I am up in the San Franscisco area visiting suppliers (and my Grandmother is on the way...). SF has a huge Chinatown, there are also lots of newer Chinatowns in the area. There is a big Chinese mall over in Fremont, Chinese Restaurants on Castro Street in Mountain View (and a great used bookstore, BookBuyers‎, that is not Chinese related). Angel Island that was the Ellis Island of the West is also a good visit. In San Jose there is also a Chinese garden.

Non Chinese related is two great bookstores. One in Menlo Park, Kepler's Books & Magazines‎ -and the other in Palo Alto, Book Inc. Books Inc‎ has the Idiot's Guide for Doing Business in China. I gave it a quick look. I am not sure of the significance when there is enough demand for an idiot's book, does that meant this is to trendly, a bubble, or just the interest in China is that huge? Another book that I will definitely be getting is Emotional Design, who also wrote a favorite book of mine, The Design of Everyday Things.

Labels: chinatowns