January 20th Zzzzz….. No walkies, ergo no photos. Huan cooked, ergo no photos. Lazy day.
January 21st “Come on Bobby, get off you bum and do some exercise!” I agreed although without a great deal of enthusiasm. We planned a walk to the cemetery on the hill, not too high and not too far. Circumstances were against us, roads were blocked for construction, so we went elsewhere instead.
Huan was still happy though, she found two lizards in as many minutes.
Our route took us via the no title deed villas and the smallholdings behind and above them. There we met a pooch who supposedly knows me but wasn’t very amiable today. His mum said it was his age and she wanted a picture of us anyway.
Today we found a way from the upper path back down to the lower one.
Of course we took photos of each other, I took a couple, Huan took too many!
Soon we were out of danger but already bitten to smithereens! I did ask Huan if I could sit down for a rest, she said I couldn’t. Probably just as well, a snake could have bit my bum!
Summer may not be here yet, but today’s walk was good!
We haven’t seen one of these for a while; this one was not very colourful.
We were heading towards our back stairs so that Huan could scoot across the road to buy her lottery tickets. A panorama was called for.
On the way across I espied these three. Huan missed them. The one on the right appeared to fancy a bit of hanky panky while the one on the left seemed to have a headache!
From the other side another panorama was called for.
Of course I had forgotten that we can’t access our place this way at the moment so we still had to go though the normal entrance and walk all the way around. The office told us afterwards that this may be sorted out after Spring Festival.
Back home we had to climb the stairs again. Yes, I forgot to say at the beginning of today’s scribble that the lift is out of action again. This is while they paint the lift door surrounds, give them time to dry I suppose. I just checked outside, (22:30), and they haven’t even started painting yet, I guess we will be stepping out again tomorrow.
January 22nd It’s that time of the month
again, well it’s actually four or five days after that time. We are trying to drag
out my hormone medication until it is time to go back to
Upstairs we met a nurse with a ‘smile service’ sash. She and Huan kept telling me to shut up while I had my blood pressure taken!
Next step the doctor’s office.
Poor Dr. Shen was running into some problems today. For some reason he couldn’t get my medication to enter into the system, something about it supposed to be weekly rather than monthly. It took a phone call but he did eventually get it sorted out. While I was sat there by his desk, five other patients, all women, were standing in front of his desk. This is what happened when I decided to take a selfie!
Apart from the long time we spent in Dr. Shen’s office while he sorted things out, everything else was fairly quick today. This was me in the cashier’s queue.
This was also me checking that the received medication matched the photos on my phone!
Finally here I am being fed the bobbyfilla, I have no idea whether it works or not. We may find out next month when I have my next scan. Last night I had planned to bring a book with me for this part but this morning I forgot. Here I am showing Huan something on my Douyin account (Chinese Tik-Tok), a video of something that looks like me dancing!
This morning we had been forced to walk down the stairs again, the same thing happened when we returned home. The painter is busy, first photo 5th floor, second photo our floor.
No other walkies were had today, once up and down the stairs is enough for one day!
January 23rd No long walks in the country today, I needed to go shopping! Subjects were very lacking no matter where we searched. How about some old fishermen?
At this time of the year we can usually find snowbirds though.
Tomorrow is of course market day so I had a peep through the hoardings. I don’t think we will be going that way tomorrow but it won’t be long now, it’s looking good.
Back at our place and I spotted this. Points for whoever can spot the mistake. PS Points are worth nothing at all and do not ‘make prizes’!
All along our route today we had been hearing birds, occasionally spotting them too but well out of range of the lens or hiding behind leaves. This one was out or range and with the light in the wrong place. It doesn’t help that they all have black faces!
At the top of the hill I lost Huan, she had disappeared to find some fish.
And finally back in the house, here is my shopping. Yes, it is oil, sesame oil in fact. I needed it for today’s spell in the kitchen.
After lunch and a nap that’s where I was, in the kitchen again. Check the ingredients and you will see that I needed sesame oil again today.
I’m not sure if I could taste the sesame in the finished dish but it was nice enough. If I cooked it again I would perhaps skip the vinegar. We both enjoyed it though. Here is my plate, with a mound of rice underneath, and Huan’s breakfast ‘a la aeroplane food’.
January 24th The weather really can’t decide what it is doing here, I had to order some new slippers from Taobao last night! On the good news front the lift was working today, and we needed some stuff from the market. That was as busy as always.
Huan told me that she remembers when these milling machines were hand operated and not electrically driven as they are here. One is making peanut oil and one is making sesame oil.
We were there to buy two duck legs, for today, and two chicken legs for tomorrow.
These two reminded me of Morecambe and Wise and the ‘two old men sitting in deckchairs’ joke. I don’t believe I ever heard them quote the end of the joke. I Googled it so now I know.
No dinner photos but dinner was duck leg with micro-waved sweet potato, lovely.
January 25th I really must practice going to bed earlier! Today we had no time for morning walkies again but we did make sure we got out after lunch. For a change, and after a long period, we just took the fuel station walk. On the way we passes a place that I will definitely not be going in, not today, not tomorrow, in fact probably never!
After the fuel station we took a small detour into the place that we thought was going to be a new car testing place for the traffic police. It is still not a place that does anything although it does appear to have had an outdoor restaurant for a short time. Still, it did give us a pleasant walk and one that we have not travelled for a year or two.
This view was chosen by Huan, specifically for the many colours of foliage you can see. We live in what is called a sub-tropical climate. Just look at all those autumnal colours there.
Back on the road Huan and I compared cars. Whose do you think is best?
This walk allows us to walk back along the riverside allowing more nice views for us. First a view looking downstream and then one looking towards home.
We did see some birds which quite pleased her ladyship. In the first photo, taken from a distance, we had only seen one bird, the one on the right.
Under the bridge we went and down the new path looking for a way to cross the river.
Look Huan, another bird! She missed it!
I found a place to cross but Huan didn’t want to risk it. Her shoes, and her feet, are smaller than mine. She did take photos of me crossing though.
Halfway across I took a couple of shots too.
Spot the gentleman in my last photo? Huan spotted him and also spotted that he shook hands with me. This she had to capture!
Huan and I then approached Xiaodao from different vantage points. Mine was up the steps and via the irrigation canal; hers was the other side with no photos.
My last one for today is a collage. Now I will preface this by saying that I am not a civil engineer so I have no idea if what we are seeing is right or not. To my untrained eye though, it would appear that one section of retaining wall to protect the island from passing water during periods of heavy rainfall has been constructed the wrong way around. What do you think?
January 26th My hat today was that of a chauffeur, I was playing Parker to Huan’s Lady Penelope. She had some business to see to in Ledong. Consequently, most of my day was spent saying “yes m’lady”. What was the business? There is a new access panel at the gate and they needed one of us for facial recognition. There are also two fobs to allow access. Huan decided that it would be better if I had the face and she had the fob, the second fob would be for our tenant. Who am I to argue? All done we went to see what was going on in front of our building. There was a circus in attendance today, unfortunately not open until late in the afternoon.
Apart from the usual balloon and rifle stalls we found these two, a mini-lake and a rope net. The lady told Huan that she could go in the boat but that I couldn’t, because I wouldn’t know how to use it! The rope net was in fact a see through maze, not sure if that would make it any easier.
Huan thought that this little car would suit her because it actually has a steering wheel and not a pair of handlebars. Older readers will spot the word that made me take the picture!
Walking through town we were proud to see something named after me!
Now here’s something you don’t see much of where we are. Doraemon is very popular and we see him all over the place. We’ve never seen him accompanied by a minion before; in fact I don’t think we have ever seen a minion around here before. Is this one ‘Despicable Me’? I have no idea.
Lunch called so we had it in the little courtyard area of the shopping centre. Collages were called for just to make sure that I didn’t overload you with photos.
More car stuff is up next. There is a back to front letter here but ‘camber’ is a word and ‘gang’ is another word. Do they mean anything together like this? The driver turned up so we asked him and he had no idea either!
We have never shared much about the streets of Ledong, it is a little bigger than Wuzhishan.
You all know KFC, well in Wuzhishan we have a KMC and here in Ledong they have a KFG.
We visited the indoor market while we were there, mango is needed for tomorrow.
Insects are rarely seen for sale in Wuzhishan, here we saw many. There were grasshoppers, different kinds of wiggly things, silk worms and even bees (or wasps). I would try most of them because they are usually deep fried and crispy. I would not however, try rat! At least I don’t think I would; ask me again when I’m either starving or drunk! I did create a video for the boss but the only photo I have is a bag of grasshoppers.
Back at the sports arena I needed the loo before we started our drive home. It has had a make over since I last used it, a few years ago. Can you guess which cubicle I aimed for? Yep, the disabled one, all the others are squat toilets, not really my cup of tea!
Huan managed to find another bird for me before we got back to the car.
And I managed to find another car before we got back. This one echoed my sentiments, happy albeit a little tired too.
Being a little tired, when we arrived back in Wuzhishan our plans to eat out this evening were binned and we stuck to sandwiches instead, tuna fish for Huan and left over chicken for me. I could quite easily have gone to bed very early but I had to publish this post for all my faithful followers. Well actually, it’s mostly family and friends. Until the next time we wish you all the best and don’t do anything we wouldn’t do!
