A Landlord’s Tale Ends (For Now Anyway).

August 27^th Well we eventually got to Sanya today. Our first hiccough was me being forgetful. About thirty kilometres away from home I realised that I did not have my little red bum bag with me. That’s a problem because it contains my driving licence, my car registration, my passport, our marriage documentation and my bank book. A swift return to Wuzhishan was needed! Back on track again Huan decided we should stop for lunch on the way down, at Baoting Services. Have you ever had rubber, or leather, dumplings before? Huan’s seemed to have been made a long time before we bought them. My vegetable wrap had exactly the same feel. Our onward journey was uneventful. Unfortunately, finding a car park was an event that almost didn’t happen. We briefly stopped to unload the car before trying again. Just to make Huan’s day, there was a gift outside our apartment door, probably left by a dog. The maintenance people blamed a cat but didn’t do anything about it! Back in the car we went around in circles a few more times before I let Huan go for a nap. (She didn’t, she cleaned up instead.) Meanwhile I carried on going around in circles. By the time I found a space, about half past two in the afternoon, I had been driving for almost five and a half hours. The slot was right outside a little shop so a cold coffee was the order of the day. I stayed strong though, no fag this time!

Evening saw us walk past the notice boards just to check Huan’s advert and then we visited the same restaurant we had used last time we were here. I had chicken and mushroom, Huan had pork and tofu, we both had rice and cauliflower. (That’s not in the photo.)

At the market notice board we saw a spare space so another ad was placed in it.

We had a little walk around the marina, just to get some photos for today.

Huan posed with her new car!

If you look very carefully, you might just be able to make out a deer on top of the mountain. That is Luhuitou Park, check back through the Blog posts, we’ve been up there before.

Huan found a tiny lizard but as it was so small, and as I am sure she will find more this week, I am not going to share it here. Instead here’s another evening view for you.

Back home I did sneak out for that fag, I think I deserved it!

August 28^th Our plan for today, based on the premise that nobody needed to see the apartment, was to find and visit the Sanya Mangrove Ecological Park. Last night Huan had found out which bus we should take, and I confirmed on the map. First though, breakfast!

The bus (#211) was correct, although we could have done with getting off at an earlier stop. It was quite a walk back to the entrance.

Some collages needed today; a lot of photos were taken.

These next two deserve their own spots; they were taken from one of the viewing areas.

Unfortunately, a lot of the viewing areas were like this one, no view at all.

These next two were taken from a small bridge.

Along the way children can play.

And the oldies can exercise. Snowbirds have not returned en masse yet or they would be visible here. The fourth photo is not what I thought it was from a distance. I had said to Huan that it looked like an aviary, closer up I could see it was fenced in table tennis areas.

Soon we were crossing another bridge, with views to both sides.

As you know only too well by now, the boss is not happy unless some kind of wildlife is seen. I found a bird; she found a couple of squirrels.

There’s an island in the middle of the mangrove park, not a bad place to live I’ll wager. Only the pink roofed buildings are on the island, the tall ones are beyond another part of the river.

Crossing the last bridge, a major road one, to return to the start, this is the beginning of the park area, seen from the river downstream side. It’s obvious that some of the trees and other vegetation have been there for quite some. The park itself, with all the walkways, was completed just last year, in August. Presently there is a lack of the usual mangrove life but I don’t think it will be too long before it becomes a thriving ecosystem. Don’t wait though; it is already a nice place for a long and healthy walk!

Almost back at the gate and evidence of the local artists can be seen. Do you recognise the first character in the line? It’s the only part that makes any sense to me.

Our walk home was mostly well shaded. All we had to look out for was traffic from behind. Two wheeled traffic doesn’t always follow the rules!

On that road we passed the communal fruit garden and its inhabitants.

As we neared civilisation, Huan found another lizard.

Not to be outdone I tried a bird in flight, as usual though, too far away.

Our last picture of the morning was a little better.

That was taken as we passed through the island park near our place, both of us more then ready for home. No lunch was needed, just liquid refreshments. A nap was attempted, Huan succeeded but I didn’t. My left hip was giving me gyp, (as they say in the UK). I only hope it is not a sign of things to come. As I write this it is back to normal again.

We had a prospective tenant visit this afternoon; she is still looking around before she decides. If she decides the answer is yes then we have to go and buy a thicker mattress. (I can’t say that I blame her, I would want the same.)

Dinner was very near our apartment.

We did have another little (two and a half kilometre) walk after dinner, just to aid our digestion. Also, I needed to buy the civilian version of a housewife. Those of you who know will instantly see that it is not a patch on the army version!

August 29^th Today was a shorter walk, our prospective tenant phoned last night and will be coming this afternoon to sign the contract. Consequently, we needed to pack ready for our return to Wuzhishan. We still had a fair few kilometres though, exploring a route we had seen yesterday. First we passed the old sales office for the place we would go through.

The roadside was a pleasant enough walk; we even got down to the water’s edge.

At one time the entrance would have been very impressive. Unfortunately, it has not been looked after so now it looks dilapidated.

Inside we couldn’t walk where we had hoped, a lot of the properties are under renovation, some are empty and all of it is closed off.

There was also no through road but a kind security guard let us out through the back gate. That led to another housing complex, one that was still in use.

Eventually we found our way though and just before we finally left; we found more than one squirrel. Yes, that’s right, squirrels in the plural. I only managed to take photos of two of them though; they are quite different to the ones we usually see at home.

SWMBO also found one of her daily lizards.

Approaching home, it was my turn to find a subject.

We had to cross the river so we went under the bridge first. On the other side you can see the Crown Plaza hotel, one day we’ll check it out for you. Today we just passed by.

Our last pic for this morning is a self-service library, no English books though.

No afternoon naps, just preparing to move. Once all was ready I was put on guard duty and told to sit in the entrance way until Huan was all done with contracts etc upstairs. This is what I was guarding, there is some important stuff in there, honest.

When the next stage arrived I left Huan in charge and I went off to fetch Donald. That turned out to be easier said than done. It was physically impossible to get him out of his parking space; someone had blocked him in completely. There was no phone number in the offending car but the kindly shop lady knew whose it was and took pity on me. She called him. Once I was out and away the next problem arose, the air-conditioning was not working. With temperatures outside above 35⁰C we desperately needed air! Since it was not so long ago that we had the A/C repaired we decided to drive home without it. That meant keeping the windows open and taking the winding mountain road route instead of the highway. It worked; we hadn’t melted when we got home. As usual when we are tired, it was a buffet night.

August 30^th My teddy bear comforter must have been very tired last night. It is usually almost impossible for me to get into bed without waking her up, no matter what time it is. Last night she raised not a murmur. It was late mind you, half past two, although that would not normally make any difference. Why was it so late? As the hours progressed yesterday my belly became more and more uncomfortable, a lot of sitting on the white throne was required. In the end I decided that Huan should go to bed first and I would bide my time.

Today all we needed was a little shopping trip to the market, for the weekend, not for today. Only one photo was taken, with the phone and not the camera.

With the weekend approaching we had decided today would be another eating out day. However, the rain returned with a vengeance so it was home made pizza from the freezer instead. I suppose I should have taken a photo to show you Huan’s cooking but, sorry, I forgot!

August 31^st Huan had a plan, a bus ‘n’ walk plan. Thinking that we both needed a bit more rest before we took on long walks again I managed to talk her out of it. I also pointed out that today was Saturday, market day, and some semblance of normality would be good for us. Across the road I managed to find a bird and also managed to get a decent shot of it.

I found the next subject too, much to Huan’s surprise. It was a small one and her usually eagle eyed spotting skills failed her.

While in the riverside market road we checked on construction progress. We had seen a long pipe, a few hundred metres long, that was being used to pump cement. Today it was in use.

It looks very ‘liquid’ and I was wondering how it would dry at the right consistency. They obviously have a way because a guy came along and measured the weight of his empty jug, then the weight of it full of slurry and then the weight again when he emptied it. Anyone know why?

The market wasn’t too busy today. We chatted to our ‘duck’ man and he still had a full vertical rotisserie, a sad lack of customers. As it happens, we were not buying today either. Even the balloon lady still had more than a few and that was at eleven o’clock.

Not having done so well today we thought you might like a bonus, a bonus water tank.

September 1st We are slowly getting back to normal. Huan said she was still tired and I agreed with her. We were dithering between the landfill walk and the Rendishan walk. One was hillier so we took the other one, the Rendishan walk. On the way we found a natural frame.

Approaching Rendishan here I am deep in discussion with two people and asking them if they were from Japan, or maybe Korea, or perhaps Singapore. Why? Because they were asking me if I was from America, Canada, Russia, France, Australia etc. They seemed not to know of the UK. They got there eventually and it was all good natured fun.

These two had the whole pond to themselves but were still difficult to capture.

Buffalo in the soggy field were up next, we never try to get too near to them they are not as trusting as cows are. We don’t trust them as much as we trust cows either.

Two more were up ahead on the road.

Soon we were nearing the village and checking on bridge progress. It’s coming on well.

Fish don’t usually photograph too well but I thought I would try again.

Huan’s day is always made by finding a lizard or two. This one was ‘gaping’. (Why do lizards open their mouth in the sun? They can lower their body temperature by opening their mouth: a gaping mouth provides evaporative cooling.) He closed his moth as I got nearer. PS I love the ‘expression on its face’ in the first photo.

Soon we were on our way back home; this is why they are called water buffalo. Is it true that mud baths make you more beautiful?

Soon Huan found me another little lizard.

And finally for today, a nice view down the main street.

September 2^nd Donald is still at the car vet getting his circulation sorted out so no ‘big shop’ today. Instead we did a double market walk to see if the sausage man had returned yet and to buy a little sustenance. These are the only photos I took.

What did we buy? No sausages, he's not back yet. No Xinjiang bread, they're not back either. We bought some soft bread to go with our dinner of ‘freezer surprise’. That at least was the main reason for going out. While we were out I suggested that Huan buy the week’s fish to avoid trying to park in town tomorrow. I fancied eggs for lunch so bought some of them too; they seemed a little expensive, at least to the Minister of Finance, ¥30.00 for 30 eggs. It doesn’t seem too much for me. However, when we got them home and Huan started preparing lunch she changed her mind, they were double yolkers!

A sedentary day followed although I did have to go downstairs and collect ten tins of tuna fish from the express delivery guys. The sweet-corn, kidney beans and baked beans will arrive tomorrow. Sometimes Taobao is exceptionally good value for money.

What was not value for money was Donald’s air conditioning repair in July. We paid ¥1,500.00 at that time for a new compressor. This afternoon the garage called again, this time a new evaporator is needed along with some bits and pieces and the cost will be over ¥2,000.00. Remember what I said about being retired last time? If any of my friends or family would like to send us oodles of money for us to buy a new car, please feel free.

Enough of my grumbling, I am just practicing being Jeremy Clarkson or any of the other grumpy old men. Some would say I don’t need any more practice! I’m not really that bad, honest, ask the boss, she puts up with me. See you next time.