Most of today was spent on the bus and plane, but I did have a couple of hours walking around Hefei, the Anhui province capital. In my guidebook there is very little information about this place and I didn’t have much of an itinerary. The bus dropped me off fairly close to downtown and that’s where I decided to explore.I walked through a few parks and found them quite nice, but the best of the walk was visiting the Mingjiao Temple. When I got there, there was some kind of ritual being performed. Monks were sitting down and reading from texts while a voice over a loudspeaker recited the words. I found it kind of peaceful.
From the looks I was receiving on the street, I got the impression that this city doesn’t see many foreigners. I had a lot of people stare and some say “hello” or “how are you” followed by laughter or giggling. It seems to be a mostly younger people. Two people I spoke with on the bus were university students and I wonder if much of the province’s young attend university here.
One of many Communist style city statues:
Mingjiao Temple:
