Courtyard Dream House Adventure (July 31 - August 1)

Hefei

Our plane was supposed to take off for Hefei at around 2030 (8:30pm). Unfortunately it got delayed and we ended up waiting for nearly five hours. Hey, if one has to wait, why not at an airport.

Waiting at leisure at Taiyuan Airport

We are finally scheduled to leave

It was very early in the morning (0230) by the time we got to the Hanting Hotel in Hefei. We were both tired from the long day that we slept in. Got up and had a leisurely breakfast (the hotel supplied me with a KFC breakfast to go). The morning was late so we decided to check out the local tea market area to find some famous Anhui Province tea. I was especially interested in getting some Tai Ping Hou Kuei green tea. It was a nice visit to the tea market which was not busy at all.

Melon Pieces green tea

There was definitely tea for sale here

I had read about what teas to buy while in Anhui Province. In Hefei, one would want to buy the Taiping Houkuei and the Lo An Guapian (Melon Pieces) green teas. And that is exactly what we were looking for. The Taiping Houkuei or monkey picked green tea comes from Taiping lake and is very unique in its shape and color. The Lo An Guapian comes from the Lo-an district outside Hefei.

The world famous Tai Ping Hou Kuei tea

Testing a good quality taiping houkuei

Big variety of tea

Some huangshan maofeng green tea

Negotiating for our Taiping Houkuei tea

It had been a long day previously so all we did the remainder of the day is walk around and do some shopping. I got a great collection of tea music cds and dvds at the local book and music store. We took an early dinner and went to bed early. Older folks are like that!

The next morning we were up early and walked behind the hotel for an Anhui Province breakfast. I had already had my KFC breakfast to go but Sunee was hungry.

Hefei Breakfast

During my research on Hefei and its attraction, I came upon a small article about a newly opened ancient town not far from Hefei. We decided it would be an adventure to visit it. It was called Sanhe 三和. It was supposed to be 2500 years old with a beautiful buildings and river. The bus took about a half hour to get to. It was not disappointing at all

Entrance to Sanhe ancient town

Part of the town had a wall around it which looked to have been freshly renovated. Sort of like a fort with its own canon.

The deadly canon of Sanhe

An unusual and old lantern

Some of the local cuisine. Glad I had that KFC breakfast because this food looked a little rough

The local transportation

A walled courtyard style building

A very nice river view

Along the river

The Sanhe pagoda

River portrait

A small temple

A diligent wood carver

Sanhe street scene

Fanmakers

Very Chinese stand of weeping willows

We spent most of the day in Sanhe and had a traditional Sanhe lunch. Actually, this is a joke as we asked for a typical local style lunch and ended up with some sliced tomatoes sprinkled with sugar. We still joke about the local Sanhe cuisine.

After getting back to Hefei a little late we decided to find a restaurant within walking distance from the hotel. Found a restaurant that served fast food style Chinese food. Nothing great but OK. We did not find anything exceptional about this province's cuisine. On the way back from the restaurant I came across this Rolls Royce. Took me a few minutes but then I realized it was sitting in front of a wedding studio. This is very common in the larger cities in China.

An end to another great adventure in China.

17_Rolls