had another of those enjoyable dreams and I didn’t really want to wake up this morning. I have no idea where it came from, all I know was that involved a lot of secret work by me and (ground) members of the Air Force and an instrument called a REVO (or perhaps RENO) transponder. Just before waking it segued into a musical performance where I had a good friend Jim singing with me. Someone was trying to remove another man from the scene and I told them that they couldn’t as he was the director. He was another old friend, David. I have not seen or spoken to either Jim or David for a long time so I can’t explain the source of that dream either.
All that dreaming meant I was up too late for walkies again, and Huan had plans. Maybe tomorrow… We did go out after lunch; a quick check of the weather told us that it would not rain within the next two hours. Looking up, I hoped that they would not be wrong.
A riverside walk was chosen, we didn’t fancy being in the countryside if the heavens did decide to open up. Crossing the bridge we found our first beastie if the day. Those ‘legs’ trailing behind are actually not legs, they are its antennae. After failing with my Google search, I will call it a longhorn beetle; correct me if you know better
Huan pointed this out for me, across the river there are some newly planted trees. From afar you could think that the project has failed, there are no visible leaves and not even any bark on the trees. However, get closer and you will see this, it’s growing.
This one is for you budding engineers out there, the hydraulics in the bridge building.
I found the next beastie to snap but Huan insisted she snap me snapping it first.
As always my hand was an invite to climb.
Putting it down again was not so easy, at one stage it looked as if it was going to launch itself either at me or at the camera. More fishermen were spotted, I took a photo just in case the director wanted it, but you saw enough last week. You can never have enough timorous wee beasties though and Huan found this next one. Unfortunately, it’s not a colourful one.
Passing back through the market our Xinjian bread supplier, and friend, had returned from a short holiday. He asked for a photo so we obliged but used Huan’s phone so that she could then share it with him on WeChat. I know I’m wearing a mask but the other photos that Huan took after I removed it were not as good as this one.
Speak of the devil and she will appear. Here she is trying to save money and get some free books outside the town library. PS The weather forecast was correct; we did not get rained on. In fact it didn’t rain at all, before bedtime anyway.
February 15th Huan decided we
should have a new walk today, up towards
Today’s photos will include a few collages because we both took far too many photos. For me it was 152 and for Huan it was somewhere less than 100. Many get binned of course, some get made into stitched panoramas and then some get put into collages. Sometimes I wonder just how much money I spent on film when I was younger!
At the #5 bus Huan was having problems using her OAP card. Eventually, she and the driver worked out that the reader was working but not making any sounds. Ten scans later and we were ready to go. Why ten? Each scan is only ¥1.00 meaning multiple scans are needed.
Pretty good these electric buses you know, it seemed to get to the destination even faster than I would using the car. Once there we discovered we would have to pay another bus company to take us up and then to walk down to where our bus stopped. We decided that at some future time we would use the Shuimanxiang bus and get off at the rafting terminal. Once we have done the walk down we will know if we ever want to try the opposite way, up! For today we chose to walk down river back to Nansheng village, here’s the lovely ‘start’ view.
And here we are with the first collage, “Look Huan, a mountain, and a road that seems to go the right way.” “Bob, why are we in the middle of all these plants?” “Don’t worry darling, I can see the road over there.”
Here we are following a farmer through his fields, who, when we asked him, told us that there was a way through the woods back to the riverside.
He was right and we soon spotted a bridge in the distance.
Ever the intrepid explorers we decided not to cross the bridge and continue onwards.
Most of the photos Huan takes of me are, more often than not, of me trying to navigate through some impassable undergrowth or falling down hills. She has no idea why she took this one!
On the other hand, she does know why she took many in this spot!
This time is was a picture of me taking some pictures.
And this is what I was looking at, as you can see, another good day for walking.
As is often the case, we had in fact made a mistake by not crossing the bridge when we saw it. The path we were on led us to this chicken farm, with no way to carry on by the riverside.
Back we went, crossed the bridge, and then tried to find a way to stay by the river. Look at this view, we thought we had done it here, there’s a nice path along the riverside.
I was wrong, and we had to clamber back up to the road again.
Walking along the road I spotted some metal gates and over the walls I could see the tops of some buildings. Maybe it’s another ‘des res’ I thought, so I shoved my camera through the gate access hatch. This is what it saw, I could live there.
Still trying to find a way back to the river we stumbled across an ‘all year farm’. They were growing many crops; Huan told me that the little hairy thing is in fact a sweet corn. The farmers already knew me, from some video or other that they had seen.
Not everything is perfect though, did you know that eggplants, (or aubergines or brinjal or whatever else you may call them) go yellow when they are old and bad.
Through the farm we spotted a wire covered wall that followed the river round, and a track in the far distance leading up to the road. Huan was a little worried that the not so young Bob might fall off the wall but we went that way anyway.
Needless to say, we were wrong again! The track was there when we had walked as far as we could on the wall, but there was no way to go from the end of the wall to the beginning of the track. The main road was not far away at all.
Back we went to where the farm road joined the main road, when we reached the top we could see where we had been. In this view you can also see the track that we couldn’t reach.
Remember the view up to the main road? Well this is the view down from that exact spot. Look closely and you can see the all year farm in the distance.
Still on the main road, I could not resist this. Huan was trying to get all the words in, they talk about not using fireworks and being good people. Meanwhile I was trying to get her to take a photo of just me. “Wot? No lunch?”
Pigs up next, snoozing in the back of a truck and getting stuck in a tree.
There was lunch, when we got to Nansheng. Huan fancied a burger from Wallace’s. She only believed me that there isn’t one there after we had walked every street. After one or two failed attempts at finding lunch, we were a bit late, (12:41), we settled on this place. The proprietress knew us, not only has she seen some videos, she has also seen us walking. Her parents live behind our apartment back in Wuzhishan.
Here’s the inside and also our dinners. Doesn’t my fried rice look amazing? I had ordered fried rice which was not on the lunch time menu so Huan had changed it for fried noodles without telling me. It’s a good job I like them too! She had noodle soup.
I had to take a photo of this motor bike. Now I know next to nothing about bikes in general and probably even less about Harleys. However, all the Harleys I have seen in my life have been big beasts; this one looks a bit small. Any experts out there who can put me right?
We thought we should share a last photo of the mountains and the
river before we headed for home. These were taken from right next to the
We were enjoying our stroll along the riverside when lo and behold, it happened again. Just outside the Psychology clinic our way was blocked. At least we didn’t have to backtrack this time, just stroll up the grassy bank.
A trip to Nansheng would not be complete without a view of ‘pointy mountain’ and today we found a ‘pointy roundabout’ to share the glory.
Huan wanted me to take this one; I thought it was some kind of bird’s nest. Checking Google when we got home it seems it is more likely to be an ants’ nest. It’s probably just as well that it was out of Her Ladyship’s reach!
We eventually managed to find a way to walk nearer to the river.
After eleven kilometres or so we decided to find a bus stop. Huan sat in the shade while I played lookout across the road. She was happy enough in there.
After another ten scans of the boss’s OAP bus pass we were soon on our way home. Walking from the bus to the apartment we spotted yesterday’s friend. Leaning down to say hello he was clambering up my mask in no time. By the time Huan got her phone out he was knitting himself a new jumper with my hair. It seemed that he didn’t want to go back to his perch at all.
So Huan’s new walk was a good one, we very much enjoyed it, all we have to remember is not to repeat the errors next time. We’ll also try further up the mountain when we feel up to it. At home this afternoon, keeping our eyes open until dinner time was not an easy task!
February 16th Home alone, Huan is back to her hulusi stuff again. I had to get on with cooking.
After lunch the Minister of Sport was keen on us getting out and exercising again. I agreed but tried to keep her reined in a little. To do that, I only had my sandals on today, that restricts how far and where we go. LuoBoTe village was today’s route.
If these chickens are vegetarians does that make them OK to eat? I wonder if the farmer knows what his flock are up to, and if the second farmer knows his lettuces are disappearing.
Here are some more village views for your delight and delectation.
Our walk today took us through most of the village roads, the populace was very busy.
Leaving the village we were a little disappointed to see that one of our favourite walks will soon be no more. A new road is being put through, behind the village; possible towards the apartment buildings where there was once supposed to be a small airport.
Taking a route through the valley, I walked on the side of the drainage ditch while Huan walked just a little higher than me on the path. This ditch had walls that were easy enough for me to navigate. Sometimes I look at the ridges between fields and wonder how Chinese grandfathers, well over my age, negotiate them with no problems at all.
Huan took far too many photos of me, again!
I got revenge after a fashion but I only took two photos.
Have you ever wondered what the countryside would look like through a porthole?
“Don’t move!” said the boss, “There’s a fly on your back.” It doesn’t look like a fly to me! I wonder what she would have done if it had stung me through my shirt.
More work is taking place on the sluice gates, I think they are testing and commissioning now.
We went home via little island, to make sure we got eight kilometres, there was no way we were going for ten today. There I decided to pose with a flower.
Not to be outdone, the chief model asked if she could pose with some leaves. Who am I to say no? She looks so much better than me anyway.
While we were in the park I took a couple of wrong turnings. This time I felt the plants attacking me, mind you, I didn’t know they had drawn blood.
After a short rest I warmed up our dinner. What had I cooked this
morning? You may remember that I cooked Bopis recently; well a good friend
suggested I should try this dish. It also comes from the
February 17th We planned to have two walks today, one for our normal exercise and one for buying our weekend dinner. I slept late again so consequently we set off on a town walk after lunch. It was nice and peaceful and not so warm, the weather has become cooler again. The first thing we spotted, or I did was another big bike, definitely a Harley this time.
We then spent some time looking for a restaurant for Monday lunch and I thought we had succeeded so I was going to show you the advance pictures here. Later in the day, without me knowing, the plans were changed so; photos not required. Huan had to visit one of her banks; I found a fishpond while she was inside.
Let’s finish with a photo of the happy couple, I had not yet become grumpy.
Dinner was fine, a bit too much food, so our weekend dining plans were changed, that meant we had no need for shopping this evening. All was going well until Huan came back home. She had been to visit Zōushūxián to finalise invites and restaurants. I was told that we were no longer going where I thought we were, but to another place that Huan had mentioned in the afternoon. I had specifically said no to that one; cue grumpy Bob for the rest of the evening. I guess I shouldn’t be grumpy, but sometimes I seem unable to avoid being that way.
February 18th Saturday, no market today, there was no shopping to be done and Huan was out for either a hulusi practice or a singing one, I’m not sure which. I languished at home, sorting out some music files and trying to answer some FB messages. We did get out after lunch though. Tomorrow Huan has planned a bus and walk day so today was a riverside hunt the lizard walk. The first thing Madam found was men in a hole.
When we got to the ex-home of my three legged friend, Huan asked me what I thought these were, and whether or not she should try one. I really do wonder sometimes how she managed to reach the ripe old age of sixty!
A woman came walking towards us, at quite a pace, and we noticed she had no shoes on. “It’s supposed to be good for you” I said, this was the result. There might actually be some truth in what I said - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550830719305476
From a distance, the world looks blue and green, and if you look very carefully, you may even see the odd white bird.
Her ladyship was happy, a lizard had been sighted, and it had a little colour.
Walking along the riverside we noticed that work has begun on the new project. Half the river has been dammed, the water has been sent down the other side and something is being built. Once we found a quiet bit we asked the gents down below what it was they were building. The answer was a walkway all the way to Nansheng. It will probably take them quite some time to finish it but I would certainly like to walk along it when it’s done.
We haven’t had any Chinglish for a while have we, so let’s remedy that now. I have to say though that it is a difficult word; especially as live can be pronounced two different ways. Huan couldn’t see the problem because of that.
Sometimes construction takes place and you are not really sure why. The entrance road into the old hospital has been moved, a few metres to the left of where it was. I have no idea why they moved it, but I do like the view towards the building entrance now.
February 19th There I was, all ready to put my boots on and go on one of Huan’s chosen walks, when, lo and behold, the plan was changed again. Huan and Zōushūxián decided they should visit tomorrow’s restaurant and finalise the menu, not a bad idea I suppose. Muggins was roped in to be the driver! Here are the ladies in question, menus in hand.
Strangely, this restaurant does not serve chicken so we had to go home via our weekend duck and chicken supplier where we had to buy one of each.
Lunch over, we were back on to Huan’s plan, we were to take either the #5 or the #1 bus and get off at the villas on the lake to walk up to the fourth road fish farm. Maybe three or four of the villas were in use today, what a waste.
Like many of our country walks the scenery never ceases to make me feel good, even though my head was once again being sunburned.
Something different happened today, quite alarming really, for me anyway as I was the nearest. A snake shot across the road in front of me, my brain was frantically trying to work out whether or not I should try for a photo. I did, but probably not quickly enough.
Scare over, underneath the highway tunnel we went.
After taking a few more snaps and talking to some wandering cows we soon reached today’s destination, the fish farm reservoir which meant another stitched photo for you.
This place has so much potential but we have never seen it properly utilised. Today there were only a few fishermen there and we spotted one couple driving away. There seemed to be only one young man actually working there. Someone, maybe him, maybe a fisherman, was preparing a nice big bowl of fish soup.
Our route back took us through the countryside behind the villages and not on the road.
After the fourth photo in that collage we had to do a lot of climbing over fences and bits of wood, thankfully we were both too busy to take photographs. This was the view from the bridge.
Over the bridge we took a new route, again, aren’t we the daring duo? The sign talks about the river being cleaned and beautified, hence the flowers in the previous photo. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and so off we went.
Turning the corner neither of us had any idea of where we were or what we were looking at.
A little further on it dawned on me, and after a little explanation, Huan too. We had arrived, via the back route, at Camelot. This photo was taken from where the lady of the lake used to stand a long time ago. The rocks are a miniature facsimile of Wuzhishan when viewed from the other side. We had to ask a worker how to get out; he had never even seen the lady of the lake.
Camelot is behind the apartment complex that Virginia and Jack live in (remember them, last month 27th, dinner at Eighteen Bowls). This is the view across the main Sanya road from the bottom of one of their buildings.
What a day, by the time we got home that was nearly fifteen kilometres we had walked today. It was all we could do to keep our eyes open after dinner. It was worth it though; we have another new walk to add to the list.
February 20th Happy birthday to me, another year older but I’m afraid not another year wiser! I think brain shrinkage for me started years ago, probably when I had my first drink. Whatever, the day was wishing me a happy one; this was my morning view when I woke up.
Huan then arrived bearing gifts, the first one shown here, because we are now in the year of the rabbit. PS She does know what ‘playboy’ means. PPS I'm not one!
Because I knew that I would over indulge today, eating and drinking, I had decided to walk to the restaurant; Huan would take the provided car with duck, chicken and alcohol. This was me making sure I had a red face before the drink took effect!
Some of the dishes are shown in this first photo, more would arrive later, all the guests are present and correct in the second photo.
On your birthday in
It may not be customary but they asked me to sing an English song which I was stupid enough to agree to. I am well out of practice at singing and I had drunk a fair bit of beer and baijiu, plus your phone doesn’t really give enough volume. I managed a bit of Elvis and they all graciously applauded. I did try another song but gave up after a line or two. Much revelry ensued!
All too soon it was time to go home, walking again. Huan even agreed to walk; perhaps she thought I may have wobbled a bit too much without her guiding hand. It was still warm but as we were not out for any speed records that was fine. The distance to the restaurant was less than three kilometres, the distance home was over five. Mind you, it did include friends!
In that last photo my eyes looked a little the worse for wear, don’t believe what you see. The camera doesn’t always tell the truth. Here I am with Huan for our last photo of the day and as you can see I am in perfect condition!
Heaps more photos were taken by the husband of one of Huan’s friends; he seemed to have been designated ‘official photographer’ and had a biiig camera. In fact I had to keep asking him to take photos of everyone, not just me as well as to try and get him to sit down and eat, drink and be merry. None of his photos are shared here because we don’t have them yet. If any jump out at me, or at the boss, we will more than likely share them on FB.
So another week comes to an end, a year comes to an end and a new one begins, Bob stops being 72 and starts being 73. How on earth did that happen, and while I wasn’t looking. At least Huan is still her youthful self.
Remember to click on photos to enlarge them and hence get a better look, remember to subscribe, you can even comment if you like, most of all remember to enjoy yourselves! Bye for now!
Happy birthday Bob, still looking well by the end of the day, (if a bit glassy eyed), nice belt :)
ReplyDeleteCheers young man!
Delete