All the Way to Chinatown

 

I thought I had been to San Francisco's Chinatown before...but I was wrong. There are two Chinatowns (at least two). One for the Chinese, one for the tourists. OK, so they kind of blur together. Still it is easy to tell the difference. Chinatown for the tourists is lined with shops that feature signs in Cantonese and English. Chinatown for the Chinese needs no English and the trinket shops are far outnumbered by the fruit and vegetable sellers, butcher shops, and Chinese bakeries.

I set out to visit Chinatown, taking a city bus from my hotel on the waterfront into the heart of the city (how brave am I!!). More or less by accident I arrived on Stockton Street amid the hub bub of early morning produce deliveries and the opening of all the shops. Within half an hour the sidewalks were so crowded with shoppers I could barely navigate. For blocks I saw no other occidental person. It was only when I turned east to Grant Street that the crowds thinned and the more familiar tourist Chinatown took shape.

So why is my photo (all my photos) of Grant Street and not Stockton? I can only assume I was afraid of doing the Ugly American thing by pulling out my camera to take photos of the quaint shops! Fortunately there is no dearth of images on Flicker.