For my first visit to Chinatown, I planned to check out Aji Ichiban (better known as “Munchie’s Paradise”), Deluxe Market on Elizabeth Street, and Mahayana Buddhist Temple. I picked these spots, since the first one is a tourist attraction, the second is an everyday stop for Chinatown residents, and the third is a religious and cultural center, hoping that I’d be able to get a general feel of the different sections of Chinatown life.

Aji Ichiban (Munchie’s Paradise)

Sights

Aji Ichiban is a small store with a glass store front. When I walked in, I was immediately struck by how colorful everything was. There were rows of small bins, about a cubic foot large, lining the left wall, full of dried fruits, such as mango, papaya, kiwi, ginger, melon, and about ten different types of plums. Along the back, there were dried meats and fish. The center of the store had open top bins with wrapped candy, and closed bins with loose candy. These were all sorts of bright, artificial colors, and in all sorts of shapes: sharks, worms, peanuts, bears, bananas. The people in the store were about half Asian and half White. Most of the people were young adults, but there were also some mothers with children. The young adults all had their phones out to take pictures.

Sounds

The cashier and the other woman who worked there mainly spoke Chinese, so I wasn’t able to do an interview with them.  I heard a mix of Chinese and English from the rest of the people in the store. Some of the bins squeaked a bit when they were open- most of them weren’t new. The sounds of the street outside were audible. It was pretty busy despite being a small side street, with both foot traffic and delivery trucks.

Taste

There were little bowls on top of each closed bin (but not the ones with candy in them) that were filled with the chopped up contents of the bin. I tasted most of the dried fruit, and the plums, but I didn’t have the guts to try the fish. Dried fish is more of an Eastern snack. My Korean mom used to try to make me eat it because it’s apparently very healthy for you, but I never did. These bins told me that the store was still directed towards Asian palates, not just the young tourists who came for the green tea and red bean candy.

Elizabeth Street Deluxe Market

Sight

This indoor market is set up like a farmer’s market, with separate counters for all the different types of food it sells. There was a counter for meat, one for fish, one for vegetables, one for fruit and two for prepared foods. The floor was cement that had turned dark grey, and the lights were hanging fluorescents. The place was mostly crowded with middle aged Asian women around the raw food stalls, and a mix of men and women around the prepared food counters. I had to fight my way through the crowd to get to a counter where I bought some sushi rolls and a coconut red bean pudding. The place was visually overwhelming for me, but the other shoppers seemed comfortable as they found their way around through the crowd. They looked at ease, as if this was a normal stop for them. This market probably functions as a daily or weekly shopping stop for Chinatown residents.

Sound

The noise in this market was not incredibly loud, but it was a constant hum of voices and footsteps. I only heard Chinese spoken the entire time I was there. When I tried to speak in English to the cashier, they didn’t respond.

Smell

The strongest smell here was the prepared hot foods at the front of the market. I smelled soy sauce, garlic, and ginger from the steaming buffet. Near the vegetable counter, there was an earthy smell, and the smell of raw meat and fish was evident near the back of the market. The sushi I ate was pretty fresh, so it didn’t smell like much.

Taste

I had a pretty normal serving of sushi: just some salmon rolls. The coconut and red bean pudding was a strange experience, though. Unlike American pudding, which has a loose, custard like consistency, this seemed more like a coconut jello, with sweetened red beans throughout. It wasn’t very sweet, but I enjoyed it.

Mahayana Buddhist Temple

Sight

The exterior of this temple is a normal building front decorated with awnings in the shape of the sloping clay tiles of Chinese temples. The interior, however, is stunning. When I first entered, I was immediately drawn to a shrine on the right, which filled a room about 10′ by 12′. A golden Buddha, only a little smaller than life size sat at the back, and numerous plates of oranges, bottles of oil, and other food items were placed before it. On the left were stairs up to the temple gift shop and a couple offices. When I entered the main temple though an entrance at the back of the front space, I was awed. The ceiling was about three stories high, and at the back of the room was a Buddha statue that, even sitting, was almost twenty feet high. 

The room was covered in gold decoration and red carpet, seats, and curtains. In front of this Buddha, and at the back of this huge room, there were piles of oranges, cups of tea, bakery goods, and bottles of oil set down in offering. Along both sides of the wall were depictions of the life of Prince Siddhartha, the man who became the religious figure Buddha. These depictions were done artistically in metal on wooden boards. While I was there, a few older and middle aged women came in to pray and light incense. I didn’t want to disturb them, so I didn’t try to speak to any of them. This was clearly a sacred and solemn place for them.

Smell

One of the most striking things about the temple besides the magnificence of the visual display was the smell of the incense. This was a heavy perfumed scent, which sort of clouded my mind as I walked around the temple. I am already very sensitive to scents, but I knew that this was particularly strong.

Sound

Other than the prayers that the women were saying, I didn’t hear much. However, when I went up to the gift shop when I was about to leave, there was some droning music, which I took to be a religious song- it sounded similar to the music I had studied in a class before which was sacred Buddhist music.

 

Of all the places I visited, I was most impressed with the temple. The other two stops showed me how businesses serve tourists and the natives of Chinatown, but the temple showed me the enduring culture and religion which remains central in the lives of many residents. As I was leaving the temple, I noticed a wall covered in the names of deceased family members. These were left as prayers for those who had passed away. This temple is a stronghold of Chinese identity that serves the spiritual needs of Chinatown’s residents.