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Toronto’s Chinatown

4 January 2010By Zhu 17 Comments

No matter where I travel, I always drop by Chinatown. It tells a lot about a city, because Chinatowns are not just about China — many other communities also find a home here. For instance, in Ottawa, Chinatown is also Little Saigon and in France, many traditional Asian shops sell Caribbean products.

Toronto’s Chinatown didn’t disappoint me. It was colorful, messy and it smelled of exotic and spicy food. I observed the people attending their daily business: biking around, shopping, cooking and chatting. Chinatowns are invariably little enclaves with local businesses, not franchises. It’s refreshing to walk more than a block without spotting a Tim Hortons or a Starbucks.

At noon, we stopped to have lunch in the tiniest restaurant ever. The woman at the front was making dumplings and boiling them in huge pots right past the restaurant’s door. We squeezed in and had a huge plate of boiled and fried 饺子 (chives and pork dumplings) with soya, vinegar and sesame sauce.

Stores and Signs

Stores and Signs

Trinkets and People

Trinkets and People

Array of Herbs

Array of Herbs

Picking The Best Fruits

Picking The Best Fruits

Making Noodles

Making Noodles

Picking Oranges

Picking Oranges

Post No Bills

Post No Bills

Making Soup

Making Soup

Making Dumplings

Making Dumplings

Bracelets

Bracelets

Boiling Dumplings

Boiling Dumplings

Fried Dumplings

Fried Dumplings

Cutting Meat

Cutting Meat

Selling Fruits

Selling Fruits

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17 Comments »

  • barbara said:

    Hi Zhu,

    I think that in most larger cities, there will always be a Chinatown.
    There’s & very special mix to these places that can only be apprecited by walking slowly & using all your senses.

    I’ve known Honolulu’s ( the original Chinatown had to be burned down in the early 20th century because of a plague outbreak), where the early Chinese population was brought over for hard labor in the sugar cane fields/ other jobs.

    Yes, the best part of Chinatown is the food :) I looove dim sum and anything with noodles.

    Bises xx

  • Seb said:

    Awesome, my friend was just telling me about a christian chinese church in Phoenix. I wonder if we have a sort of china town here?
    Seb´s last blog ..Bear and I Visit The Louvre

  • London Caller said:

    There are quite a lot of Chinatowns in England.
    The one is better is, so far, the best one. I’ve seen. ;-)

    But Liverpool has the most beautiful paifang (牌坊) outside China, I have to say!!
    London Caller´s last blog ..Mr Rhino’s Halloween parties / 犀牛先生的万圣舞会 / Parti Halloween Encik Badak / サイさんのハロウィーン·パーティー

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