I don't really like the center of Hefei. It can be defined as chaotic, dirty, and ugly, filled with motorcycles and very crowded.

I have been almost everywhere inside Hefei city.

The top 2 most popular attractions here are the Dashu Mountain and the Swan lake I think. I have been to both so many times in the previous few years I forgot how many. Then there is a ring park around the city center along the lakes encircling the city. I have also been there so many times.

On Saturday nights if you go to the dirty pedestrian HuaiHe street in the center of the Hefei, it is booming with young people. There are young people just about everywhere but it is a place of terrible hygiene. They are selling pets, juices, accessories, walking everywhere, and crowding into the ugly gold stores. Hefei people highly lack the styles, the most common style is painting their hair blonde or some cheap streetwear. Honestly it looks terrible and provincial. The street food scene is very dirty in the center of the city as well. Honestly, you go there, it is disgusting, and you can talk to no one, but you absolutely feel there are a lot of young people everywhere.

Swan Lake of Hefei

I think it is really lazy to name a lake just "Swan Lake". I don't really like the lake. There are a lot of people there and it's just near the commercial parts of center Hefei with the tallest local buildings and two big shopping malls nearby. And the lake is quite dull as well.

劳动节快乐!

Actually I've been here like a million times these past few years. It's quite crisp tonight, chill air. There were a lot of people walking around, some people singing but I didn't recognize any of these Chinese songs. It's actually quite rare to find people singing out there in China. There are a lot of young couples walking around and the moon is round tonight.

端午节快乐!

Very cloudy, some scattered rain today. The towers are cut in the middle by clouds.

Hefei Library just besides the lake

DJI Drone of Swan Lake

The Wanxiang shopping mall is one of the other places besides Yintai in Hefei where you can see French luxury brands. At weekend nights there are a million young people walking around and sitting on the benches. The young people here are the more stylish ones in Hefei, but the dressing code is still quite conservative or conforming. Unfortunately, it did nothing for my loneliness.

In the rain, the lights of the stadium on the other side of the street blasted into the night sky. Maybe there is a concert?

The fourth floor of the Wanxiang city has a figure skating rink. Mostly only young girls are skating. At the back of skating rinks are the giant ads of International schools, IB curriculum, Canadian schools, German schools, whatever. Figure skating isn't casual here in Hefei. Says something about social classes.

"Hechai 1972" is just in the southeast of Swan Lake. I think the name is too pretentious and it's just a few blocks of coffee shops and stores. There are no organic graffitis here and it smells of a cheap utilitarian vibe.

I went from Hechai 1972 back to the high-tech campus of our university. Unexpected kindness came from a taxi driver. She told me it would cost 40-50 yuan because it's a special taxi. I said I didn't realize it, I just clicked whatever on the app. Usually it's the cheap option, but the app got me this time. Anyway, it's nothing compared to the taxi in Shanghai. But she was very concerned and told me, "we don't scam students." She said she was also once a student and whatever. She suggested changing the destination to a nearest subway station and it ended up costing 18 yuan, while I have to take the subway all the way back. I do acknowledge the kindness even though I hate being told what to do in the Chinese culture.

Another time I was coming back from Beicheng, I also hailed a taxi from the app, and it was like 30 km. The driver chatted with me and I got another lecture about spending recklessly, so I thanked him and changed the location to the subway station as well.

There's an invisible wall with taxi drivers here in Hefei, and they aren't as service oriented as those in Shanghai. A lot of drivers asked for advice for their kids in high school or middle school because I am from USTC. I couldn't say any. I failed every exam. I'm the last person to ask for succeeding advice here. If you use the lowest pricing tier, a lot of drivers play loud music, trash web novels, or use their smartphone heavily.

Head a little southeast and there is the Nanyan lake. There are so many people walking around the lake at night and it's also a bit dull.

There is a Sam's Club and a street name "European style street" a little to the east. Again, this whatever European street is highly pretentious, and it's just a few western restaurants with cheaply constructed caricatures. The roads surrounding the area are very dirty.

The "Ring City Park" is in the center of Hefei. Then there is a Yintai Center in the middle selling French luxuries. There is a Xinhua bookstore, and obviously you know which books are sitting at the entrance, our government is the sponsor bailing out the bookstore. The whole building has been turned into coffee shops, restaurants, but unfortunately there still aren't many people. You finally began seeing books at the fourth and fifth floor, and those whatever few people sitting at the desks are glued to their screens. That's it.

Dashu Mountain

The westward view from the top of the mountain

USTC library (15x/25x) to the west and slightly south

The eastward view, Huangshan Road, towards USTC main campus

The southeastward view, Swan Lake

Behind the Dashu Mountain is the "all seasons flower park". However, I only went there at night. It was nearly totally dark at night. It was the first time I felt the "night mode" of smartphone cameras actually make a difference.

Beside the Dashu Mountain is the road leading to the island of our university. The first few blocks are very dirty, then it becomes very less populated. I came here several times before and walked to the west, it was in heavy construction and you can walk up the dirt hill and ponder about the direction of your life. I haven't been there for a long time since.