June 13th Her Majesty had a bus and walk plan for today but due to tardiness on both our parts it failed. Instead we headed out to the countryside via Fanmao village. It was my turn to have the good eyes this morning, first with this beautiful little insect.
The queen definitely had something on her mind this morning; she almost missed this fellow completely and then almost stepped on a caterpillar straight afterwards. She did manage to compose herself enough to snap me snapping though. Unfortunately this angle means that you have to see my belly as well as the subject!
I took a couple of photos of the subject; this one gives you an idea of its length.
Two more lizards were found in quick succession, again by me, most unusual. The first one has lost its tail, in battle by the looks of it, the second (rotated) one was playing hide and seek with us.
On our way into the village a stall holder told us to have a look down the side street, at least I think that’s what she said, Huan didn’t see or hear her. Around the corner there was something going on. Initially we thought it was a wedding so we didn’t take too many photos of videos so as not to intrude too much. Only afterwards did we find out that it was a show, being put on for Fathers’ Day, representing the brides first visit home to her parents after marriage. All the ladies are carrying gifts, mostly of food with some alcohol.
Soon the fireworks began and then the procession of ladies started moving too. They had to pass over the clacking bamboo on the way, not dancing though. The ladies were all using yokes to carry their gifts, dancing would have probably been a bit too much.
Soon we were on our way to the depths of the countryside where Huan asked me to take a photo of this, to identify it of course. My initial thought was that it was a guava but the shape was a little wrong. Google tells me it is in fact a Malabar chestnut, also known as American peanut and the tree is called a fortune tree. The picture here on Chinese Wikipedia matches, https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh-sg/File:Pachira_aquatica,_fruit.jpg. This is our picture.
I decided that scenery pics were needed today, one normal and two panoramas.
It was then my turn to be as blind as a bat, Huan was mumbling about a pigeon and I was looking everywhere except on the path right in front of me. Looking at the hanging feather on its left hand side we thought this one was injured but immediately after I took this picture, it flew off.
Next up was another find for me but I’m not going to share it with you. It was a dead snake, upside down with its head half severed, puncture marks in its body and busy flies around. What I can tell you is that it was https://animalia.bio/stejnegers-pit-viper?custom_list=1211
Our last one of the day is not so venomous, a little black caterpillar.
Despite our tardy start we got enough kilometres in, arrived home just in time for lunch and yet another OAP nap. After that Huan was off to hulusi practice and I was on kitchen duty, this is one you may have seen before. Apart from not having dill I made one other change this time, I used a tin of coconut milk instead of cream, it worked. All I would say is make sure you make enough! I always modify the amounts but today we could have eaten much more.
June 14th Huan’s plan was aborted again this morning; it was to be a bus and walk day again. However, we live surrounded by rainforest as our phones like to remind us whenever we walk too far away from the city. This morning those forests were busy making clouds to make rain. The first two photos are taken at the back of our apartment, the second two at the front. PS It was also raining when I took these.
The rain persisted until lunch time but we were able to get out after lunch. The producer made me leave the camera at home just in case the rain came back again. That made my life difficult especially for small subjects!
We found a new friend who liked to jump up a lot.
The boss was doing her best to find subjects for me even though I had asked her to refrain due to me not having the camera. “Do you think I can eat this one?” she asked.
At least I was able to get near enough to this one to fill the lens.
Our last one for today is another canine who likes to see me and to jump up. What he doesn’t like is for me to then leave him and go on my way!
June 15th Rain stopped play again this morning so we planned a day like yesterday. We hadn’t gone very far when Huan received a phone call that her driving lessons would begin this afternoon! Yú had passed her written test on Tuesday so we had been waiting for confirmation as to when the driving lessons would begin. Needless to say our walk had to be cancelled, or at least Huan’s did. I still had enough time to do a little before I became a taxi driver. I stuck to a local ‘second bridge’ and then home walk. Here’s the view from the bridge.
Coming back through xiǎo dǎo I pondered on whether or not we had
shown you this before. If we had then we had never translated the words for
you. It turns out that this little gazebo has a name, 戏曲园地, Xìqǔ yuándì -
Arrived home after four kilometres, changed my shirt and then became a taxi driver to deliver the ladies to their training ground. Yes, there is a dedicated place for their initial lessons. I hope they are treated better than these mushrooms.
Somebody was over the moon to be behind the wheel for the first time.
I left them in the training ground, having already started their circuits.
With at least a couple of hours to spare I headed towards Changhao where I soon picked up another job. Walking past a little farm these little ducks, having been worried by a puppy, were about to walk into the road, I had to become a duck-herd for a few minutes.
I had chosen what looked like a good day for walking. Photographs don’t show you everything of course; my second shirt was already soaked when I took this lovely view.
With time on my hands I was doing a little exploring, trying to find a way around Changhao. My first trial failed, I only found a cat on a basketball court.
My second trial, the village of zhì hóu cūn, was prettier but again led me nowhere.
That was enough failed exploring for one day so I started on my way back to where the ladies were. This view through the trees caught my eye, nice isn’t it?
I had to take this one, just to show it to Huan later. It’s another ‘des res’, which of course we can’t buy but we can dream. It’s certainly big enough for us two, with room to spare.
I was a few minutes early for the ladies so I sat in the car and finished my nice cool water. Through the windscreen I spotted this little bird, I did try and sneakily open the door to get a better shot but the bird heard. (Oooh, I’m a poet and I know it!)
Because we had been out all afternoon, and because the duty chef (me) had failed in his duties, we had to eat out in the evening. I forgot to take any photos, I was starving!
June 16th All change at the ranch, at least temporarily. Huan has another lesson today so dinner was moved to the old ‘poor English people’ way, in other words at lunch time. She went off to her last hulusi class for a while this morning and I stayed home to cook.
After lunch I was on duty again, delivering the ‘L’ drivers to their lesson. Can you spot the difference with the boss?
Yes, she is wearing a mask. Why? Because their driving instructor
smokes. Cue Bob having a good old rant and rave at Huan. Right at the
beginning, before the lessons were arranged, I told Huan to ask for a non
smoking instructor. I reminded her that she and Yú were paying and as such
should be able to decide which instructor. Her answer? This is
I left them to it and went on my merry way, a countryside walk today. The first thing I saw as I was leaving the training ground, but couldn’t photo, was the tail end of a snake. This one was very small and brown, probably not a bad one. My plan, depending on time available, was to walk back towards Wuzhishan, turn off the road at Caoban village and then head through the countryside to Changhao, thence back to the ladies. Here’s the view at the turn to the village and then from the bridge upriver.
My route was upriver, initially nice and shaded.
Soon I came to the village that is just across from the driver training ground. As you can see though, this is not really a good place to cross the river.
Soon I was on what used to be a tree lined dirt track, it is now an unshaded concrete road. No doubt in the future the shade will return. Today was fine, very warm, very humid but not too sunny so I had a fairly pleasant walk.
Meet the gang! I stood quietly as they passed.
And now the only lizard of the day.
After a little bit of shade I was soon back in the sun nearing Changhao.
In the rice fields you can see above there were hundreds of tiny birds, I tried a snap for you.
Once in Changhao I took another view upriver.
All that was left was for me to walk back to the training ground via the salubrious back entrance. I also had a little walk off to the right first.
Around the corner the road started to go up, definitely not a route for today. Perhaps I will try that on one of Huan’s future lessons.
Back in the training ground I visited the upper level where they also have a road that ‘goes up’. Is this for hill starts? I guess so.
So that was me, six and a half kilometres and back at the car. I did stand outside in the sun for a while to see if the birds from yesterday would make an appearance, they didn’t. The ladies finished without a confirmed date for their next lesson, they will probably get a phone call on the same day. Planning seems to be something that is alien to the driving school.
Back home Huan and I went for a short walk to get my numbers up, if I had gone upstairs I would have been too lazy to go down again. All we spotted was a hairy caterpillar which I took a couple of terrible photos of. Today I had been trying ‘A’, aperture priority at f5.6; it seems to me that iA, intelligent auto does a better job.
June 17th
In the market Huan found me a job, feeding the rabbits.
On our way home an advertising truck passed us, they were advertising a new restaurant in the Baijiahui supermarket building, with what we thought was a 6.8% discount. After lunch, and a nap of course, we decided to dine out tonight. This was all free as long as we ordered a main course off the menu. PS The restaurant name is HYK, Homework, a franchise I believe.
This was the ambience and the free ice cream!
Huan ordered a ‘surf ‘n’ turf, yes that was exactly the name on the menu.
I ordered the lamb chops, again the English name on the menu.
We were both given a little sauce boat like the one you can see in Huan’s dinner photo. That was because we had both declined mushroom or pepper sauce. We used that to dip our free chips in.
Huan went crazy with her phone again, no gif this time, just a collage of me showing the western way of eating noodles (or spaghetti).
So, what was our verdict? Price wise, we certainly can’t complain, our bill was ¥148.00 which after discount came to ¥100.06. Whilst the advert said 6.8% discount, it would appear that we paid 68% of the price! Taste wise, we were both pleased with what we had, and of course with all the freebies on offer. Huan had more of them than I did! We had only one complaint and that was the ice cream, it was more like sorbet than ice cream. Will we return? Definitely, western style food, with a menu I can read, reasonable prices and great service.
We needed a little walk to help our bellies go down a bit so went along the riverside as far as the Fodelai hotel before returning home. Here’s one that was desperately trying not to be part of anyone’s fish dinner, “run away, run away!” If you’re not sure, it s a walking catfish.
June 18th My computer said rain at two in the afternoon, Huan’s plan was interrupted by a visit from Zhaode, delivering zòngzi and fresh eggs. The result was that we set off for a morning walk, which we soon had to pause, the rain came before ten!
When it eased off we carried on up the hill towards the main road, Huan was prepared, hat on and umbrella in hand. I thought she was prepared, she had her flat dancing shoes on, not really apt for wet walking. I gave her my keys and she set off home, I continued along the main road. I changed my plan on the hoof and decided to go into the fish farm restaurant. (LHS – 茶故事, 农庄nóngzhuāng – Tea Story Farm. RHS –悠然酒店, 餐饮婚宴Yōurán jiǔdiàn cānyǐn hūnyàn) – Youran Hotel, Catering and Wedding Banquet .
You have seen roadside pictures many times; today I thought I would show you the grounds, they look a lot different these days, more mature and finished.
Are these part of the farm?
Could this be the “Tea Story Farm” that gives its name to the place?
One thing I am sure of is that there is no shortage of chicken, duck or goose on the menu!
I went further today than on previous visits, behind the chicken enclosure and duck lake. In my mind I was wondering if there would be a path through to the road to Rendishan. Looking where I ended up I had mixed feelings, first a feeling of regret, I am now probably not fit enough to scramble through the forest and over the hill to check. That feeling didn’t last long though, it was overtaken by the feeling of gratitude at being able to wander about in the countryside as we do and enjoy all that it has to offer.
From the back of the property you can see all the restaurant buildings, including the wedding hall.
Luck was almost with me today, I got close to a couple of birds.
Someone then pressed the repeat button and I ended up sat in another bus stop waiting for the rain to ease off again.
Snakes alive!
Is it a Mustang Cobra or not, well I certainly can’t tell. The rear quarter light had some Chinese, 星驰Xīng chí which together will not translate but separately comes out as star gallop. I suppose that could have something to do with mustang as they are horses in the wild.
No afternoon naps today, too late when Huan finished making her own zongzi. If you don’t know what they are, look here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zongzi.
After dinner we had another walk, mostly because Huan had not had much of one today and I didn’t mind getting in some extra kilometers. No photos of any use were taken, sorry.
June 19th Huan had a lazy day, apart from shopping. I left the shopping list at home then to my amazement remembered everything on it! Not sure whether to trust the computer or not, I opted for a walk after lunch, Huan opted to stay home and cook dinner. Luckily for me, both my PC and Huan’s phone were telling the truth today and I stayed dry. Huan suggested a little stroll in the country which was not my plan, but sometimes seeds that are planted grow. Around the corner, on the bridge to somewhere, I found a truck full of pigs, also on the way to somewhere.
This next one was for Huan’s benefit. We often cross the river where you can see the ‘surf’ on this photo. There is a ford there; today crossing would not have been possible.
Initially I was quite happy that Huan’s seed had grown in my brain, the walking was good.
Unfortunately,
the seed growth had not been strong enough to cause me to change my footwear.
Also the recent rain had made the going rather soggy in places. Many of those
places I was able to successfully skirt around but the last one caught me.
In front of me now was a long walk looking for somewhere that I could wash my feet.
I needed a place with running water, but also somewhere that I could easily access. It would have been no good getting down into an irrigation canal if I then ended up stuck there and not able to climb out. This place was suitable.
Huan was happy; I succeeded in getting a photo of a bird today. Not only that, it was one of her favourite birds, a turkey!
We
had planned another walk after dinner but after Huan’s fish cakes, I was far
too lazy. I told Huan about our two types of fish cakes in the
So,
another week comes to an end, Huan and Yú have had a grand total of two driving
lessons, and now are waiting again. I wouldn’t mind so much but they had to pay
for all the lessons up front. I have no idea how it works in the
Having regaled you with tales of old, you know, “it wasn’t like that in the old days”, I guess it’s time to say goodbye. See you next time, be good!
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