Speaking of Rwanda, what comes to your mind? 

Well, for someone who has not been there before, I would bet that most of what may be in his/her mind about Rwanda, may probably be wrong. Because that's what happened to me. I barely knew anything about the African country before I traveled to the capital Kigali, where I stayed for six days. It was during this time that I fell in love with Rwanda, and I would love to revisit it.

Rwanda is known as a "land of a thousand hills" for its unique landscape. 

Just like its national flag, Rwanda has blue skies and green hills, with yellow or orange roofs dotting the hills throughout the country. 

Rwanda was recognized as Africa's Leading Destination at the World Travel Awards Africa Gala Ceremony 2017. It is the second safest country in Africa after Egypt, according to 2018 Global Law and Order report, released by Gallup, an American consulting company.

Like every visitor, once I walked out of the airport in Kigali, my first impression was "how come the streets are so clean?" Soon I learned the reason – Rwanda mark national clean-up day on last Saturday of each month. 

In the morning on the clean-up day, the traffic stops, stores and businesses are closed, and citizens are required to come outside to clean the streets and neighborhoods around their community.

I was told that if a citizen is absent for the cleaning at certain times, he'll be put on a blacklist, which makes it difficult for him to rent a house.

Rwandan president Paul Kagame has a public approval rating of over 90 percent. During my stay in Kigali, my local driver talked about how much he likes President Kagame.  

He mentioned that the president often himself drives a car in Kigali, to have a look at on-going projects. If he finds any problem, he immediately calls his ministers asking for solutions. 

However, I was not lucky enough to see the president driving on the road. But I did found something surprising: I had an interview with a municipal government official on a clean-up day.

Despite it not being a workday, the official still accepted my interview request and came to the office for the interview. And when I walked into city hall, I found that on the door of every office, there's information indicating who's working in this room, his name, profile picture, title and even his contact number. That's not common in other cities or countries. So by this very tiny detail, I was convinced that the Rwandan government – together with its president – is hard-working, and it's no wonder that they have won strong support from the public.

Rwanda is home to silver-back mountain gorilla, an endangered species with only 1,000 left in the world. Gorilla trekking safaris thus become a favorite activity among visitors. 

You can find Rwanda people's love for gorillas everywhere: Gorilla statues in front of the Kigali City Hall; gorilla images printed on local specialty packages such as tea and coffee, and even on local currency; of course you'll also find numerous souvenirs of gorillas at local markets and airports. It would be fair to say that the gorilla is a national icon.

It's been a while since I returned from Rwanda, but I can't help thinking of it all the time, and recommending it to whoever I know is planning a holiday trip. I have become a big fan of Rwanda, and I do hope the country may continue to prosper.