August 6th After noodles for breakfast, which we forgot to take pictures of, there was lots of walking to and from the car, for me anyway. With time to waste before the fixit man came to start his work I decided to take our stuff in bits and bobs. It made for quite warm and strenuous work I can tell you. On my first trip I checked out the infamous parking zone.
Seeing the number of cars still parked there, none with any warnings on their windscreens, I debated whether or not to phone the ‘illegal parking centre’ and send them a photograph. Maybe it would not have been such a good idea though.
After the car trips I then took two trips to the rubbish bins to dispose of all the old bed pieces. I find it rather strange that you can’t give the wood away. In the countryside it would have been so easy; they use wood for cooking a lot there. I guess in the city nearly everyone goes out to eat.
Feeling already exhausted and only nine in the morning, cold drinks and a fag were needed. After that a third trip to the car was needed to deliver the step ladders, during which I spotted the fixit man and told him that his boss was waiting in the apartment. This time I didn’t have to walk back, I drove and collected Huan with the bedding. Off we set for Wuzhishan.
The highway still had work going on somewhere on the route so we took the mountain roads, failing to stop for lunch on the way. At home it was time for water, for both of us, and then naps, also for both of us. Sometimes I wonder when “Afternoon Delight” became “Afternoon Nap”. It may well have had something to do with having my prostate removed!
When we woke up, after a very long three hour nap, we quickly unpacked everything and then I made some coffee. For me it was then time to transfer files from external HDD to the computer to bring everything up to date. The plan then was to go out for dinner. That plan failed because Huan had gone back to bed again, not feeling well. I know, you will tell me that she should see a doctor, but she will just point blank refuse! I had a two course meal, spam and egg sandwich for main course followed by marmalade sandwich for dessert. Last week’s Blog post was then uploaded and I started on today’s which, as you can see, has not a lot to show for it.
August 7th It was decided, by both of us, that no out of town walk, no countryside walks, no mountain walks or any other kind of strenuous walks would take place today. Instead we would do the market circle, far one first and inside one second. On the way Huan had to go into her bank and top it up to pay stuff when we return to Sanya. Here she is, big smile, job done!
We avoided direct sun when we could.
On our way through the apartment complex at the lizard market Huan found some small birds. I tried my best! The first picture took four attempts, the second two a lot more.
We continued on opposite sides of the road, I found nothing, Huan found a baby.
My ears then started burning with lotus flower words, I succumbed to the hints.
Crossing the river and heading back into town and the indoor market we found a few mounds of earth adjacent to holes in the undergrowth. Maybe they are putting new lampposts in although Huan did find one manhole cover that said internet. I don’t think they would need internet access holes, or cable junctions every few metres though.
Those of you with good memories may remember that last month I showed you some kind of dam and construction going on in the river. Those with better memories will remember it was the 30th of July. Well today we purposely walked the other side for a closer look. There was someone from the construction team there so Huan asked what they were building. It appears that it will be another set of sluice gates like the ones near to our house. I can’t think why and it seems like an odd location but as always, time will tell.
We’ll try and take some progress photographs on future walks. We eventually got to our destination, the indoor market, where we bought fish, chicken and vegetables to last us the next three days. We are assuming we will be back on the road on Saturday. My apologies for the photo of the fish lady “who loves me”, I was trying to carry lots of shopping while operating the camera with one hand. You can get the idea though. PS I have already told her that she doesn’t love me, just my wallet!
As usual, little sleeps were required after lunch. We awoke to a video from Sanya, our walls, at least the bottom parts, are now covered in some black gunk. This is the water sealant so it would appear that we are having a better job done this time. Unfortunately the video is not good enough to take a screen grab from so I can’t show you.
August 8th Both occupants of this interplanetary craft seem to be very lethargic. I was winding Huan up yesterday about ‘sleeping sickness’ and how we may have bitten by a tsetse fly. I know, I’m a bad boy, but it was fun, for a short while. Mind you this morning I was still tired with achy bones, maybe only I got bitten!
My inclination was to stay in this morning but I dragged myself out for a short countryside walk. Going across the island Huan found a baby lizard, it was head down and vertical so I rotated the photo so that you can see it better.
I may have been an unwilling participant to begin with but it didn’t take long for me to start feeling much better. The weather and the fresh air soon had me in tip-top form.
Blow me down if Huan didn’t go and find another lizard almost immediately.
Let’s walk down there a few metres, just to have a look.
The views, to the left and the right, were wonderful, well worth a snap.
The next little path that we went down gave me an almost eye level view of a rice paddy.
At the end of this path we turned around for a look at the view, you might like it too.
Soon it was time to head for home, down some more gorgeous paths.
I found this one, and only had one shot before he saw me and disappeared.
Squirrel walk lived up to its name today, the first time for many months, probably over a year. In fact with the construction it could even be over two years. Today though, Huan found one, behind us, while she was looking for something else. In the first photo, the not quite so sharp one, you can see the squirrel and the fruit it was after. In the second photo, which is a little better, it is having a good old chew on the fruit. Both photos are cropped to the extreme!
On our walks I always have the phone fitness tracker on and then at home I take a screen shot of the map and add it to the walk photos. Today, instead of a screenshot I decided to take a photo. It will serve the same purpose and I can also show you that despite being a couple of worn out and threadbare teddy bears we are not doing too badly!
We still needed our afternoon naps of course!
August 9th Today was different. Our plan had been the landfill walk, mostly because I was too lazy to do another video walk yet. Passing by Shifu’s shop we got waylaid and asked if we would like to visit his mountain farm. We switched the fitness tracker off and hopped into his pick-up where Huan almost had kittens worrying about their youngest son in the front seat. Far too many photographs were taken today, nearly one hundred and ninety so lots of editing and culling was needed. Sometimes the culling was my photographs when Huan’s phone did better. A good example is the fire at the farm, my attempt was binned.
The other side of the fire a duck was using an old barrel to get ready for its ducklings.
Shifu has a lot of pigs, here are some of them.
And how can you not love this one?
That’s enough piggies for now, here’s a view of the farm from the bottom end.
Followed by a view up the mountain and then down back the way we came.
Walking up to the top end we found one solitary dragonfly.
And then we went back into the farm from that end so this is the view from there.
As you can see there are more pig sties,
and a goose.
Back in the farm son #5 was having fun!
As well as pigs and poultry Shifu has three ponds, two with fish and one with ducks. This is how he goes fishing. Number one: feed the fish.
Number two: fish are stupid, now throw the net.
Number three: reel them in (or whatever you call it for bringing the net in).
Result? Enough fish for the family with some left over for the town street market. We could probably have had some too but we wanted to walk home, a long way to carry fish!
We left via the duck pond. There’s a video, here - https://youtu.be/a0wr6oKAxmQ
Our walk back was mostly through lovely countryside.
With all the photos we had today I was not really worried about not having seen any lizards. Huan was though and soon found one for me.
More scintillating scenery followed.
Almost back at Changhao #11 village and Shifu came by and asked us if we wanted a lift. We said that we would walk back and thanked him once again for the visit to his farm. It seems one little duck was sat in the back and going somewhere, I suspect to the family dinner!
Soon we were in a position to see the whole of Wuzhishan laid out before us. My stitched panorama failed today but I think this single shot is better anyway.
More ducks were spotted on the way down. This is a great photo where it seems they are all chatting to each other and having a laugh about something. In fact they were quiet and resting.
Soon we were back at Changhao #10 village where we decided to get a bus home, not because of the distance but because it was almost lunch time. In fact Huan took an executive decision and we ended up in a shared taxi. No complaints were made by me. I had been getting fed up of being the only person waiting in the bus stop anyway!
And that’s that I thought, lots of photos to sort out, there shouldn’t be any more now. I was wrong. There I was in the bedroom, genteelly disrobing myself when Huan came in and told me that I had been leeched, again! It probably happened when I was teasing the ducks. I guess it could be seen as karma, or poetic justice as we used to say. Still, we had a good day.
August 10th So why is this post called “A Landlord’s Tale Interrupted”? The answer is that it was supposed to be part two with us going back to Sanya today or tomorrow. That isn’t happening now hence the title change. Last night Huan had a chat with the painter who suggested we postpone until Tuesday. In fact today he sent her another video showing that the walls are not yet drying our as they should be so it could be even longer. We’ll see.
Saturday would normally see us following the salad plan routine which, as you may have guessed, we had not planned this week. We did still need to do a market run though for something to eat for today to go with Huan’s garlic legs and something different for tomorrow. I wasn’t expecting the boss to find lizards today, not the route we were taking anyway. She didn’t, but I did, two on one tree with no sun.
We even found some birds, at either end of the outside market.
Frogs and fishes are up next, although not real ones. We have eaten here before and taken some photographs but I’m not sure if we saw this sign that time. “Fish loves Bullfrog”, in fact they love each other so much that they even share a dish!
Just for a change, today’s photos finish with - - - - - you guessed it, more lizards!
Job done; today’s meat bought for Huan, fruit for the next three days, (just in case we do go down on Tuesday) and frozen chips so that I can cook a good old English classic tomorrow. What will it be and will there be photos? It will be sausage, egg, chips and beans and there more than likely will not be any photos.
August 11th My leech bites were all itchy and swollen this morning which meant that boots were out of the question. Our walk would have to be casual shoes and maybe just round the river. Off we set down the main road with Huan looking for lizards. She failed, as did our riverside walk. This is what we found, signs of construction and bridge work well under way.
We may not have been able to pass but the cows got through somehow.
On our way back towards the main road Huan’s happiness level increased!
She even found an insect for me.
Mind you, I did surprise her, here’s little guy strutting his stuff and calling for his ‘bird’!
Back home my leg was still itching but the swelling was on its way down, it will soon be back to normal. After lunch we had a pleasant surprise, Patrick from ‘up north’ was passing through Wuzhishan. It was nice to have coffee and a chat, it’s been too long. Come back soon!
Dinner went well enough, better than I expected anyway, and Her Ladyship heartily approved. It had been a long time since we had sausages, egg, chips and beans, I also approved!
August 12th Shopping was a little different today. We only needed something for our lunchtime sandwiches and something for tonight’s dinner. That meant we didn’t need the car. We took a slightly long route just to get a little exercise. Our first pic is a rather large butterfly which seemed to have some kind of difficulties. It was trying to fly and failing. Is there something wrong with its head? Maybe you can help us out.
Walking up from the river to the store we had to pass the pet shop where we had a chat with our two old friends. They have been usurped from their normal perch.
They were usurped by these two who are not ready so socialise yet.
As were leaving the supermarket, shopping in hand, I spotted an advert for afternoon tea. Think of English afternoon tea with cucumber sandwiches and little cakes and you would be wrong. Think about Chinese tea traditions and you would be wrong again. Check this out.
Back
home I thought I would take a snap of something we have never bought before. It
is one slice of meat in a bag; we bought two for our lunchtime sarnies. If you
live in
So there we are, the week has come to an end, again. We have received another video from Sanya; the apartment looks OK for renting now. It is certainly a huge improvement on last week. We will go down tomorrow, no idea how long for; we need to find some tenants. To see what it looks like now remember to check out next week’s post. Until then, have a good one!
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