Dinner With Friends

February 24^th How will this week’s thumbnail work out? Want is it anyway? Well, one fine morning in the middle of the night, two dead teddies got up to fight. Some of you may remember a variation of that nonsense rhyme from your younger years. We were not fighting; we were too sleepy for that, no we were off to Haikou again.

Our destination was the hospital, time for a check up for the old soldier. Here are some views from inside, including Donald in the car park. PS In light of current world events I think I may change his name, perhaps Daffy instead.

There were only six patients on our floor.

I thought I was up here for a big one this time, another all body nuclear scan. It seems that is not necessary until May so today was only needles and tests. Here I am handing over my loot.

Next up were the blood tests, full blood count and PSA tests.

Next up was the needle in my belly. Did you know that the video of this previously has had 62,304 views since it was published? I have no idea why.

Lastly it was time to fill my bones again.

All prodding and poking done we headed to the hotel.

It was still much too early for lunch so we headed off to Renmin Park and the nearby computer and camera shops, just for a gander you understand. We found a place for lunch in the computer mall basement, many places had not reopened after the holidays but we found food. Mine would have looked better if the server had put one of the veggies where I wasn’t having rice.

Into the park we then headed with only one purpose in mind, get to the other side where the camera shop is and then take a bus back to the hotel. Neither of us wanted long walks today.

It is a lovely park and you can easily spend a couple or three hours in there if you want to. We were pleased to see that the dragon was still enjoying the scenery too.

Despite our brief visit we still managed to find the usual.

Before we leave the park here are two more views and one bird down below me.

In the camera shop I drooled a little, Huan asked questions about how we could get better bird pictures. The answers all involved spending more money. I do have to say that I rather fancy the new Nikon Z5ii but I would need a large lens and wallet too!

Back to the hotel we went and straight into our separate beds for naps. I decided to leave all photo uploading until we get home tomorrow, rest was more important.

Evening came; time for dinner and a trip back to the hospital. Since we last came to Haikou the work on Renmin Dadao has been completed, traffic flows better now and walking is easier for the likes of us who are not going too far.

Getting your results here is very easy. All you have to do is let the printer scan the code on your receipt and out they come. They are also automatically sent to the doctor. Here I am pretending to understand all those chemical formulae and numbers!

Time for dinner, not fowl today. PS We are not sure what this is, anybody out there know?

Look at this beautiful view, who wouldn’t want to go to hospital here!

We tried a new place this evening; on our way in we noticed a serving area of cooked food. I think people usually pop their choices into a noodle soup, we just had ours as it was with some of their home baked bread, forgot to take a picture of that. We enjoyed it a lot and will probably visit again for both soup and our way.

Near the door I spotted a bird so Huan went crazy, after asking permission from the family that owned it. In the first frame it is on “Dad’s” shoulder and in the second on “daughter’s”. We think the bird is actually hers.

We ended our very good day with a perfect sky.

February 25^th After a fitful sleep in the hotel, one of us too hot and one too cold and vice versa, we were quite glad to wake up this morning.

Breakfast was to be at the canteen near the hospital. It seems not many people were of the same mind as us today. It was empty! I guess a lot of the staff were still on holiday too because we had no real plates today. Breakfast was still not bad though.

On our way back to the hotel we passed a load of mopeds, the top photo is related to romance and Haikou, the bottom one was taken for my family, especially my children.

We headed off to Corner’s Deli to stock up and had a look at the sea.

Coming back in were the fishermen, they had stocked up.

We didn’t get stocked up, Corner’s Deli wasn’t going to open before ten and we couldn’t be bothered hanging around. We got back onto the road to Wuzhishan for a relaxing drive home and a stop at Qiongzhong Services.

I took the opportunity to have a rare fag, I’m sure Huan never noticed.

At home it was bags down and straight into bed for naps. You should try them too!

February 26^th Today’s first photo is very apt! All we needed to do today was buy some fruit and vegetables. I would be cooking leftovers again today, duck in fact; we needed the veggies for that. Fruits, as we all know, are good for us so we needed some of those too.

On our way we passed the #2 bus, all dolled up for something. Maybe it has a date

Not much to see today so how about an advert outside a store still under construction. I did try translating it but it didn’t seem to make much sense. Huan thinks that it may be some kind of yoghurt, it does mention fruit. What I want to know is how do we ‘cheese’.

At last, a little bit of scenery!

We bumped into one of our neighbours while we were buying our fruit. It seems that her grandson is like me, talks to strange dogs. Dàfú was happy with all the attention.

Huan strolled along with the neighbour so I strode on ahead. Wouldn’t you know it; I spotted a solitary bird with Huan nowhere near to see it. I did take some photos of it though, these three were the best and Huan was happy to see them.

We enjoyed our restful day. Dinner was made better with the addition of some curry paste. It was not very photogenic though so you’ll have to use your imaginations.

February 27^th Rain stopped play, very unusual for this time of the year. It was just as well though as the man of the house had to visit the throne room more than once! However, we had to go out in the afternoon, Zhaode and Yu had invited us to dinner with their daughter and their neighbours. We passed someone celebrating double happiness on the way.

In our host’s house they have a little shrine, dedicated to Namo Shakyamuni Buddha, I think.

Here’s a close up of dinner, I was having coconut juice, like the ladies were.

There were sweets and drinks after dinner but I waited only a short while before making my excuses and walking home, very quickly and very carefully!

February 28^th Yaaay, it’s Saturday, it’s market day, and we don’t need Bob to be a pack mule. Shifu shared a video before we went out; he said the market didn’t have many people.

We knew that was the town end of the market and expected to see more people at the other end. There were more but it wasn’t too crowded. We were able move fairly fluidly through the throng. No mopeds were seen at all; perhaps the police were stopping them from entering. There were also a lot less snowbirds than usual, with their trailing trolleys. I don’t believe the northward migration will have started yet, Huan says they still have New Year leftovers at home.

For my English speaking readers, I chatted up a bird!

As we progressed, the crowds did increase.

This chap is folding 杂粮煎饼, (Záliáng jiānbing) - Multigrain pancakes, something that I thought would work for one of my dinners this week. You will have to wait until next week to see the recipe and the result though.

We had been looking for Shifu and his wife selling pork at the other end of the market, but today it was only his wife. She was selling chickens, Shifu had returned to their mountain home. It’s always a pleasure to meet either of them, they are such happy people!

Soon I was chatting up another bird, not the one on the left! Huan was in the wrong place to show you how pretty she was though.

The town was walkable enough today too, just as well because by this stage I had become the pack mule mentioned earlier. I was carrying Xinjiang bread, fruit and vegetables.

There was then a stop off at the snack shop where we managed to avoid snacks but bought two litres of Australian milk, loading up the mule even further. Why buy there? It is much cheaper than it is in the supermarket and still well within date limits.

Almost home and Huan made me take another bird photo! Handsome chappie, isn’t he?

March 1^st Happy St. David’s Day one and all!

We started the new month just as lazily as usual so our walk was only around the town and river. It was longer than expected though and surprisingly, a little bit quicker than normal. It didn’t take long for the director’s finger to start flexing and pointing.

It was then my turn but my bird was high up on a tree and not very good. While I had been busy taking the photo a passing stranger had been waiting for a chat and a photo.

Our walk took us past the Finance Bureau where we sometimes spot a skink on the wall. I thought I had found one again today, only when I got home did I realise it was a normal lizard.

Snowbird Park was busy today, musicians and dancers galore.

Down by the river we were looking for birds and finding another lizard instead. I believe this one deserves two photos, don’t you.

Quite a few birds were found but only one made the grade.

Let’s finish today’s walk with a landscape picture, hope you like it!

March 2^nd Shopping day and a busy one it was too. We still got done quickly and were home early for lunch and then a nice nap. Unusually for a Monday we had to go out in the afternoon to register. “Register for what?” I hear you ask. Well despite me giving up on going uphill earlier this week Huan decided to register us both for the annual “Going to the mountains to welcome peace in spring” walk up to the local reservoir. I warned her that I may well turn around long before we reach the summit. Today we had to give our details and as we were in the first 1300 pick up our free T-shirts and shoulder bags. You can see them next week! For today here is the stall in the town square along with the boss and the stuff.

On our way home we spotted this. I thought it may have been some obscure religious symbol but from what I can find on the internet that is wrong. It seems to refer to a group of young men who are either a band called ‘五月天 May Day’ or have some kind of video show. The cross in this case more than likely refers to their tenth album. 十 (Shí) means ten.

Finally, we both tried to get this butterfly to land on our arms, without much success. How does #1 son manage to do it? It must be his perfume!

That’s it for this week; see you next week, if I have returned safely from crawling up another mountain. I will try and be safe, honest! Bye for now.