Trip to Chinatown

Last Saturday, March 2nd, Patrick and I decided to embark on a very long trip from the City of Angels to the Far East. Yeah, it took us around 30 minutes and $6 to get there (just because we were on a budget and we took Uber Pool). Once we arrived at our destination, we immediately found ourselves immersed in the Chinese culture, in front of the Chinatown entrance. We also saw a giant "Hong Kong" banner and we thought it was a good sign for our future since next year we are going to move there. Then we entered the pedestrian area of Chinatown looking for "Coagula Curatorial", the exhibition suggested by professor Hanses. After getting lost among Chinese bakeries and restaurants, we decided to look on Google Maps for more reliable directions and we finally got there safe and sound.

What most impressed us was the huge density of contemporary art galleries in this little road of Chinatown named Chung King Road – I counted at least 5 of them. After moving into the exhibition and meeting Mat Gleason, curator of the gallery, we dived deep into the contemplation of the artworks displayed. Apart from a series of contemporary pictures that I didn't fully understand, both Patrick and I were attracted by a colorful Mexican shrine that was intended for the memory of a dead person. Also, the restroom of the gallery was actually a work of art itself. In particular, our attention was drawn to a square, ceramic tile on top of the mirror with "Never drink water!" written on it.

Finally, after leaving the exhibition, we decided to walk around Chinatown and we entered one of the typical souvenir shops, where to my surprise I couldn’t find any fake watches. This part of the city and its architecture felt much more like a European city than DTLA or USC campus – it seemed to us to go back home for a while. Since the tour was becoming a little boring, we decided to look on the internet for the iconic places that we had to visit before leaving Chinatown. So, we opted for a 10-minute walk to get to the Thien Hau Temple. It was really worth seeing it, even though Patrick and I couldn't understand if it was a Buddhist or a Taoist temple and apparently opinions were contrasting even on Google.