NYC's CHINATOWN

At the lowly hour of 5 AM, we had to leave our hotel to catch a Bolt Bus to New York City. At this point, I was thoroughly satisfied with what we saw at Washington D.C; it’s a small district regardless so we likely covered most of the area anyway. Still, there was one thing I wanted to try—Dunkin’ Donuts. Many claim Dunkin Donuts to be the Krispy Kreme of the East Coast, which I later found to be completely untrue. While Krispy Kreme worries my blood sugar levels with every bite, Dunkin’ Donuts has just slightly more taste than the oatmeal my mom cooks for me in the morning. Quite a disappointment indeed. Since our bus ride was at an abnormally early hour, we ended up arriving at NYC with a full day ahead of us. First on the list was a tour of the infamous NYC tenement buildings. I learned lots about these tenement buildings from my history class, so I was thoroughly excited to venture into one of these tenements myself to explore. Sad to say, our tour wasn’t an interior tour of tenement buildings, but a tour of the tenement district itself. Not what I expected, but the tour was still enjoyable. Much of the tenement district turns out to be NYC’s present-day Chinatown which bears an uncanny resemblance to San Francisco’s Chinatown, yet I can’t hold the two together. While many aspects are similar, the atmospheres are completely different. Whereas San Francisco’s Chinatown hub, Portsmouth Square, boasts a vibrant and extremely active feeling, NYC’s Chinatown hub, Columbus Park, boasts a peaceful and soothing feeling. Neither is necessarily better than the other, but there’s no hesitation when I say I’d rather watch old men play Chinese Chess in Columbus Park. Our visit to NYC’s Chinatown was followed by an excruciatingly long walk to NYC’s “High Line”. At this point, most everybody’s legs were dead so little people actually made an effort to stroll across the one-way garden. I could probably spend an entire day walking through High Line, and I probably will if I ever decide to return to NYC. I’m not the biggest fan of nature, but the garden walk is truly a thing of beauty. A wonderful way to end this day.
-David Yi