This entry has been on the sidelines for awhile, mainly because I had not gotten around to loading the pictures. I was only in the Vegas area for 3 days.
Day 2 was not as eventful as Day 1. I had more relatives arrive this day in the snow. Yes, there was snow out in Vegas and I witnessed it. But similar to here in the DC area, people in Vegas don't know how to drive in the stuff, all 1 millimeter of the constantly melting snow. So traffic jams all along the strip. After we went through a number of hotels, my uncle suggested we see their Chinatown. Because when you think of Vegas, you think Chinatown right?
Those of you who know Washington DC's illustrious Chinatown, Vegas' is totally different. Meaning they actually have one. It reminded me more like Rockville's Chinatown or Little Saigon in Falls Church, except more city than suburb.
Day 3 was a much longer road trip. Since the snow had stopped, we decided to try out the Hoover Dam. Boy that was definitely worth the drive. Only about an hour away, it's amazing how you can leave all the lights of the strip and come to breathtaking nature. I have a few photos, but really, they don't do it justice.
After spending the day there, we headed back to the strip for more gambling. Unlike my previous trips where I broke even, I ended up a nice sum up. Hip, Hip, Hooray! Oh wait, it's not a Redskins win.
You mean tourists actually visit Chinatown in Las Vegas? In Vegas it's more like a Chinese-themed strip mall than what I would consider a "Chinatown." Did you stop at Ranch 99? Did you check out that Christmas fair/bazaar that they hold every year? Did you eat youtiao with warm soymilk for breakfast at one of the restaurants?
My uncle from the Bay area really wanted to go there, so we did. His wife, my aunt, was excited to see Ranch 99. I guess it's a west coast Asian grocery chain. Not seen it here in the East.
Yeah, it is a stripmall, but it's still more than what we get in DC, in the half block that is still truly Chinese.
No Christmas bazaar, but we stopped in at an indoor regular bazaar/flea market. Reminded of Toronto's Markham New Chinatown.
I had to look up youtiao on Wikipedia. My family speaks Cantonese and we call it yougiaogwei. We didn't have any in Vegas, but I have it at home or other Chinatowns. Also generally not with soymilk. We tend to eat it like bread or crackers with rice congee.
The northern Chinese are the ones who eat youtiao with soy milk. The southerns do it with congee.
One would think the chinatown in Vegas would be bigger given the gambling draw (yes, I'm stereotyping my own kind).
Thanks Q. I feel less Chinese today because I didn't know that point (North vs South). :-)
No worries on the stereotype. I already did it on my Day 1 article.