Trip to Hefei

It was Friday and I was in my Mandarin class when my phone rang. It was the editor of an English Chinese Magazine called That’s China, who called to ask me to go take photographs of Hefei, a city west of Shanghai for a few days. Early the following Tuesday morning, my face split in two by a huge smile, I was embarking on a plane after having met with my two travel mates, Jessica, the editor in question, and Pete, an American writer.

We welcomed by the municipal comity of propaganda (I’m not kidding). I, of course, understood nothing but there our schedule and itinerary were planned and discussed. It didn’t bother me. I was visiting another city, all expenses paid plus salary so I was quite exited. Our driver / guide / “supervisor” lead us to our nice hotel where I found a huge king-size bed covered with a think quilt in the middle of my own room. It was a rather nice start.









After a delicious meal at the hotel’s restaurant, we went to visit a few historical sites and parks close by. I was taking photos relentlessly and loving every second of it. For dinner we were received by the director of that same comity. It was an excellent meal of the finest Chinese cuisine with its alcoholic counterpart in no shortage.

















































































On day two, we went to visit an important Chinese research center, more precisely a particle accelerator. Afterwards, we had the privilege of a somewhat long promotional seminar about a gigantic development project followed by a quick stroll amongst part of it which was still in its infancy. Finding foreign investors is presently their main goal for those to whom this might be of interest. China, being a developing country, has enormous projects and construction sites like few places on earth. Entire cities of skyscrapers are sprouting up out of nowhere.

The third day was by far my favourite. After another promotional seminar at a local speech recognition technology enterprise, we drove off for about 45 minutes to a small traditional looking neighbouring town. It was named三河 (Sān Hé) which is pronounced like Saann hreEA and literally means Three Rivers just like Quebec’s “Trois-Rivières” which happens to be where my parents and most of my family are from. It was a truly charming little town with its old traditional architecture. I would dare say that its inhabitants seemed to be much happier and welcoming than their Beijing counterparts although it’s not quite fair to compare a small 30 000 people town to a mega polis of at least 15 millions. There too, we were copiously welcomed at table covered of local dishes amongst which was a chicken ( or rooster) soup the head and legs were still in.





































Back in Hefei, for our last evening, we had the privilege of attending a Chinese opera in a small amphitheatre. It was my very first opera all categories confounded. There again I of course did not understand any of it beside that it was about a love story but it was still quite entertaining and enjoyable.

As every rose has its thorns, we had ours too. We were supposed to take off at 10h50 the next day but supposedly because of some technical problems, we ended up waiting for a few hours before we could get on another plane. After we boarded and moved a few meters, we were moved back to the airport like cattle so that we could wait a couple more hours. All and all, 11 hours passed before we could take off at 21h30. After such a nice trip, I did not have too much difficulty to keep my smile and to try to pass it on to my two travel mates despite it all.

Next destination! That time was north to 长白山, Chángbaíshān right beside the Korean border. I’m already back front that one too as I write these words but I have to keep some for next time.