March 12th Another week and another hospital. Last week it was my annual PSA check-up and this week it was my annual heart check-up. The hospital was busy.
After we had paid to see the doctor we were sent off to a different building this time.
It was a different doctor this year, one who had some English and he was happy to try and use it. He gave us lots of papers for tests in this building, tests in the original building and of course lots of blood tests too. In the ECG place there were a lot of people waiting so Huan went upstairs to check out the blood laboratory. I just took photos out off the balcony. Points to note are the number of two wheeled vehicles in the second picture and the miserable skies in both.
Here we are both on the ECG floor before Huan dragged me off upstairs.
Her plan was spot on though; we had to wait upstairs for them to take my blood and then still had to wait again when we went back downstairs. Still, we were home in time for lunch. After lunch and a nap for the C-in-C we returned to the hospital. #1, take the blood test results from the machine, lots of letters and numbers with very little meaning for either of us. #2, see the doctor again to present him with the results and the heart results from the morning. #3, go back to the cash desk to pay for the prescription, (one month only this time). On the cash desk we noticed a sign that we have never seen before. I wonder if there is anyone in Wuzhishan who is the proud owner of a permanent residence card. I guess there could be foreign born Chinese people. I wish it could be me, save me a lot of hassle every year.
By the time we were done it was
too late for cooking. Mind you, in the
With cooking off the menu (haha)
it was time to find a restaurant. This is the one, with Huan sorting out our
dinner. It’s a
Here is the hungry human waiting for her dinner.
I must say that the boss chose well, at least for me. Mine is on the left and is liver, with too many chillies which I left behind. Hers is on the right, fried pork with vegetables and not quite as many chillies. We left with our tummies full and feeling good.
Another day over, what will tomorrow bring? Hopefully better weather!
March 13th That lucky ol’ sun has gone fishin’, at least he is not showing his face around here these days. It wasn’t a bad walking day but it was not really one to try further afield. Town and river it was then, but that didn’t stop Eagle Eyes doing her thing!
From a distance we saw aliens approaching. Should we run?
Was this also an alien, hiding in a tree?
Down at the riverside work is progressing at a fair rate of knots again. We wonder whether they will soon have to stop for the summer and the rainy season. Check the second photo and you may find a fisherman too.
It was my turn to spot, and I almost couldn’t see anything through the lens. I did catch some birds though. Here they are, heavily cropped and edited.
Huan then found another lizard, surprising considering the overcast weather.
All I could do in response was an arty picture upriver.
Of course Huan won, she found yet another lizard. This one was doing its best to stay hidden on that twig, it worked for me but Huan saw through it!
What is this? I think it is a ‘fall webworm web’ created by moths’ caterpillars. However, I can’t be sure so if you know better, comment down below.
That was the end of our walk although I had to go out again later. The boss had me working hard today, first making our lunch, then cooking our dinner and finally going out again to buy the lottery tickets. What did I cook today? It was good old English grub, fried pork, mashed carrot and potato, and cauliflower. Maybe next time I will cook some garlic until it is nice and soft and then include it in the mash. What say you?
March 14th Our skies looked like yesterday’s and the weather forecast was ‘overcast but no rain’ so we set off. After about 500 metres the rain began so back home we went! That is where we stayed for the rest of the day, Huan scrambling her brain with her phone, and me scrambling mine with trying to decide on cameras. For dinner I was the duty chef and it was beef noodle soup, a little spicy and delicious.
March 15th We took the plunge again today and were rewarded by nice weather for a walk, no rain and even some sun now and then. I managed to get a little burnt on my forehead. Rendishan and the village thereafter was our planned route today. As we set off up the hill I found another car decal which I thought was quite amusing. If it was my car however I would have been very tempted to add a nose and a Mick Jagger style tongue under the handle.
We thought we would try a shortcut again today, through a little village. They had sentries posted, one very visible and the other two hiding in a small hollow!
We found a shortcut and then I found another through an underground car park.
This tree, and others like it caught our eyes; both of us thought it reminded us of those trees that you often see silhouetted in scary movies. Why we had never noticed them before?
We had turned off for a detour to the fish lake restaurant with a nice des res.
“Let’s try another shortcut, one that failed in the past.
Success, although the last few metres were on all fours! Here’s the view from the top!
On our way down (a little bit) on the other side I found two more desirable residences. Again these were taped off for some reason.
Soon we were approaching the village and its little stream.
In the village Huan had her only ‘finds’ of the day.
Today we walked on the side of the valley; it’s only a gradual incline.
This one shows the view up the valley and then the view down.
Now we have a question for all you farmers out there. What are the little black balls on the head of the cauliflower? PS Did you know the leaves were so big?
This next one is a scene I like. This view is always pleasing to my eye, almost movie like.
The farmers were very busy today, harvesting string beans.
Not too soon, (for me), it was time to rejoin the road.
Back in the town it was my turn to find a creature.
Soon we will be blessed with another shop. Mind you, ‘blessed’ is probably the wrong word. It is going to be yet another snack shop. Wuzhishan is not a big city and we are slowly losing count of how many snack shops there are. I worry for the future health of the children.
Shall we finish off with a splash of red? These were spotted outside the nurses’ school.
We made a cabbage white video today and added some sounds of our last walk on this route. You can find it here - https://youtu.be/1aB3jBb8cL0
Back home it was time to make Huan’s lunch, it was too late for me, then upload the photos. After Huan’s lunch it was nap time (again) for both of us. Oh, what a hard life we have!
March 16th It looks as though the weather has turned a corner. Today being Saturday was only a market day walk of course. I forgot my phone so had to go back upstairs, Huan took the rubbish to the bins while I was doing that. Coming back downstairs I snapped this one.
From the market, where we found nothing we wanted to buy and nothing we wanted a photo of, we headed off to bap and sausage market. I found you another car with decals; we knew it was something Japanese. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Neighbor_Totoro
At lizard corner Huan thought I had found one. I hadn’t, it was a snail. However, a few yards away she found one, a very small one.
There you have it, our sum total of photographs for today. Our dinner didn’t merit any photos, it was only a salad. It was lovely though, feta cheese for Huan and blue cheese for me. Yummy!
March 17th Once again the weather was on our side so out we went. Not having been along the Changhao route since January 2nd we decided that would be the plan for today. On our way we passed this whereupon I sang to Huan “First there is a mountain, then there isn’t a mountain then there is”. She had no idea what I was on about. The song is by Donovan (1967) and relates to the teachings of QÄ«ng yuán wéi xìn, a Zen Buddhist master. You learn something every day. Of course in this particular case the mountain that ‘reappears’ will be a block of flats.
Before we reached the highway off ramp Huan had already found her first lizard.
Leaving the main road and going
through the first village and then over the bridge we decided to be brave and
go across the fields, a short cut we had not taken before. We followed the
irrigation channel as far as we could. There are two little dots in the middle
of the first picture; they were farmers who asked us what we thought about
No sooner had we got back on to a hard road than Huan went and did it again. This one was on the path, gave us the eye and jumped on to the vegetation. From there he got down to the last position near the ground where he proceeded to eat some ants.
What I love about these walks is the quiet and the fresh air.
Of course you already know what the Prime Minister likes!
Back to my scenery snaps now.
SWMBO also likes pests. Well, she did marry one!
And here is the pest she married, going bananas, as usual.
As directed, here is a large village tree. That is, the tree is large, not the village! I wonder which has been there the longest and if the present villagers even know.
This village had some exceptionally good graffiti.
“I’m all right Jack!”
“What about me?” said the duck.
“You can share the plate with this!” responded the boss.
Meanwhile, back on the farm…
And then she was at it once again…
What’s good for the goose is (do you know how to complete this famous proverb?) I can tell you that in today’s world the meaning has been ‘modified’.
As for the leader of our tribe, she was still “all right Jack”!
After a few minor detours we ended up in Changhao, at the bus stop, at exactly ten kilometres. I was ready for the bus home; Huan was ready for her phone.
No naps were taken today, mostly because we were too late to have both lunch and a nap. There were a lot of photos to upload and edit though.
March 18th What to do? She dragged me
out shopping in the morning! Luckily Baijiahui was not full of snowbirds and
the experience was not traumatic. We even had time to visit the indoor market
for the fish and the pork. I had run out of
Passing an old friend I thought I should take his photo before it’s too late. We have known this fellow since 2015 and at that time he used to love running up and down the street with me. For a while he disappeared and came back almost as wide as he is long. Running is not for him anymore, in fact sometimes, like today, he doesn’t even want to stand up.
Is this the name of a restaurant? No it isn’t. I would hazard a guess that they used stock photographs to create these window displays.
Sometimes, when I am out alone, I find myself feeling really good about where we live. My thoughts just wander and warm feelings of contentment appear.
On my way home, after unsuccessfully finding any lizards for Huan, I bumped into the goats that we often see in their little house. They had been somewhere and were on the way home. How do they know what time to go home and which way to go?
Approaching home it was time to show you yet another des res, in fact quite a few in a row. We would not say no to any of the villas on the riverside!
All that was left was to cross the bridge, hand over the shopping, and have a quick shower to wash the dust off before sitting down to a nice fish dinner.
And so we come to the end of another week. Hospital last week, hospital this week, what will it be next week? Tune in to this channel to find out. C U then, bye for now.
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