Fu Yang

Four hours on the high speed train found us in the captial city of Anhui province - Hefei.  The train station was bustling with people coming and going, street vendors surrounded the square selling various foods and sundries.  Our group numbered 25 and was comprised of 10 nationalities - German, American, South African, Singaporean, Malaysian, Dutch, Vietnamese, Indian, Australian and Taiwanese. We were hard not to notice as we waited in the square for our next mode of transportation that would take us 3 more hours to the city of Fu Yang where we would spend the next two days serving the people of the region.  Onlookers began to gather while we waited for the bus making some of us nervous while beggars with small children on their hips plied us for a few spare coins.  Westerners are rarely seen in this region of China as Anhui province is one of the poorest in the country so it was not surprising all the interest that we aroused.  Anhui is the home province of the current president of China, Hu Jintao, and it is expected that he will direct a high level of funding to build the region up before his term of office ends.  In fact the construction has already begun and the infrastructure is beginning to take shape as evidenced by all the cranes, roadwork and the ever-present dust in the air.  The Chinese government just completed the draft of their seventh 5 year plan which covers from 2011 to 2015 and one of the objectives is to begin developing the interior cities of China like Hefei, Chengdu, and others.  When the Chinese set out to do things you can be sure they will complete them and in no small way - everything is done on a mind boggling scale here with no detail omitted. 

Our bus arrived right on schedule and we quickly loaded up our belongings and set out for Fu Yang.  What we expected to be a 2 hour drive turned into 3-1/2 hours along both highway and side roads eventually leading us to the MaoGuo Hotel.  The government dictates in which hotels that westerners can stay and this hotel was the only one with such "approval".  It was listed as a 4-Star hotel but we decided that it must be an entirely different set of "stars" they were using.  However, the price was right at 220RMB per night (about $33US)  We all settled in for a good rest around 10:30 pm in anticipation of a busy Saturday in the villages outside of the city.