🎨 Parading thru Chinatown is better than any cocktail bar

a look back at year of the rat

party dip’s art corner: swirling visuals featuring original collages, photos and gifs

Next weekend I’m going to New York for the annual Chinese New Year parade¹. Here’s a look back at Year of the Rat 2020, which fell at the end of January. Little did we know how that year would unfold. The rat is about navigating changes and adapting to challenges.

chinatown nyc * no place for hate

i love the shop keeper’s face as she watches the parade; XLB makes me hungry

Looking at these, I’m reminded that Manhattan’s Chinatown is my favorite place in the world. I’m ready for how different it’s gonna be this year, Year of the Snake. I searched “cocktail bars” on Google Maps, assuming it’d take time to research, only to be disgusted they’ve taken over the area. Soulless, Instagram hotel bar aesthetic. Nauseating.

I require 1 martini then I can cross the street to whatever old haunts still exist. Other than that it’s xiao long bao, pho, dim sum, boba, a stop at the chicken heart cart, and Chinese bakery snacks to-go. And the Mott St food court. I am ecstatic.

The Rednote community would like everyone to stop calling it Lunar New Year given that when they refer to it it’s specifically rooted in Chinese tradition. I realized it works in this case too. I’ve only been to Chinatown’s parades. I’d hit up the Korean Seollal (Lunar New Year) parade if it was a thing.

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