This past Saturday Julie and I purchased a Groupon for a $10 walking tour of Chinatown from the Chicago Chinese Cultural Institute. We’ve been to Chinatown on a couple of occasions including the Chinese New Years Parade in 2012 but we were hoping for a little more in depth experience via the tour. I won’t say we were disappointed but you clearly get what you pay for. The tour started at the Nine Dragons Wall and our guide explained some of the background on how this part of Chicago became Chinatown.

The tour lasted about an hour and consisted of the main part of Chinatown along S. Federal St., the Chinatown Square which anchors the new part of Chinatown and the Ping Tom Memorial Park. One of the main buildings in Chinatown is the Pui Tak Center which formerly housed the ‘City Hall’ and now consists of immigration services, language training and a cultural hub.

Chicago Water Taxi

I’ve been wanting to take the Chicago Water Taxi to Chinatown for about two years now. We checked the schedule in the morning and it just seemed a lot easier to take the Water Taxi back to the Loop instead of the other way around. This worked out just as well, after our walking tour we had lunch and then walked back to Ping Tom Memorial Park and waited for the Water Taxi. It runs about every 20 minutes or so. The fare from Chinatown to Michigan Avenue was $7. Considering all of the boat tours along the Chicago River (CAF, Wendealla, etc) you get the same ride for about a third of the price if you take the Water Taxi. Granted you don’t have a guy with a bullhorn pointing out buildings to you but it’s all the same if you know the buildings.