The China Town walk was an amazing experience. I
would like to thank Mrs. Everett, Ms. Mills, and Mr. Evans for the incredible opportunity
to tour such a beautiful and fascinating place. Mr. Evans was a wonderful
guide! He gave us in-depth information about the history, demography, and
society of china town while we toured the neighborhood, sites, and historic monuments.
Mr. Evans even took us to places in China Town that most tourists don’t go. Despite
being long, the tour wasn’t at all boring. The passion Mr. Evans showed during
the walk told me that he truly loved what he does and that made the experience
all the more enjoyable.
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| The Main Gate To China Town (Photography By Myself) |
The
thing that amazed me most about China Town was how everything changes after you
enter the main gate. As you walk deeper into China Town, the beauty of your
surroundings begins to evolve into something much more authentic. The deeper
you go, the more you start to experience the true China Town. The highlight of
the China Town walk for me was definitely the Tin How Temple. The Chinese don’t
build temples on the ground floor of buildings; they build them on the top
floor because they believe that the higher the temple, the closer you are to heaven
so to get to the temple you must climb three flights of stairs but trust me, it’s
worth it. Once you enter the temple you are immediately hit with the delicate fragrance
of burning incenses and the mesmerizing beauty of the temple’s altars and
colorful lanterns the cover the ceiling. Tin How is the goddess of Travelers
and people can come to the temple to get a blessing from her altar. People also
come to the temple to burn paper in order to provide aid to their dead loved
ones in the afterlife. I was really disappointed that pictures weren’t allowed
inside the temple because the temple was so beautiful and words simply don’t do
it justice.
Another
great part of the China Town walk was the Fortune Cookie Factory. The smell of
freshly made fortune cookies was so inviting. Mr. Evans provided us information
about the factory, the history of the fortune cookie, and allowed us to try the
“reject” fortune cookies. After the tour he allowed us time to buy our own bags
of freshly made fortune cookies. I didn’t buy a bag myself but my generous
peers allowed me to try some of theirs and they were delicious. Inside the
factory the women who sell the cookies charge fifty cents a photograph but it
was worth it. An interesting fact about the fortune cookie is that the fortune
cookie was actually invented by the Japanese. I still regret not buying my own
bag of fortune cookies.
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| The Fortune Cookie Factory (Photography By Myself) |
After
the walk I was exhausted and tired but filled with a burning desire to one day
return to China Town and experience everything it has to offer. I loved being
able to come home and share my incredible experience with my family who now
shares that same desire. I really wanted to have authentic Chinese food in
China Town for lunch so that was my only disappointment. I didn’t just go home
with some cool souvenirs; I went home with better knowledge of the history of Chinese
immigrants in San Francisco and a passion to return to China Town in the future.
-DeRael Edwards
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