Chinatown Bound

Amy gave each kid a good fortune egg.

We sat at a table in the back and just hang out.  The performance didn't start until much later, so we just sat there people watched.

I am not sure what it says on their banner. 

A hair salon with interesting looking wigs.

The hair cut was $7, but hmm no thank you.

Girls were finding their favorites in the museum's gift shop window.

A Chinese restaurant in an old building.

I had a plan to visit the International District in Seattle past Sunday with my friend Daminda who is a talented photographer.  I've decided that I will play with my camera more this year, actually reading on techniques and trying out all the setting on my Rebel.  I had a brief love in college days with 35mm black and white photography with manual Cannon, wheeling up my films in my pitch black bathroom and developing my own prints under the red light in the shared dark room.  I loved the whole process.  The prints I made were 100 % all mine, after choosing the best in every process.  I haven't played around with any of the photo editing programs and that is something I need to learn.  Maybe it will give me the same satisfaction I felt when developing the photos myself.

Initially, I was planning to go by myself to meet up with Daminda in the city but Noah's former Therapist, Malawaina, was able to come watch Noah, so Mike decided to join me and take rest of the children with us.  I felt bad for Noah, however Noah in a crowded downtown isn't a good idea.  He is a runner and escape artist.  He would just disappear in a matter of minutes.  Sean was super excited to go visit Chinatown.  It is close to his favorite building in Seattle, The Colombia Center.

I texted Amy the night before to see if she will be in the Chinatown as well.  Their Mien New Year festival was on the same day in the area, so we decided to go see her.  We parked the car a bit far since the streets were full with visitors.  Unfortunate thing about Chinatown in Seattle is that there are a great number of homeless people with alcohol or drug addiction problems living on the street or in century old hotels which are now low-income housing.  As we walked, we were followed by a drug addict begging for money.  Very sad.  We were very happy to arrive at the venue safely and see Amy at the door.  Unfortunately, her Mom Chio just had a surgery and could not attend this year's festival.  It would have been nice to see her, but I am glad to hear she is recovering nicely.  We saw many pretty girls dressed in traditional Mien clothing.  Girls in their traditional attire look genuinely beautiful in any culture.  Their smiles were beaming and I am glad they let me take their pictures!

We walked back to the main part of Chinatown and decided to walk around for a short while.  There were some interesting stores and we enjoyed window shopping.  We stopped by at a Chinese barbecue place to grab pork for dinner.  The building was very old (probably built in early 1900) and the ceiling was very high.  They built a second loft floor to add more seating space, but unfortunately there was no one else at the restaurant.  I was thinking maybe we should have gone with our regular barbecue place a few blocks away.

We had a fun Saturday exploring Chinatown with the kids.  We passed Wing Luke Asian Museum and reminded me that I should take the kids there sometime.  Maybe next year.  I don't think the younger one is ready for a museum other than children's kind.