We had a couple of hours to spare before our bus ride to the ferry terminal, so we headed to Chinatown.
Victoria’s Chinatown is the oldest in Canada, and the second oldest in North America after San Francisco. The reason for this is its strategic location. The city was once the major entry port for Asian immigration to British North America, and then later, Canada. In the mid-19th century, there was an influx of miners from California, mostly gold seekers who wanted to find their fortune in the Fraser Valley. Over the years, the mines drew more immigrants from China, and when construction for the Canadian Pacific Railway started, still more immigrants arrived. By 1911, this Chinatown had a population of more than 3,000.
They established businesses (in buildings that functioned as shops on the ground floor and family homes on the upper floors), schools (a Chinese school styled like a pagoda still stands there), community organizations, and a Buddhist temple. However, for a time, it also became notorious for its shady gambling and opium dens.
The entrance to this community is marked by the Gate of Harmonious Interest, an ornately decorated arch. As with most Chinatowns, it is characterized by houses and buildings with distinct architecture, bold colours of red and gold considered lucky in Chinese culture, hanging lanterns, and Chinese characters on shop windows. Shops carry goods such as Chinese fans and dragon puppets. Grocery stores sell rice, herbal teas, and exotic spices. Restaurants offer dim sum, noodles, and barbecued meat displayed in glass cases. Fruit and vegetable stands have an array of dragon fruits, kumquats, and bunches of bok choy and gai lan. There are traditional medicine stores, acupuncture clinics, yoga centres, and fortune houses.
But nowadays, Victoria’s Chinatown oozes with the “East-meets-West” vibe, for alongside traditional establishments are modern eclectic shops, art galleries, quaint restaurants, and hip cafes.
We did not have much time, so we checked out two of this Chinatown’s iconic streets – Fan Tan Alley and Dragon Alley.
Fan Tan Alley is known as the narrowest street in Chinatown, with only .9 meters at its narrowest point. In the olden days, it was a seedy area that housed gambling dens, but now, it is a tourist attraction. Lined with brick buildings that host whimsical shops that sold anything from old vinyl records to specialty umbrellas and canes, to local jewelry and natural body-care products, this Instagram-worthy alley is somewhat reminiscent of Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley.
Similarly, Dragon Alley, festooned with colourful twinkling lights and Chinese lanterns hanging above kitschy stores, a coffee shop, and an emporium, is another site for anyone’s photoshoot, especially at night. If Fan Tan Alley is Diagon Alley, this one is the equivalent of Hogwart's Express Train Station (that is, the one on the “muggle" side where Platform 9 ¾ is), because of all the red bricks along its walls.
After a brief stroll, we headed back to the bus depot for our ride to the BC Ferry terminal.
Our journey back was quite restful. We spent our time on the ferry watching the sunset and reading our books. We got home tired but happy with the things that we learned and the memories we created.
I returned to Victoria one more time when I flew to Vancouver from Ottawa to meet my brother and his family. They drove from California, stopping at the other Pacific Northwest US states along the way. I spent more than a week that summer with them and with the rest of our relatives in BC. I acted as their tour guide in Vancouver and the surrounding areas, and of course, I had to take them to Victoria.
Photo Credits:
vicnews.com, vancouverislandview.com, visitorsinvictoria.ca, clippervacations.com
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