Backpacking in London’s Chinatown

Backpacking in Chinatown, London

As many times as I visited China on my travels, my first experience of meeting Chinese people actually came in London town. My friend Gavin and I were over in London on the rip on a lads weekend in 2002 and ended up in Chinatown, London!!

Gavin and I in London, 2002

We were young at the time. Footloose and fancy free and the weekend took the form of typical lads activities back in those days:

1. Oasis Concert in Finsbury Park – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npPBPg-CB78
2. Checking out the local girls – http://www.cleopatraescorts.co.uk/busty-escorts/
3. Touring the best bars and pubs of London – http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/guide/london.shtml

Another day out in London

Aside from this, we ended up in China Town and came across some amazing curiosities there, I’ll share the best three of them here:

1.Best Chinese Food in England
Without doubt China Town has some excellent restaurants which will surprise you. We ended up eating all sorts of crazy concoctions in here and I do believe it was on that 2002 trip that I first tried Tsingtao, Chinese Beer. I’d go as far to say as this is the best Chinese food in all of England. By night, you can simply smell the cuisine on every corner.

Best Chinese Food in England

2.Oasis Album Cover
The famous Oasis album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? had its front and back cover photographed here in China Town. The cover is a picture of two men passing each other on Berwick Street in London. The album spawned hits like Roll With It, Wonderwall, Some Might Say and Don’t Look Back in Anger.

Oasis album

3.Cheapest Pub in London? The Green Man
The Green Man Pub is in the heart of London’s Soho and China Town district. With Happy Hour pints from £2, could this be the cheapest bar in London? It’s worth a shout and I try to pop back in. To be honest, I was last here in 2016 so I can’t wait to go back to see if my cheap beer is still waiting for me!

Night out in China Town

These are just some ways to get a flavour for China without actually needing to traipse all the way to Beijing or Chongqing. Yes, we know it’s not the same, but it’s nice to have a bit of China in England. Don’t forget to check out the rest of London while you are there and I recommend getting an Oyster Card to make it easy to navigate around the city.

Backpacking in London

Backpacking in London

Backpacking in London