More Eating Out, Cutting Down, Still On Light Duties, Birds & Bugs

August 31^st I woke up to an empty house today, Huan had gone off to the morning market. She quite enjoys that and often thinks I should go too; bed is far more appealing. This morning though she was accompanying Zōushūxián, Yú guì lán and Zhào dé, they were buying supplies for another lunch tomorrow. It seems they had to go today to buy three live chickens which were then slaughtered and brought home, not to our house I hasten to add. Huan’s job was peanuts and green beans, both to be boiled. I hate boiled peanuts!

When the wanderer returned we set off to the lair of the Bapman again having now completely run out of bread. Both of us thought the clouds were rather beautiful today, and just look at the colour of that sky. It’s a shame that I was still on light duties!

Bapman’s abode was built by the same chap that built our area and suffers from much the same kind of problems. If it was all maintained it would be wonderful. However, I do love to see nature taking back control of places.

From some steps going down to an escalator going neither up nor down. There is a children’s dance studio on the upper level but nothing else yet. Perhaps they will put the escalator into service when more shops move in. Mind you, it’s been at least a couple of years now…

Walking through the centre we found some dragonflies ‘flying united’, probably as a precursor to mating. (I found this great little video on Youtube that explains the procedure well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UL08PQ3dPk&ab_channel=JoAlwood Try as I may though I was unable to get a decent photo, they were just too fast for me. We’ll try again another time. The only other creature we saw was a dead rat, and I’m sure you don’t need to see that. It looked as if it had been in one of the many traps around and eaten the poison therein.

Arriving at Bapman’s stall we found it still closed so we tried to find someone who knew why. It turns out that his mother back in Harbin has been taken ill so they’ve gone back up North. We’ll just have to wait a bit longer and order more Russian bread from Taobao. For today though we walked back up the main street trying first a new bakery, no hope there. Our usual supermarket was next, when we asked why there was no bread on the shelves they told us they had stopped making it. Huan thinks we were the only ones buying it! Luckily our third attempt at another bakery, (Bread Story), was more successful although I suspect from the name that they buy it in, probably from Taobao too.

No afternoon sleep for me today although someone else did play Sleeping Beauty on the sofa. I was the duty chef today, the menu was stir fry and I think I quite excelled myself! I started by frying up some onions and diced chicken breast before adding a touch of soya sauce. Next in were some bamboo shoots, mildly spiced followed by ‘garlic legs’ and spring onions. Then came some sliced and diced hard(ish) tofu, a diced tomato and half a can of sweetcorn, (without the juice of course). Finally, when we had a nice little sizzle going on I added bean sprouts and a dash of water. HM the Queen was suitably impressed by the colours and the taste and suggested taking a photo of it. Unfortunately she was too late, we had both already scoffed too much!

September 1st “Rubber knees, trying to forget you.” The first female telephone operator, Emma Nutt, started work on this day in 1878. Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees was born on this day in 1946. Britain’s old penny and threepenny coins ceased to be legal tender on this day in 1971. (I remember decimalisation very well, I wonder if you do too?) (Details from Penguin Pocket Reference ISBN0-141-02715-0)

Alone again, naturally. Huan had disappeared to the morning market again today to assist the ladies with fish and shellfish. While she was out I decided to take a few screen shots and show you my counting fags charts. What do you think?

Huan arrived home with prawns and shellfish, the prawns were still alive, as they usually are here. Her morning’s work today was to prepare two more dishes for lunch. Here are the two ‘ingredients’ prior to preparation and cooking.

Our lunch today was not in Zōushūxián’s apartment but in another that they borrowed. It’s a ground floor apartment that belongs to someone not back for the winter yet. I guess you could call it a studio, although it’s bigger than ours in Sanya.

Today’s lunch, although they initially told me it was to celebrate the 1^st September, was actually to celebrate the two year anniversary of our new maintenance company. Sixteen people were invited, we ended up with seventeen, the ‘spread’ was certainly big enough!

More vegetables arrived later and of course there was rice on the side. Thankfully there was no Báijiǔ today, only Píjiǔ (beer), this was my view.

Of course there were still far too many toasts and within a very short time I lost all understanding of whatever conversation there was. It was too fast, too loud and too omni directional! Here are fifteen of the guests, three committee members, ten ‘workers’, one boss and Yú guì lán. One guest had left and the other guest, me, was taking the photo.

One of the ‘workers’, who shall remain nameless, had to go back on gate duty after lunch, I doubt he would have been able to keep his eyes open very easily. When I got home I closed mine for a while, as did Huan. Being a glutton for punishment Huan was back out at six to partake of the leftovers, I didn’t need any!

September 2^nd Rain stopped play today so we didn’t get out at all. The only photos we have are of a butterfly, or possibly a moth. Huan found it outside our front door, it seemed to be on its last legs. I was able to pick it up and put it on the windowsill for the second photos and then I moved to the outside window ledge. Normally the birds would have found it but they were all away hiding from the rain too. It had gone by night time, whether it flew off, fell down or was snatched by one of our feathered friends we will never know.

September 3^rd Our morning was rain free so out for a walk we went, not far, I’m still on, light duties. Open wounds heal slower in humid climes. First Huan had me taking photos of ‘small’ birds again, too small to share. Instead, here’s a view of the river you haven’t seen before.

Some black and white photos next, the first showing workers at the sluice gates, one is going down the other side, perhaps to clear some of the debris. The second shows one of our markets with absolutely no workers whatsoever although there were a few behind me. It’s time they closed this particular market and put it to another use.

Next I took Huan along a route that she didn’t remember, some of the ‘back streets’. We do have them too but unlike big cities they are quite safe to walk down.

Huan then pointed out a tree, which means in Huanspeak, “Take a photo of that tree!” I must admit that it is rather unusual and does look a little out of place. Perhaps someone in the past brought it from up north. On the other hand, it could well be a native species, I wouldn’t know!

The next one is my choice, such a beautiful flower.

Finally, for today’s walk, Huan had me taking bird photographs yet again. I wasn’t so far away this time so I was able to snap a couple. I had to do a lot of work in Picasa though so that you can see its beak and its eyes.

Being a Friday it was ‘date night’ again and time to do another restaurant review. With the rain now bucketing down we didn’t stray far from the house and settled on a nearby dumpling restaurant. As always, if you’d like to see it, check here - https://youtu.be/bsHmC3lqhNU

September 4^th What rubbish weather we are having this week! We did manage to get out in the morning though, only got caught in a very slight drizzle. The rain came back in force after lunch and dinner. This was tea street on our way out.

The riverside market was open again today, I guess the powers that be have decided we don’t have to worry quite so much anymore. This stall reminded of little girls in the USA with their roadside lemonade stalls. There were young ladies here rather than little girls, and the drinks were just a little stronger than lemonade. From the left, and probably going by colour, they are turmeric wine, mulberry wine and mountain wine.

We didn’t buy any wine but I did coerce Huan into buying some seeds. Like many Chinese people Huan enjoys nibbling on seeds, I don’t, I call it bird food. Too much effort is required for too little reward. Today she bought pumpkin seeds.

On the way home, after the drizzle, we bought some rambutans for me. In this case I tell Huan that she is not really Chinese because she doesn’t like them. On the other hand she is from the north so probably as a child she never had them. As for me, well in Singapore, Chepstow Close if I remember rightly, when I was about nine years old, I used to play with the Chinese boys at the end of the road and we used to pick rambutans fresh from his and neighbouring gardens.

As is normal on most walks Huan had me trying to capture birds again, this one took a fair few attempts but I think I got close enough this time!

No more walks today, I was head chef so had to make the weekend stew, Huan practiced making a noise. To be fair, the noise is actually improving!

September 5th We beat the computer today, it said that there would be clear skies in the morning and that the rain would come at noon. Looking at the sky we disagreed and we were right. It rained all morning and the afternoon was perfect for walking. As usual Huan had me trying to photograph birds and as usual I failed. However, I did accidentally catch this lizard racing across our path, and I mean racing.

Our route today was in fact a lizard hunt, past the three legged dog, who wasn’t there, probably away for lunch. Looking out across the river, where the stream merges with it, I was amazed to see that there were no mudflats at all, they had all been overgrown.

A few minutes later we thought we saw a bird, or Huan did, but as we got closer I could see that it wasn’t. Very shortly Huan shouted “snake” and tried to push me forwards to take photos of it. I couldn’t see a snake anywhere but was very reluctant to go forward ‘just in case’. It seems that what I had already decided was a plastic bag Huan thought was a snake coiled up and rearing its head ready to strike. Thinking that she still tried sending me towards it! Maybe she thinks I am braver than I am or maybe she was trying to get rid of me!

Before long we came upon a little goat, I’m not sure if it was the same kid we saw before, it doesn’t appear to have grown much. It’s a shame that it will probably end up in someone’s pot, but we can hardly criticise, seeing as how we are partial to lamb now and then. Somehow I don’t think I would ever make a good farmer.

Our last photo of the day is another little creature, with more than four legs this time though. I’ll show you two photos, one that you can hopefully see a lot of detail on, and the other with part of my sandal included so that you can see the size. It’s the largest caterpillar we’ve ever seen.

September 6^th Last day of the week, a day where we normally don’t show you any photos. Today we thought we would, just for a change. First of all here I am with next weekend’s dinner in my hand, chicken stew, complete with head and feet. (They are for Huan, not me!)

Maybe we’ll show you bits and bobs of what’s available in our local supermarket as well. Today Huan needed to top up her rice jars, she needed black and red rice. Just think, way back in our younger days we all thought rice was always white.

Apart from shopping Monday is always a lazy day but today, for me, it was worse than normal. I got stuck down the Facebook ‘Watch’ hole. It’s probably worse than the Youtube hole because the videos are all so much shorted and you keep thinking “just one more”…

Hopefully my ankle will have healed enough next week to be able to put my boots on and travel a little further afield. Until then, stay safe all, look after your nearest and dearest, if they’re not there with you, they give them a call. They’ll thank you for it and you’ll end up with a big smile, or maybe even a cheesy grin. I know I always do. Bye for now!

Intrepid Explorers Savaged By Bloodsucking Monsters, (Again)!

August 24th “I’d like to be under the sea, In an octopus’s garden in the shade, He’d let us in, knows where we’ve been, In his octopus’s garden in the shade.” By the most famous band ever of course, ‘The Beatles’ and written and sung by ‘Ringo Starr’. However, said octopus would not be very pleased to see us today as our dinner was octopus tentacle noodle soup!

And that’s all we have to report for today, I didn’t wake up until nine o’clock so we ended up with another one of those lazy days. Huan watched movies and played a little music. I spent most of the day laughing at the antics of the three grumpy old men, Jeremy, Richard and James. I also decided I wouldn’t mind emigrating to Columbia, what a beautiful country that is.

August 25th Indiana Bob and Lara Huan were off on their adventures today, this is the signpost showing where we were going.

No, we weren’t going to turn ourselves in for ‘treatment’, we wanted to see what changes had been made on this road. We were heading up to the top of the valley, those buildings you can see are supposed to be either officer’s quarters or an officer’s mess, we can’t remember what the builders told us the last time we went that way.

After we’d passed the nursing homes we came across a small problem, someone had destroyed the road. No problem, we retraced our steps a few hundred metres and found an alternative.

Arriving at the officer’s whatever it is, we found it deserted with the gates open. Huan wanted to go in and look around, I refused, I didn’t fancy being picked up on any cameras that may have been there and hauled into detention. Instead we thought we would see if there was a way through the mountains and then back onto the main street. First we came across a small village.

There was an old lady there, whose Chinese wasn’t so good, she spoke mostly Hainanese, and she told us there was no way through. Because she lived there I accepted her word. A few minutes later the ‘expedition leader’ told me that she had ‘found a road’. We had to take the right fork in the dark portion of the second photo.

Here are a couple of photos of Huan on the way up, note the appropriate clothing!

Disappointment set in for me when Huan told me that the shards of pottery I had found were not ancient relics and thus were not worth a fortune! Onwards and upwards we went, crossing stream after stream, although it could well have been the same one again and again. This was one of the crossings, quite beautiful and not giving us any idea of what lay ahead.

Before long though the going got tougher, can you spot me?

Soon we found a farmer’s hut, not abandoned, but the occupant was not there and probably hadn’t been for a few days. No advice available there then! In the next photo, I have no idea what I was trying to snap but you will notice Huan in the top right corner. “What is she doing?” I hear you ask. Well, she is trying to remove the leech that was eating her through her sock.

Seeing what looked like a man made path for the stream we tried to follow that upstream always keeping an eye out for the sunny part of the valley on our right hand side where we thought there should have been a way through. Before too long though it became obvious that the old lady had been right, there was no way over the mountain! That meant a small rest was called for.

Not long after this it was my turn to be ‘bled’.

While Huan may not have been dressed for exploring, as I wasn’t either, at least she remembered her bottle of water this time. Here she is cooling her face down. What we both remembered from a previous expedition, when we got lost in these same mountains, was not to drink the stream water. On that occasion my tongue swelled up to nearly the size of my mouth and I was never so pleased in my life to find a ‘little shop’.

Coming down was much harder than going up but by the time we reached the ‘cooling stop’ above we knew where we were and that the end was near.

Apart from leeches we saw nothing else until we were almost down, and then lady luck smiled on us, we spotted this butterfly. This was the best angle I could get.

On the final stretch, one of those pesky blood suckers got me yet again. Of course, just like Huan, I was not exactly dressed appropriately for trekking through the jungle.

After a stop at 师傅, Shīfù’s shop, (we don’t actually know his name, he was the site boss when we had our house done in 2015), for a much needed ‘sports drink’ we wearily headed home. Once there it was shoes off outside the door, go straight to the bathroom, clothes off in the shower and then check each other’s bodies for leeches, ants or any other strange hangers on. I did have a leech which I flicked off and now we don’t know where it is! Old age certainly lets you know it’s there at times, we both crashed out after lunch, exhausted.

August 26^th Rain should have stopped play today but we misread the sky and the computer told us lies. We were wary though and only took a leisurely stroll around the river. Freddy was left at home just in case so photos were taken with my phone.

Huan had brought her umbrella, just in case, here she is before it was needed.

It had been raining most of the night and we could see the effect of all that rain on the river.

You may remember these two from a previous post, but there is a reason for the repetition. The two young ladies who run the small refreshments stall must have decided they have bitten off more than they can chew with these two. Obviously they are growing bigger and need more space and more food. Their answer? Offer them both to us F.O.C. If we had a villa we would more than likely have said yes, but ducks don’t really fit into apartment life very well!

We got caught in the rain more than once today, mostly when there were trees to shelter under. These trees down by the riverside always seem to have a little added beauty when it’s raining and they are wet.

Somebody else caught out in the rain were the ‘council workmen’, busy repairing pavements, replacing slabs and installing ‘blind people slabs’. You can see the two workers in this photo and even the site foreman, that’s his head behind the small distribution box on the right. Seeing them hard at it made me wonder if workmen in the UK would have carried on in the rain, or would they, as I suspect, have stopped for tea.

Arriving home we weren’t too soaked, hiding under trees and shop awnings had protected us from the worst. So it was a slow walk, an easy walk, and yet I still had to have an afternoon sleep, not only that, it was a long one, nearly two hours. Huan was strong, stayed awake!

August 27^th Horrible noises emanating from the living room roused me from my slumbers this morning. Huan had the TV on at the same time as she was doing some hulusi practice, I guess she thought it was time I was up! Our planned route was the ‘third turn off’ today, the weather held and fun was had by all, including Tom and Jerry.

Once in the pleasant surroundings of the countryside we were having a little chat when we were loudly interrupted. This was the sentry for the chicken yard, who did hiss as he approached us but once he was near enough quietened down a little.

Men at work were ‘up’ next.

Soon, we parted ways, Huan took the high road where she got protection from the sun by walking under the roadside trees. I took the low road to make sure I got enough vitamin D.

We were to meet up just after the village, underneath the highway. On the way I spotted another ‘des res’, it even had an access bridge, only for people though. Getting your car into your garden would be an impossible task.

While I was waiting for Huan to join me I took a few snaps to show you the view along the other side of the highway.

Going back through the village there was a lot of spring cleaning, or refurbishing going on. Can you spot what we did? Yes, it’s nearly all women working; they explained to us that the men were actually elsewhere, out at work. Strangely enough, some of the ladies even knew us two and where we lived.

Heading back towards town I took some more snaps so you could also see the village and the highway from the ‘approach’ side. I never cease to be delighted by the scenery we have.

Not a bad walk at all today, nearly nine kilometres and ‘not many’ problems. During our leech experiences I had one attack me through my socks, as did Huan in fact. You saw the photo of her removing hers. My ankle had been itching a little yesterday but I hadn’t been worried about it. However, this is what it looked like today when we got back. I guess my boot must have been rubbing on the tender spot.

Today being Friday we were out making videos in the evening. The blister burst while I was eating my burger, when we got home Nurse Huan cleaned it up and put some ‘red stuff’ on it. I have no idea what it was but the pharmacy recommended it.

Should you wish to see what our fast food burger place is like, you can find the video by following this link - https://youtu.be/JWPsZN3c4iQ

August 28^th Confined to barracks and on light duties by order of the C.M.O. I can’t say I was unhappy about it as my ankle was definitely not in the mood for walking. Boots will probably also be a no-no for a few days more. In her capacity as the nurse, Huan cleaned me up again and this time put some ‘blue stuff’ on the injury. The ‘red stuff’ from yesterday was over three years out of date so I made her throw that out. I don’t think you particularly want to see my leg with blue stuff on it though so, unless something goes terrible wrong you shouldn’t see it again.

August 29^th With a red raw ankle wearing boots today was out of the question, in fact even shoes and socks were a problem, so it had to be sandals. Because I was still officially on light duties only a walk around the river was planned anyway. Not a great deal was seen today, we did have another failed attempt at snapping one of the local birds for you.

Our plan included a visit to the bapman today, yes he and his wife have returned. They came back about three weeks ago as they found Harbin to be too hot for them! I suppose it does get hot there in the summer but not much hotter than here. Anyway, we were pleased they were back and running out of Taobao Russian bread went to top up on baps. Unfortunately that was a failure, their stall was all shut up. Hopefully that was a one-off because we have spoken to them and they have been open recently. I’ll try again on Tuesday.

Do you remember the little Welsh Corgi? Nearly every time we see him and his Dad they are ‘taking tea’ at one of the riverside outdoor cafes. Well the little pooch doesn’t have to walk there, he gets chauffeured. We see quite a lot of our canine friends travelling in this fashion.

On the way home we passed by the chemist’s shop again and let them have a gander at my leg. They first suggested Amoxicillin tablets which I should then break in half and put the ‘powder’ on my open blister. I didn’t fancy that much, it would have meant covering the skin to stop the powder falling off. They then suggested Erythromycin ointment so that’s what I ended up with. Time will tell if it will work or not.

August 30^th One of us, who shall remain nameless, (but it wasn’t Huan), was attacked by sleeping sickness last night so didn’t get up until half past nine. How did I do that without even having a beer or two (or more)? Anyway, today was shopping so no worries. If we had wanted to do anything else we wouldn’t have been able to as rain stopped play, again. In fact it rained so much that Huan insisted I take a photo to show you.

You see a lot about Taobao in our posts, I don’t think there is anything quite like it in the UK yet. Yes, you do have eBay and such like, but I do believe Taobao beats them all, hands down. There are times when I wonder how people make any money from it at all. Yesterday Huan received a pack of ten new sewing needles for her machine. The cost? ¥4.00. Yes you did read that correctly, four Rénmínbì, less than 50P. The shipping cost, from Anhui to here? (Quite a long way) ¥0.00. Somebody must pay the shippers, often it is not use but the suppliers. Amazing!

And on that note it’s goodbye from SWMBO and it’s goodbye from the lowly serf. Hope to see you again next week!