Summer Rain.

July 23^rd Could we ever be farmers? I very much doubt it; our interpretation of the weather is absolutely hopeless. Today the computer said rain after lunch; the skies told Huan that it would be some time in the morning. Cancel another ‘No Through Road’ and choose another route without my leader. She decided to stay home and do the ironing. The main road was my choice, on the way all I found was a lazy snail, having a break on his climb. Look closely and you will see that he has a hitchhiker.

Should I walk back along the river or back along the main road? The decision was made for me.

I had a chat to the man leaning on the wall, obviously part of the team, maybe even a boss, and he told me they are building a bridge here. Could it be something like ours at Little Island? It looks as though the supports may not be the same.

Walking back up the main road I kept my eyes open for lizards, just to keep Her Maj happy. Once I turned off the main road I even tried the middle of the road!

To my surprise, and to Huan’s when I got home, I found one where we haven’t seen one for a few weeks. With all the wet stuff everywhere I did not expect to see one today. We can go back to calling this place Lizard Market again.

Passing through the market and out of the other side I thought I should walk on the riverside for a little bit. Who should I bump into but these two, Dòu dīng, Dòuhuā and their Mum.

They look quite pally with each other in that photo, but that is an illusion. Dòu dīng, the golden one, did not like anyone else trying to climb on his sandcastle, even me. He did take a break though and went for a swim.

While he had a dip, Dòuhuā ruled the roost.

That was it for the animal kingdom, everyone else must have been hiding from the weather. That did threaten me now and then but mostly stayed dry. Maybe you’d enjoy some scenery? For the second picture I went into the bamboo thicket and regretted it almost immediately. I came out with at least half a dozen bites on my legs.

With me being alone this morning I was able to have my sneaky coffee and fag break that I had missed yesterday. That makes four this month, bad boy! This was my view for my break today.

As for the weather, well it stayed dry for the rest of the day. Will we able to have a longer walk tomorrow? Not according the computer forecast. Today Microsoft weather is in Chinese. It could be in English tomorrow. It varies with no rhyme or reason.

July 24^th Today the forecast looked different, no rain before midday, in fact very similar to yesterday’s forecast. Huan thought a long walk would be in order, I disagreed. Unusually, I was right, we were out for over two and a half hours and got rained on three times. Mind you, the rain was not bad; the second two were even less than drizzle while the first was like being in a very fine shower. If I hadn’t been carrying the camera I would not have tried to seek shelter at all.

Anyway, off we went, along the main road as I had done yesterday. Knowing, or thinking that photo-opportunities would be rare today I felt I had to snap something!

I took Huan to the road near the riverside, where I couldn’t walk yesterday. Here is a nice view over the river which is somewhere before the street lamps you can see.

Filling up our daily quota here is one of the local loos.

You may remember that we call this riverside route the “lizard walk”. With still not being able to use the path by the river, and with the sun being absent because of the rain, I didn’t expect to see any of our little friends today. Lo and behold, Huan found one and then I found one.

We went home via the spot where I found yesterday’s lizard, nary a sign there at all.

And so another wet day comes to an end. It looks very much as though the rest of the week may be much of a muchness. We thought about a drive to somewhere, just for a change, but then again, if it’s only rain when we get there then there will be nothing to show you.

July 25^th Rain stopped play, no photos today!

July 26^th Yahoo! Weather forecast says no rain this morning, quick, run for it! Well we didn’t run but at least we were faster than this fellow. He’s not the edible sort by the way; if he was then he would not be seen out in public so much.

Huan then found a tiny insect, maybe less than the size of my thumbnail. It wasn’t easy to focus on but I did manage to get one decent shot. It’s possible a ‘Cactus fly’ or a ‘Banana plant fly’.

There was to be no rain but there were plenty of clouds and a cool breeze. It made for lovely weather for walking. You would have to click and enlarge the photo to see them but there are hundreds of dragonflies in this scene.

Next up is one that we nearly trod on with both of us seeing it at the very last minute. It’s very slim with a tail at least three times as long as its body, maybe still a youngster.

Being a cloudy day made this part of the walk better than usual, at least for Huan. Normally the sun would be blazing down on our heads here. We created this panorama to show you that it won’t be long before the next cycle of rice planting begins. The fields are now ready.

It’s been a while but we saw a snake again today. We couldn’t see any signs of injury to start with and Huan thought it was still alive. I disagreed and found a stick to poke it with, it was dead. Usually we can see how they died, not so with this one. It does have blood around its mouth so possible a farmer gave it a whack on the head. PS I think it is a rice paddy snake. They are mildly venomous so that could be why someone whacked it.

More views of the countryside with flora and fauna.

Our roundabout route brought us back into Fanmao village where we stopped outside the village offices. We have seen this before and even taken photographs for you but we never noticed the fish and the birds before. Perhaps they are new.

Huan insisted on me shooting this photo, she was convinced that she could see actual letters made by the spider. For me in this instance, it is just a zigzag.

Here’s a car that I would have bought in Harbin, had I been a little richer. It’s a Pajero. Huan and I are often competing against the ‘wild’ so I think it would be apt.

Last stop before the final stretch was the banana lady. We often but from her but not always and only if we are heading in the right direction. She is getting on now and not fully compos mentis but she usually knows us, gives a good deal and throws in a couple of bananas that need to be eaten quickly A kilo cost us around 40p, not bad eh. PS The seller pushes her cart a few hundred metres to and from her home every day. I did once meet her on the way out and offered to help but she wouldn’t have any of it.

So we got our day out, the rain didn’t come at all and we had a well deserves afternoon nap. What more could we ask for? Not much.

July 27^th Nice day for a trip round the market, duck and salad needed for two days’ dinner. Our first photo happens to be a duck, although not a pre-cooked one like ours. Do you ever wonder, as I do, what are they thinking about as they go about their (short) daily lives? This one is probably hoping he doesn’t weigh enough!

And these two are off on their (short) travels.

My Facebook page has had quite a few posts about the perils of nut oils, mostly from the huge refineries in the north of England. I wonder where this little refinery fits in to the arguments.

Once out of the riverside market and on our way to the next one Huan kept me busy. She found me a bird, as usual on the limit of what even our new lens can reach.

Both of us spotted this skink though and despite him scuttling back and forth at a fast rate of knots I was able to at least catch this one.

July 28^th Having had such good weather yesterday we had a plan for today. We would get up at a reasonable hour and go and do a ‘no through road’ video. Huan was up nice and early, I, however, was not! Last night was a night of sleeplessness and bad dreams so by the time I got up it was too late for our plan. Instead we headed for the mansions on the hill via a roundabout route of the little island and the irrigation canal. Outside, perched waiting for me, right at the top of the tree (limit of the camera lens), was a little birdie.

This was our only photo from the island. We remember that when they built this we assumed that the other side of the bollards and fence would actually be water. Now we wait on tenterhooks, (well not exactly), to see what will happen here.

Because it has been a while since we walked along the canal we took a few photos for you.

Soon we were safely out of the other side, no snakes seen, and under the road to somewhere.

With the weather being reasonable, (not too hot), we headed down the riverside path.

You can see the mansions on the hill in the last of those three photos. Before we got there though there was still some more wonderful scenery for you. I liked the view through the trees to the river and Huan liked the yellow flowers.

Now this one was a disappointment, well to me anyway. From a distance I thought that all of these geese were sitting on the rock in the foreground. Only as I got closer did I realise that they were in the water behind the rock.

The scenery (steps) that we are none too keen on but that we have no choice to climb. We could of course go all the way back to where we started. At least we are a lot fitter than when we first came to Hainan, many rests were needed on these steps at that time.

Before long we had passed the mansions and reached the canal once again before turning towards the village and the sound of cows, obviously not in the byre.

The cows were on the mooove but did not want to talk to me. When they are in their byre they are more than happy to come and say hello but perhaps with the farmer behind them they were not so keen. He is quite a grumpy fellow so when he is there I behave myself more.

This guy seems to be watching me very carefully through the fence. Did you know that its back legs have a tibia and a femur just like we do? The spines on the tibia can be used for defence but I cannot tell you why this one has red spines.

Just down the road Huan found another one. Could it be the first one’s offspring?

Now and then when we pass through villages the parents will try and get their children to run outside and ‘talk to the foreigner’. Sometimes they will try out their English on me. On this occasion it was only Chinese but it was nice to chat.

Finally we headed through our local village.

July 29^th Shopping day comes but once a week and in the summer I do it without a single grumpy old man grumble. The car park is easily accessible, the aisles are not crowded, there are no long queues to get your veggies weighed and priced etc. Even the weather was on our side; that is until we had to walk anywhere. Our induction hot plate was in a bad way yesterday so, instead of buying one on Taobao, I thought I would treat Huan and we would actually go ‘to the shops to see what we could find’! The first was hopeless, all far too expensive. The second didn’t seem to have a lot of choice and the sales lady was busy. The third had more but I walked Huan out when the sales woman kept asking if we were going to buy or not! The fourth shop, which had the same make and models as the third was much better. The lady who served us was helpful, answered questions and to top it all the price was right. In retrospect she did make one mistake, she never told us that free gifts were included in the box; we only found that out when we got home. We now have a new wok and a hot-pot pan. As for that weather, well we got soaked going back to the car and then onwards to the indoor market. Anyway, here is our new hot plate.

Being a Monday of course meant that I was looking forward to me weekly coffee and fag break. Unfortunately that wasn’t to be. Every time I thought it was time to go out the rain came back! It was still there after dinner.

On the plus side, there are still two days left for this month so I might still get out for that break I mentioned. Here’s hoping that all of you, dear readers, are not too exhausted and also have time for those much needed breaks. Until the next time, tata!