Camera Cancelled, Camera Ordered, Camera Quarantined.

August 23^rd As announced yesterday, tests were needed this morning and we were not quite as early as we usually are. That meant longer queues!

Now I had the Fuji with me today and hence should have had much better photos taken from an angle showing how many people were in front of us. Something went wrong and all those photos were out of focus. We walked down towards the highway on ramp this morning, on the way I took this one. These steps lead up the mountain to a track and then nothing but trees and eventually an old army shelter. This was one of the first walks where we got eaten by leeches, I remember it well!

We were heading for the highway ramp today to try and get a definitive answer on whether or not we could drive to Sanya. The answer was a definite no, to go to Sanya a special permit is required, usually only issued for people who have to travel there for work. Taking the car for a service and renewing our insurance does not meet the criteria. I did try and take a photo while we were there, it was another out of focus one. The small blue sign advises drivers who want to go to Maoyang to use the normal route and not the highway, still no good for us.

Our last snap of the day is yet another cartoon car but this time I have no idea what or who the characters are supposed to be. Huan pointed out that they were charging through the window to which my response was something along the lines of OK for them on the ground floor, how do people higher up, like us on the seventh floor, manage if we have a similar car.

You may remember that we should have had camera news yesterday. When I contacted them I was told it was too late and that I should try again today. This afternoon we did just that and had to remind them of everything we had said yesterday. The response was that the camera would possibly be shipped around the sixth of September and possibly received towards the end of the month. With no definite answers I decided, yet again, to cancel the order. That’s three camera orders we have now cancelled. I think I need to check on Taobao just what we can get and not look for what I would like!

August 24^th No tests were needed today! Since we are not allowed to go to Sanya and to avoid doing everything over the phone we, or I, decided we should walk around Wuzhishan and try and find the PICC office for our car insurance. I definitely remembered seeing a PICC office, Huan wasn’t so sure but she thought she had seen one too. Of course my memory took me in the wrong direction completely! After going all through the town we wanted to turn left along the north bank of the river but this sign warned us off. There is “sick” down there, more than likely in the Pearl Hotel, that was all fenced off when we looked down the road.

Onwards we went towards the police station, the first one we had seen in 2007, thinking that if anyone knew the location of PICC they would. At least the weather was good for walking.

The police did know where the office was, all we had to do was walk back towards our house. If we had left the house in the opposite direction we would have found it almost straight away! Once there it was drinks all round and a lot of frustration on my part.

We left them to it in the end and said we would wait for their call. Two views of the river on the way home for you, one with a fisherman and one with not a lot of water.

You can tell when life is getting back to normal, the betel nut sellers were outside our apartments again. I doubt the government will ever be able to put a stop to the use of betel nuts but there has been a drastic reduction in red stains on the pavements and on people’s teeth.

And here is someone who couldn’t care less about quarantine! I have never seen a chicken in this position before, it interested me hence the photo. Those of you who know about these things will probably tell me that it is absolutely normal!

August 25^th Testing cancelled today due to a nearby typhoon. Its name was Ma-On and it was moving more towards Hong Kong than us. All we had was rain, all day. I had lots of spare time to browse the internet still looking for cameras! After lunch we had a call, asking us to come down and finalise our insurance.

Lots more frustration for me, not being able to read Chinese and not really understanding the differences, and/or similarities, in today’s paperwork and that proposed by Sanya. We did get it done eventually and after paying Huan received a ¥600.00 red envelope so it turned out much cheaper than Sanya.

Our next stop was Huan’s bank, not to deposit the red envelope but to put some more of her loot on long term deposit. She likes to do that, I just stayed in the car.

August 26^th Today was another test day, 13 for most, 14 for us.

I left Huan to make her way home and went off to buy the weekend lottery tickets, just in case it is pouring with rain again tomorrow. I also wanted to check, the market road is open again as is the market itself.

Tickets in hand I went past Baijiahui, that is another public testing location.

My last port of call was the bakery and the chocolate cake. Bakeries in China are not a patch of European bakeries, there is no real welcoming odour when you get inside and of course fresh cream cakes are nowhere to be seen. I really miss German bakeries! Mind you the chocolate cake is not bad and one ‘log’ lasts us four days.

Once home it was back onto t’internet for me, a little more research and financial calculating. After lunch I got Huan to come and assist with the translation of my various queries and then we finally put another order in. This one is through another shopping site called 天貓; Tiānmāo or TMall, and we are assured that our order will be here within just a few days. Huan is now wondering what reason I will find to cancel this order too! More details will follow in due course, what I will tell you now is that I have joined the MFT club.

August 27^th It struck me yesterday on my solo walk how nice it was to be out in the fresh air and exchanging smiles and pleasantries with people. Here in Wuzhishan we have never really had much of a lockdown but even a couple of days of bad weather makes us a little stir crazy. I don’t know how people in other cities and in other parts of the world coped!

We were out again today after another ‘no test’ morning; we wanted to see if the Saturday market had returned. Here is the boss down by the riverside.

For a change, here’s a black and white view of the old riverside buildings.

We had spotted quite a large number of municipal officers with a few police officers too; we wondered what they were doing. Further on it became obvious that they were enforcing the rules concerning Covid and meeting in public places.

By now we had correctly guessed that there would be no market this week, again.

Further up the road we found that the quarantine hotel has now been well and truly closed off to the general public.

We had to pass by on the riverside, it was a lonely walk.

Mind you, it was also a pretty walk.

Someone else was revelling in the lack of people and noise too but, as you know by now, I could not really get close enough.

That photo was taken with the Fuji which played well today, none of the photos turned out too badly. When the new camera arrives, we probably still won’t be able to get close enough to those elusive birds, explanations will follow. As to progress, the camera is now en route!

August 28^th Sunday, no church, just a stroll along the riverbank, we started off by going over the little island which was a bit sparse for people today.

No people sometimes equals less nervous wildlife.

Huan even found another ‘little’ lizard.

Being a pair of dummies we took the wrong road and came up against the Pearl Hotel obstacle which we had forgotten all about.

That meant we had to take a detour, two of us ended up happy about that!

Somebody else was too tired to be happy.

Here are some more creatures for you. We often see lines of red ants on the balustrade by the river and today was no exception. They were marching down from an overhanging tree branch and then along the wall. We had no idea what was going on here though.

And even more, well one more anyway, Huan took this one of me trying to get the little blighter to stand still long enough to have its picture taken.

I did manage a few in the end but none of them were spectacular.

We wondered if the local government had actually asked everyone to stay safe again, everywhere was so quiet. It was enjoyable though.

Freddy Fuji played well again today, any bad photographs were all down to me and not due to the camera playing up. “So what’s the story with the new camera then?” I hear you ask. Well the Fuji is in dire need of lots of money being spent on it, the rear display no longer works, the battery compartment and the connector compartment both have dodgy covers now, it takes random photos when I switch it on and off and sometimes, for no apparent reason, photos come out completely out of focus. We decided a new one was better than another repair.

So which camera to buy? I decided on a Lumix FZ300 bridge camera, not my first choice though. I liked the Panasonic FZ1000ii, also a bridge camera. However, the FZ300 is weather sealed so the decision was made and it was ordered from Amazon. After a long time of no progress, the shipment had not even begun, we cancelled the order.

Perhaps I should go for a DSLR I thought and hence ordered a Nikon off Taobao, can’t remember the exact model. Before that was sent, again a delay, I decided that I was not really a DSLR man and cancelled that order too.

We then found the Lumix FZ300 available on JD.com so after asking a few questions another order was made. Lo and behold we ended up in the same position as we had with Amazon. It would seem that the Lumix FZ300 comes from overseas so there are large delays built in to any orders. Once again I cancelled the order.

What did I do then? Well I went back to the web of course. Eventually I found some videos and test about MFT cameras. What is MFT? It is the size of the sensor in the camera. DSLRs are ‘full frame’, the Fuji is ‘APSC’ the FZ1000 is ‘1” Type, and MFTs are ‘Four Thirds 4/3’ also known as ‘Micro Four Thirds’ hence MFTs.

Two people in particular swayed my choice, a down to earth wedding photographer from the UK https://www.youtube.com/c/MicroFourNerds and a rather less down to earth photographer https://www.youtube.com/c/MarkusPix/featured. Both of them talked about the Panasonic G100 which quickly became #1 on my wish list. If I had decided on that one, then within my budget, I could have had two lenses, a 12-32mm and a 14-140mm. Unfortunately, that model is small and lightweight and not weather sealed.

“Call Huan to the computer to help me!” That’s what I thought and that’s what I did. Between us we decided weather sealing would be better, that is one of the reasons we have had so many problems with the Fuji. Panasonic do have weather sealed cameras, some way too expensive for me, but they also have the G95. On the photography side the G100 would have been enough for my little brain, but the G95 has the weather sealing advantage. The downside is that I would only be able to have one lens, a 12-60mm, that’s why birds may still be a problem. Still, 12-60mm should be better than my existing 16-50mm and it is weather sealed.

Decision made, we ordered the camera through TMall, making sure to ask the usual questions first. How long before shipping, is it new and not second hand, etc. They told us the order would be despatched shortly after we ordered it and that it should take three or four days. Our order was placed on the 26^th and true to their promise it was shipped the same day. Now when you order online here in China it is easy to track your goods, it may be elsewhere too but that I don’t know. Eagerly watching the progress we observed that at two o’clock this morning the camera had reached Donguan, a city in Guangzhou, not too far away so shouldn’t be long now.

Unfortunately, at quarter to four this afternoon, the shipment advice changed to “Due to the government's epidemic prevention and control requirements, it is temporarily impossible to deliver the express to the destination. We are as anxious as you are. We will arrange for you after the epidemic prevention department informs you of the recovery. Thank you for your understanding and support for the epidemic prevention work.” Much wailing and gnashing of teeth could be heard all around our house. Still, this is only a temporary measure so for now we will not start worrying or making rash decisions.

August 29^th Aren’t we the lucky ones? Test #15 today, hopefully all will still be well, we have no reason to worry that it won’t be. Huan decided to take a photo of me taking a photo of the assembled multitude, at least the weather was good today.

The car was up next, we had been summoned to the area clinic for a regular blood pressure check and all the other usual stuff. When we got there, we found it was to be blood pressure only and then only for Huan. They asked me why I had missed the last one, that one was unnecessary for me as I had been given more substantive tests in the main hospital to check on my post-op progress. The area clinic told us that foreigners could no longer be tested at this clinic. It makes you wonder why they bothered asking about where I was last time. Anyway, Huan is A1!

Being a Monday we then headed off for our weekly shop. No real problems there although I did notice quite a few shelves with empty spaces. I wondered if that was because those particular items were coming from the mainland and just like our new camera were stuck in quarantine. We could have done with some tinned sweet corn, some pickled garlic and some jarred olive leaves but I guess we can survive without them for a while!

Memories being what they are we both forgot salad vegetables which we like to use for our daily lunch. Instead of going straight home we took a detour to the market, all open again, just scan your phone, take your temperature and enter. We found one occupant trying to escape, had leapt off the counter onto the floor below.

Now I am not sure what this fish is called, (not Wanda), but I can tell you that it is not a very tasty one. We tried one a few weeks ago, an experience we will not repeat.

And that brings us to the end of the day and the end of the week. I did have some admin to do, scanning all kinds of paperwork and then filing it. I had let thinks mount up on my desk, never a good thing. Still, all is done now and the manager is happy.

A happy manager is like a happy wife, gives you a happy life! On that note, we will leave you. With a little luck we may have a new camera before next week but I’m not counting on it. Take care everyone, we will be back before you know it!

Camelot, More Rain, Binging and Lazing!

July 5th A new dawns, a new week begins, a new life is still somewhere over the horizon along with that winning lottery ticket! Today our plan was to go to the fish farm restaurant in the reservoir, we haven’t been there since before my little heart problem. On the way along the main street we spotted this chap which led to me telling Huan about when I used to climb towers!

As is often the way our plans were changed by SWMBO and we turned off at the elephants to head for where the lady in the lake used to live, Camelot.

Within seconds Huan was asking where the ducks were, sometimes she is a woman of little patience. We found them a little further on where we frightened them into the stream where they were severely reprimanded by resident guards!

Chickens were next; Huan was convinced they were coming to see us with the hope of getting fed. Unfortunately we had no food and chickens are not good swimmers!

Camelot is another route that we haven’t walked for a long time. One of the things we love about Wuzhishan is that within minutes we can be in the countryside, even if the city is close by. In this photo, over the hill is the road to Sanya and the road to the aforementioned fish far yet for us there is nary sight or sound of either.

Soon we came to the end of the little path to where they used to be an ornamental lake. Now it is a field used to grow crops.

After the ‘lake’ we would walk around the imitation Wuzhi mountain, that is no longer possible. The route is completely overgrown now.

We made our way past the covered over swimming pool, (it has construction buildings over the top of it, presumably on a temporary basis) and reached the new construction site. The picture looks quite good, the red roofed buildings on the RHS already exist and that would be our way out. The picture tells lies of course, most of the mountains and fields you can see have been bulldozed to make way for what is being built here and what has already been built behind.

From this next vantage point old readers may well remember the ‘lady in the lake’. That is what we used to call this walk before we gave it the Camelot name. She has long gone, destroyed in the name of progress. Maybe she will return if the lake in the photo ever appears.

Before long we were walking down the long driveway from the red roofed buildings back to the main road from Wuzhishan to Sanya. It’s a very pretty driveway which, just like the road to Sanya, does not exist on the construction picture at all.

Luck was with us today, the weather forecast was correct, no rain. Old age was with us also, we both needed afternoon naps again. Today I was reading about children being given things to help them sleep, this was the headline “Doctor urges caution when giving melatonin sleep gummies to children”. It would appear that in the western world this is now a regular occurrence! Here I am at 72 years of age still trying to sleep through the night without anything to help me. Tell me dear readers, am I right, or am I stupid?

July 6^th Someone, i.e. me, slept in this morning until half past nine. Not only was that too late for walkies it was also too late for breakfast! I planned to go after lunch, my plan was cancelled by Huan and Yu. They had to visit a ‘new’ hospital for free mammograms and smear tests and I had to be the chauffeur. Lots of misdirection was given to me in the car as to exactly where we were going. All I can say is that this place was not a hospital four years ago.

Parking the car I spotted a little path snaking through the vegetation and remembered that there used to be villas in this area. A little exploring was called for.

The villas, or “des res” were still there, on the lower road two storey and on the upper road three. I guess two floors would be enough for Huan and I. (One can dream…)

Four years ago we had walked down the mountain to find this place so I thought I would explore a little and see if I could recognise anything. The same route was out!

Another route just took me to someone’s residence.

I did recognise the small village so set off through and out the other side.

Hmm, a little track, I wonder where that goes. A cursory investigation showed that I was not going to be going any further in that direction, at least not today. I had my sandals on and the insects were already biting.

Going back through the smallholding I heard a slight commotion at my side. There was a lizard that went just a little distance away from me. Had I been carrying the Fuji I would have got a decent photo, as it is I had to make do with the paranoid android. Because of ants on the fence I couldn’t get any nearer but at least you can see how long its tail is!

There were a few more dead ends so I had to retrace my steps. On the way, instead of a nice shiny new electric car I found this for you. It almost looks as if it has melted into the road.

These next two photos show where I turned round to go back and collect Huan. There are two for you to compare, the first is a stitched panorama and the second is a wide angle (0.6) setting on the phone. Obviously the first one shows the road into and out of Wuzhishan which the second one doesn’t. However, it also distorts the near distance. Which do you prefer?

So, how were Huan’s tests? Her boobies are fine and if they don’t call her within two to three weeks then the rest of her is fine too. Again I marvel at the difference between the health services in China and the NHS in the UK.

July 7^th “Where to today my glorious leader?” “Let’s go to the fish farm up the fourth road that we didn’t go to on Tuesday.” Now that is a nice walk but the beginning is not as it was, there are no trees to give us shade where they are widening the road. I also like to walk on the dirt!

Before turning up the fourth road we passed by a fish farm that we haven’t passed by in years. It is still there, Huan needed photos of someone buying tiddlers to take to his farm.

And before we continue our walk, here’s a view of the whole fish farm area.

Soon we were passing some des res’s on a small lake, all deserted of course.

‘Pointy mountain’ is visible from many places on this road.

It is quite a long walk up to the fish reservoir as we call it, between seven and eight kilometres, but before long the gate was in sight.

My first job was to create a panorama from the front of the reservoir.

My second job was to stop Huan going to the left and behind those buildings; she had forgotten that we have been that way before. Instead we headed down the right towards the ‘resort’. Despite being in a state of disuse the signposts are OK, well almost. Check the contradiction.

Once in another panorama was required. This place has so much potential but for some reason nobody does anything with it. I wonder if it is because it is rented and not owned outright.

We did have a sit down in one of the pergolas / gazebos / pavilions (I don’t know which one this is). However, no refreshments are available so we didn’t stay long.

Huan then found some animals for me to play with, she is so good to me!

She also found some butterflies. The first was moving rather too fast for us, it had very unusual wings, but we tried. The second, and the third, are the same one. Huan took the photo with the green tint from one side and I took the whiter one from the other side. I couldn’t work out whether this butterfly had popped its clogs or if it was just appearing from its cocoon. There was certainly no movement while we were watching.

Now then, how long is it since you saw an electric car? I would hazard that it’s been far too long so here is yet another one, with yet another picture on the side.

My plans were thwarted by the boss again today; I wanted to get a bus home once we were down the hill, about the eleven kilometre mark. SWMNBN decided that we should walk all the way home. I really must try and be more wilful! By the time we reached home, almost sixteen kilometres, I was not feeling so fit and went straight for a lie down with no lunch. Perhaps I should have had breakfast before we went out this morning!

Dinner sorted me out, I was supposed to cook today but I got Huan to do it instead. I do like air fried spare ribs, and with chips too!

July 8^th Rain stopped play, again! Well, to be honest, rain stopped play after lunch and after dinner. Before lunch it wasn’t the rain but an express delivery from Amazon that stopped play. No, it wasn’t the camera; that still hasn’t been shipped yet, it was only the SD card. That was shipped on the 20^th June and received today, ‘Prime’ delivery eh? As usual there was an over abundance of packing as the photos show. They also show that the ‘packing solution’ comes from Guangzhou despite being ordered from Germany. Mind you, the SD card box does tell me that it is made in China. All this begs the question “Why does delivery take so long?”

July 9^th Today was a beautiful morning, just right for a nice lone walk, to the riverside market! It turned into a fairly long walk because the rotisserie duck and chicken man had no chicken. This meant we had to visit his home base which at least is now open again on all sides, until the next Covid scare that is. Here is the chicken about to be wrapped in greaseproof brown paper.

We walked home via the town square where I took this photo. Many towns and cities in China are prepared for various kinds of disasters and this is one of our local signs. No doubt we have passed it many times but I’ve obviously never looked closely before. Second down is not “Emergency Water Supply” but “Emergency Shelter”. Fifth down is correct. Third down, despite having spelt “supply” correctly twice they have used a non-existent word “wuppjy”. Still, all is well as Huan tells me that the Chinese is fine and I can always follow her!

I purposely chose a route home that would avoid Huan’s favourite bakery, she managed to find another one. I did try to talk her out of it but she insisted as she also insisted that she take a photo of her purchases when we got home.

Sad to say that Huan was disappointed, these cakes are nothing like the one that she usually buys. They were also very dry; I did say I wouldn’t have any at the time. How was the chicken? Well we wondered with it being whole as opposed to the duck which is flat, if there would be anything inside. There was, apart from the one ‘tucked underneath ‘er arm’, an extra head and a foot. I had been hoping for lemon and garlic. It still made a lovely dinner though with a nice big helping of mixed salad on the side, and, like the duck, enough for two days.

The CFO decided an Amazon check was needed; the camera has still not been shipped. There are also Covid restrictions in place which could add one to four weeks to the delivery time. Testing our options we pressed the ‘cancel’ button and got the message “Your order may be about to be shipped, if you cancel now there is a chance that the cancellation may not go through”! We had better wait a bit longer then…

July 10^th Huan was the lazy one this morning, by the time she was up and ready, it was too late for a decent walk. Rain should have stopped play in the afternoon but looking at the skies and the computer, we went for it anyway. There were blue skies to the south when we set off and just a few clouds over the distant mountains to the West.

Then we looked behind us to the East!

In retrospect we should have turned around and gone straight home, especially as we were both sans umbrellas. Within minutes the rain was upon us and we were soaked. I suggested to Huan that we may as well keep going via the main road and the cake bakery; she had already eaten both of yesterday’s cakes. She didn’t take much persuading, I just plodded along.

Sod’s law was in force and the rain eased off more and more as we approached home.

Almost home and the rain decided to attack us one more time. Here I am, standing in the rain with a new plastic bag on the camera and today’s cake.

There was no evening walk; the rain came back yet again. We had ‘pudding’ instead, Huan had ⅙ of the cake and I had ⅟12, both with ice cream. That’s how we get the cake to last four days!

July 11^th Rain stopped walkies but it didn’t stop shopping, aren’t we the lucky ones. We could quite possibly have gone out after lunch or after dinner but both of us were too lazy. I spent the whole day binge watching “Bodyguard”, you can’t beat good old UK television serials.

Of course no walkies also means no photos. Mind you, that could have been problematic today, the Fuji is now showing a red low battery sign even with a new battery in. I wonder how much it would cost to repair? As for the new camera, still no sign from Amazon.

And that is where we will leave you today. Yet again we hope for some nice weather so that we can get out for some longer walks and share the scenery with you. It’s goodbye from me, and it’s goodbye from her (doesn’t really work in writing does it?), we’ll be back soon.