Another Wet Weekend!

August 26^th The typhoon was way past Hainan when we woke up this morning, it was bothering Vietnam before it would eventually fizzle out. Rain was still present in copious quantities though but it did eventually stop just before ten o’clock.

If you look carefully at that scene you may spot a new beach, a disappeared wall, footpaths coming back into existence and although you can’t see them some unlucky fishes stranded in puddles. I’m not quite sure how that happens but we saw people outside last night with torches doing a spot of very easy fishing.

After two days of being confined indoors we decided that at least a walk around the town was on the cards, check out the local aftermath. Huan pointed out a huddle of beasties on the wall. Were they trying to avoid the rain too?

The next two buttresses provided more wee creatures. This always happens when we leave the camera at home. We didn’t know how soon the rain would return.

Just to rub it in we then were just out of reach for a little bird on the mudflats. Reaching the bridge to our little island we found that it had been roped off. Maybe the powers that be thought the flow would have been enormous. Mind you, the lower parts of the island had been submerged yesterday so people would have been in danger of being swept away. Always better to be safe than sorry.

Not going over the island meant that we met Zhào dé at his place of work. He had been peering over the gates at a pool of stranded fish. Dummy me forgot to take a picture of them!

We popped into the indoor market where mushrooms were still not available, maybe tomorrow or Thursday we’ll be more successful. Because we were walking today we saw a fallen tree that we had not seen yesterday. No cars park in here which is just as well because it was a big tree. Nature is a powerful force, especially when you consider how far away we were from the storm. It didn’t make landfall in Hainan at all, just brushed past. Sanya, as you can probably guess, had a lot more damage. Thankfully, as of now, no fatalities have been reported.

It doesn’t take long for life to return to normal, tea shops were back in business.

Meanwhile on the other side of the river another new beach had been created, some of the recent beautification work had been damaged and a tree had made a journey from upriver somewhere.

Some minor damage could be seen as we walked back home along yesterday’s flooded street.

A friend came out to say hello and gave Huan a big smile!

By the time we reached our place I was really regretting not having the camera!

My disappointment at my own failure then peaked when Huan found a lizard. I took a few photos but these two are; the first one, from when she pointed it out; the second one from the other side of the tree and rotated so that you can see it better.

All that was left was for Huan to say hello to Dodo. She did it just so that we could have another photo for the day. Usually I am the dog whisperer!

August 27^th Good morning! It would appear that we have nice weather again today.

Thinking that the going could still be soggy in countryside areas we decided to try a walk along lizard alley and on the way we both took far too many photos. There was still damage in places although a clear up was in progress. For some reason the spray truck was out as well. Huan thought it may have been bug spraying but there was no smell on my wet arm.

Huan found us a lizard before we turned off the main street.

A clean up was underway down here too.

Around the corner we needed two views, one downriver and one upriver.

We were walking on the upper pathway because we correctly assumed that the lower one would have been underwater during the storm and probably not cleaned up yet. Lizards of course are usually found on the upper walkway.

I then made a mistake and suggested to Huan that she take a few snaps of me on the wall so that I could make a gif. She took far too many so I made two gifs. Take your pick!

Remember the stepping stones in the videos? There was no chance of using them today.

Down on the lower walkway we could see some damage to the balustrade as well as vegetation galore. Lots of Hainan ladies were cleaning up. I mentioned to them how strong they were and thanked them for their efforts.

Crossing the bridge back into town we saw that all the tourist boats were high and dry.

Across the road we briefly parted ways, I found another clean-up crew and Huan found some more fallen trees. This has definitely been the worst storm we have experienced here. Mind you, windows and buildings are still fine; it’s really only nature that has suffered.

By now Lizard Alley was quite a way behind us but Huan still managed to find more!

Before turning away from the river two more upriver and downriver shots were needed.

Two more snaps to finish a long day of photography, more damage in a local park and the growth of a new island in our little river basin.

We quite enjoyed our riverside walk and also our afternoon naps. Rain and thunder came back after coffee but all we had to do was stay in and watch it. Once this post was done I heaved myself into the kitchen and cooked some pork chops with mashed potato and beans. (Some dummy, who shall be nameless but isn’t the boss, ordered five tins of beans from Taobao not realising we already had two in the cupboard! Photos not needed.

August 28^th For some reason the C-in-C was up at half past five this morning; far too early for retired folk if you ask me. When I got up the mist was still quite heavy and it looked a lot like rain. As it happens rain didn’t appear so I went for a solo walk while Huan stayed at home. I would love to say she stayed and rested but she didn’t, she baked more bread. My first stop was the repair man, I gave him an old android pad; he likes old stuff.

Then a walk around the shopping streets showed that our little town was just about back to normal, people going about their daily business again.

Do you ever wonder, as I do, where all the birds, bugs, snakes, lizards and other creatures disappear to when the storms come around? Today the birds were back, I could hear them all over the place. Unfortunately they were mostly small and up in the trees where I could occasionally spot them fluttering about but not settled on one branch for a photo-op.

The clean-up along the riverside road seemed to be well under way.

More pesky birds were taunting me again so I had another attempt. Over the course of the morning there many more attempts but none of them worked.

As I turned the bend in the road I saw what was probably the worst destruction within the town areas. Quite possible there will be no market on Saturday. We’ll still try though. At least four ‘shops’ have been flattened here.

You may remember in previous posts that a school on this road had suffered a landslide. This time that had no problems at all.

Just before I crossed the bridge to return down the other side I spotted a lot of students cleaning up the small fallen branches and leaves. They were all girls and I wondered where the boys were. They turned out to be down below clearing the mud off the riverside path.

As I was walking on the top path I had no mud problems. I did have to avoid one or two trees that had fallen down though. On this side people were working in the road too, clearing away fallen branches and cutting larger trees.

A lot of the people that you see putting things to right are volunteers. We used to see the same thing in Harbin when hordes of people would turn out to clear the ice and snow. This is something that we don’t tend to see in the UK so much where people believe that it is the local government’s job to clear up the mess.

Don’t tell Huan, but I had an unhealthy NAAFI break just across the road from here, that’s the second one this month!

That of course is the new water gate control room. This is how the gates look now. Hopefully the ones you can’t see are fully lowered and hopefully they were put into that position before the full force of the river came through. We’ll check on Saturday, if I remember.

I had come back the same way that I had left so that I could go to the market for those missing mushrooms. That gave me an opportunity to show you more ‘back to normal’.

The market was back to normal and they had button mushrooms today. I also bought another thirty double yolk eggs. PS Last week we had one with three inside. I should have taken a photo before sticking it in Huan’s noodles.

This is not a new sign, just one that we have never really noticed before. The first part is 漫水桥, màn shuǐ qiáo, translates as flood bridge. The second part is 滨河步道, bīnhé bùdào, translates as riverside trail. That means the sign is fairly accurate although I do prefer ‘submersible bridge’. It was certainly submerged over the storm time, its top surface has now disappeared again.

Nearer home the fishermen were hopeful.

And for the last one of the day, well Huan is always bemused that Dodo can make himself lie so flat on the floor. I thought she would appreciate this, and lo and behold, she did!

August 29^th Depression strikes again. No, don’t worry, it is not me or my lovely lady, it is another one of those depressions that usually starts over the ocean somewhere. This one has no name yet, just a number, it’s the twentieth one this year. It’s pretty weak so far, 55kph winds, but typhoon warnings have been issued and more rain has arrived. The rain is pretty weak too but it does stop us going walkies. I got up to the rain and to the sight of someone trying to misuse my tools so I had to step in and misuse them myself!

That was my morning. Despite no walkies, we still had naps.

After coffee I cooked dinner, another spaghetti a la Bob. This one was a little different if only because the noodles actually tasted like spaghetti. Huan prefers normal noodles but for this dinner I prefer this type. No photos, too lazy.

After dinner I cooked the weekend’s dinners. For a change we are not having a salad this weekend, or even a stew. For a change I thought we would have a one bowl apple cake. Hopefully we will escape tomorrow to buy some ice cream to go with it!

August 30^th So much for my promise of going to check out the market today. The rain decided to come back, all day long. We did get out before dinner to buy some fish for next week and some ice cream to go with our one bowl apple cake. Huan found me a cat!

August 31^st The computer and the sky told us to go out this morning, so we did.

More damage could be seen around the little island, not sure how they will repair it this time. Not only have the fence posts and chains disappeared but the path surface has gone too. The power of the water was very strong this time.

Here’s one that Huan thought would not work. It’s not perfect but it will do.

On to the school corner where nearly all of the greenery has disappeared. Many of our local mountains are made of sandstone I believe so having the worst rains for forty years washed a lot of them away. The school is not near the edge and hopefully has deep foundations.

Today must have been my lucky day; I also found the first lizard.

Down at the river it looks very much like the ‘gates’ are in trouble. A gang of workmen was in the water removing the rubble off the top by hand.

Walking along the riverside we could hear those birds again but they were all too small, too high and too quick. On our way back up towards the main road however, we found a bird, one that we could easily take photographs of. I only took a few.

Huan on the other hand took millions! Look what a poser the bird is, it never took its eyes off the camera the whole time Huan was busy snapping.

Here’s another lizard that eagle eyes missed today.

And here am I, chatting to another bird.

We diverged from each other for a short while where I managed to find another bird.

I suggested to Huan that we cross the road just in case there was a skink on top of the fence again. She agreed. It was a good decision but not for seeing a skink. As soon as we crossed I found another lizard on the hedgerow, this one holding its dinner.

Finally Huan got her sighting and I managed to get one shot off before the lizard in question disappeared into the depths of the greenery.

And that was it for the Sunday, the day of rest. We got back home as the skies began to darken and as promised by the PC the heavens opened around one in the afternoon. At least we got our exercise and fresh air for the day!

September 1^st Shopping day and the sun is out too! Never mind, winter will soon be here with endless sunny days and not a lot of wet stuff. The only photos today are our dinner. I have included the recipe but to be honest all I used were the ingredients for the soup and I did it all in a pan. The sweet potatoes were boiled earlier. I did fry the garlic, onions and (what we call) leeks in the wok. Once the frying was done I put those ingredients into a pan, brought it to a boil and let them simmer until just about cooked. The sweet potatoes were then added for the final bubble before the spices and the cheese. No dressings were added.

So what was it like, what with not following the recipe and not having croutes either? Instead of croutes we had some Russian bread we found in Baijiahui, it wasn’t so good. It was a little stale and had fruit in it. However, being me I had also bought some cheap Harbin red sausages so I sliced one of them up for us too. Both of us enjoyed every morsel and probably ate too much!

So a new month starts today, what ‘kind of September’ will it be? We’ll just have to wait and see at this end and you’ll have to tune in every Monday at that end. PS Tom Jones wrote the lyrics to the song I am referring to “Try to remember”. I don’t mean the famous Welsh one but another famous one, from America. The music was composed by Harvey Schmidt. It’s amazing what you can learn from this internet thing. And on that note, toodle-oo for now.