Fung Wah bus adds New York – Providence route to their network

by Scott Carmichael on

The Fung Wah Chinatown bus has long been a cheap and reliable way to get between New York and Boston, and as of June 15th, they will also operate a new route between New York Chinatown and downtown Providence, RI.

The 3 hour ride will cost $40 each way, and there are only 2 departure times in the schedule; 7am and 9am for Providence to New York and 4:15pm and 6:15pm for the reverse ride.

Despite the limited schedule, this is a cheap and simple way to get between these 2 cities, and certainly beats the hassle of flying.

If you are looking for simple way to find the best budget bus service, don’t forget to check out busjunction.com, or read our quick review of their service here.

Photo of the Day (5.2.09)

by Brenda Yun on


I’m a vegetarian, so the sight of these chickens in the window elicited a very strong gurgle from my stomach. Before college, however, I was a meat-eater. I didn’t have my first salad until I was 18. My parents would frequent Chinatown, and I would gawk at the meat in the window in a similar fashion as I am now.

I love Peking duck. I miss the taste of crispy skin with that tangy sauce on a steamed rice bun. When I lived in Beijing one summer during college, I would have Peking duck every weekend. That was the real deal. I miss fresh Chinese meat.

This appetizing (to some) photo comes to us from jerry.r.lem. The steam in this Bostonian Chinatown store window, the triad of colors, and the obscure meat on the right just makes me want to take a stroll in my neighborhood Chinatown and remember the good ‘ole days, when Mom would buy bok choi for less than a dollar, Dad would treat us to dim sum, or I could watch rice noodles being made through the Look Fun window.

If you have some great travel shots you’d like to share, be sure to upload them to the Gadling pool on Flickr. We might just pick one as our Photo of the Day!

Undiscovered New York: Exploring New York’s Chinatown(s)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Welcome to Undiscovered New York. Considering this past Monday was the traditional start of the Chinese New Year, now seems as good a time as any to celebrate one of New York City’s most interesting and diverse neighborhoods: Chinatown.

Upon moving to New York, my initial impression of Chinatown was an overwhelming feeling of the unfamiliar and mysterious. Everything about it seemed so at odds with what I knew and what I understood: huge piles of fish and strange produce glistening on the sidewalk in cardboard boxes, the pungent smells, impenetrable language and strange customs.

Yet as I grew more comfortable with this intriguing neighborhood, its many charms were slowly revealed. It was no longer an area of cheap designer knock-off handbags and pork-fried rice. I saw it as an indispensable part of my city – a neighborhood that was just as integral to my view of New York as the Statue of Liberty or the East Village.

What I also soon discovered is that the Chinatown in Manhattan is only one of three distinct Chinatowns in New York City, with another in the Flushing section of Queens and the newest slowly expanding in Sunset Park in Brooklyn. Each of these three Chinatowns is a unique city-within-a-city, offering a completely diverse array of regional cuisines, interesting stores and unique sights.

Want to learn about some out-of-the-way spots in all three Chinese enclaves? Step inside Undiscovered New York’s guide to exploring the Chinatown(s).
Manhattan’s Chinatown
Centered just east of Broadway and Canal, Manhattan’s Chinatown is definitely New York’s biggest and also its best-known. But there’s still plenty of secrets waiting for the interested visitor. Given the timing of this post, it’s only fair that we mention the Chinese New Year festivities taking place this coming weekend. The big event is arguably the Dragon Parade on Sunday 2/1, which features dancers parading in elaborate dragon costumes down the area’s sidestreets.

Anybody with a hankering for some authentic Chinese food need only point his nose towards one of the area’s many eateries. Dim Sum is one Chinese tradition that’s not to be missed. The meal typically features a variety of small plates like dumplings, spare ribs and Jin deui served in a communal, buffet-style setting. Head over to the Golden Unicorn, grab a seat and watch the servers roll by in a constant parade of carts with interesting foodstuffs. Joe’s Shanghai is another area favorite – they’re known for their soup dumplings filled with steamy broth. Make sure not to put the whole thing in your mouth all at once!

It’s often said that the Chinese are experts in non-traditional herbal medicines. If you’ve ever been curious about Chinese herbal remedies, Chinatown is a great place to learn more. Kamwo Herbal Pharmacy markets itself as the “Largest on the East Coast.” The store feaures over 1,000 different traditional Chinese herbs and ingredients as well as treatments from a licensed acupuncturist.

Queens’ Chinatown
Though Manhattan may have the most famous Chinatown, Queens’ Flushing area may have its most diverse. The area boasts residents from neighboring Taiwan and Korea as well as areas of China as far-flung as Fujian to Lanzhou. One of the best ways to experience it all is by stopping in to one of the area’s numerous food courts. The Flushing Mall features a particular favorite – this otherwise mundane shopping mall features a mouth-watering food court in its basement spanning Sichuan, Taiwanese and Cantonese cuisines.

Flushing also boasts all kinds of quirky shopping sure to please even the most jaded visitor. Magic Castle is a Korean (one non-Chinese pick, sorry!) pop culture store that sells Korean pop music as well as stationary and toys like Hello Kitty. World Book Store features all the latest magazines straight from the Shanghai newsstand.

Brooklyn’s Chinatown
New York’s “newest” Chinatown is probably also its least-visited. Tucked into Brooklyn’s more remote Sunset Park neighborhood it tends to escape notice from visitors but is still well worth a visit.

Like the other Chinatowns, one of the principle attractions is the amazing, authentic Chinese cuisine. Start your visiting by gawking at some strange Chinese foods at the Hong Kong Supermarket, one of New York’s biggest Chinese supermarkets. Sea Town Fish & Meat Market is another interesting local retailer, offering one of Brooklyn’s biggest selections of Chinese specialty seafood items. When you get tired of “looking” at Chinese food and want to eat some, make sure to visit one of the area’s many street vendors for some authentic street food.

Boltbus tweaks onboard wifi, good and evil return to balance

by Grant Martin on

I had the pleasure of riding Boltbus last week, taking the time to ride the MARC all of the way from Baltimore to DC just for the chance to ride the bus back to New York. In my review, I pointed out that the service was nice, clean and on time, although I had issues with the encryption of their wireless network. Indeed, as of their frontpage last week they were having issues with Macintosh users connecting to their über secure mobile network.

David Hall from Boltbus got in touch last week to update me on their networking issues. He told me:

“Want to know the truth… we don’t like the 26 digit key either… we run credit card transactions over that network and the encryption is meant to protect those transmissions. This weekend… we are loading new programming and eliminating the key“

Sweet! Given the increasing number of Iphone, Mac and Linux users this will make integration into the wireless network easier all around. If someone rides on Boltbus this week, let me know how things went and I’ll update this post.

Photo of the Day (4/16/08)

by Jamie Rhein on

Although Andrew Zimmern didn’t eat any deer antlers on the broadcast version of Bizarre Foods when he went to Guangzhou, China, he mentions dried deer tail as a cure for back ailments in his blog. Willy Volk, who snapped this shot in Chinatown in San Francisco, says that antlers are viewed as an aphrodisiac.

I like that there’s nothing about this shot that places this display in the United States– except, possibly, the price on the sign. This is a reminder that sometimes you can wander into the unusual without traveling too far from home. What interesting images have you come across in your travels? Send them our way at Gadling’s Flickr photo pool.