January 9th Huan was feeling just a little under the weather this morning, sniffles and such, so I went off all on my lonesome. I thought that I would go on a lizard hunt for her. When I got down to the river what should I find on the footpath but an RV campsite.
Around the corner I decided to give you a different view of the river.
With snowbirds being back in force I was beginning to think I wouldn’t find any lounging lizards for the director at all. I was wrong and eventually managed to find five. There was a sixth but I couldn’t chase him round the tree fast enough.
What a beautiful day it was for walking today. Sometimes I felt that I should slow down but most of the time I kept my pace up as I like to walk faster than Huan does. By now I knew that there would be no more lizards to see.
I did find a spider with all its legs though and what looks like a big smile.
I did have a job this morning; I needed to find some hard tofu for
today’s dinner. For some reason, what we bought in
Baijiahui gave me some tofu that will suffice and from there I went to buy a couple of ‘sticky buns’ (slang) for our afternoon coffee. To make sure I got enough kilometres today I had to go home via the little island. Here’s yet another different view for you. Who stole the river?
In the park I found three neighbours playing their saxophones. I did ask why I was hearing the same tunes that I had heard last year, and the year before and so on. At least they smiled.
The last one from my walk is right next door and shows that it is not just development companies that end up with failed projects. This villa belongs to another neighbour who actually has more than one. His idea here was to expand it on both sides, which he has done. Thereafter he was going to make into some kind of a club. At one time he had been after me to go and be there for free just so that people could speak English! Not my cup of tea! Anyway, that was over two years ago, the only use the villa gets now is occasional saxophone practice by other neighbours.
After lunch and a well earned nap, (11.2 kilometres this morning) it was my turn in the kitchen again. No meat today, it was shrimps instead.
No modifications were made to the recipe although I did make one mistake. I used frozen shrimps and when I put them in the pan the thawed water went in with them! We decided that instead of having it with rice we would use Huan’s flat bread and have it like wraps. Here’s the dish just prior to serving, too much for two of course! PS it was strained first.
January 10th My illustrious leader chose the landfill walk today, I agreed with no hesitation! Mind you, after a few days with no hills we were both feeling it before too long. “Let’s go up here and see where it goes” she said. I knew we would have to turn round but went anyway; it was a new path for us to explore.
As expected, and as you can see, the highway was the end of the road. The top photo below is the way we wanted to go, note the modern construction drainage works. The bottom photo shows the other direction which would only have led us back towards home.
I tried, as I often do, to capture my little flower but as usual, she was too far in front of me and refused to show me her face.
Over the crest of the hill we walked a short way with some snowbirds. We only ever see them on the downward stretch for us; they walk up from the village to the top and then go back down. None of them do the complete circle. On their way up one of them must have put this flower in this pile of cow dung. Huan tried to explain it for me as something nice but Google led me to a site saying this “xiān huā chā zài niú fèn shang – zāo ta le, 鲜花插在牛粪上 – 糟蹋了, Put a fresh flower in the cow dung – the flower is wasted; something beautiful is ruined if put together with something dirty or terrible”. I guess that means Huan is ruined!!
Today’s weather was a lot different to yesterday’s, no blue sky anywhere to be seen. Mind you, it made for a very enjoyable walk.
At the bottom of the hill, as we approached the village, we spotted some construction in the Yefeng apartment complex, the one where Huan used to go for her hulusi classes and shows. It would appear as if they now have money again, footings are being installed.
Back into the town proper and we spotted this. Children all over all appear to like dinosaurs. Now is it the children, is it their parents or is those crafty marketing people who manage to convince the parents that they should buy dinosaurs?
This is the last one for today, one that I have seen a few times and meant to include it for you. However, checking my friend Google it would seem that many of you may not understand the English words in the same way that I, as an older person, do. Let me know in the comments.
I lied, there is another one! An old student of mine, (well actually
he is very young), visited the
January 11th What a night! Huan’s shoulder is still giving her gyp, as we say in the
If Huan hadn’t asked to go out today I would have sat in the office and said nothing. As it was I didn’t argue and even found myself enjoying our little walk. Huan then found me a little friend almost immediately but couldn’t get it onto my hand. “If it wants to crawl up my fingers it will, if it doesn’t then don’t make it do something it doesn’t want to.” That was my response.
For a change we went up behind the unfinished hotel in the complex with no title deeds, mostly to see if we could find any lizards. Huan did spot a couple but they were much too fast for us. These views are where we were once warned to watch out for snakes. As it happened, onward progress was not possible today anyway.
Back at the front we had a little look around. It’s a shame that the project wasn’t completed; it would have looked quite nice. On the right the villas are two high, the lower one of two floors being accessed from the front and the upper one of three floors from the back. Just imagine the scene if everything was finished and landscaped.
On our way home we were passing Baijiahui when Huan suggested we go and see where the cinema is. It gave me a chance for some vegetable shopping too. She craftily sneaked a photo of me in the lift just after I had taken one through the dirty window.
Out of the lift it was interesting to see how other people see Wuzhishan.
Also on the roof we found the cinema, unfortunately closed so we couldn’t go inside.
Next to it was a gym which was open. We did venture in for a look-see but we didn’t join!
After lunch I almost fell asleep sorting out today’s photos so I was very receptive when Huan suggested a nap. I didn’t want to get out of bed at coffee time either but as I was the duty chef again I had no choice. Today was another Filipino dish, ginisang munggo, (mung bean soup).
How did it go? First I had to
reduce quantities by half, with the exception of the garlic which never gets
reduced if I’m cooking, no problem there. I had bought spring onions but forgot
about them and used ordinary onions instead. Dried shrimp was the option chosen
over sliced pork. No patis (fish sauce) was used because the stock we had
bought was so salty. Bitter gourd was the vegetable I still couldn’t find this
morning so it was skipped. This is a dish that I have eaten a lot in my time,
especially in previous marriages and in restaurants in
Despite halving the suggested quantities and despite us both being greedy, we still had enough for tomorrow’s dinner when we finished. Success all round!
Back to the computer for me, binge watching sometimes comes to an end when you don’t want it to. Citizen Khan is finished; I will have to find something else. Maybe ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ will fit the bill for a while.
January 12th I think the Prime Minister had a better sleep last night. Either that or I was so exhausted from the previous night that she just couldn’t disturb me. She was OK for a walk into the country this morning so we headed off down river first, finding our shortcut inaccessible. Beyond the fence whatever track there was has also disappeared.
I ended up making quite a few
collages today, partly because I took too many photos and partly because you
may well remember a lot of the scenes. We found our way to the riverside.
Approaching the end and the stairs up to the mansions on the hill we spotted something quite unusual for this route. Snowbirds were seen, coming towards us. I think they venture out from the mansions but then return the same way. You can maybe see them in the first photo.
At the top of the steps I took some eye level photos of a papaya (pawpaw / squash / 木瓜-Mùguā) tree across the river and back upstream.
Huan decided to try something a little creative, and take a photo of two Bobs. If she had a better phone it might have worked out well. I am there in person and in the mirror.
Behind the ‘Mansions On The Hill’ we took a slight detour, somewhere we have been before but a long time ago. This time we took some photos of the views from higher up.
There is no way through here, which we already knew, so we had to retrace our steps back to the more normal route. I told Huan that we were not going down to the river today; we did that just a couple of weeks ago. Instead we took another road that we hadn’t done for a while. Some people were busy on their farms.
Lo and behold, we found a new road! If we wanted to traverse these fields before we had to balance on the ridges between the various crops. Seeing the new road, well we had to test it out.
Much to Huan’s disappointment we found no lizards today, no birds either, just one dragonfly.
There was life in the village though, this little cat. If I approached it, it went back into the house. When I left again it came back on to the window sill. Obviously it was a sun lover.
Soon we were heading towards the other side of the village.
Huan stopped for a chat with these two ladies who were skinning sugar cane. The older one did try to sell some to Huan but she refused. She thinks it is far too sweet. I don’t mind the sweetness but I don’t like chewing something only to then have to spit it out!
Huan needed the little girl’s room so while she was there I took some panorama shots showing you a different view of ‘Luobote’ village.
And then I caught the boss returning to the fresh air.
Walking back through the last village we noticed that some trees had been cleared on the other side of the road to somewhere. There were buildings there that we have never noticed before. Maybe a visit to our roof is required for a better look around.
Coming back, in front of the KFC, we found a ‘Cruise Locomotive’. Whether that is a genuine name or just a decal I don’t know but I do know 650cc is a pretty big bike!
We needed a couple of hundred extra metres to reach a measly seven kilometres today so we headed up to the rich people’s area where all the bigger villas are.
There are a handful of villas still empty, two of which took our fancy, D6 and E6. We could only get into one; the other one had a better garden and a locked gate. This is the ground floor of one.
We didn’t bother going upstairs; it hardly seems worth it when we are not allowed to buy anyway. If we were able to, either would do!
Afternoon naps were needed, especially for me. After that, SWMBO had me working again, putting the lace curtains back up in the bedrooms, (I had taken them down for washing yesterday) and taking them down in the living and dining rooms. Eh, it’s a hard life tha’ knows!
As for my daily binge watching, I couldn’t really get into ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’, instead I found something more suitable for me, a British police procedural comedy-drama television series called ‘Code 404’. Check it out.
January 13th The ‘Long Haired General’ was tossing
and turning and groaning a lot of the night again. (I read the ‘Long Haired
General’, as in the wife, on an army Facebook page yesterday; I can’t believe I
have never heard it before. No doubt I will use it again!) Anyway, long walks
were not needed today, it was Saturday and therefore market day. All we needed
was some pork. Once the lottery tickets were safely ensconced in my wallet we
headed along ‘
Sometimes, despite the advice from my Mummy, I talk to strangers! It is usually just to ask if I can help with their photography. Huan usually ignores me; today she took photos of the incident. The first is the taking of the photos, the second is the presentation for approval.
The ‘temporary’ market was as busy as always. I’ll be very happy when the riverside road is completed; at least there we had space to walk.
We found what we were looking for, can you spot the big space where our piece was?
Strolling back home I looked up for a change, instead of down at the pavement and saw what I thought was a lovely scene. What do you think?
And that was the end of Saturday, apart from cooking and binging. PS Under orders from the Minister of Labour I also put the remaining lace curtains back up.
January 14th It was my turn to choose the route today so I chose the countryside but via fields instead of roads at the beginning. This is where we turned off.
And this is where we walked.
Walking behind the village made a nice change and we also found a quicker way to get there if we decide to go the same way again. The views were nice too.
Soon we were through the village and back on our normal roads where Huan, generous to a fault, pointed out a little bird almost at the limit of my eyesight! You may not see the object of her orders and my attempts to do as I was told if you are using a phone. Click to enlarge!
In the same place I tried another few shots for a panorama.
If all you know about
Soon we turned off the road on to an even smaller one running through the chicken farm. There wasn’t a chicken to be seen everywhere, it looks like everything has closed down. Someone must be around somewhere though because we found a ‘cat in a box’.
Huan is never really sure that I know where we are going but I suppose she does trust me enough to follow me. When we found this track she remembered.
We startled a few families of chickens, there were many chicks too. I tried my best to capture the scene but they were better at running and hiding than I was at finding.
Since we last walked this route betel nut trees have been planted all along the side of the irrigation canals. Sometimes the height clearance could do with a warning sign!
Nearing our destination, a reservoir, the path became easier.
Once we arrived two more panoramas were created, the first looking down from the top of the dam, created from at least ten shots. Don’t study it too much, there is a glitch!
The second was created from only two shots and is the view from one side to the other. As you can tell it is only a small reservoir. I do like this photo though, and as an added bonus for me, the artistic director is also very impressed.
Not a single lizard did we find today and not much of anything else either. However, have you ever seen a chicken that looks like a turkey? Initially we thought that it just had a long neck but eventually we realised that it was missing all of its neck feathers. There is still the question of the colour though, are there chickens with red skin? Google tells me it is a “turken” so we have a first sighting, at least for us.
Down from the reservoir we stopped by the village name to take a half way snap. We decided that we had gone far enough for one morning and that it was time to turn round and go home.
Approaching home via the road to somewhere I found a new route that joined an old one.
We think we also found where all the flags from the riverside construction ended up.
On the final stretch this scene captured both mine and Huan’s attention, we think because the sandbanks have grown so much new vegetation in such a short time.
That was the end of the walks for today, all that remained to do was to eat lunch, nap, drink coffee, heat up and eat yesterday’s left over stew and of course binge watch. I have now finished Code 404, realising that I have in fact seen it before. Still, it was worth a second viewing, it’s just a shame that they only made three series. I finished my day by watching the eighth and ninth movies in the Pink Panther series; I didn’t even know they existed.
January 15th Having changed our shopping routine to afternoons, at least until ‘Snowbird Season’ is over; we had planned for walking this morning. No routes had been chosen but the agreement was that we would go somewhere. It was my turn to break the agreement which I did by not waking up until after half past nine! Ah well, c’est la vie!
After my coffee I decided to perform some surgery on our frog, the one that tells us if anyone puts on the lights, shines a torch, or moves around. He is our cheap burglar alarm.
He
has lived with me for many years, at least twenty and maybe a few more. He was
already resident when Huan joined me back in 2004 so he must have been bought
sometime between 1996 and then. For eight years, while we were in
Initially I had planned to make a collage of these photos, or at least the last two. What? I mean the last one and the one that follows below.
Using the name on his foot I did some Googling and found that he is actually quite famous, hence no collage. First of all he has been mentioned in a court case between various people - https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp2/39/1074/2286337/ although not specifically by name. Secondly he is now classed as ‘vintage’ and as such demands a much higher price than I paid for him. Here is one that I found on eBay, almost the same wrapping as mine - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116015915618? I even found one for $75.00. Of course we would have to wait a lifetime or two to make ours worth anything so we’ll hang on to him, even if I can’t find a new stomach for him.
My planned evening walk was binned, partly due to Googling and partly due to the fact that the weather has changed again, it is a little chillier than the last few days. Yes, I know that most of you are living through cold winters but I am just a big softy who likes the warmth. PS I am back in my warm slippers!
So, from my illustrious leader, myself and our newly famous underling, we wish all the best for another week, may you be blessed with good times. See you soon.
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