Building 640 at the Presidio in San Francisco

Building 640 at the Presidio in San Francisco
Information Source for the Military Intelligence Service Historic Learning Center

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Time We Discover The Hidden Meanings of Chinatown's Alleyways and The Rise of I-Hotel





Written at 7/12/2011 10:25PM

Woo, today I'm extremely activated, due to the tour I will get at Chinatown. So I got up and stuff, ran out from my apt. door all the way to the Intersection of Market and Sutter St. (and yes, I actually ran 45 mins. and didn't ride the bus to save fares). Ken sat at some fancy cafe chairs waiting for Rachael and I didn't notice the whole time. Since I was searching for Rachael's car driving to pick us up any moment. Ken saw my orange backpack and wondered "Hey, isn't that Luis?" and came to greet me. We both met up and eventually met Rachael that came from a muni/bart stop, then I was like "ehhhh" since I thought she was picking us up with her car. So we went to get Cha Siu Bao (Cantonese barbecue pork buns, but I didn't get any), Ken and Rachael liked it. We arrived at the meeting spot of the tour too early, so Rachael got a coffee from a built-in coffee chain from a hotel. When that was finished, we met up with the rest of the group include the tour guide of Chinatown Alleyways, Wendy Chen. She had us introduced ourselves and started the tour from the center of Chinatown's Portsmouth Square to the alleyways and ended at the Cameron House.Wendy knew her tour facts
really well so we had a great experience learning about the alleyways. I learned so much interesting facts like how Chinese people got creative with numbers like 4+4=8, the number 4 meant to die but if you add then together it turns to 8,which means luck and prosperity. The fortune cookie I tired was so good that I hope I can find this alley way again. We ended the tour with lunch at San Sun Restaurant and a visit to the International Hotel. The building was surprising remodeled to suit low-incoming housing needs and an exhibit was provided for us to see the artworks of a Filipino American artist. We got a mini tour from the nice guy at the front desk and eventually went back to NJAHS headquarters. The good food we had made Eric and Ken sleepy but I truly enjoyed this tour and I planned to use some of Wendy's skills as a tour guide on Thursday. Well, good night.

- Luis Diego Lin-Xiao (NJAHS Nintern)

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