Kensington Market/Chinatown

It is a long three day weekend here in Canada, in celebration of Victoria Day. So a bunch of us decided to adventure to Kensington Market and Chinatown for the day. We left campus about 11:00am and arrived back about 5:30pm, so needless to say it was a big day. The first thing to happen was that i broke my flip-flop. Now this has never happened to me before and let me tell you it is far more tragic than i could have imagined. We were to far to turn back to campus but still several blocks from the market, without any shoes stores in sight. I was completely immobilized. After trying to sew my rubber flip-flop back together, my new friend (and now hero) Christy came up with a plan. We were close to a Starbucks, so I stayed behind while the other when into the market, bought me a new pair of shoes (best two dollars i've ever spent) and brought them back to me.

After that fiasco, we were off and exploring at full tilt. Kensington Market is a multiethnic melange with strong smells everywhere, accompanied by strong sounds. There are fruit stands, next to craft stores, next to fish markets, next to giant automatic bubble blower. It was a sensory overload. I found my first souvenir in a store called The Good Egg. I purchased a copy of the book The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton.

While we were out and about we also wondered through Chinatown. Toronto has a large Chinese population dispersed throughout the city, but Chinatown is the historic home of the Chinese community. Here I walked through a multitude of open air markets with foods and goods that i had never seen been, with signs only written in Mandarin. It was alot to take in all at once, but an excellent opportunity to be immersed in a new culture. By the end of the day (with my 2 dollar shoes) my legs left as if they were about to fall off. So after successfully making it back to my room it was time to relax.