The best things to see and do in Chinatown, New York's Chinatown

(This article details a stage of a coast-to-coast trip through the United States)

On this day of walk through New York, in which we have visited Greenwich Village and Little Italy, now it's our turn to visit the Barrio chino.

Like other neighborhoods called Chinatown across United StatesThat of Manhattan It is an ethnic enclave with a large population of Chinese immigrants.

You really get the feeling of being in China because of the environment, its cinemas, its products, its fruits.

What the Chinatown neighborhood of New York is like

The only large green area you find in Chinatown es park Columbus, and when we passed by it, we assumed that because it was a Saturday the park was completely full...of Chinese, of course!

On one side there were people practicing Tai Chi; At many of the tables that they had distributed throughout the park they were playing games. majong and to other board games, incomprehensible to us.

Almost everyone was eating Chinese Food with their chopsticks and, in addition, there were many Chinese food stalls.

We did not know if this was the case every day, only on Saturdays, or if they celebrated some holiday.

Chinatown It was reputed to be the most dangerous area in New York and most of the jobs are lower class, with salaries below the legal minimum, and transactions are made in cash to avoid paying taxes.

This type of economy provides work for many immigrants who, due to language problems, cannot access better jobs.

This system attracted the fashion industry to set up their factories in the area of Chinatown.

There is also important activity in the tourism and restaurant sectors.

The chinese stores They touch all sectors, from groceries to jewelry, appliances, electronics and hardware stores. There is everything!

There are also many Chinese banks and the neighborhood is full of street vendors selling imitations of perfumes, watches and handbags.

When the rate of immigration to the United States grew in the 70s, the population of Chinatown increased and exceeded the possibilities of the neighborhood, so most of the immigrants went to the northern neighborhoods, such as, for example, Little Italy.

Unlike most Chinatowns, Chinatown is both a residential area as a Commercial area, with an estimated population of about 200.000 residents, although some claim it reaches 35 residents.

Grand Central Terminal in New York

After touring a large part of the neighborhood, we headed by metro to see the New York's main train stationKnown as Grand Central Terminal.

Located between the Calle 42 and Park Avenue in the Middle Manhattan, Is the largest train station in the world by the number of platforms: 44, with 67 tracks on two levels, both underground.

After a thorough restoration, today the Great Dinnertral It has gone from being a must-see place to a rest area where you can shop or eat in one of the many restaurants that populate its lower level.

Its lobby, Main Concourse, is the largest in the world, and more than 500.000 people pass through it daily.

United Nations in New York

Walking we head to the United Nations building, which we saw from the outside being aware that many decisions of the world order are made there, surely less than desired.

At the entrance is the famous statue, quite large, of a pistol that has the barrel twisted on itself, like a knot.

Already tired, we headed towards the hotel that was a few blocks away.

We passed by the Chrysler Building, famous for its dome art decó which we photographed from below.

After crossing various avenues, we arrived at Broadway y Times Square, where we sat on a terrace set up in the dead zone left by the crossing of the diagonal Broadway with the 6th Avenue.

From there, to the hotel, and then have an early dinner at an Indian restaurant because the next day we are going early to take a tour of Harlem y attend a Gospel mass in a church in that neighborhood.