Archive for the ‘international district’ Category
The American Hotel is Seattle's largest hostel with 320 beds. Located in the International District, it's part of the Hostelling International network.
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It must be something from my traveling days. But I’ve always enjoyed staying at and learning about hostels.
I recently filed this freelance story for seattlepi.com about more hostel beds in Seattle, including ones at the Hostelling International-affiliated American Hotel.
The price is right, too: About $35 per person per night.
The addition of hostels in Seattle marks an increase since 2007, when one near Pike Place Market closed and left the Green Tortoise Hostel as the only one of its kind in downtown.Â
Hostels come in all types of buildings, too.
On the Northern California coast, my friends and I pedaled our bicycles to one housed in an old lighthouse. Some are based in castles.
I’ve always found that they’re a good way to stretch your traveling dollar.
You can spend more time in a location to walk around, look at the buildings, eat food, take photographs or just rest up.
 
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If there is one lesson that I learned while lugging my backpack through China’s mountains, staying put in long-distance buses for a long time in that country or realizing that my inexpensive hotel room lacked heat, it is this:
When temperatures drop, winds kick up and a chill threatens to invade your bones, it is time to find hot-out-of-the-wok food, preferably with chili, curry, garlic or ginger (yes, yes – tofu, too).
This week in the Seattle area, the thermostat dipped, bringing temperatures down to the mid-40s to mid-50s. Gray clouds hovered.
That meant, as I ran errands on an empty stomach, I needed to fill up with the right ingredients.
I stopped at Hing Loon, an old Seattle standby because I know - on almost every visit – the Cantonese flavors are authentic and worth paying money.
This time, I opted for a curry chicken rice plate.
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As a teenager, I once bought a white T-shirt from Honolulu’s Chinatown that had black letters noting the location and a red curving dragon representing Chinese culture.
Its mouth was agape, its teeth were sharp, its pointed toes jutting out and its spiny body swirled on the white cotton. For some reason, I liked it.
Since then, I’ve tried to keep my eyes open for Chinese-style dragons in the United States, China or other parts of Asia. I like seeing designs, learning the history behind them and noting where they pop up.
In fact, I once bought some note cards printed by The Metropolitan Museum of Art that featured a yellow dragon on a Chinese emperor’s silk robe.
When I went to the New York City museum’s Web site, I didn’t spot that image but I found this eye-catching piece of history.
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This yellow butterfly kite flying in the wind outside Liem’s Aquarium in an alley in Seattle’s International District caught my attention.
I don’t know if it was the yellow next to the green paint or orange character or the red sign or muted brick.
Or it might have been that something was moving in the wind in an alley in which I expected no motion at all. For some reason, I like it.
I didn’t step inside the store on Maynard Alley South, which is off South King Street. I just took the photograph and continued with my day.
If you’re interested, though, reviewers have made their thoughts known at Yelp.
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The recession might be technically over - or on the cusp of ending - but people are still watching how they spend their greenbacks.
Remember those heady days in the mid to late 1990s when some Silicon Valley entrepreneurs would spend $100Â on a bottle of wine for lunch?
Well, fast forward a decade and enter the economical Vietnamese sandwich scene with its crunchy French rolls in Seattle’s International District.
One place that draws crowds is Saigon Deli. It sells its popular Banh Mi sandwiches with pork (grilled or shredded), ham, meatballs, chicken or tofu from $2 to $2.50 per piece.
That’s nearly half the price of some Vietnamese restaurants in the suburbs.
IÂ opted for the tofu.
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Seattle author Doug Chin maintains that the transcontinental railroad was possibly the most important development in Washington state’s history.
He notes that Chinese laborers – about 15,000 of them – were the largest group to contribute to it.
Chin will talk about this chapter in the state’s history on Thursday, Sept. 3 at a Wing Luke Asian Museum reception. It will celebrate the second edition of Chin’s book, Seattle’s International District: The Making of a Pan-Asian American Community.
The release coincides with 100 years of history in Seattle’s Chinatown International District. The 5:30 p.m. event will be held at the museum at 719 S. King St.
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If the words were spelled as Dragon and Curry, it would be a pleasant-sounding name for a law firm or high-end consulting shop.
Actually, the top image is the traditional Chinese character for dragon – or “long,” pronounced in the second tone (lower to higher) in Mandarin.
It’s on the side of the longtime Chinese restaurant, China Gate, where Bruce Lee liked going when he lived in Seattle. His wife told me that a few years ago during an interview in Seattle.
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Stroll through the Little Saigon section of Seattle’s International District and keep an eye out for this large Chinese character for good near South Jackson Street and 12th Avenue South.
That is, if you want affordable soybean cake and a shopping experience that can be as crowded, gritty and chaotic as grocery stores in Asia. In Mandarin, the character is pronounced as “hao.”
Because inside How How grocery store and in a refrigerated area next to fish sitting on ice and near frozen fish balls, you’ll find these gems:
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