Chinatown Homeless
Before a recent trip to San Francisco my wife and I heard about the homeless problem in the city. It sounded as if the issue had gotten out-of-control. We even heard reports that the problem was particularly bad around the TransAmerica Building where we were staying. This area is adjacent to San Francisco’s Chinatown. I can happily report that we experienced no such problem. While we did see homeless people, they were mainly congregated in the city parks. No one threatened or bothered us.
There was one interesting encounter we had while walking around Chinatown. A gentleman of Chinese descent commented that we were walking too fast. We stopped to speak to him and he informed us that we were in too much of a rush and that this was bad for our health. He proceeded to show us images on his cellphone of people that he claimed lived a more relaxed lifestyle and were aging well as a result. Among them were Martha Stewart and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I glanced down while he spoke and noticed that he had a suitcase on wheels. This, I’d wager, contained most if not all of his belongings. Although obviously homeless, he presented himself as the Ambassador of Chinatown, here to tell us tips and tricks of the area and, apparently, of life itself. He listed various places we needed to visit. He also boasted that mentioning our conversation with him could gain us entrance into the more exclusive nightspots in the area. “Just…