Scenes from Vancouver's Chinatown

Today I had to go downtown for an appointment. I decided to stop off in Chinatown as I wasn't too far from there and I needed to find myself a bamboo steamer (to steam frozen dim sum).

I always enjoy the street scenes and today was no exception.  The array of product in a store in Chinatown is always astounding. There are also a lot of exotic to me things that I don't get to use or see every day. I  still remember my early days in Vancouver and how a trip to Chinatown was always such a delight. Buying simple things like Sandalwood soap (heavenly fragrance) was a true cultural experience.

Truth be told I only walked a square block and a few extra streets in Chinatown.  There is actually much more to see.

I loved the artful tree in front of this traditional looking roof top. There is even a bird perching on top (see side right as you are looking straight at the photo).  The sky looks rather gray. It was actually an overcast day today though it cleared up and became quite warm.

If you look off in the distance of the photo below you will see the sky scrapers. They are located in down town Vancouver just a stone's throw away.

These plants make a nice, colourful addition to the street. I am not sure if they are on sale or if they are gifts to the store owners for a new business perhaps.

All over Chinatown the evidence of economic decay is present. So many shops have closed up. For many years now Chinatown has been declining and many shop owners have migrated to the suburb of Richmond (near the Vancouver International Airport) where there is a sizeable Asian community.  I admire the business people who stick it out in Chinatown and try to keep things going. I know there have been some efforts over the years to try and revitalize this area. Sadly I think the revitalization is going to change the entire nature of the area.

Already today I saw several businesses that just do not match the historical charm and nature of the businesses here. I also saw evidence of numerous residential building projects that are going to bring in masses of residents and change the nature of the area too.

I know change is always happening but I will personally miss the charm of what was.

It was nice to see some beautiful murals in the area.  The one depicted in the photo below is adjacent to an empty lot which is scheduled for a condo project.

This ruby red lamplight  post with Chinese writing at the bottom is quite beautiful.

This sign alerts the passersby to the coming condo development. There are several other developments in the general area.

This fast food restaurant, Kent's Kitchen is a very well known and highly frequented restaurant. I stopped by for lunch.

I love this charming, yellow building. At the bottom of the building you can see that other ethnic businesses are moving.  There is now a Filipino Restaurant in what used to be a clothing store. In the next block I saw businesses run by Caucasians and Vietnamese people.  Chinatown is losing it's historic and distinctly Chinese ambience and I'm guessing that building owners are giving good incentives to other businesses just to keep things going.

I just hope that in years to come there will still be a distinctly Chinese flavour to this area even if things change.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday today.
My the time does fly!
Have a great weekend everyone :-)

Guiding Words for 2014

{For my Skywatch Post, see here}

Hi friends, I trust you are all settling in to a New Year.

I love the changing of years where we say "goodbye" to one year and "hello" to another.  In recent years I've used it as a opportunity for reflection and planning.  A time to reflect on the year gone by to see what things went well and what things didn't go so well. A time to discover whether there are things that I have the ability to change or whether I need to "let go and let God". It is also a time to think about the coming year and plan and look forward to limitless possibilities.

If you have followed me for a few years you might remember reading my review of goals set for the year.  At the same time I consider whether I had to change my goals in mid-year, accomplished them or had to carry them forward for one reason or another.  I usually also plan and post my goals for the coming year in late December/early January.  This year however I felt the need to do something a bit different.



Instead of posting my goals publically I will be keeping them private. It isn't because they are so secret.  Rather I've just not been as passionate about blogging this past few months.  I still want to blog and connect with my readers.  At the same time, I want my readers to connect with me.  However, I'm trying to find a balance between the two objectives.  So I've started to blog less and visit blogs less often as well. {For now I won't be giving up blogging.}


It is all part of my desire to "simplify" and "streamline".

These two words will be my mantras for 2014. They will guide the goals I set for myself also.

I am a bit behind schedule in terms of what I've usually accomplished in the early days of the year.

But in keeping with my two words, "simplify" and "streamline" I've already spent a bit of time over the past several days doing just that.

Some of the things I've managed to accomplish in the early days of January:

• simplify - made New Year's dinner with less variety of foods to enjoy and didn't invite anyone over for dinner. {While I did have guests over Christmas having a few days to myself to recover from sickness was less stressful because I didn't have to entertain}.
• streamline ~ took down the Christmas decorations several days early. {I usually keep them up until January 2 but this year they came down on December 27th. I think this will be my new norm so I can start the year clutter free.}
• streamline ~  Deleted duplicate and triplicate entries for individuals in my email address book.  {Some people accumulate excessive emails in a short space of time when they switch internet providers.   It's one good reason to simplify by using a free email account.}  
• streamline ~  Got rid of old files and photos from my desktop.  {I should have done this sooner in preparation for installing Windows 8.  I have more streamlining to do from my hardrive folders & photo files.}

I hope that through more simplifying and streamlining there will be progress on the continual process of decluttering which is so necessary to living in a smaller space.  I also hope there there will be much more "me" time.  This "me" time is for reflecting on the deeper things of life and spending time on the things that are most important to me.  There will also be "me" time to take better care of my health.

I look forward to the year ahead and to connecting with you all.  I pray you all have a bountiful and blessed 2014!

Happy New Year

May you all have the most wonderful, magical and blessed 

New Year

in 

2014!

See you in 2014.