April 22nd Needless to say we are still in Haikou! This morning the doctors had a very long meeting so we didn’t get to chat with Dr. Liáng before we went out. Huan had a bus trip plan and I had a ‘day in the life’ video plan, we combined them. We took the #71 bus over the bridge, got off at the Chinese Medicine Hospital and began our walk. As often happens, we got diverted, first of all into a small park.
Almost immediately I did my good Samaritan bit by helping a young lady lift her moped.
And again, almost straight after that, we got diverted once more. We found a river, with a path alongside it, and a bird on a rock!
The riverside walk was really nice, much better than ours in Wuzhishan. Should we move house? Mind you, there are no mountains here and it is a bit chilly in the winter months.
We continued under this bridge, nice and cool under there.
The path carried on going so we did too.
Before the next bridge, and much to Huan’s delight, we spotted a snake. He also spotted us so my photos did not turn out so well.
We had been observing that the river looked very clean, although we had seen a couple of dead fish and a couple of dead frogs. Nearly everywhere the water was clear enough to see the bottom. At the next bridge, we found some of the cleaners.
Also at the next bridge we found a map. It appeared that we had walked two kilometres along the river, there were another eight to reach the source? It is marked in yellow on the map. We decided that this was not something we could do today and is probably not something we should try until my bones are nice and strong again.
On our way back we found another of those wee birdies. These two photos are the same bird, first at one side of the river close to us, and then on the other side in a tree. Only the colouring gives it away, they don’t look the same size at all.
We had missed a squirrel on the way around but Huan’s day was made when she found a lizard.
As for me, I found a WC and wondered if this sign should worry me!
Before the bus stop Huan found a place for us to eat, another hole-in-the-wall restaurant, and then we went back to our temporary home. As usual I got zapped in the afternoon. To finish our day we ate at the hospital greasy spoon so that I could finish my video. In fact, the last segment was filmed by Huan herself back in our room. If you want to see what a typical day looks like in a Chinese hospital then go here: https://youtu.be/bm4_At9gYtM
PS I don’t eat breakfast; normal people do and nine times out of ten will go to the hospital food area. Soup noodles and fried noodles are available along with rice soup etc.
April 23rd One of the side effects of being zapped is “skin irritation, redness, and darkening in the treatment area”. Of course I was expecting to see this somewhere on my left hip, but that was not to be. Instead, I got in my groin! I think I need to study exactly how radiotherapy works. Don’t worry, no photos of side effects will be forthcoming. I mentioned the ‘problem’ to Dr. Liáng and his #2 Dr. Féng who both had a look and confirmed that it was caused by the zapping. Medication would be provided later in the day.
Lunch was taken by the river again, sweetcorn and eggs plus a little sweet potato each. Walking back along the boardwalk Huan decided she needed a photo of me. I am trying to tell her to focus on the trees where she may find birds.
Back at the ward the medication was waiting, a small spray bottle to be used once a day. Today I used it after my treatment. From tomorrow I will change it to after dinner when we are not going to be leaving the hospital for any reason. Man has to eat so we always leave the ward in the evening and most days the hospital too. We found birds today but we didn’t have the camera with us, the first is my phone, the second is Huan’s.
We found a restaurant serving traditional Muslim specialities.
I had to run upstairs to the little boy’s room so Huan ordered for us. The left two photos are hers, mixed meat with innards soup and plain bread, the right two are mine, lamb soup with meat filled bread. The centre one is kimchi, for Huan. Sometimes I don’t mind it but doctor’s orders are nothing spicy so I dutifully followed his instructions.
Walking home we found a Porsche which I thought was a lovely colour, hence the photo.
This week’s weather has been scorching, thirty-four/five degrees, with the forecast of rain on Friday. Someone didn’t get their homework right, we just about scraped through the door of our building before the heavens opened.
In fact the rain was so heavy that it had come through our windows and we had to ask for clean ‘dry’ sheets for my bed. The rain was short and sweet though, within half an hour it was gone.
April 24th The day before my treatments began Dr. Liáng had explained what the likely side effects would be, I won’t bother listing them here again. We have now been here for thirty-eight days and today was the twenty fourth session. For the first twenty-one I had no real side effects to speak of, nothing to worry about, life was one big holiday. Now I am getting worried, walks may need to be substantially reduced as the treatment nears its final phase.
Today though we still ventured forth!
It was a warm day; in fact it was a very warm day. Even the little crabs didn’t come out to play.
Huan’s plan was another bus‘n’walk day to visit a small park. There are times when I really do wish that I could read Chinese like a local but that is never to be I’m afraid. Did you know that we only have 26 characters, (the letters of the alphabet) where China has over 50,000. Not all of them have to be memorised of course but you certainly need more than I know! Anyway, the plan failed and we ended up down near the sea channel again. Here we have three temples all in the same compound, with even more nearby.
Outside there a small shrine.
By now we were both very hot and bothered so Huan forfeited her plan and said that we would visit Qilou again, to check on an art shop we had seen. First this is what Qilou buildings look like when you can see them on their own.
Birds were in the air!
This looks like graffiti but is not, it is an advert.
Soon we found the place we were looking for. You might just notice that it is a collage. Well, once again far too many photos were taken so I will have to create collages. Fear not though, I will show you a few of the items on display.
So, what shall we show you? Let’s start off with the dancing villagers.
This is a family out for a walk. The only thing unusual for us is seeing the leash on the dog.
This is a scene that we have never witnessed!
This was one of my favourites, a scene we have seen many times.
We found one that wasn’t quite finished, or we didn’t think it was anyway. A little tweaking on the computer and she looks fine.
I don’t know if Hainan has a tradition of mermaid mythology, or whether or not this sculpture has anything to do with the island, but I liked it.
For the rest you will have to click and enlarge this next photo, preferably on a desktop with a large monitor, just like mine.
In the next place we saw a lot of wooden crafts, they sold coffee too but I thought it was better to give that a miss. Huan asked me to take this, she never knew me when I (tried) smoking a pipe!
Around the back we found a coffee shop, not open, with ‘Veranda Gallery’. What they had inside I cannot tell you but these two pieces outside intrigued us.
The last place we visited before getting on the bus back to our little hospital on our little island was the tourist centre. It has moved from where it used to be, a better location now I think, and it seems to have improved considerably. It still doesn’t have any English translations though. Here I am playing with the interactive map.
Lunch was a take-away eaten in the room, we were both very hot and bothered. After that Huan had a little nap, I did the usual with far too many photos. After my afternoon session and a short break, it was time to consider dinner. The sky had darkened considerably so we didn’t go far and took two umbrellas with us. Our destination was yet another hospital greasy spoon, here’s the grub. Huan’s is on the right, mine is on the left.
Luck was with us tonight. The heavens opened as we were eating, and by golly did they open. Just like yesterday though it was over in no time so the umbrellas didn’t get used. Back ‘home’ we went and settled in for yet another lazy evening away from our real home.
April 25th This morning I made an executive decision; we would not be going out anywhere. I just felt too tired. It could be the treatment or it could be that I was up twice in the night for a wee. Mind you, that can be caused by the treatment too.
Drs. Liáng and Féng came in on their rounds, they told me I was to have another injection today, to help my bones. I suppose I should be thankful they didn’t tell me yesterday.
Huan went out while we were waiting, she had to pick up some more bottled water from the express delivery place and she bought our lunch at the same time. Not only was she lucky enough to find a lizard but she was back in time to record the injection which, more thanks given, was to be a drip. Here is the lizard.
And back at the ward, here is the nurse getting things ready for me.
Next in the series is the little baby receiving the needle!
That is followed by an extremely brave fellow working under pressure!
In the afternoon I was in the ‘chamber’ a little longer than usual, nothing serious though. My only worry was that the nurse had told me that I should drink more water to help with this bone strengthening medication. Once I was out it was a mad dash to the nearest available WC!
With dark skies all around we decided to only go as far as the hospital greasy spoons for dinner. Last night Huan had seen noodles that she fancied, after we had already got our dinners and sat down. Consequently, we visited the same place today. No noodles for me though.
April 26th The Prime Minister planned a ‘bus‘n’walk’ again today, to visit Haikou People’s Park. We have been there (years) before but I had no objections to a return visit. Her plan was to take the #5 bus to the terminal, pay again and then take the same bus to the park. Unfortunately that didn’t work out, the last stop was a bus depot and not a bus station. Not to worry we found another bus that would take us the same way. Two children got on after us and realising we were speaking English the little boy moved seats so that he could chat to us. It seems that he goes to an International school and teaches his sister when he goes home.
Arriving at the park we found that it was much noisier than during our last visit. Perhaps that one was in the summer when the snowbirds had migrated north. Almost every little space had something going on, music or dancing.
It was still possible to take photos with no crowds though.
One thing that we didn’t see last time was this dragon. I had to ‘stitch’ this photo because I couldn’t get fer enough away to fit it in the frame with the camera or the phone. Note the two dragons in the second photo.
The park is very beautiful but it does consist of more than just scenery and I would be remiss if I didn’t show more. This is 寿星, shòuxīng, also known as “Old man of the South Pole’. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_the_South_Pole
That’s not to say that I won’t also show you the scenery! Being a Saturday the park was very busy today but we still found quiet places to walk.
This part was so quiet that Huan found a squirrel.
More scenery for you, and why not?
It seems that I share something in common with Hainan, we both have a birthday of 1950. “Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Hainan” – “Building a new era and moving forward on a new journey.”
From birthdays to tofu which I’m sure you’ve all heard of. Well, the best tofu used to be made from well water way back when.
Huan’s day is not complete it she doesn’t see her fair share of wildlife!
And here we both are, sitting on a rock, one by one that is.
This park also has a nice lake, sad to say that there is no boating though.
Huan was haring off in front of me to see an opera show, I had to stop and snap this.
This is what Huan had gone ahead to watch. I arrived and started taking a video just as Huan said she wanted to move on. She explained that she couldn’t understand anything, it may have been Cantonese or Hainanese. After briefly giving her a hard time about that we both moved on, the volume was far too loud.
Let’s brighten Huan’s day with some birdies, my favourite is the duck!
It was time to leave the park for a while and look for lunch. That was easier said than done, we ended up in streets with no sign of food.
Going around in a big circle we ended up where we had left the lake and then turned the other way. We found a place almost immediately. Conveniently, for me, they had a picture of fried rice on the wall so that was me sorted. Huan had wonton noodle soup.
Back in the lake we headed towards the buildings on the island in the middle.
The views were still gorgeous.
As for the buildings, there were three of them, but all were locked and unused.
Huan, in her role as director, chose this shot.
And then it was my turn again.
What was I doing here? Creating another panorama of course.
There was more scenery but I found a butterfly instead.
Huan then found a male lizard that she thinks was stalking the female. I tried my best but getting near was no so easy and eventually the female did a runner.
These little birds on the other had let us get quite close.
By now we were at the other end of the lake where is disappears into the town. This is the view looking back to where we had started.
Going back along the left bank in the above photo we found quite a lot to see, too much in fact, so we are back to collages. Information is missing but is on our computer. The last one would have looked better if they were not working on the road behind the structure. Sorry!
Before leaving th park we were once again back to birds.
We left by the North Entrance, there are others if you are going by bus. Is the park worth visiting? Absolutely. Plan to spend a whole day if you want to see it all, maybe take a picnic with you.
By the time we got back to the hospital we were both tired again. One of the treatment’s side effects is supposed to be tiredness. I’m not sure how that works but I can certainly vouch for its veracity. No sleep for me though, I had over two hundred photos to upload, sort and edit!
In the evening, we went to the street market for dinner. On the way we passed a lizard that really appeared to be watching the boys play basketball. Wouldn’t it be good to know what they are thinking, lizards that is, not boys. Huan asked me to try and shake his hand, I failed!
Dinner was dumplings and a little vegetable dish for ‘goodness’.
Let’s finish the day with cars, shall we? I liked the first one because of the clever use of the Honda logo and the second one because we are in the year of the snake.
April 27th Ah Sunday, the day of rest. Not today it wasn’t, the doctors came around because this is what is known in China as a ‘catch-up’ day. With a five day holiday coming up some weekend days have to be worked either before, or after, or both. That meant that there would be a treatment this afternoon. Never mind, I spent all morning doing yesterday’s Blog post, I was far too tired to do it yesterday. I finished just after Huan came back with lunch. She also came back with a photo, a bug this time.
“Things, can only get better”, at least that is what the song says. My groin seems to be getting worse, my general aches and pains too. Added to that I now have blood coming from my rear end. Of course I am still tired most of the time too. All of this is perfectly normal and will go away, eventually. It seems it may take weeks after the treatment is over!
Life goes on and we went out shopping for loo roll, snacks and dinner. Who is this guy?
Whoever he is, he is obviously not as rich as the owner of this particular beast. I spotted it from the restaurant while we were waiting for our order to be served so I had to get closer. It turned out to be a McLaren GT, costs over two million renminbi here!
Dinner was a bit of a let down after that, rice porridge for Huan and fried noodles for me.
Early night for me, lots of zzzzs I hope.
April 28th Although the treatment and its side effects are beginning to get to me, I can see an improvement in my leg. Today I put my shorts on without holding on to anything, something I have had to do because my left leg felt so weak. Light at the end of the tunnel?
We still kept to a short walk this morning, hoping to find a bird or three. Huan did find one, a nice big brown one, but I couldn’t do it justice.
We were walking along the canal banks hoping to see egrets but we were unlucky. Eventually we headed towards the street market to look for lunch. On the way we spotted this little dumpling restaurant, this photo was taken as we were leaving.
And this was our lunch, one dish each with a normal egg for Huan and a tea egg for me.
Almost ‘home’ and whilst I was looking for two or three birds chatting to each other in a tree Huan found a squirrel. Her day was made!
We got home just in time. No sooner had we changed our clothes than the rain came down. It was accompanied by rolling thunder for the next couple of hours.
We did take a photo of a bug on the corridor floor leading to the zapping room later but that doesn’t really deserve to be here. What shall we share instead? Why, dinner of course! Although the photo is here, I have to say that this is one time that neither of us enjoyed our food. The top row is Huan’s, the bottom one is mine. For Huan the ‘meat’ turned out to be offal, the ‘garlic legs’ as we call them, were undercooked. Her veggie plate was fine. For me, nothing on the left plate was cooked enough. My chicken plate was fine. We live and learn.
And so we come to the end of another week in the hospital, only six more zappings to go. Mind you, there is a five day holiday coming up so we’ll be here a few more days yet. Think about us as we will be thinking about you. Bieeeeee!
