Friday, December 9, 2011

Interesting Fruits and Weird Fish

I unintentionally went on an adventure. It was so cool!

Two friends were visiting me for a couple of days, and they needed to catch a bus downtown. Of course, I offered to accompany them.

We ended up in... CHINATOWN!!
(yes, they took the Chinese bus - quite an adventure in itself).

Credit: www.thenyknow.com

If you ever want to remain in New York City, yet feel like you've dropped into another country, definitely go to Chinatown.

My first venture into Chinatown was a few years ago when I did Grand Jury Duty in the NYC Criminal Court building a few blocks away. I didn't venture too far in.

But I found myself there once again a few weeks ago, and so I decided to explore!


Throughout American history, the Chinese have been subject to a lot of discrimination with immigration and labor rights. For example, the only racially based legislation that the US ever established was the Chinese  Exclusion Act that remained in effect from 1870-1943. So they began their own community in lower Manhattan.

Today, Chinatown is a huge tourist attraction, boasting various interesting eateries, shops, cheap trinkets and faux designer goods, as well as unusual fruits and vegetables and really weird fish.


I took a walk down Grand Street, possibly the busiest part of Chinatown, and dropped into a few shops along the way.



Look at that over there! (in the picture above)... I see something soo exciting!!! On the right... Look closer. See them?




Persimmons!!!
I love persimmons... they are super delicious, and they are sold in abundance in Chinatown!

Along my walk, I stepped into a store that caught my eye. Looked interesting.




But then I looked closer.


Ich.
(I made the picture smaller because I don't want you to have fish staring straight in your face).
And these fish were not even the worst of it! I saw some fish that I didn't even know could be consumed! Weird.


Anyway, I really just explored one teeny-tiny part of Chinatown. I hope to make my way down there again sometime soon and visit the really awesome parts of the little community. Anyone care to join?

Be sure to check out http://explorechinatown.com/ for more information about Chinatown.

2 comments:

  1. haha
    this was a funny post

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beleive it or not, my family once went shopping with a chosson in Chinatown to buy him a kimono to wear in place of a kittel under the chuppah! We got a red and gold one and had the best time ever buying it. Chinatown is a magical, colorful little world that is often overlooked by city tourists.

    ReplyDelete

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