February 20th They say old age creeps up on you, they lie! It races up as if there is no tomorrow. Here I am, yet another year older, and despite what the saying is, I am no wiser! Huan does her best to look after me though; I got a little red envelope today and a gift plus a special breakfast. Actually it was lunch because I don’t eat breakfasts anymore. It is breakfast to ensure a long life, longevity noodles and on your birthday it should include eggs. The other is Huan’s.
After lunch we had no nap, instead it was a belated shopping day. It is still not a happy pastime at this time of year; we had to drive round the car park a few times to find a space. Another month or two and we’ll be back to normal again. Later on, I put on my gift, a new pair of shoes.
We headed off into town, first to get a new back for my phone. Here it is being held on with elastic bands for half an hour while the sealant dries. Cost, ¥60.00, cheap enough.
Using my little red envelope I then treated us to burgers at KMJ. Here is the view inside, note the New Year decorations, followed by the view through the window.
Next up is the bill and the food. If you look carefully, the bill has four items. Now look at the tray and you may spot a subtle difference, eight items. After had ordered, and paid the bill, I shot off to the little boy’s room. While I was there, the young lady told Huan that everything we had ordered was two for the price of one today. Had she told us in advance we may well have ordered less! Still, we now have tomorrow’s lunch already prepared. PS Note that the price for all that food was cheaper than the repair of my phone.
We left by a different door to the one we had entered through and found that although New Year decorations are up everywhere, Christmas is still not over yet either. I guess it makes life easier, no need to store everything and then try and find it all next year.
And here, on the way home, with a doggy bag, is the wonderful wife.
A few steps further on we noticed a new entranceway and a new bar. It looks quite enticing, don’t you think? Mind you, when you read the associated sign they really rub in the age thing! From the top - 年轻的快进, Niánqīng de kuài jìn - young fast forward. 单身的必进, dānshēn de bì jìn - Singles must enter. 脱单的请进, tuō dān de qǐng jìn - If you are single, please come in. 美, 帅的速进, měi, shuài de sù jìn - Beautiful, handsome, fast advance. 太老的别进, tài lǎo de bié jìn - Don't enter if you are too old!
Walking back across the little island we found a place that we probably are allowed to go!
Another birthday ends; I have to say I quite enjoyed my day!
February 21st Despite no recent ‘hard’ walks we both decided that there should be none today either, just a round the town and river walk. The first thing we found was a scooter decal. The Chinese has nothing to do with the English, 绿狗, Lǜ gǒu means green dog.
Almost immediately we found another, on a car this time. 越催越慢, Yuè cuī yuè màn - The more you push, the slower you go. 再催熄火, Zài cuī xīhuǒ - Turn off the flame again. Huan tells me that a better translation is “The more you beep the slower I go. Beep again and I turn the engine off!” I certainly like that one better.
Beautiful butterflies are up next. Well, I should say one butterfly and it is not so colourful.
Our route today was a nice big figure of eight just for a change but we ended going down lizard alley of course. The boss wouldn’t have it any other way. She found the first one; I was the other side of the hedge, so we both snapped it. Had she had a better camera her photo would have won by an even bigger margin.
I found a white bird next, one that Huan didn’t see until we reached home. Despite it being, as always, too small and too far, she was pleased.
Very quickly we found another five lizards, with mine being the better eye today.
Of course the boss had to find another one before we went home, one in a better position, with a better pose and better colouring too.
Lunch was the burgers left from our ‘two for the price of one’ last night and that was followed by a much needed OAP nap. This one lasted two hours and for me could have even gone on longer. “What a drag it is getting old.” Name that song!
February 22nd Grumpy Granddad showed up this morning. I woke up with a headache, probably due to all the tossing and turning last night. Those of you who know Huan may also know that she is a woman of little patience so as soon as she is ready my ears get a battering. I tried to avoid snapping and just agreed that we would walk up the Rendishan road into the countryside. I snapped this little pic on the way and then played with it on the computer, looks quite beautiful.
Just before turning onto the Rendishan road we spotted something we hadn’t seen before, an archway leading to what used to be a door. Perhaps it was an ammunition store way back when. The door has now been bricked up so no chance of looking inside.
Soon we passed two lots of bovine buddies, first cows and then water buffalo. Neither group was very talkative, here’s the biggest buffalo, first watching Huan and then me.
Huan was a very happy teddy today. On this walk we very rarely see any lizards, maybe we have seen two in the last eight years. Today she made up for it.
I found a UFO. Ok, maybe not a UFO but it is an object and it did fly when I tossed it. It landed in a Martian crater, honest!
Soon we passed the highway and entered the village so that we could turn right round and head back home. We had passed the five kilometre mark. On the way back I looked up and saw this scene, I thought it deserved a snap. All it needs to improve it is a monkey hanging from the tree on the left. Unfortunately I couldn’t swing on the tree and use the camera at the same time.
Passing the little old building that the farmers used to live in we heard a chicken. It was somewhere in the garden and it took us a while to find it, near the top of a wall, hiding in the undergrowth. Was it stuck there? I don’t think so. You will need to click to enlarge so that you can see it. I have no problems; I am not on a phone.
The little teddy bear was soon leaping up and won with delight having found two more lizards.
All that was left for me to do was snap some cuddly toys who like travelling and then our final view before we went home.
After a lunch of a jam and cheese
sandwich, for me, Huan’s was healthier, it was nap time again. My first time in
the kitchen this week, and it was a good one. Last week, for the first time
ever, we had found some lamb chops in the supermarket. Today it was time to
cook them. As you can see it was a purely British dinner, no garlic today. It
was the chops, mashed potato and carrot (with butter), snow peas and tinned
peas. It was missing the mint sauce but we could live with that. I think the
last time I cooked lamb chops for Huan was probably in
February 23rd Surprise, we slept badly again, but, we were up early enough for a long one. Atuoling was the route of choice. Just before leaving town we found a spider, just a small one. Can you see any web? If you can, you’re a better man than I am Gunga Din!
Rarely do we spot lizards on this road but HM the Queen did well today. Here’s the first one. I love the way he is holding his front left arm, the same way that Huan does.
Since the highway opened this walk has become much more pleasant. Sometimes we wish there were buses to take us up to the rest place at the top so that we could then walk down. However, when we are walking (half way) up we are pleased at the lack of traffic.
In no time at all I was being directed at three more lizards.
Turning off the road we thought you might like to see another desirable residence.
Unusually, we came upon a cow and two farmers. Only after did we think that we should have taken a photo of them with our phones and then shared it. Anyway, here’s the poor cow, they told us that it was ill, had a spot of the runs. In the second photo I am asking them if perhaps they had been feeding it curry. That was lost in translation somewhere.
Not long after it was time for a u-turn and the path down to the river.
You may have noticed that when we show you a ‘des res’ it is often in black and white. That is done for contrast. This one is not, it is in glorious Technicolor because I feel the charm would be lost if I converted it to B&W.
With the sound of dogs now receding we proceeded to cross the river and follow the beautiful path down the other side.
And suddenly – it was my turn to spot another lizard.
Chatting to a local dog, his owner appeared in the window and told us that he was fine, but that he had never seen a foreigner before. He actually had, on many occasions, but we didn’t think it was worth arguing. I daresay if Huan would let me sit for a while the pooch would eventually sidle up for a furtive sniff and end up being friends.
Almost down I gave Huan the choice of which road to take. She was very clever and said she would just follow me. What a trusting soul she is.
Lucky me, yet another lizard appeared on the side of the main road.
Not to be outdone my illustrious leader found the last one of the day.
Avoiding an after dinner walk we headed home via the market to buy some cooked pork. We were too early; the lady was not there and wouldn’t be before four in the afternoon so we bought a pre-cooked duck instead. Ours was even bigger than this one, Huan had the neck and head for lunch, along with her sandwich, before our usual long nap.
Chef Bob was on duty again today and on the menu was a nice British dish again. We call it either ‘Shepherd’s Pie’ or ‘Cottage Pie’ both of which are wrong. Traditionally ‘Shepherd’s Pie’ would be made with lamb and ‘Cottage Pie’ with beef. We used minced pork.
A third was left over so I asked Huan to freeze it, I can eat the next time she has some of her sister’s dried fish. As you may know, I actually love dried fish and even cook dishes with it myself sometimes. However, if Huan, or her sister, make their own dried fish I have a small problem. The taste is fine but I spend most of the night sat in the little boy’s room. Freezing something for me means that Huan does not have to cook two dinners that day.
February 24th Market day and no need to buy anything. Ah well, let’s go anyway just to see if there’s anything to take a photo of. How about two moped decals, no translation needed.
We went down by the riverside today, where we are not supposed to go, but someone had already broken the fence. It wasn’t us officer!
Of course we then had to find a way to get back to the path. Huan chose pole dancing!
For some reason this mini waterfall attracted my attention.
What would a walk be without a cat, this one even had a partner selling traditional Chinese furniture. If you like this type of furniture, be warned, you will need a big house!
Could this be Huan’s new car?
Would she like it? That question is up for debate. As long as she didn’t have
to sit in the back and maybe if someone gave her a hand with the convertible
roof. Her experience of small convertibles is clouded slightly be having to sit
in the back of a Peugeot 206cc for a journey from
This next one was a bit of a
surprise although I had a vague idea about Lions International. It would appear
that there are over 150 clubs in
February 25th Huan slept badly last night. Although she didn’t blame me I think it was more than likely my fault. A few days ago I toyed with the idea of changing my playlists on Youtube, the latest one was getting very big. For some reason that was what I dreamt about last night and kept waking up from. I then couldn’t go back to sleep, and when I eventually did I was back to the same dreams which then woke me up again! I’m guessing I disturbed the princess during those occasions; I was the ‘pea under the mattress’.
This morning the weather was odd, in fact we seemed to be walking through a cloud as we went along the main road. Huan had suggested the fish farm reservoir for today. On the way down we took a long shot because I knew we would not get a clearer photo as we proceeded. You can probably see why we could feel moisture on our skin all the time.
This was our second spider sighting of the day, the first one, which we made a video of, is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYQjqWd1Q6o&ab_channel=HainanBob What caught our eye with his one was the amazingly huge web.
Huan walked along the road, I went ‘off-road’. Who had the best views?
Before I got to the end I passed another desirable residence, much better than the blue and white blocks you can see on the left of the scene.
My route took through an apiary, (I looked that word up) where the beekeeper and his wife were busy ‘tending their flock’. As I got nearer a few bees came to check me out so I hung back a little to take the photos. Why does he only have his face covered?
When I eventually rejoined Huan, my legs covered in seeds and thorns, she had an urgent job for me. You must take a photo of that lizard before he runs away! Actually I quite like the resultant picture, he looks rather stern and grumpy. Don’t you think so?
Around the corner Huan suggested that we don’t go to the reservoir but walk home instead. Normally we would take a bus after going to the top and back down to the housing complex. I needed no cajoling and agreed immediately, if not even faster than that. It gave me a chance to show you another place we wouldn’t mind having a villa.
Let’s follow that with a view of three birds and two snakes. I am
probably not allowed to say birds in the
It was Huan’s turn to point out some flora today, an odd looking
tree with odd looking fruit. Even stranger is that it’s name has Chinese
connotations despite it not being native to
Back out on the main road and heading home we thought this mountain deserved a shot.
Shortly after I fumbled while getting my camera out so I was too late to get any better photos of this old veteran running with a flag. I say with ‘a flag’ because I didn’t get a good enough shot to identify which one it was. He does have a red star on his uniform though.
Unusually on this road, SWMBO managed to find one last lizard before we reached home.
And that was the walk for the day finished. It was long enough, just over ten kilometres. Both of us needed a nice long nap after lunch. What did I do after that? Well, I followed my dreams and changed all my Youtube playlists. There is now one per year since we started with the videos back in 2016. I also need to try and buck my ideas up and do more than one a month in the future! All ideas welcomed but maybe not accepted!
February 26th Huan was a little bit out of sorts yesterday so no walks were planned for this morning. She still couldn’t relax though and had to keep herself busy all day. I think she really wanted to go shopping this morning but once we got there after lunch and she saw the (lack of) crowds, she was happy enough. Slowly life is going back to normal after the New Year.
What did I do all day? I mostly
surfed the internet wishing that cameras were a lot cheaper than they are and
that decisions were not so hard. Every time I think I’m getting somewhere new
choices appear. Should I go for Canon or Nikon, maybe Sony or Olympus, perhaps
Panasonic or
And on the subject of photography we had none for today. A quick trip to the bedroom balcony gave us a wonderful evening view; a view I never cease to enjoy.
So as the sun goes down, it’s time to start the upload. Express VPN is off, Astrill is on, soon you’ll be able to ‘read all about it’. From the worker (me) and the Editor in Chief, (her) we hope this post finds you well and that you enjoy it. Au revoir.
