We set off on a late morning on a search for Santo Domingo’s Chinatown.
Grabbed a breakfast at the 200 year old diner joint, Cafeteria la Colonial, and then walked north up Duarte Avenue (with Parque Duarte behind us) for about 1/5 of a mile until we hit Chinatown:
Santo Domingo’s Chinatown consists of approximately 4 city blocks total, and is easily walkable in 10-15 minutes even if you take your time. All it has are restaurants, eateries, take out joints, and maybe a small goods store or two. There’s also a random South Asian-run jewelry shop here.
As for the Chinese community itself, the only local Chinese people you’ll find are behind the counters and the managers overlooking their staff in the restaurants. We couldn’t find any Chinese people merely strolling about the streets enjoying their day; they were all working indoors. Not much of a visible community here (like a Chinese school, community center, etc.) other than ex-pats coming to make a living here.
Afterwards we headed back down Duarte Ave, admiring last night’s ruins of the Hospital from a park behind it:
Afterwards we hailed a 150 peso taxi ride to the Expreso Bavaro buses heading to Punta Cana from the corner of Ave. Maximo Gomez and Juan Sanchez Ramirez (NOT Juan Sanchez Ruiz — this is an error that Lonely Planet lists, and it led to some confusion with our cab driver in getting there).
The times of the Expreso Bavaro buses to Punta Cana also changed; instead of 7am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm and 4pm as listed on websites and in Lonely Planet, buses now leave at 7am, 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, and 4pm. Ticket fares also have increased to 400 pesos a person.
Punta Cana beaches, here we come!
- At time of posting in DR BALAGUER INTL, it was 86 °F -
Humidity: 62% | Wind Speed: 10km/hr | Cloud Cover: few clouds
these are lovely! wish i was there – i really enjoy your blog, great stories, great photos and enough to make a humble wisconsin boy feel like he’s (vicariously) seen some of the more interesting nooks and crannies of the world :0)