Vancouver Seven Day Express - Chinatown

Chinatown has always mesmerized me; fascinated and tantalized me, but it's been years since the last time I prowled it's streets.  Minutes from the Waterfront Station and next to Gastown, Chinatown has a mystique all it's own.  Apparently it is the 2nd largest Chinatown in North America - next to the one in San Francisco.

With scents and sounds all its own, I wandered down the streets and the alleys intriqued by the the Chinese Medicine Shops - carrying herbs and untoward animal bodyparts - thinking this is a topic I really would like to know more about...Interspersed with Chinese tea shops, restaurants, unique architecture and memorials, not to mention yummy bakeries.

I eventually succumbed to temptation and bought a delicious coconut cream filled bun.  As I traversed back and forth across the streets and checked out one market after another, produce, fish and poultry.

I couldn't help wishing I had a Chinese friend that could translate for me - since all the signs were in Chinese - and half the produce I didn't even recognize!  One thing I did recognize though was that the prices were significantly cheaper than that  of my local Superstore!