February 7th First I must give you the links to last week’s show in Mauna. Here’s the FB link, https://www.facebook.com/HainanTouch/videos/1222019975071361, and here’s the YT link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9SDOYTV10U&ab_channel=HainanTouch.
Someone, who is not me, was a little ‘relaxed’ this morning so we never got out for a morning walk. I prepared tonight’s dinner, apart from the noodles. We did make it to the great outdoors after lunch. Still not fancying climbing any mountains or going up roads that were a little steep we went on a lizard hunt. The first two creatures we found were definitely not lizards. For the first one you need to look very closely to see its legs and antennae. PS It can jump quite high.
This is the road into Wuzhishan looking towards Sanya. It has changed so much you could almost land an aeroplane there now. Of course it would need very small wings.
Instead of showing you the river this time here is a lovely view of coconuts against the sky.
Huan was in luck today and lizards were sighted. This particular one was going up the tree but I have rotated the photo so that you can see it better.
Very shortly thereafter she found another one. No, it is not the same one.
Next up I thought I had found some more downed lanterns but it turned out to be spent fireworks. The Chinese is 喜特林机枪, Xǐ tè lín jīqiāng, which Google translates as ‘Hitling machine gun’. A search for Justin Gatlin shows he was an American sprinter so I guess the Chinese could be a transliteration of his name. Looking at the ‘spikes’ on the fireworks they don’t appear to have been pushed into the ground at all so I guess these were fired by hand, like a machine gun.
Huan succeeded in finding one more lizard, also rotated, it was going down the tree.
We have passed this tree at least a thousand times. “Robert! How many hundreds of times have I told you not to exaggerate?” “Sorry mother…” Anyway, today Huan thought that you should also see it. I can’t tell you if the vertical sprouts are the same tree or not but I can tell you that they are all growing out of the leaning trunk.
Perhaps it will end up like the trees on
We arrived home having walked ten kilometres again, not too quickly though. After a chat with one of the grey moggies downstairs it was coffee time before I got dinner ready. Sitting there enjoying it I felt something on my arm and thought it was just a little fly or perhaps an ant that I had picked up. Well, it was something I picked up but what I don’t know. Huan decided that it should be recorded for posterity.
February 8th No walkies this morning, ‘Charlie Dimmock’ was busy on the balcony. She did find a new and exotic creature for me take a photograph of though. Google tells us that this is more than likely a Dobsonfly. “Dobsonflies are an aquatic insect that frequents streams, lakes and rivers to breed and feed. They may be a nuisance pest inside a home due to their attraction to light.” As always, there is a lot of information on the web but I liked this particular page https://thesmallermajority.com/2013/11/25/hugewings/
Today I surprised Huan with a ‘real’ walk, the reverse landfill mountain plus a little bit. For such a trek, for the first time in a long time, I had my boots on!
Going up the hill to the police station and then turning onto the main street Huan was still not clear of where we were headed, many of our walks are out in this direction. However, when we turned right and we saw this she realised that we were doing the reverse landfill mountain walk.
I know that she is trying to organise a birthday party for me this
month so I did think of suggesting that we invite half of
I’m not stupid so I strategically kept my mouth in the closed position. Soon we were approaching the first of the ‘up’ stages.
That rough path eventually led to this which we are very used to seeing from the other direction.
Huan made a comment before this next photo was taken. She was wearing her hat today, I wasn’t wearing mine. Her comment was that this road is normally in the shade during the summer months but the sun finds its way through in the cooler months. Can you guess who got home with a nice red head?
The countryside tea leaf was at it again today, another piece for the balcony.
Soon we reached the point at which turning right would take us downhill and home whereas turning left would take us uphill and still home but by a longer and more difficult route.
After a while I realised that I could not hear Her Ladyship behind me. I backtracked a little and found her replanting the ‘stolen’ item in place of another that she thought would stand more chance of surviving on our balcony.
Soon we were passing one of the views that make these walks so enjoyable.
Before too long we were at the summit and going down the other side.
Next up is the only pooch of the day. Normally it would be making a hell of a racket trying to frighten me away. Today, while I couldn’t get it to come any closer it was strangely quiet. Maybe it had something to do with the two rather large cows outside its kennel.
This one is to show that we oldies do not always know everything. The sign, as you can clearly see, says “Rescue 122”. When we first came down here in 2015 I was convinced that it meant there was a rescue phone 122 metres up the road. Of course it really means dial 122 on your cell phone for rescue. In my defence there were no mobile phones when I first started driving!
Just after that we passed under the highway through a small tunnel. It’s amazing what just a few metres can do to what you can see.
Our artistic director said I need to show you these geese. Can anyone explain for me why there is only one white one? Are the others still babies?
And now some flora for you, a tree that Huan is rather fond of, and a specimen bloom from said tree in my grubby mitt. PS I did not remove it from the tree, the wind did, it was on the floor.
Last week I showed you that there is a lot of infrastructure work being carried out with the roads being dug up for electricity cables etc. It is also happening down our way, we had the concrete cutting saw all day yesterday, probably today too but we weren’t here to hear it. That will be followed by the jack hammer to break up the surface. You would think that would create a lot of dust. It may, but these clever guys have a way to reduce it. It works well.
Let’s finish with ‘Charlie Dimmock’ again, or maybe I could call her
Fanny Wilkinson. (She was
February 9th Weary me didn’t scrape myself off the mattress until half past nine this morning so yet again we had to have an afternoon walk. Before lunch the workers were busy so we took some photos to show you. The first one shows the water sprayer being used to fill the “water filled traffic safety barriers”. The second is the man with the cutting machine, no prizes for guessing which one was closest to our balcony.
Yesterday’s walk had really worn us out, not really sure why as we have walked much further before, so today was just a local walk. Passing across Little Island we wondered if any of Harry Potter’s gang had been flying around and left their broomstick hidden in the bushes.
Work is back in progress on the sluice gate bridge it should not be too long now. You can see new pipes being connected back to the control building. Also all the plastic sheeting has been removed from the red hydraulic bits.
Fishermen were out in force slowly making their way upriver. We did wonder how the solitary fisherman down river from these guys was going to catch anything at all.
Another poor little caterpillar has had the misfortune of becoming bee food. I have no idea if caterpillars feel pain but it was still alive and still moving.
Let’s finish with a collage of early dancers. I say early because they are not usually there at the time we saw them. This would appear to be a dress rehearsal for an upcoming show that they are doing. Huan tells me that the dancing is Xīnjiāng style.
Yesterdays walk was 10.4 kilometres in just over three hours. Today, thinking we were taking it easier was only 8.45 kilometres in almost two hours and forty minutes. Our average pace yesterday was 17m37s per km and today 18m37s per km. Why then did we both feel just as worn out when we got home today as we did yesterday? This morning I had taken Huan’s blood pressure, she was a little worried after her last clinic check. She was fine. I also checked both our blood oxygen levels, just because the tester was in that same drawer. We were both fine there too. When we arrived home, feeling as tired as we did, I checked mine again, just in case. I’m pleased to say I was still fine! It must just be the change in the weather, or our age, or both.
February 10th Today, since we had to go out twice, we took our first walk in the morning, just around the town. The first piece of ‘art’ comes from a tea shop, a modern one; this is the facia of their street facing counter, frame by Picasa.
There are a few more holes in the roads but we’ll give them a miss for today. Now you know that snowbirds love their dancing, their singing and their music. It’s a wonderful thing they do but I do sometimes wonder how they cope with the competition. There are two competing groups in this photo, one to the left of the lamppost and one in the gazebo on the right. Being stood in the middle, we could hear both sets; they appeared not to notice each other.
Not exactly a hole in the road but an excavator and a truck. Where do they take all the soil and stone I wonder, especially as most of it will be brought back to fill the hole when the work is complete? One of life’s many mysteries I suppose.
Sad news on the way home, I had an idea where the two grey cats that I showed you in a January came from so popped into the shop to ask the shopkeeper if she owned cats. It was the right place but unfortunately the two have become only one. The one I held on January 30th has died. The owner said it had died due to constipation; my own guess would be hairballs and not the right diet to help with them.
Arriving home, I thought that you should know that outside our apartment entrance there are some toilets! That sounds terrible doesn’t it? They look nice enough though. When Chinese people, generally, buy a new home they always buy a new loo, perhaps they think sitting on one someone else has sat on is unhygienic. Strangely enough this is not a worry when they rent a home which is just as well for us in Sanya and Ledong.
February 11th This morning I woke up to strange sounds from the kitchen and dining room. It was the amazing cleaning monster; it had cleaned all the glasses and cups from the room divider. Now having done all that just before Chinese New Year you may wonder why she would do it all again now; it seems we may, possibly, perhaps, have a visit from the Mayor! Whatever, Huan did a grand job, as she always does of course.
With the weather warming up nicely, we had 30⁰C yesterday and I’m back in shorts, we don’t need stews at the weekend anymore. Instead we can go back to cold meats and potato salad. Being a little late setting off, we went to the bap market first. “Wait a minute” I hear you say. “You told us that it was henceforth the ‘Ostrich Market’. Well the ostrich has gone to live on a fruit farm so it is back to being the bap market. On the way we passed a mermaid.
Duck in hand we proceeded to the riverside market for a little veg. We always keep an eye open for oddities you may not have seen, today Huan chose this. 鸡血藤, Jī xuè téng – milletweed. If you translate the words one at a time it is ‘chicken blood rattan’. Google is not much help, but whatever it is it is used in Chinese medicine.
The same guy was also selling strange pineapples, these are wild river pineapples.
Lurking behind them is another variety, a wild mountain pineapple.
Huan bought one of the wild river pineapples and insisted I have my photo taken with it.
February 12th This morning we were confined to barracks as Huan had to use the washing machine. Being absolutely paranoid about the wiring in our house I wouldn’t dream of leaving the machine on while we go out. She was washing the shower curtain from our bathroom so I took the opportunity to clean the bath. Normally I would do it starkers, but I knew Madam would be sneaking around with her trusty phone.
After lunch, the weather being lovely again, we set off on a Changhao walk. Now one of Huan’s favourite things to find is a red coloured lizard, today she managed to do just that. I think this is the photo that best shows its colour.
Along the road we met some bovine
buddies; they were not very friendly though. Seeing us they ran away but
couldn’t seem to decide which side of the road to go down. From behind I did
try to guide them but I failed. Now there’s a question for you, a shepherd
herds sheep and the word itself can be a noun or a verb. You can herd cows but
you can’t cowherd them so what do you do? In the
The road works that we were curious about have now been completed. Very sensibly, they have built a small tunnel on the road to Changhao underneath the highway exit. It means that traffic going to Changhao will not be affected by the highway exit at all. Traffic from Changhao can filter with the highway exit traffic, no problems.
There is one thing that slightly puzzled me though. In the photos you can see a tower; it is in fact a four sided clock tower. One clock is visible from Changhao side, one from the highway exit and one from the Wuzhishan side. However, one face is also visible from the mountain side. I suppose it could help the farmers not be late home.
Soon we were off the highway and
into the countryside, quieter than it is usually is. The main reason for that
was the time,
At one of our favourite villages Huan, our creative director, asked for our photos to be taken.
You may ask why we didn’t visit the village and show you some snaps of it. Well, when we approach from this side the only way there is across the weir. Today we decided that it was probably a little too wet and a little too slippery.
Normally, after passing the weir, we would have to do a big loop around the countryside on our journey to Changhao. Today the fields were passable albeit full of supports for new crop covers.
From a little too far away Huan tried to take my photo in the field. It looks like she caught me just before the alien tracker beam did!
How about a farm full of plastic bags? Farmers worldwide use such covers to protect their crop, usually fruit. You can see in the second and third pictures what this fruit is. According to Google it is a rose apple or a Java apple. The Chinese name does not translate.
Approaching Changhao through the fields I decided to create a panorama for you.
While creating the above picture I noticed a few white things in one of the fields on the right. What were they? Egrets, which made Huan very happy. Of course they saw me coming.
However, sneaky little old me found out where they went.
As I was gaily tripping the light fantastic back out of the fields Huan was far too busy with her phone, again, from too far away, again! I did try, honest.
Luck was with us and when we entered Changhao, just after we bought some water, the bus for home arrived. Huan wasn’t so happy; she couldn’t use her OAP pass for some reason. It’s still cheap as chips, just a quid for both of us back into town. You may have noticed, from the panorama that I showed you above, how warm it was today. It may not be obvious from this little selfie but my head was like a red traffic light again.
And that was our day done, apart from some photos of me with a couple of children. They were grandchildren of a friend of Huan’s so I happily obliged. I did explain to Huan though that we would not be putting them in the Blog.
February 13th Monday came around again, strange how often it seems to do that. Of course we don’t have to go to work on a Monday anymore, or any other day, come to that. However, Monday is still shopping day, which entailed a trip to Baijiahui and the town market. I didn’t find either very enjoyable, far too many people at the time we went.
My mind was so fogged that when we came home I forgot to take Huan’s lottery ticket shop diversion and went straight home. That meant she had to go alone while I waited for her. I may be the donkey but even I couldn’t carry all the bags. Actually, I was going to accompany her but I was waylaid by a friend again. This time he insisted on his tummy being tickled, I got a couple of photos of that. When Huan got back she noticed that he was trying to stop me from leaving with a big paw on my foot, so she got a photo of that. Here’s the combined collage.
We are doing well with our walks this month so we decided that today should be a day of rest. We all need those at times don’t we? I can assure you that as we get older we need them more and more. And on the happy note we will once again bid you adieu, see you soon!
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