Writes of Passage

After lunch we doubled back on the provincial road S319, in Hefei, Anhui province, and made a left turn to Niu’Ao to Liu Bingzhang memorial park.

I can’t map it on Google, except Niu’Ao 牛凹. (安徽省合肥市庐江县万山镇长岗 牛凹) The Google Earth shows the park top left.

Off the S319, we made a left turn, through this underpass. At the first junction (3rd photo), keep right. A few homes will be on the left and the pond on the right. The park is at the road end.

At the end of the narrow road …

This Park was opened in 2011 in Hefei, capital of Anhui province, to commemorate him. It doesn’t have a map-able address, but it’s not difficult to get to. We randomly asked a store worker who gave us the simple direction.  The surrounding mountains are very bare. At the end of narrow road, is long steps up, to the tomb. More pix on FB.

• In 2019

2016.03.14

2016.03.14

From Meishan in Dongzhi we headed straight north to Lujiang, 78 km/48 miles south of Hefei, Anhui.

I knew Lujiang well, heard it a lot but never been. The last time I passed it by, the driver decided to deny my pleasure of visiting.

The town after the toll booth looks fitting.

We stopped for lunch at 水中酒家/Shuizhong (庐江县万山镇闸山村长岗街道军二路南侧/S319 Provincial Rd, Lujiang, Hefei, Anhui – it doesn’t have a street #). No one was there even it’s lunch time. None of us like an empty restaurant but for time sake, we stayed. The owner or staff let us to go into her kitchen to order, something fast.

Again, I couldn’t pay for the meal. We doubled back on the provincial road S319 to Liu Bingzhang memorial park.

I had this Louis Eschenauer 2006 wine in Jinan, China, encased in a handsome box. Winery Louis Eschenauer has a web presence, they’re selling 2011 at the moment.

According to this site, “Louis Eschenauer is a brand of Bordeaux value wines. These everyday drinking wines are mostly available for purchase in supermarkets in the United Kingdom.” Simply put, it’s a cheap wine.

It didn’t taste good, but it’s a wine. Far better than this faker.

She’s a maid and became the last concubine of Zhou Fu. For reasons unclear – there are several versions as why – she’s chased out of the door of the Zhous and lived her live out elsewhere. Her son pleaded for her return but the patriarch didn’t budge. After death, she’s buried in the Meishan 梅山.

A sad story.

Getting to her tomb is the most difficult.

Form tomb carer’s home. The carers were never paid in cash but my ancestors always had enough acreage and crops for them to live on. In this case, the chestnut trees (板栗), full mountain of them.

Time’s short with this group of hosts. I hope in the near future, I could come and spend a week or two to volunteer.  Next stop, Lujiang.

It’s a very beautiful morning in Dongzhi. The narrow path that could only fit a single person, is a good indication for the treacherous terrain that to follow. The broccoli rabe field is in full bloom. All fit one’s imagination of being in the wild. Being physically challenged.

Keep dreaming.

It’s only when you get closer did I see the unevenly shaved hills, which reminded me of men and women were being humiliated during the Cultural Revolution when their hair was half shaved. The greedy developers cut the trees and the local government either is in it or unable to stop it. The path, they told me is paved by the developer to truck out the trees.

Very lucky that we ran into the couple who used to take care of the tomb. They were on their way up the mountain. She has their lunch, everything double, in the bag. The

梅山宝衣坞: 梅山是村名, 山名叫宝衣坞. The original Meishan Naos 梅山古寺’s gone. The current one is a recent built, not far from the old one “这是后来建的。原来的古寺不在了 换了地，原古寺在附近不远的地方.”

手机罢工，所以都是别人的. 今天去最后一个墓（长故事） 小路弯曲+陡. 照片中是康庄大道，好走的一段. 好运 下山时碰到看墓的人 – 夫妇二人，第二代. 祖先总是在墓的周围种植 板栗，看墓人可以维生. 心疼：地方政府不管，不良开发商乱发木，山头好像文革时期剔的鸳鸯头 [发怒][发怒]. 本来只有羊肠小径上山. 这些

A short hop from Anhui Hotel is my chauffeur‘s hole – his private club with room and board. A great way to entertain, at any budget.

After this dinner, we stopped by at another restaurant for spicy crayfish (crawfish) which Chinese call it little lobster. Actually we were meeting this friend’s chef who has just started a private club in Beijing but unfortunately I didn’t have time to go. Next time.