A long walk and a day of photoshoots

Yesterday I stayed in all day.  Today I got up late but decided to go out.  I left about 11am and headed for breakfast at the beef noodle shop.  After that I headed towards the bus station as I'd not been there for ages.  There were the usual people hanging around there looking for passengers, but I carried on walking to the far side of town.  There was an old deserted garage, it smells good and oily but looked like it had not been used for years!
The lorry had no front nearside and the motorbike had no front wheel.  I then took a shot looking back towards town.
I carried on and took a picture of the a fake tree covering a lamppost.
ThenI took a photo of the post office.  It is a hugely impressive building from the outside, despite the blue corrugated pavement repairers corrugated sheeting, but has bare concrete floor and one desk inside.  A real contrast!
I the headed down some of the less traveled roads and eventually got to the big supermarket.  From there I remembered a post about a new indoor market, so I sent to investigate.  The first butchers shop caught my eye.
Not much explaining needed here!  The rest of the market was quite big but half empty.

I walked outside and there was another undercover bit complete with small truck!  There was also a small trailer filled with animal inards.
Probably from the many fowl that were in cages or being plucked nearby.
I headed back through the market and to the other side of town, stopping only to talk to a few students and shopkeepers.  When I got to the other side of town, there must have been a new 'batch' of students, as everyone seemed  to want a photo with the foreigner!
After eating a few baozi for lunch I headed back home.  My knees and back had had enough!  I decided to go through the park and have a sit down.  I noticed two old guys playing  music.  They shouted "Hello!".  Then a.woman nearby shouted "Hello!" and wandered over with her friends.  They spoke the local dialect so there was not much of a conversation, but it was a fair guess that they wanted to make a short dancing video with me.  They took a few still shots, single and in groups.  Then I gave them my phone and they took a few for me.

They told me to bend down as they were only very short!  We then danced.  The lady in red promised to send me the video, but fortunately I am still waiting so I don't have to embarrass myself too much!  And no sooner had they taken their videos and had their fun, then they were off.  And that was it, apart from a notice that was attached to the wall of the building in which I live..Complete with the all important  red seal stamp.  The date was last year, but I had only just noticed it.  Seems like it might have been an interesting year.
P.S. The video of me dancing has actually surfaced and despite the excruciating embarrassment I will post it when I next get the opportunity!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Back to the earlier job and WeChat

After today's interview, one of my earlier contacts got in touch with me as I had sent him a request on Sunday.  We cleared up a few questions and he promised to put me in touch with a contact at the proposed school and send me a contract.  Meanwhile two other job agents/companies have been in touch and I need to start logging what is happening or I will lose track!  As for WeChat, I wish it would sync between my PC and my phone, like it used to.  Apparently the messages are not now kept on a server...for my privacy.  It is a real nuisance having half the messages on my phone and half on my PC.
Read more

Breakfast with Sherrie and the half marathon.

Image
Last night on my way home from the park, I got a text from Sherrie, Star's wife.  She invited me to breakfast the following day after exercise, or at least that was what I thought she had done, it turns out she invited me TO exercise as well as to breakfast. I knew there was some sort of run planned as the park had been transformed, but I did not know when the race was.  As luck would have it as I arrived the race was due to start.  I hung around near the exit tunnel and got ready to take photos.  I hate watching stuff like this because I so wish I could still run.  I am actually having trouble walking at the moment and that aggravates me even more.  Anyway, they were off.... but not as I expected, after all, this is China!  First came the keen ones in the proper gear, but shortly afterwards came a raggle taggle bunch of all sorts, most of them carrying umbrellas!  It was a big event for Jiangkou, policve, media, etc, and the main rod closed to ...
Read more

First time payment with WeChat!

Image
...just a short one here! The WeChat logo WeChat is the go-to social media platform in China. I've used it for a couple of years in the UK, but in China it has a host more features and every vendor of anything has a payment QR code which you scan with your phone and then enter the amount required, push pay, and job done. This is a QR code.  If you scanned it it would take you to this website. So,  after finally getting my Chinese phone number and bank account sorted out, well nearly sorted out, and having undergone numerous passport and ID checks and real time identification processes, I was ready to go!  I bought an ice cream and payed with WeChat.  Scan, enter amount, press pay, the shop console bings and its done!  A small but significant achievement!  Its only taken six weeks!
Read more