Just Rain, Walks and Jiminy.

August 8^th Last night was one of those dream filled sleepless ones. I’m not even sure what the dream was about or what prompted it, but I was quite happy to stay there and not wake up this morning. I did eventually crawl out of bed, even early enough for a walk, but then bone idleness set in and I refused Huan’s kind offer!

After lunch I relented, my feet needed a walk to stop them swelling too much. It was Huan’s turn to refuse my kind offer, she was busy making inside pockets for a ‘new’ handbag, bought for Christmas some years back and stored in the wardrobe until today.

My plan was pretty aimless, just to go round the river and get a few kilometres in. On the way I decided to take the top road through town, and then when I reached that road I changed my mind again and decided to walk out of town for a bit.

As I was leaving the town my plan solidified to deciding I would do another search for the viewing platform mentioned on this tourist sign.

Two kilometres further up the road, there was no sign of any viewing platform!

Another modification to the plan was needed, go up from the supposed two kilometre mark a few hundred more metres, turning back at or around the overall six kilometre mark. As it happened, at six kilometres, the next tourism sign appeared, with no mention of the viewing platform. Maybe it has been lost to history somewhere.

I thought that as I was turning back here, a panorama would be good.

The only wildlife I saw today was not alive! It was a small snake, so small I almost missed it. To give you an idea of how small it was; the front of my shoe is at the bottom of the photo.

All that remained was for me to walk home.

Arriving home I found that I had done quite well, twelve kilometres at an average pace of eleven minutes and fifty nine seconds per kilometre. That one second is very important you know!

After jumping in the shower to cool off a little it was straight into the kitchen to finish off dinner which I had prepared before lunch. Yú had given us some smoked pork, similar but not identical to ham, which was very salty. I cut some slices off, boiled then first to try and remove some of the salt, and then made a chilli con carne. It worked out much better than either of us thought it would, so much so that I might be boiling some more on Thursday to pop in with some noodles.

August 9^th “I have a plan” said Baldrick, or was it Sir Bob? It was me of course and the plan was to show Huan one of the routes I had taken while she was busy doing her driving lessons. Off we went out of town towards Changhao.

On the way, in the shadows at the side of the road, Huan spotted this one; I didn’t see it at all.

Our turn-off was about four and three quarter kilometres from home, past the old army farm and upwards into the hills. I had to take more photos of the pigs but you have seen them before. Instead you can see part of our route.

I was surprised by a lizard dropping from a tree right in front of me. In this photo it looks alive but whether it is or isn’t I can’t be sure. Just after this a farmer came past on a bike, and I waved my hands around so she didn’t drive over the little creature but she may have gone over its tail. To try and startle it into moving off the path I tried to move said tail, it was lifeless and the little beastie showed absolutely no reaction. By the time we came back this way t it had not moved at all and had definitely been run over by another farmer’s bike.

A little further on I had to take a slight detour off the path so that I could get a nice clear view of this des res. There was no sign of life today apart from ducks, but there were solar powered lamps there so farmers must visit and maybe sometimes stay.

Six kilometres into our walk and with the path getting smaller and leading upwards we decided that it was time to retrace our steps.

At the bottom of the hill we went for a look inside the old army farm. It was a sign on the wall that told Huan it was an old army place. I wonder if the middle square was for farming cows, stabling horses or for drill!

As we reached the road, so did our plans change. Well, I should say my plan changed. I had only wanted to show Huan the forest and the mountain and I thought we would take a bus home, I was wrong. Going down the road it also looked suspiciously like rain was on the way.

The rain did come but not enough to worry us. As we reached Caoban village we took a very short detour to buy some water for muggins. Caoban has two little shops, one was closed, the other had no water only sugary fizzy drinks, I had to be patient a while longer.

I am fairly sure I have showed you this clock before but I don’t think I have explained the writing and the numbers. 州府故园Zhōu fǔ gùyuán means Hometown of State Capital which of course Wuzhishan used to be. I thought 1867 was a year but I can’t find any relevance at all in history. Wuzhishan Mountain is 1867 metres above sea level so maybe that is it. There was an Annie Hainan born in Scotland in 1867 (ancestry.co.uk) but I somehow doubt it would be her. As for 1953, that is definitely a year, it is commemorated down by the river too but all I could find was the CCP’s first five year plan was delivered in this year.

Needless to say I have been down quite a few rabbit holes today, some interesting ones too. For a quick history of China go here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Chinese_history I am sure that you can find much more with Google, no need for me to share here.

Somewhere after the eleven kilometre mark sustenance was found, and very welcome it was too. Even Huan needed her little water bottle filling. After that we found only one more photo-op, this beautiful little grasshopper.

Once home it was a shower for each of us, nice and cool, followed by lunch for Huan and water for me, and finally a nice nap for both of us. Having walked over twelve kilometres again there were no plans for any further walks today!

August 10^th SWMBO, the one who doesn’t listen to me, had not called her instructor to arrange any lessons this week on the basis of “we have three free lessons before the next test”. I keep telling her the more time she spends in the car, the more she will be relaxed and the more it will become second nature. Yesterday the instructor saw us walking on the Changhao road and stopped for a chat. A double lesson was then arranged for this morning, alarm call needed!

Having two hours after dropping Huan off I set off on the back road towards Caoban. The only sounds were chickens and the occasional dogs.

At this early time of the morning fish farms were quiet too.

I thought, correctly as it turned out, that the Minister of Art & Culture would appreciate the sun shining on the mountains. She did, I did and I hope you will too.

Can you guess who they are looking at and why?

Approaching Changhao I went under the bridge, a path we haven’t been down before, and then around the small village before coming back to the bridge and into Changhao itself.

Heading back towards the training ground, and with a little time to spare, I thought I would venture down towards the river. There appeared to be a path through the trees.

Unfortunately the path only led to some farm buildings, exploring further showed that, today anyway, there was no easy way to get to the river bank. I chickened out!

Being up early and having a nice seven and a half kilometre walk before lunch meant that a nap was definitely needed after lunch. Huan needed one too. Later it was my turn to cook again, finish off the smoked pork, with noodles for Huan and with cornbread for me. Imagine that, a Chinese house with only enough noodles for one person!

My kilometre count was still not where is should be at this time of the month so Huan agreed to have an after dinner walk, a nice relaxing one. First we chatted to some very young kittens.

Many four legged friends were met on the way, I think Huan is fed up of taking their photos. She did however catch me talking to the birds.

The last one for today is even more birds. Neither of us knew what these chicks were, apart from very young obviously. I wondered if they were newly hatched chickens, Huan wasn’t sure at all. We asked the pet shop owner and it seems they are baby versions of the ones I was chatting to in the previous photo.

August 11^th More admin was scheduled for today, admin for Donald again this time. His annual insurance renewal was due; we had received a quotation yesterday. Included with the quotation was the promise of a discount if we renewed today! Without Huan at these times I wouldn’t have any idea! The quotation was fairly self explanatory except that no one could tell me what the initials EBS stood for. Even at home with the computer and translating the page that they told me is EBS makes no sense whatsoever. The quotation is easy, one page, itemised prices and a total. The policy is much more difficult, four pages, which you then have to search through to find the financial amounts, add them all together and then compare them to the quote. In the office, between the three of us, Huan, myself and the PICC lady there was no way of sorting it out. The PICC lady at one time thought I was accusing her of cheating! All I wanted to do was understand exactly what was going on and what I was paying for. Eventually I asked Huan just to agree so that we could pay and be on our way. It had only taken an hour and a quarter in the office! At least the price is down (a little) from last year, and my worries about allowing Huan to drive, once she has her licence, have been assuaged. One extra fact for you, we no longer have an insurance ‘disc’ for the windscreen, the police computers should show that I am insured up to August next year. It is advisable to keep a copy of the policy in the car though, just in case.

After lunch and the usual nap, rain stopped play in the afternoon. After dinner, I decided we both needed just a relaxing evening in, ahh, sheer bliss.

August 12^th And so it came to pass; we had another day just like the other day. We did get out this morning though, for a walk through the market to buy our weekend dinner stuff. We had both been woken up in the night with thunderstorms and heavy rain so the camera was left at home. As it happens, we didn’t see anything worth recording anyway.

More naps after lunch and more idleness after dinner. We’ll try harder tomorrow!

August 13th We promised we would try harder today and although the skies looked a little worrying, Huan’s phone said the rain wouldn’t start before midday so off we went, around the river in an anticlockwise direction. Within minutes the rain started, up went Huan’s umbrella, I thought it wasn’t too bad and enjoyed the cool droplets.

Before too long it stopped again, Huan’s umbrella stayed up to dry and to protect her from the sun now. By the time we turned onto our river walk, the weather had mellowed to a good walking temperature for me, perhaps a little warm for the commander, but she enjoyed it anyway. Just look at that view, not a snowbird in sight!

Huan’s luck was in today, she was the first to spot a lizard.

I was busy with the scenery again.

Not content with being the first to find a lizard, Huan had to find a skink too.

Revenge was sweet though, I spotted the next three lizards. Two were very obvious and quite easy to photograph, the third was around a tree, further and a little more difficult. Here they all are for your viewing entertainment.

It was my turn again, this time to find a bug. It has a very strange rear end with two enormous sticky up thingies, (note the scientific text usage there!) Google seems to thing it may be an earwig and although it doesn’t resemble what I thought was an earwig when I was little, I am tempted to agree with them.

Not to be outdone, Huan found the last lizard of the day, on the bridge as we crossed the island heading back home. Its tail appeared to be waving in the breeze and blowing up the photo you can see a mark twixt tail and body. Maybe it is about to lose it, it is definitely a young one.

We arrived home about half past twelve and the forecasted rain arrived slightly later. It didn’t stay around for very long though. Having walked ten kilometres it was water and straight to nap time for me. Huan joined me in fairly short order thereafter.

To Huan’s surprise, and perhaps consternation, I said I was off out for another walk after my afternoon coffee. My kilometres are not where they should be at this stage of the month. Besides, Huan’s peanut jar was empty and needed a refill. Once she realised that I didn’t expect her to tag along you could see her visibly relax.

My first snap came before I even got my shoes on! There was an enormous flying insect on the rear neighbour’s balcony. I couldn’t really get near enough and the wee beastie seemed to have trouble climbing up anywhere, but I did get this shot. Perhaps he thought that the broom handle was Pinocchio in disguise!

My last one of the day came after the shopping was done and on the way down the road in front of the hospital. The ‘sun with its rays’ is actually a reflection from behind me and not a part of the car decoration but it seems to fit very well. 寒江俪影(Hán jiāng lì yǐng ) – Cold River Lady, 江湖故人 (Jiānghú gùrén) – Old friend, 相逢何必曾相识 (Xiāngféng hébì, céng xiāngshí) – Why did we know each other)

August 14^th Monday is usually a day of rest, apart from shopping that is. This week though, for me at least, it was not to be. My monthly kilometre total is not where it should be after our lazy days and our rainy days. (For our lazy days you can read ‘my’ instead of ‘our’.) Consequently, after the shopping was done, and after lunch, off I went without even having a nap first. I left the Minister of Home Affairs at home, taking care of the ironing!

My plan was just to go around the town until I reached more than ten kilometres. It still wouldn’t completely make up the shortfall but it would be a good start. I ended up getting soaked twice on the way round. The first was a “mad dogs and Englishmen” soaking because it was the middle of the day and very hot. The second was about two kilometres from home when the rain came, the rain that was not forecast by either my PC or Huan’s phone!

Not many photos were taken; the first was mostly to show Huan. Are they destroying the little pond at the entrance to Little Island? Granted it was never full and not looked after very well, but we did like to see it there. What will be in its place? We’ll have to wait and see.

A melange of mushrooms is next, not magic ones unfortunately; at least I don’t think they are. This was a route marker for Huan, she would have expected to see some pigeons above the wall on the left but they were all indoors today.

This last one was taken not long before it started raining and Huan started sending me voice messages every couple of minutes. Looking at the crowds, I guess they knew something I didn’t.

I did have an umbrella with me although modern umbrellas are not so good in heavy rain. I seem to remember that my paper and bamboo umbrella worked better back in the 1970s in Hong Kong. Anyway, I arrived home, safe and sound, with sausages in hand, having covered 11.1 kilometres so my aims had been met. All I needed was a nice hot shower before dinner.

Another week comes to and, with the learner still being a learner. However, she is off north to Qionghai again next Thursday for another test on Friday. Hopefully she will get through this one. I will have my fingers crossed at home in Wuzhishan.

Wherever you are, at home or travelling, take good care of yourselves, see you soon!