Chinatown!

There are several times that I have visited Chinatown, but I don’t completely know my way around that area. The perspective that I had on Chinatown before visiting yesterday is that it is a place where the majority of the people are Asians, and that’s pretty much it. To be honest, I never really thought of Chinatown. Although I have passed by there, I haven’t really spent much time around that area. I do know that they have great food, and yummy candy from their own cultural background.

After I visited Chinatown, I don’t think my perspective changed all that much. As we walked by Webster and 9th Street, the majority of the people there were Asians. You could still see different races, though. On our way to Jamba Juice, I saw Whites, Latinos, and other races were rarely seen. We also saw plenty of Asian Restaurants, which I knew Chinatown had, but I didn’t know there were so many!

The major differences that I saw between Fruitvale and Chinatown was that the majority of people in Chinatown were Asian, and in Fruitvale the majority are Latinos. The cultural background of Chinatown is of course very different than Fruitvale. Throughout our day at Chinatown I didn’t see an Ice Cream man, or those fruit stands that you can’t avoid in Fruitvale. The type of food there was also very different than Fruitvale. There were plenty of Asian restaurants and markets. Even the smells from both of these places are very differently. Chinatown smelled like ocean food, and to me Fruitvale didn’t really smell like anything, probably because I am so used to it. Some of the similarities that I saw between Chinatown and Fruitvale were the minorities are the majority in those places, and the culture of them is still alive within Oakland. Another similarity is that they are not the cleanest places in the world, which is probably because both places have similar problems that are not being solved.

Some of the surprises that I had about Chinatown was that they have a “Crepes” Restaurant next to Jamba Juice, and I never knew about those before going to Walnut Creek. I guess if I didn’t go to Walnut Creek, I would have never known what those were. Now, I’ll be able to introduce that type of food to my family and friends. Finding that restaurant at Chinatown was definitely a surprise for me!