Chinatown

Yesterday I ventured down to Chinatown. I'm trying to experience all parts of the city before I leave. I've been in the vicinity of Chinatown before, but never realized how far it spreads. The map above shows it being just those parts in brown, but that's very misleading. It extends all the way from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Manhattan Bridge in my opinion. When I was walking around in the area all the signs were in Chinese characters, the food was Chinese, the people were Chinese. It was really quite cool, to feel like I was in a different place and yet I was still in New York. And that is why New York is awesome.

I also went to Little Italy, and when compared to Chinatown is kind of a let down. It's basically a street full of Ristorante Italianos and gelato carts. Which isn't bad, because I sure love me some gelato and cannollis, but it's not quite the immersion experience as Chinatown is. You sort of get the feeling that Little Italy is just there for the tourists, whereas Chinatown is an area where people actually live and work and socialize (although they still have many touristy shop places along Canal Street).

Here's a few pics from the day:

I love the juxtaposition of the Chinese lettering next to the very American Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins sign.

Everything had signs in English and Chinese. Very cool.

If you're looking for jewelery, or cheap souvenirs, Chinatown is definitely the place to go.

P.S. I wore my pedometer yesterday--I walked 8.43 miles around Chinatown, Little Italy, Tribeca, and the Lower East Side!