Archive for the ‘Chinese New Year’ tag
The Chinatown Neighborhood of Mauritius
The streets of Chinatown in Mauritius are similar to the Chinatown neighborhoods in various cities throughout the world. One will find many shops along the roads, all side by side, and selling the exact same products. New items next to used ones, plastic children’s toys, paintings, books and spare mechanical parts are all for sale under one roof. This is the same scenario in Chicago’s Chinatown in the United States. The streets are always a-bustle, save for the middle of the hot afternoons when it is so still the only movement is made by the stray cats wondering the streets looking for bits of food along the alleyways.
There are always a lot of hardware shops, same is true in the downtown location of Los Angeles, California’s Chinatown, with wrenches and screws sharing the same shelves as woks and teapots. There must be a rhyme and a reason to the organization, but that is something that is illusive and hard to figure out. Many of the older Chinese residents of the neighborhood in Mauritius have never really ventured out of the area, and often times their accents retain the strength of those having just learned to speak the language. Close to the district in Mauritius, luxury hotel accommodations are plentiful, and offer one the flavor of the various neighborhoods at one’s doorstep. In any city, one of the most distinguishable differences between Chinatown and the other neighborhoods is the food.
Be it the smaller shops located in the market places, with unfamiliar meats hanging from the rafters, to the restaurants that offer up the proper experience of a Dim Sum meal, the options are endless. One is well aware of that fact the moment they turn a corner and embark on a stroll down the sidewalk, as the aroma of the spices and the meats and the vegetables combine to create the scent of China itself. And should be lucky enough to visit during the Chinese New Year, or any other Chinese celebration, one will be amazed and awe struck at the sights, the sounds and again, the flavors of the feasts.