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photo by Donald Kinney
As a little boy I can remember my parents explaining that Chinese buildings had the ends of their eaves turned-up in spiraly curves to ward off evil spirits -- to give the evil spirits a more difficult path to follow...
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photo by Donald Kinney
What always strikes me when I walk through Chinatown is the tremendous amount of vegetables the Chinese consume. And they usually buy their produce fresh each day.
If they stop-by the fish market they can take home something that came out of the waters just off the coast and is still flopping around in the last moments of death... Sorry, I don't have a fish photo this time because the lady told me "no pictures, o.k.?"... Well I've been warned before. They really don't want you taking photos of their fish market. One day the shortest Chinamen that I've ever encountered told me in the most booming voice, NO PICTURES in Mandarin. Now, I don't speak Mandarin, but I understood exactly what he was saying...
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photo by Donald Kinney
Often I feel like I'm the only "white" person when I explore the sidewalks of Chinatown... It must be similar to what a person of color or a different national-origin must feel when he is immersed in a pool of people not of his own ethnicity... It kind of a strange feeling... I really can't explain it very well...
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5 comments:
When I lived in cites with ethnic markets (don't have any where I am now) I used to love shopping and sometimes just strolling, taking in the sights and smells (even ones that made me wrinkle my nose). Enjoyed your photos!
They don't let you take pictures of food in supermarkets in France either. I always get a copious ration of sh.. every time they catch me doing it (which still doesn't prevent me from doing it, though ;) I can understand that in some cases the display is viewed as intellectual property, but when they prevent you from shooting a pile of tomatoes, I don't know...
BTW, I know what you mean about feeling like a minority. Odd feeling, uh? ;)
I love how Chinese architecture uses such bright colours, too! We live just a few blocks from our local Chinatown. It's quite small compared to other places we've lived, but there are so many grocery stores! We're actually going to be moving closer to one of them at the end of next month (YAY!), so it'll be the place we head to for those quick and unexpected runs.
Oh, just a side note, now that I've thought of it...
A lot of grocery stores here have signs saying "no photos," so it's not just Chinese markets. It's supposedly to prevent the competition for coming in an stealing their techniques/floorplans and other ideas. Not sure how that would prevent it, but whatever works, I guess. ;-)
Love your canid shots Don. I don't know why you can't take a picture of dead fish...I'm sure they wouldn't mind.
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