… also known as the Great Hunt for Yeo’s Chrysanthemum Tea…

Earlier Saturday, Brandon and I headed out to Chinatown. He had an errand to run, and since I haven’t stepped foot in Chinatown in about 4 years, I decided to tag along. There was initial confusion about which bus to take through the tunnel at Stockton, but we soon figured that out (It’s either the 30 or the 45, by the way). The tunnel is located right past the Grand Hyatt near Union Square, and from afar, it looks like a huge gaping abyss leading to some faraway light. Its imposing concrete structure didn’t help the Twilight Zone flashbacks I was getting either.

As it turned out, the Twilight Zone might not be such an inappropriate analogy. The bus we were on went through the tunnel, traveled past pedestrians and other vehicles driving in the shadows, and emerged into what seems like a different world. Just imagine the contrast; we went from the climbing skyscrapers of Union Square to the dozens of Chinese mom-and-pop stores littered across the sidewalks in just a matter of minutes. It was like the bus was a time machine, and the tunnel was a matter transporter. Or something like that.

We found ourselves in the thick of run-down souvenier shops, Chinese medicine stores, and Asian markets that sell all manner of food with rather, um, unusual scents. I was awash with nostalgia. I didn’t feel like I was in San Francisco; I felt like I was in Hong Kong, or on Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur. The number of non-Asians were easily trumped by the crowds of East-Asians (mostly of Chinese descent) that hustled and bustled on the sidewalks. The air was filled with Cantonese dialog, and I marvelled at the chaos of it all. It was like eye candy; there was so much to take in. Everything from traditional Chinese garb to hanging poultry grabbed my attention simultaneously. With the addition of certain stores that sell certain “VCDs” at unusual prices, I most definitely felt at-home.

We headed down to Waverly Street where Brandon had to deliver something, and I came across this in-road that was relatively serene when compared to the craziness of Stockton. The buildings were much more Victorian in architecture, but with a touch of Chinese design. I totally love it — the fusion of the two old worlds really works for me. Some of the colors were a little garish, but they are part of the buildings’ charm.

And then, of course, we came to the food. There are at least two Chinese cafes on every block, and at least one of those two is a dim sum place. We were spoiled for choice. However, I had read up a little on Golden Dragon, which is right on Washington and Waverly, and I heard it had pretty good dim sum for reasonable prices. So dim sum it was, and man, it was good. Sure I had a bit of trouble with the language, but the wait staff knew enough English to get me through. Besides, the great thing about dim sum is that you can just point at stuff on the carts — no need to say the names. I had my standard dim sum favorites: Siu Mai, Har Gow, Chee Cheong Fun, and the delectable Egg Custard Tart. We also had a 3-4 more dishes, but I don’t know their names (Yes, I just pointed them out on the cart — it was that easy). The only problem with dim sum is that you often don’t know when to stop! However, the bill was something like $24 for both of us, which is pretty good considering we had quite a few seafood dishes (We both love shrimp).

Next, we mostly walked around a little, just taking in the surroundings. There was quite a bit of uphill walking, but I thought of it as an opportunity to burn off the dim sum calories. Brandon remembered that I’m a huge fan of Yeo’s Chrysanthemum Tea (It’s a Malaysian packet drink product), and he figured there must be a market around the area that sells them.

And so began the Great Hunt for Yeo’s Chrysanthemum Tea. See, I thought it’d be easy to find. I mean, I’ve bought the stuff at a mall food court before; it can’t be that rare, especially in Chinatown. However, we went to store after store after store, and all we could find was the Vita version of Chrysanthemum Tea, which is just not my thing. We went to the regular mom-and-pop shops, we went to the grocery marts, we went to the shops that sold weird dried seafood, and still no Yeo’s in sight. I was beginning to think we were never going to find it. In fact, I had already given up, and was just window-shopping for stuff, when I decided to go into this one grocery store. And there, in the fridge, I saw the very recognizable Yeo’s brand. I was ecstatic, until I saw that they didn’t have the Chrysanthemum Tea in the fridge, but only the Soy Milk and Ice Lemon Tea flavors. But minutes later, Brandon spotted a whole cardboard box of Chrysanthemum Tea packets on the bottom of a big pile of drinks. We speculated that it must be really popular for there only to be one box left. Anyway, we grabbed two six-packs of it, paid $5 for the lot, and that was the end of the Great Hunt.

Everything after that was pretty mundane. We took the #30 bus to Market, shopped a bit at Old Navy, and went home. Brandon’s rather amused at how ridiculously happy I am about eating dim sum and drinking Yeo’s Chrysanthemum Tea, but he guessed it right when he said it reminds me of the comforts of home. And here, I get to experience “home” in just one or two bus/train rides. I love San Francisco.