Paris vendor, Dakar traveler

Author: Qiao Lu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: From the very beginning, it was destined to be a troublesome journey. Qiao Lu knew it. But standing on the streets of Paris, the Senegalese vendor before him, with his black skin shining like raven feathers, and the torrential afternoon rain of Africa seemingly about to pour down upon him—his childhood in Africa called to him. It wasn’t easy, but he had to go. As Qiao Lu ventured deeper into the interior of West Africa, to places tourists didn’t visit, we saw more and more of such a traveler: he was sometimes restless and anxious, often murmuring and unable to hold back his opinions. He left the blooming Paris and the comfortable "petit bourgeoisie" life, to take a boat across the 35-degree-high Senegalese river basin, to take small planes time and again, just to get closer to real Africa—he certainly had opinions, because he had seen things; he came, and believed what he saw. This is the real, priceless journey for travelers: knowing it’s a long and troublesome undertaking, knowing some problems are pointless no matter how much you think about them, but they still insist on going to the trouble, asking questions no one can answer; it’s not easy, but they savor it, as long as they’re on the road. On the road, it is a lush oasis, a warm stopover, the resting place of travelers. On the road, even if everything is as difficult as ever, travelers have their own rewards. This book is divided into eight chapters: "The Other Side," "African Grandmother, African Childhood," "50 Years Later," "Slaves, Tourist Tide, Gorée Island," "Melancholy Saint-Louis," and "What I Know About Schweitzer," among others, recording the author’s revisit to his African homeland.