J C

Review of Vancouver Chinatown Business I...

This is -the- worst Chinatown that we've been to. ...

This is -the- worst Chinatown that we've been to. We live in Milwaukee and frequently visit the Chinatown in Chicago....it's so much better! The San Fran CT is light years ahead.

After staying in Victoria over the weekend and enjoying their Chinatown, we took the ferry over to Vancouver. During the boat ride, we spoke with a Vancouver local. He suggested that we not go to Chinatown and especially not at night. I was pretty surprised and couldn't believe that a Chinatown area would be so dangerous. I brushed off his advice and decided that he just couldn't be correct.

Today, we walked from our hotel near Stanley Park east down Pender which leads directly through the Chinatown arch. We immediately noticed how run-down the area is: so many open storefronts, litter all over the streets, homeless people...not just homeless but crazy doped-up people. Walking along, we smelled pot numerous times but worst of all we noticed a guy with a lighter, spoon, and needle...maybe crack or heroin? Also, you'll frequently smell the sweet fragrance of public urination.

It was around lunchtime and we expected to find some good restaurants. Can you believe that there are no more than six or seven restaurants...not a one with a decent menu and all requiring cash payments only. We were so disappointed and my wife (born in Chongqing and worked in Dongguan) was literally scared and disgusted. The interesting thing that we noticed was that there were only elderly Chinese people there...no young or middle-aged people. Basically, it seems that the middle class Chinese population has left Chinatown for dead. So incredibly sad.