A New Year Has Begun.

December 26^th Boxing Day dawned and I couldn’t put it off any longer! I had destroyed a tooth a few days before Christmas but had delayed going to the dentist because it was Christmas. My plan had been to go tomorrow, but with dribbling from one side of my mouth caused by my tongue rubbing on the broken tooth and with my speech starting to slur a little, I decided I could wait no longer. Here I am, in the dentist’s chair, again!

What is he doing? Why is he melting that strange red pad?

The red stuff was followed by some blue gunk and then I was allowed to go home.

Actually we didn’t go home, we went via lizard market after buying a little something for lunch on the way. It wasn’t a warm day but the weather was certainly an improvement of the last few days. Just look at that beautiful blue sky.

At the lizard market, we found no lizards but the snowbirds were out in force. I guess they all thought the weather was getting better too.

So the weather may be on the up but we were still feeling the effects of last week’s bug. Even the slightest hill made my hips feel old, Huan thought the same when I mentioned it. Still, the good thing about being retired is there is no one to stop you napping!

December 27^th So much for the weather improving yesterday, it went the other way again today. Still, we had no great plans; certainly no walks had been on our minds. Our first job had to be the weekly shop; I hated it, too many people. Still, it was a necessary evil.

After lunch it was a trip to the hospital, my supply of drugs needed topping up.

Normally we would be straight in, see someone about what I need, and then out in no time. Today, the rules had changed and we had to see a doctor first. Ours is not to wonder why… Another room in the same area had this sign outside, I think it tells lies.

We were in another part of the hospital today, the part that deals with the after effects of heart problems. Is the front desk meant to inspire confidence?

I was #9 and when we arrived the doctor was seeing #6. That in itself is not much of a problem; in fact there was nobody between #6 and me. What is a problem is the other patients who have been in for tests in the morning and thus are able to jump the queue in the afternoon. At one stage there were five patients in the doctor’s room at one time, I went for a sit down. This little waiting area is actually behind the doctor’s desk area.

Eventually it was my turn, by now of course everyone else was just as conversant with my medical history as I was. I guess with perfect Chinese I would have known all about them too. Huan is usually too busy ‘listening’ to have enough time to translate for me. Anyway, from there it was back up the stairs to the cashier’s window to empty my wallet and then to the pharmacy window to collect my plastic bag with varying amounts of different drugs. Some were three months, some were two months, one was six weeks and one was not available at all.

December 28^th More admin was on the cards today but not for me, although I was the duty driver of course. Huan wanted to go to Ledong to pay the annual maintenance fee for our apartment there. I had a little walk around while she was busy.

We’ve seen a similar moped to this before and translated the words for you. Look back through the archives and see if you can find it. Why is this photo here then? Well, have a close look and you will see two items that do not need translating but you might need a mirror for one of them!

Lunch was from a buffet place.

Here’s a good one for you, it seems the Chinese is the supermarket name and it is maybe co-owned. I think the varieties of meanings that ‘joint’ has are probably not known at all.

And now another car decal, quite well done I suppose, but not really my cup of tea.

From one car (a pick-up), to another, a wedding car (BMW of course). There were a few cars outside this particular hotel but we assumed this was the happy couple’s car. They really do a grand job, for the most part anyway. Just don’t look at the faces of the dolls in the second photo; they actually look like identical twins!

And that was it for Ledong. After taking a photograph of the running track and the children’s park we set off home, with a plan to skip the highway. Huan said we would have to go past the ‘dead army place’, it took me a while to realise that she meant the Wuzhishan Army Base Memorial Monument in Maoyang. Of course she thought it was somewhere else entirely and only when I had been prevented from heading home the way I wanted did she eventually believe me, as we came upon the place right on the outskirts of Maoyang!

Getting in was not the same as before and for a while we thought it was closed. Someone told us which way to go; I added some info on the way.

We took far too many pictures, well over one hundred in fact, so sharing them here would not be such a good idea. Instead, I scanned a leaflet for you. If you do want to see more, just send me a message and I can always forward them for you.

Was it worth the visit? Yes it was. The outside area, Hero’s Square, had various battles that took place on Hainan mentioned, with English translations, much appreciated. Unfortunately, the statues of the heroes themselves only had Chinese descriptions. Inside the museum was the same story, the exhibits are fairly good, I only found one missing a piece, but again everything is in Chinese. So much for international tourism!

As a memorial it is very well done, very well laid out too. This is the view from the other side of the monument, very peaceful, a place you can reflect.

Huan was a little disappointed that she didn’t find any creatures at all. I found one for her though, a little lizard relaxing to a genteel song by children about loving the flag. Why he was on the speaker and not in the foliage is anyone’s guess.

Back home we went, through the mountains on the windy roads, it made a nice change from the highway. Despite going to Ledong and playing tourists for an afternoon we were still home early enough for Huan to cook dinner. She’s loving this week, fish three days on the trot!

December 29^th The weather was overcast and miserable all day so we reciprocated. In other words we stayed in all day, not so miserable though. In fact, we enjoyed the break!

December 30^th Saturday is market day as I’m sure you all know by now, and we decided that we needed to get out for some fresh air and exercise. We took the roundabout route, along the road to somewhere first. On the way we found these EVs, which you would think would be cheap. Some were, some were absolutely not, they ranged from ¥39,000.00 to ¥81,000.00.

Good news on the road to nowhere, trees are being planted.

Huan was happy; she found a lizard where we had never found one before.

Then it was time for me to practice some macro shots.

Heading towards the market I found a couple of pups on a table to chat to and while I was busy doing that Huan found a box of kitties.

The market didn’t have anything of interest really so carried on towards the lottery shop, for our winning tickets (?) and the medicine shop for my missing tablets. If I wanted the Chinese version it would cost ¥27.00 for a box of seven, the foreign version would cost ¥72.00 for a box of 10. Needless to say I took the Chinese version! With an empty wallet I crossed the road and took these two photos for you on the way.

Sometimes you spot a view that for some reason you have never seen before. When we got home Huan had no idea where this photo had been taken. Eventually I let her know it was taken from the side of the river looking towards the little island. That building is the office, the storeroom and the WC but I thought it looked like a lovely little cottage.

Both of us were a little on the sweaty side when we got home. The temperature was up today and we were both overdressed. Still, our aims had been achieved, some fresh air and exercise.

Chef Bob was on duty again today, no salad this week, today was Chilli à la Bob. Huan did suggest I take a photo but I declined. We eat a lot of brown and black rice which on a plate with the rest of the ingredients doesn’t look at all photogenic. It tastes nice enough which is why I don’t argue about the rice!

Entertainment wise, ‘The Equaliser’ is now finished until the new season starts sometime next year. I started binge watching Citizen Khan, a sometime controversial British comedy series. I actually think it is hilarious although it probably wouldn’t get made now.

December 31^st Huan had plans for walking this morning; I had my own plan for where we would walk this morning. Both plans were thrown out, someone, not her, slept in for too long so no walks were taken at all. We did get out after dinner though, following my planned route, at least to start with. First of all over the little island and then into the countryside we went.

My plan had been to turn right down the lane you can see in the second photo above. Foolishly I changed the plan and we headed straight, a route we have taken before. The going became very boggy; my feet almost disappeared more than once.

Here is Her Ladyship finally escaping the swamp.

This is the swamp we had crossed, it doesn’t look so bad here does it? Bear in mind that it is a rice field; it just has no rice at the moment but still has the water!

Once over we had to climb these steps. Huan said it would be better if we took the photo from the bottom but there was no way I was going down again just to do that.

Creatures were conspicuous by their absence today, but we did find a dragonfly.

Our route was to have taken us straight here but we had both worn ourselves out so much already that executive and management decisions were taken to turn right instead.

Along the way I gave nature a hand; here I am spreading a few seeds around. Mind you they are small so you will have to look very closely to actually see any.

Stopping for a drink Huan took a few more photos of me, unfortunately, (or perhaps fortunately) only two came out. Here I am showing her the stool I found for her and inviting her to come and sit a little closer to me. She refused! PS Forgive the quality, she was miles away and I had to crop most of the photo to get just me.

Chef Bob was back in the kitchen today, another noodle soup was on the menu. As we didn’t show you yesterday’s dinner we thought we should relent and show you today’s. This bowl is mine, Huan had a little more in hers. Enough was also left in the pan for breakfast for one in the morning. My breakfast is coffee!

January 1^st A New Year has begun! Of course for us oldies nothing really changes, life goes on in its own sweet way, just like normal. Our only change today was me refusing to go shopping this morning and telling Huan it would be more peaceful after lunch. Instead we had a Monday morning walk, not something we have done very much before. I saw an insect that Huan didn’t; mind you it was less than half an inch in size.

Not to be outdone Huan found her own creature! Being the ‘director’ she didn’t take any photos of it; that was down to the lowly cameraman. In fact, until we got home and Huan saw the photos on the computer she was fairly sure I had failed. I’m glad to say that I hadn’t.

This panda was on the front of a little three wheeled electric moped. 绿色出行, 平安到家Lǜsè chūxíng píng'ān dàojiā which translates as ‘Go Green and Get Home Safely.

I dragged the boss through the market so that she could buy fish for the week. For some reason I took a snap of one of the meat sections and not one of the fish ones!

So after lunch we got the shopping out of the way, not as easily as I thought we should have. Our first surprise was how full the car park was, the second surprise was how full the supermarket was. I guess it must be because today is a holiday. Nothing special to report from there, just a question for you. “What have probiotics got to do with skin care?” I ask this because I spotted some Dove skincare products while we were waiting in the checkout queue with the small print mentioning said probiotics. For your info, I did a deep Google dive; none of it probably has any effect on your skin whatsoever.

And so we arrive at the start of a New Year. Will it be a good one? Will it be better than the last year? Well the answer to the second question is easy, of course it will. Just think so and it will be so. Whatever the New Year brings, Huan and I wish you and your families all the very best. May you be healthier, wealthier and perhaps even wiser than this year! (PS Photos by Giphy)