March 19th Huan reminded me that this week was not a hospital week, it was a dentist one! Ah well, at least it wasn’t a nice sunny day. Arriving at the dentist’s we found that the dentist who had done the preparation work, before Chinese New Year, was off today. Explaining to the dentist that was there, we arranged to go back tomorrow afternoon.
With having this unplanned free time I told Huan that we should go to the bank, then she wouldn’t have to lend me the money to pay the dentist tomorrow. We ended up walking a long way but having no camera with us we weren’t really looking for subjects. Consequently, all we have is cars, one big and two small. The big one seems to be a mirror image of Luffy’s Gear 5 transformation, more info here - https://beebom.com/one-piece-luffy-gear-5/
Huan thought that the next two, both of which had motorbike steering and controls, were single seaters. In fact both of them have a two-seater bench seat behind the driver. They would not have been very comfortable and I doubt if I would even have fitted.
We walked back along the river and at one stage, near the Fodelai bridge Huan called me back and asked “Are we crossing here?” Realising where we were I did a swift about turn to follow her suggestion. I went to walk on a ramp, as I often do. Huan always ‘tells me off’ but I usually take care and have no problem. Today was different! This particular ramp is a favourite place for young children; they love to slide down it. That meant that the surface was quite highly polished. I only got one foot on the ramp before I did the proverbial a*** over t** manoeuvre landing on my tailbone and mildly banging the back of my head. I was back on my feet in no time without any obvious effects except s few stars in my eyes. By the time we got home I was feeling mostly OK apart from a niggling pain in my left wrist.
Our afternoon sleep was very disturbed, my wrist was getting worse. It got so bad that I had to ask Huan to help me prepare the ingredients for dinner. I couldn’t hold the belly pork with my left hand while chopping it with my right. I did still manage to cook though.
How
did it turn out? Well I had to divide the ingredients by two so errors could
have crept in there. I think also that I should have used dark Soya sauce. ‘
Through the process of cooking, trying to do nearly everything with one hand, I realised that it would be better if we visited the hospital. I was fairly sure that I had only sprained my wrist but better to be safe than sorry. The hospital is very different at night time. Before you can pay to see the doctor the emergency desk must confirm that it would be better for you to be seen now and not wait until normal opening hours tomorrow. They confirmed and back to the cash desk we went to pay for the doctor. His initial diagnosis was the same as mine and he also wanted me to have an X-Ray. We went back to the cash desk and then to the ‘machine room’. Only one person was in the queue ahead of me. When I came out, this was the view.
Waiting just a few minutes we were back in the surgery where the doctor wrote a prescription. That’s not as easy as it sound when you have someone asking questions and suggesting all kinds of medication and treatment. She doesn’t translate enough on these occasions! Prescription in hand we then went upstairs to the pharmacy. All the normal daytime parts of the hospital were closed, only the pharmacy was open. Where was everybody?
What
do you think of our emergency service? I was telling Huan what I remember it
being like in the
Back home with my anti-inflammatory pain relief cream I hoped for a good night’s sleep.
March 20th Sleep was restless but the medication worked fairly well. Having done my ‘old man’ impression yesterday I had already decided that today would be a ‘day of rest’, at least for the morning. After lunch and a nap which we both needed far more than we realised, it was time to head back to the dentist. I thought we would be in and out in five minutes after having my tooth impressions done but I was wrong. After a lot of drilling as preparation and some nerve pain now and then the dentist did eventually ‘make an impression’!
Huan had to buy her million kuai winning lottery tickets (we should be so lucky) so we had a walk through town on the way home. Many shops have a lucky/money/fortune cat on their counters; I have previously given you a lot of detail. I thought this one deserved another photo though, if only because of his cool sunglasses.
Continuing our journey down three wheeler highway we bring you another one. There was a lovely motor scooter in this shop, in the old Gulf racing colours, but I didn’t think to photograph it. The sales lady thought I wanted to buy it. I would certainly have considered it were it not for the fact I would not be allowed to ride it as it was over 50cc. Anyway, here’s the three wheeler; along with a question for you. As these types of vehicles are presumably designed for us oldies why do they have cute pictures on them?
Not far from home and we spotted an almost absent friend. His ‘parents’ are closing down one of their businesses so we have no idea when, or if, we will see him again. He was very happy to see us today; just as we were happy to see him. No sign on his Mum though, she must have been busy.
March 21st Today, in her capacity of ‘leading lady’ in the reality movie of our life, Huan decided she was going to be the ‘Grand Old Duke of York’. She didn’t have ten thousand men though, she only had me. That didn’t stop her, she marched me up to the top of the hill, (Tai Ping Shui Ku), and she marched me down again, and when we were up, we were up, and when we were down, we were down, and when we were only halfway up, we were neither up nor down! It had been a while since we went up there so readily concurred. Here’s our destination, through the not so clean living room window. Of course you can’t actually see it…
First though we had decoration on a moped and also on our car.
This is the point at which it starts to become a little more than just an easy stroll.
To our surprise we did the hardest stretch without too much exertion.
This sign marks the end of the hard walk although we still have to go up.
It’s a nice walk, lots of shade from the sun and pleasant views on the way.
More hairpin bends with their, seemingly renewed mirrors, were aplenty.
We were pleased to see that our ‘two fingered tree’ was looking good. Huan insisted that she have her photo taken in front of it, insisting even more so that her face should not appear. I took a few; this was her choice to share with you. Note that her hand is the wrong way round!
This is not normally a lizard walk, but they appeared today.
A nice view of the mountain hotel, now closed for renovation.
And then the boss found another lizard. Well, she would, wouldn’t she?
And so we came to our last set of mirrors before we reached the reservoir.
For a change we thought we would give you two panoramas today, with the dam in the centre of both (sort of). The first is just as we walked on the dam, the second is where we turned round and then walked back far enough to include Wuzhishan on the right hand side. Don't forget that they will look much better if you click to enlarge!
Two more little Lenny’s were then found in rapid succession.
Now, if you know where we live you might just be able to see our home in this snap. I can!
Huan then did it again! How she saw this one I have no idea.
She then found some fruit on a tree, some very attractive fruit. “Can I try one?” she asked “NO!” was my answer. As it happens, this one is not poisonous, just very bitter. It is called Diplocyclos palmatus, commonly known as native bryony or striped cucumber.
Coincidentally, as we reached home and I put WeChat on, I received a
message about people getting ill from eating ‘fruits they don’t know’ in
Meanwhile, back on the mountain… On our way up we had seen some guys with a lot of metal working away in a betel nut orchard. It seems that they were building a cart, probably a pulley driven one, for bringing in the harvest.
I loved this one; it reminded me of children’s stories. Whatever could be behind that door? Of course this particular door is not doing a very good job; you can just walk round it!
In nine years we have probably only seen three or four lizards on this road. Today, Huan did it yet again. He was easy to see though.
Our last photo has nothing to do with lizards, or wildlife, or nature at all really. It’s lunch time and the students will soon be coming back to the dorms. The bags do all have receipts and names on them but I do wonder how much argy-bargy there is. “Who stole my lunch?” You get quite a lot in the rest rooms of big western companies where someone takes the wrong sandwiches from the fridge. “Oh sorry, I thought it was mine.” The ‘blue’ and ‘yellow’ clothed moped drivers are from the two main food delivery companies. We saw a lot more coming up as we were going down, followed by a lot of students coming from the university.
Stopping at the side of the road to buy bananas, we ended up with at least five extra. I’m not sure why the lady was being so nice to us today. With having that many, when we got home I didn’t skip lunch as I had planned but had a banana sandwich instead. In fact Huan had one too. Hers was ‘sans beurre’, mine wasn’t. Mine was just like Mam used to make, with butter but no sugar. There were no naps today, I had far too many photos to upload, sort and edit.
March 22nd Who stole spring? The weather was overcast again today but then again, having walked so far yesterday we had no grandiose plans this morning. A trip around the town would suffice with our subjects being whatever we found. First it was some beautiful flora.
We tried again for those pesky birds.
Down at the riverside they have started work on the north bank. With the rainy season only a couple of months away we do wonder if they will actually finish this year or not.
And then, lo and behold, we found another bird.
I guess another car decal wouldn’t be amiss, can you see who this is? I have to admit that I had no idea at all until I got home and Googled it. It is in fact, the Monkey King himself.
Let’s finish our walk with another couple of birds, not quite of the same feather. Their colours do match rather well though, don’t you think?
Not having cooked yesterday, because the ‘Medical Officer’ had put me on light duties, it was back to my turn again today. Once again the result doesn’t match the picture in the recipe.
This
time I followed all the instructions meticulously, the only exception being the
addition of those
March 23rd Market day once again so off we went to see if the pork lady was in attendance. We should have gone last night but neither of us could be bothered. On the way Huan stopped for a gossip with a neighbour so I took a photo of a bridge.
As expected, the pork lady was not there. Next time we see her we must ask where she sells on a Saturday morning, if in fact she does. The street market is still not back in its original home and now seems to be spreading. There is not much room for cars on this street, although they do still get through. We were between the two photographs.
The weather appeared to be deteriorating so we headed for a nearby shop to buy our duck. Our loyalty to the other seller was not in question as this one is run by his son. While Huan was in the line waiting I had a chat with this little fellow. It’s not easy to see but he is looking at me.
The Minister of Finance then decided she needed to visit her treasury to get her hands on some of her lovely loot. It was only round the corner from the market so off we went. Purse full, we then had to return to the market to buy our salad makings. The weather was improving and the crowds seemed to be getting bigger.
I suppose I could have taken advantage of the weather after lunch and had a nice solo walk but the Minister of Labour had other ideas. I spent my afternoon working as a sound engineer, converting files that the Minister sent me and then uploading them to her friend’s USB. Mind you, I haven’t done that for many months so I shouldn’t complain.
March 24th There will be a lot of pictures today, but first, how did we get here? Yesterday the ‘Mission Planner’ said she would like to go to where we saw the squirrel in the countryside. As you can see, very clear instructions. I actually went to bed last night and lay awake wondering just which countryside would be the right one. Just before I dozed off it came to me but of course I had to be sure. In the morning I did a search in ‘MS File Explorer’ and found that we had seen said squirrel in January. Reading that Blog post confirmed last night’s supposition.
Huan had no idea which way we should go but soon we were on our way.
Just at the end of that long road above we found a very handsome fellow, just hanging around.
And then in the village, we found some cats. Google was of no help here whatsoever. Maybe you can tell us why the biggest cat has the smallest fish and vice versa.
At the end of the village it was time to turn off the main road, cross the bridge, (1st photo) and head off once again into the countryside (2nd photo).
Heading in the general direction we found another brownie.
When we last walked here we had seen egrets before we found the squirrel. Unfortunately, the egret location was much drier today, so they had gone off elsewhere. Next up I pointed out the banana tree to Huan where we seen said squirrel. It had been nibbling the big flower that hangs under the bananas. Needless to say, it wasn’t there today. Unfortunately I completely forgot to take a photo of the banana tree. I did take a panorama shortly thereafter though.
Slowly Huan was remembering where we were going and her memory was completed once she saw this lily pond and this sign.
Those of you with exceptional memories will remember that this little village has a library. This is the view from behind said library. Look closely, you will also see a road. We headed for that to try a different way back.
No sooner had we reached the road than Huan found a lizard on the balustrade at the side.
And then we were off again. The scenery was beautiful and were able to get quite a few photographs without the usual electricity pylons and other man made stuff. OK, I know the fourth one has some ‘things’ but we are in farmland after all.
And just to prove that last point here are some chillies. Is it me or do all the green ones hang around at the top and only go below when they ripen to red?
Well, we soon found out that the road we were following ran out!
We crossed the bridge and found a farmer who directed us to the ‘next road up’. I didn’t think to ask Huan to ask him which way to go on that road! This was the way up, and that was the road.
We followed the truck, a mistake although we didn’t know it at the time. The scenery was still great, the air was fresh, we were happy.
When we caught up to the tuck, it had stopped to offload the driver and passenger to go and work somewhere. Not only had the truck stopped, the road had stopped too. Never mind “Onwards!”
We didn’t get much further and decided it was time to backtrack.
The extra time gave us the chance for some more snaps, a pretty butterfly,
A wonderful view,
And then just before we got back to Maosong village, another lizard.
Back on the main road there was another beautiful butterfly and two lazy calves. Is it my imagination or does the one on the left look ‘old for its years’?
Huan was not sure that I knew where I was going, again. Suddenly we were back somewhere she recognised so she stopped worrying and found lizards!
Not to be outdone, I found one too, although not so near.
Having watered ourselves in Zabao village we eagerly set off on the last stretch. In the morning, at the junction of old and new roads, Huan had told me that the surface was fine, all dry now. On our way back, I looked and thought that the sun may well have made it wet again. Huan, I think trying to get in front of me, just in case, went head over heels herself this time. What a palaver we had with me trying to lift her back up with her only one good arm and trying to use my only one good arm. Luckily, she was not hurt, only her skirt suffered.
With mere tens of metres to go, more critters were still found.
As for the Bob critter, well he had got just a little sunburnt today. PS For all you selfie takers out there, note that the words and shop signs in this photo are all legible!
Look away now if you are easily put off your lunch. Changing for my afternoon nap I noticed that my legs were a strange colour. It would appear that this could be the dreaded ‘Disney Rash’, Golfer's vasculitis or maybe the even more worrisome ‘Exercise-induced vasculitis’. Why should it be more worrisome? It appears that it is far more prevalent in females than it is in males. Just how many female hormones did they give me after my prostatectomy? The good news, in my case, is that it disappears very quickly.
And there you have it, a nice long day in the country with many kilometres, a few critters, but unfortunately for the Prime Minister, no squirrels. What will be next I wonder…
March 25th Shopping was the order of the day and being the dutiful soldier I am I obeyed without question. Madam was busy being a seamstress so we ended being later than expected. Our only photograph was this, a shopping trolley seemingly out of the ark. This was the second one I chose, the first would not drive. In the west trolleys are often taken out of the supermarkets and abandoned in all sorts of strange places. That doesn’t happen here and for the most part we never have any problems with them. This one though looked like it had been sat in a storeroom somewhere for a very long time!
So that was the commander’s plan duly followed and executed excellently. My plan had been to have a walk after lunch sometime but it was neither followed nor executed. The ghost with the super glue visited again and I found it a struggle to open my eyes at coffee time. Never mind, there’s always tomorrow. Did you know that we have a family motto, “Never do today that which you can put off until tomorrow.” (PS Tomorrow never comes!)
Next week will come though, and it will come very soon, so we will see you then. Bye for now!
