August 12th No alarm needed this morning, our first job was at ten o’clock, stick needles in Bob again! Huan’s late breakfast was egg and rice porridge, mine was fried noodles.
Being early after breakfast we went and got yesterday’s MRI results. There were four slides and one print out. It’s very efficient, just show the machine your code. PS If you need a bag to carry them, you need to buy one so go during working hours.
Then it was back to the nuclear medicine building where they injected me with some radioactive trace material that sticks to cancer. Will I be joining the Marvel universe soon?
And this little bit of bad translation always amuses me on the way out.
We have to go back at three thirty this afternoon so we had a little walk before lunch down the main road. Storm water drain construction is still in progress, it must be a big job.
As we approached the shopping centre, Huan found birds, this is mostly the same one of course.
Outside the shopping centre was a little windmill, we are not sure why.
We left disappointed, the basement supermarket has closed down. Back to the hotel we went stopping for lunch on the way.
Did you
guess right? Yes, it was one of our very rare visits to any American fast-food
franchise, this time KFC. We both had a small burger, it was not cheap. Not
being a regular in these types of places I was quite surprised to see that
tables were not being cleared, either by customers or staff, at least while we
were there. The floor was also in need of a good clean. All done, we did the
same as we always do and found the rubbish and tray receptacle. Most fast-food
chains do have them, even here in
Back in the hotel Huan had a nap, I did the photography work and followed the hospital’s instruction to drink and pee lots of water!
Back in the torture building just after three and sent for just after three thirty.
Then I was strapped in and the machine did a slow 360º rotation before we started. Huan tried to get one last photo as the door was closing.
Huan was so relieved when I came out that she forgot to take any photos. We went from there to the blood lab to collect yesterday’s results, she forgot to take photos there too. Her brain is more than likely working overtime at the moment and I can’t really get her to just relax more. The blood results show some anomalies, we’ll get them explained tomorrow after we pick up the CT results and present them all to Dr. Liáng.
We had a walk before dinner, through a little park and through the villa area.
When we found a restaurant we fancied, the first thing I wanted was a cold, sweet, fizzy drink. All that drinking water and then getting rid of it had given me an odd taste in my mouth. I think this is the Chinese version of Mirinda, it did the job anyway.
As for our dinners, Huan’s was definitely the better one. I should not have listened to the owner’s recommendation. Don’t get me wrong, my chicken legs were A1, I’m just not a fan of the veggies I had. We both cleared our plates though.
Back to the hotel we went, showers all round, PC work for me, phone for Huan, and then an early night before an alarming start again tomorrow.
August 13th After a lousy night’s sleep, mostly due to the room temperature not being stable, at least as far as I could tell, we were awake before the dreaded alarm. I suppose that could be seen as a good thing. Breakfast is bereft of evidence, we forgot. I had a pork bread and Huan had something called 拌面, Bàn miàn – noodles in a sauce.
We then picked up yesterday’s scan results and then with all the results from yesterday too headed off to see Dr. Liáng. Huan had been worried about things she didn’t understand from the MRI report, and why some blood readings were wrong. I was also worried about the blood readings and the two black marks on the CT scan report. I did not Google at all yesterday; I think Huan still did some searching on her phone. Although I had not voiced my worries, they were there. Luckily, Dr. Liáng knows more than we do! He gave me an (almost) clean bill of health. My cancer has not disappeared and probably never will but it is stable. I just have to keep going with the hormone treatments and all should be fine. The next visit will be in November when I will have another PSA test and another ‘needle in the belly’.
All I had to do was collect three months of female hormones, tablet version, and then we would be on our way. Here I am at the pharmacy having already paid, and then proudly showing the little pills that will make me a woman!!
Hospital stuff over and done with it was time for shopping stuff. The first port of call was ‘The Grocery’, not much was bought there. The choices seem to be reducing these days. From there we headed off to the HCC centre, still not a very busy place.
What on earth are they trying to say here?
And could this possibly be the culprit?
We bought a lot more here, so much so that I had to use my bank card! What with the hospital bills too there goes another two month’s pension. Still, the good thing is no more hospital bills for a while, touch wood etc.
We ate on the way home, and forgot to take photos yet again. Huan had a肉夹馍, rou jia mo and I had a terrible sausage wrap. I guess it stopped us falling asleep in the car. As we continued I asked Huan to take a few pictures of our journey home, just for something to include in the Blog. She took over one hundred! Needless to say I edited a lot out and collaged the rest.
Our plan had been to eat out tonight but with the weather not improving we finished off some hard cheddar from our last foray up north and just had sandwiches. No photos!
August 14th It felt good to be back home again. Mind you, we didn’t fancy any walks in the countryside today so we stuck to the riverside and town. As we crossed Little Island with vain hopes of spotting lizards I did my good deed for the day and helped a Grandma.
We tried desperately to find subjects for you to peruse today, mostly unsuccessfully.
Scenery is always good though,
and of course we can always rely on car art.
The tourist dragon boat was still moored at the side of the river. One of these days we will have to pop down in the evening and give it a go.
I offered my help again, this time to two grandmas and a child. One was taking photos and I thought they might like one all together. I ended up taking the same portrait as the original phone user but closer. The lady seemed pleased enough with the result.
To try and increase the number of photos today I added a couple of random shots.
How she saw it I have no idea but Huan found a bug. There are times when I wish there was a lens that would work for normal street photography, landscapes, wildlife zooms and macros, all in one. I tried, honestly!
While looking at the last one of the day, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was three friends enjoying a splash in the river. From a distance that is what it appeared to be. Zooming in showed me that they were in fact fishing with nets. I guess they were still having fun though.
Chef Bob was back in the kitchen today, making spaghetti bobalazy. I wasn’t too lazy, they weren’t ramen noodles. The ingredients were all things we had available, minced pork from the freezer, an onion and a garlic bulb from the fridge, a can of kidney beans from the food cupboard, some spice powder, fennel seeds and seasonings from the seasoning cupboard. Throw it all together and you have a lovely meal despite having a nearly empty fridge! We both scoffed the lot and thought photos were not necessary, sorry!
August 15th “Let’s go to Camelot, and visit the Lady of the
The path is getting overgrown but the surrounding scenery is still amazing.
Here we are approaching the end of the path and wondering what lies ahead.
Bugs lie ahead of course!
It may not have been obvious from the two previous photos but it was getting much wetter underfoot and also difficult to traverse the path. As we reached this point we realised that we could no longer go the way we used to and turned back on ourselves.
And just look at the view backwards; you’d never guess we were so near the town.
We found an alternate route where Huan climbed over the small fence first and then once I was over I peered ahead to find a continuation of said path.
The path led to the irrigation pipeline which we crossed to find the road.
Our plan was to walk through the construction site and out towards the villas on the lake. That is not the same lake as the lady of the lake. The construction site has been closed off, probably another project that has run into a problem with financing.
We found a way in; it would appear that not much has happened since our last visit. There was security at that time though and we had to plead to pass through. This time there was nobody.
Having found our way in the next problem was finding a way out. The basement was flooded and there seemed to be no way from there to the road at the rear. Eventually though, Huan spotted the way, an old construction walkway.
This ‘stitched’ photo was taken from somewhere in the region of where the lady in the lake used to be. I don’t know why they decided to move her, she would have looked good in this spot, especially as she was looking at the building.
The old bridge is still there, still with a stream running below it, and still leading to nowhere.
The going then turned out to be quite soggy underfoot,
and out on the other side we ran across a metal tent camp. I know it’s not really, in fact it is some kind of cement works again, at least that is what Huan was told.
This next one is something we found on a wall, all about the plants and wildlife in Wuzhishan. We are going to try and get an original that we can scan, or maybe the file they made it with. Until we do, you will have to click to enlarge and then translate somehow.
Just down the road we found one that is
not on that list at all, a hairless big footed chicken! It could be imported I
suppose. Google tells me that it is a Dong Tao chicken from
Back on the main road and crossing it in a hurry due to not being able to stop I took a lot of photos without looking what I was doing with the intention of getting at least one view back into town. I ended up stitching another panorama for you, hope you like it.
Almost back where we started, at the bus stop, we spotted the farmer taking his cows out. As they were crossing the road this was not the time to try and stop them for a chat!
From cows we go to cats, or one cat anyway. This one seemed to remember me.
And we finish our morning’s walk with some more car art. I had to explain the first one to Huan. Maybe someone can explain the second one to me. He shared the car with the four baby international footballers but you’ve seen them before. The third one, the collage, is all from one car. The top two were easy, the bottom two not so easy as there wasn’t enough room between the two cars. You can also see that having big stickers does not stop someone scraping your car.
We were shattered when we got home, almost eight kilometres this morning if you add in the to and the from the bus. What’s more, after lunch, naps and coffee we had to go out again. Well, I say had to, we don’t really have to do anything, except visit hospitals! Anyway, I had told Huan that I would treat her to dinner out tonight and that we would buy the weekend salad meat while we were out. Pork in hand we went to Uncle Ma’s, for the first time.
These were our tokens. Can you guess which
one was Huan’s? She likes hers spicier than me in these places, which is odd
because I like my curries spicier than hers. There is quite a difference in the
heat quotient of spicy in
Now when it comes to our dinners I feel I should have added something to the photos to give you an idea of size. It’s too late now of course. The first dish is mine, it was enormous, that’s why my dinner seems lost in the middle, the second was my mix of extras. That is a small bowl not much wider than a tennis ball. Huan’s is the third dish; her bowl was a lot smaller than mine but a lot bigger than the ‘tennis bowls’. All in all it was a good meal, definitely a place worth returning too. Prices were also good, considering how much meat I piled on!
On the way home, walking like a bloated whale, I found cats and dogs galore and of course Huan had to take photos of them all. It is late at night now and I can’t be bothered with even more collages so here they all are. Number one is new kittens and their mother. Number two is someone who can definitely smell the pork in the bag! Number three is just happy to say hello. Number four is another Dodo, not the one who lives downstairs. Normally this one would run down to welcome me then go back up to sit with his Dad. Today he was too tired to even get off his chair; the eyeball look summed him up best today.
And that brings us to the end of a busy day, with too much walking, over twelve kilometres today. Still, maybe it’s not such a bad thing anymore. Huan’s already fast asleep, time for me to join her. Tomorrow is market day, usually an easier day!
August 16th Another Saturday means another market day, not that we needed much today, just a cucumber and some cherry tomatoes. On the way I just had to take this photo, I think I can just about sit comfortably on this one, most are too short. Mind you, this is a Vespa!
With the skies being overcast today we had left the camera at home. That didn’t stop Huan from trying to find things to snap though. Here is her goose, and not to be outdone my gaggle! PS If you were curious at all the ones in the truck were ¥100.00 each.
I met a few furry friends today; Huan missed most of them or couldn’t get the right shot. Here I was asking the little guy if he was helping his Mum do the shopping. His name 吉祥, Jíxiáng, means auspicious or lucky.
As you know it is the middle of August, when snowbirds are all supposed to be back up North. We have been wondering why the market seems just as crowded as every winter week. One of Huan’s friends told her that this year, mainlanders decided that travelling to nearby countries in the holidays was far too hot and Wuzhishan was a better choice. I think they chose wisely although what we need now is for the tourism authorities to understand and react.
Now then, what’s going on here? I was a little worried that the peacock’s bits were being used for some kind of Chinese medicine. Huan told me that they were selling medicine made from a hundred varieties of grass and that the peacock was just to get people to stop and see. I have to apologise for the picture, it’s pretty bad.
Part of the riverside market is held on
what we call
We finish today’s market walk with two photos of Huan’s cropped down a little so that you can see them better. The little old lady is preparing bamboo shoots for sale.
By now I thought we had everything we needed but Huan decided I should cook beef one day this week and she also wanted to visit the indoor market. More for me to carry!
August 17th Rain stopped play!
August 18th Rain stopped play again. It didn’t stop shopping though. For some reason it did stop napping, neither of us fell asleep this afternoon. Finally, it didn’t stop cooking. This was dinner, minor modifications; check the ‘mise en place’ ingredients. Top left bowl is carrot and green bell pepper, top right bowl is one whole onion and one whole garlic, bottom bowl is the beef which has been marinating in the fridge since Saturday morning.
Here it is, almost done in the wok.
Finally here is Huan’s, then mine, then the cheapo red wine, roughly four quid for six bottles, three red and three white. They are small, a one meal only size. Luckily Huan is not a fan.
So, another week bites the dust but with a glow in the sunset. It feels good to know that the cancer has not got any worse and that it is now under control. That means I can still bore you every week with my diatribe and pictures. Aren’t you the lucky ones? See ya!
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