The Waiting Game - Part 1.

March 4^th Another week in paradise, well it is sunny here today! In fact as I write this the temperature is 30⁰C, (feels like 35⁰C) and I am back in shorts in the house too.

As you can probably guess from those three pictures we are off to the countryside today. I thought Huan had probably had enough of walking around the town recently so I suggested we go just a little further afield.

We did have to cross the road to somewhere to get to the countryside though and on the way we spotted a swarm of ‘electric borrow bikes’ presumably waiting for their transport home.

If you found counting the bikes a bit too hard then maybe this one will be easier. How many little birds can you see in this photo?

Before my unfortunate leg problems I would have walked where the farm lady is. Huan was not at all keen on me trying it today so I had to join her on the normal path.

Having not been in the countryside for a while we took far too many photos, we will have to reduce the quantity over the next few days. The third photo shows where we were walking, off the beaten track for this stretch.

In this photo you can see where we would usually walk, sometimes it is good to have a change.

Soon we were back on the paved road, not walking as fast as usual but certainly a lot faster than these guys. I wonder what they think of garlic, butter and a little mashed potato.

Another three for you to peruse, more farming, more walking and what we thought was an insect. As we found out when we got home, and as you can clearly see, it is not.

Huan thought she might try to get rid of me again! We found a snake, it appeared to me to be dead, gone, shuffled off this mortal coil, passed on etc. She thought it might still be alive and suggested I touch its tail. Its tail is very near its mouth! I just repeated my previous supposition. As to what it is, possibly a grass snake, non-venomous, but again Google was not much help.

Huan soon forgot her disappointment when she found her first lizard of the day.

Not content with her find she went and did it again, twice in quick succession.

I did find a bird to interrupt her flow.

She only went and did it again! I managed to get fairly close to this one and even made a video for Her Majesty. She was well pleased.

Going back via Little Island Park, Huan took the high road and I took the low again. I found the cows, I mooed, some listened, some mooed back and some didn’t. This one was the most curious and the best looking of the lot.

Work is still progressing on the island; this is the new fountain and light area. At night we can see the fountains and lights being tested but I told Huan we can wait until they have finished before we visit and take a video.

While I was looking for subjects down by the river, Huan was busy finding even more up by the canal. Here’s another lizard for you.

Not to be outdone I found more birds!

Getting into our apartment complex the usual way was a little difficult with wet cement all over the place so we headed for the stairs at the back door.

Look carefully and you will see that there is also a path on the other side of the guard chains. Madam said no, I said yes, and I went for it!

I had the better view on the other side, well most of the time anyway!

After lunch naps were needed, especially for me! After that it was time to get in the kitchen and do some man of the house duties. Today was a one pan dish, duck stew. It’s easy, stick two star anise, one bay leaf, a few black peppercorns, some chicken stock and a sliced orange in the pan, with water of course, and bring to the boil. Add two duck legs, one each. When you think the duck has had enough, add carrots, potatoes and in our case broccoli. Cook until done. I had mine on a plate, Huan had hers in a bowl, and we both enjoyed it!

March 5th While our weather was still very warm and humid today, the morning was very overcast so we waited until after lunch to go walkies. Also, having done the countryside yesterday we chose just the riverside today. First of course we had to fight our way along the footpath that is now also a temporary bike path, at going back to work time!

Huan told me that she had seen an egret so I relented, it didn’t turn out too bad.

And then it was my turn, unusually so, yet again, to find a lizard.

You all know that we live where coconuts grow but we never show you any so, here’s a bunch! For more amusement search for the song “I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts”, it was written a very long time ago, even before I was born. Some of you will remember it.

Progress continues along our riverside walk, this is the stretch between the first and second bridges. To see the Li symbols click to enlarge and look at the right hand side.

Although we went out in the sunshine the skies were beginning to darken again. Luckily this wee beastie still shone enough to capture a nice picture.

Down at the new dam (or sluice gates, or whatever you call it), the process of clearing up has begun. Slowly all the excess soil they built the road with will be removed and the river will once again flow. It will certainly be deeper on the upstream side.

Also upstream the walkway is almost done. In fact it is passable now but I didn’t fancy going down and up the steps today.

Huan was happy again today, she found another lizard. He has the privilege of being shown twice. In the first photo we think his right eye is looking behind him while the left watches me. The second photo was just because I got quite close to him.

Our last one for today is another car with its assorted decals and add-ons. On this occasion I am not going to Google, I am not going to translate, all further information that you desire will have to sourced by your good selves I’m afraid!

March 6^th Well paradise did a runner today, the temperatures were still high but the yellow orb had disappeared. We went out in English type weather, you know the sort, an invisible drizzle. It didn’t bother the snowbirds at all, here they are playing music.

Meanwhile, in the next square, the drummers were all squashed under shelter too.

Not to be outdone the dancers spotted the camera and posed for it. Well, they didn’t really pose, just grinned in my general direction. Fred Astaire eat your heart out.

Let’s move on shall we, cars again, and a giant panda. I’ll say one thing, cars and bikes are not boring here, I bet they are in the UK!

In the bap and sausage market I was searching for my doggo friend, I thought she would be near all these pups. The owner had said they were hers although I am not so sure; we may have had a communication breakdown. We found ‘Mama’, if she is, outside the garden.

Looking out of the market you could see why we were feeling as though we were in permanent drizzle land. Huan even had her umbrella up. The good thing of course is that the rain here is never cold; it was cool and refreshing today, good for walking in fact.

The riverside market was as empty as it usually is during the week. It looks as though they are making some new stall covers, we’ll see on Saturday.

Huan met someone from the old people’s school so she walked along with her, having a good old gossip I presume. I heard birds, hiding in the trees again!

This was our view as we approached home.

The cows were in the river again today, along with one or two attendant birds.

Naps never happened after lunch, not sure why, I could have done with one. Later on it was back into the kitchen for me, meatballs and noodle soup was today’s menu. First I found the left over duck stew sauce and the left over peanut sauce, combined them with a little extra water and started it boiling. First to go in was the garlic, followed by the carrot, then that odd shaped vegetable, the kohlrabi. Those were the items that needed cooking the longest. Next to go in was the celery and then the spring onions followed by one big chopped tomato. After another ten minutes or so I added the frozen meatballs, store bought I’m afraid and then ten minutes after that the noodles. Despite the mixing of the two leftover sauces I still had to add a dash of fish sauce and a sprinkle of soy sauce to get the taste just right. We enjoyed it, ate all the meatballs and noodles, but there’s enough of the soup left for tomorrow, for Huan’s breakfast and for two bowls of ‘whizzed’ soup at lunchtime.

March 7^th At twenty past eleven yesterday morning our new mirrors left Sanya en route to Wuzhishan. According to the progress chart they arrived here at half past eight this morning, quite a long time for not such a long journey. Expecting delivery sometime this morning my first job was to remove the old bathroom lights and prepare.

We were wrong and the mirrors didn’t arrive until after lunch. Still, that is much better than some of the horror stories I read about people in the UK taking time off work to meet the delivery man, the plumber, the repair man etc. Even better for us today was the fact that the delivery man actually came right up to the apartment, happy times for me.

I needed Huan’s help at times today but she still managed some shots.

And here is the first one done, the guest bathroom.

Moving on to our bathroom, Huan still managed to capture me.

And here it is, another couple of photos may appear once it gets dark outside.

It’s dark, the mirrors do their job well, much better than they appear to do in these two photos. The boss is happy which means I am too, job finished. Who knows, I may even decide to use ours to have a shave tomorrow!

March 8^th I must admit it was good to have a mirror in the bathroom again and I did have a shave in front of it this morning. Huan is pleased. Today’s destination was the usual Saturday one, the markets, to buy our weekend dinner. First though, a little bird we saw on the way, one that both of us thought was too far to snap.

The market was busy but not as much as recently. Maybe some of our snowbirds have already begun their return migration. While Huan braved what crowds there were, I found a quieter way, at least until we went under the main road bridge.

Huan was intrigued by this stall; these are all kinds of Chinese medicinal products.

She was particularly interested in this one, (the second photo is a seed that she already had in the house). Neither of us is sure of the Chinese name but it appears to originate from the East coast of Africa and is then carried via ocean tides to all sorts of places including tropical Asia.

This one piqued my interest, mostly because I do sometimes cook with Chinese farmed yams. Mind you, they look nothing like this monster which is a wild yam.

This is what we were looking for today. Despite being out earlier than we usually are on a Saturday we were very lucky, these were the last pieces available.

All we had to do after that was buy our salad makings. On the way to do that we heard another bit of birdsong, again from on high. We tried!

Shopping done it was time to head for home, another Saturday bit the dust!

March 9^th Ah, Sunday. “The Sabbath is observed on the first day of the week, also known as the Lord's Day. Some Christians observe a strict Sabbath, avoiding recreational activities. Other Christians observe a Sabbath that emphasizes rest and worship, but does not forbid recreational activities.” This Christian, a mostly non-practicing one, decided we would in fact have a day of rest with no recreational activities apart from TV for Huan and PC for me. I did try and take a photo of birds from the balcony though, not very successfully.

March 10^th And so we come back to Monday and another weekly shop. Initially we had planned to go to Sanya today to check on our apartment progress before going to Haikou on Wednesday to see the doctor. Huan told me that we can’t go to Sanya before Tuesday so I asked her to postpone the doctor until next week. I didn’t fancy driving to Sanya and back one day and then driving to Haikou the next day. In my younger years I would have relished the idea, not so much now. I’m sure one more week can’t be too much of a problem.

After lunch I let Huan have a nap but I went for a stroll. I’ve noticed that on the days I don’t walk my leg plays up a little more so not having walked yesterday today was a must. I didn’t go far, turned right out of the back gate and headed for the road to somewhere. Looking at this view you wouldn’t think it is probably less than four years since they transplanted these trees to here. Already we are reaping the benefit, especially on sunny days.

Here’s another view across the river for you.

And here’s yet another view upriver from the bridge. I’m sure it will all look very pretty once it is completed but it is very difficult to see what they are planning from what we can see.

With having no photos yesterday I was doing my best today, for you and for the chief.

Staring intently into the bush where we had seen the beautiful snake, and talking to myself at the same time, I almost missed this little fellow. I actually managed to get reasonably close before he decided to scarper. I wonder what he thought of my musings.

I tried twice more to get Huan some birdies, not very easy when they are far away. Both of these photos are very heavily cropped.

Would you believe that we have never seen this sign before? Because of where it is we think it may have been there since before work started to make Little Island into the park it is now. It is certainly not an easy spot to get to if you fancy having a BBQ there!

On my way home I had to pass by the gate and pick up our latest express delivery, hopefully our last one before we start our travels again. This was a new shower curtain for our bathroom.

Just after that photo was taken Huan went crazy again. She is included in this one, unfortunately she is hardly moving at all.

And here I am finishing the job, and the week, at the same time.

And on that note we will sign off, look forward to seeing you all back here next week when we will tell you if we are going to Haikou. Hopefully we will! Until then, tatty bye!