I first heard of Visual Travel Tours last year, but didn’t test one of their personally guided tours, America’s largest Chinatown: San Francisco by Barbara Rockwell, until recently. Since San Francisco is on my list of places to visit, I just had to watch the video. I watched it on my laptop, but the files can also be viewed on your mobile or iPod. No web connection needed to play.
The tour includes an introduction, Grant Avenue, Historic Portsmouth Square, Eating Throughout Chinatown, Chinatown Alleyways and Places of Worship. I learned about the perfect place to start exploring Chinatown, where to find tea houses and the most fascinating music store, the appeal of quiet, shaded alleyways, that San Francisco is the widely accepted home of the fortune cookie, and much more.
From the description:
The 24 square blocks of San Francisco’s dynamic Chinatown teem with activity 365 days a year. Beloved Grant Avenue, with its red lanterns and bright facades, brims with woks, kites, and kitschy souvenirs galore. Locals shop at Stockton Street’s bargain-priced open-air markets, or relax and gossip at monument-filled Portsmouth Square. Enticing smells waft through the air: dim sum dumplings, mooncakes from traditional bakeries, and fortune cookies from a back-alley “factory.” Vying for space on the packed thoroughfares and quiet alleyways are old-fashioned apothecaries, incense-filled temples, historic churches, one-seat barbershops, family benevolent associations, serene teahouses, fresh fruit stalls, and worlds more.
The photo + audio concept works surprisingly well and I look forward to seeing more tours by Visual Travel Tours — preferably on location!
<em>Disclaimer: I received a free trial version of America’s largest Chinatown: San Francisco by Visual Travel Tours. </em>
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Hmmm…very interesting….
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I’m not sure if it is included in the video tour (I imagine it would be) but my favorite place in Chinatown is the fortune cookie factory. You can eat fortune cookies right after they come out of the oven and they are actually quite tasty.
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Yes, it’s included!
What a cool concept. I’ll have to check it out. I’ve always wanted to see the SF Chinatown.
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Same here. The only Chinatowns I’ve seen for real so far are those in NYC and London.