Fish Out of Water

Canal Street New York City, talk about feeling like a fish out of water.

We walked down about five blocks of Canal Street where there were countless vendors, both with shops or just a table set up on the sidewalk.

 Numerous men were selling illegal purses such as Coach, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, and more, would approach us, trying to convince us to buy these knockoff purses.

Here we are, two California girls, walking the streets of New York and being a minority in this area, also known as Chinatown.

 There is nothing like this in San Jose, let me tell you!

We stood on the corner of the street, waiting to cross, and you see a woman pick out a purse on a small laminated booklet, the man runs across the street and back with a black plastic bag and they do the quick exchange.

This was just crazy to watch but it even gets worse.

We went back a few days later to do some last minute souvenir shopping and all the men who were selling purses just had them all out on a blanket on the sidewalk.

 Now how do they get away with that!

 We became curious and stood around the crowds for a while and with one blow of a whistle a dozen men wrapped up the blankets and took off.

We just stood there in awe trying to figure out what just happened.

This may not be a political or religious fish out of water experience but this was definitely a new experience for us where I felt so out of place.