ASIATOWN’S GLOBAL MARKET

Cross-cultural crossroads

When your piggy bank is full, consider taking your coins to make a deposit in Houston’s Asiatown. You’ve arrived when the street signs suddenly become bilingual on Bellaire Boulevard, a 16.7-milelong road meandering from West University to Sharpstown.

Look for characters written in Mandarin, a Chinese dialect spoken by one billion people, alongside English letters, spelling out street names as you head down Bellaire, or Hundreds of Benefits in Mandarin. But you might think the name means “hundreds of banks,” since there are four Asian banks at the corner of Bellaire and Corporate Drive, along with 12 more nearby.

If you’d rather invest your money in a new hobby, Clarewood Drive, or Martial Arts Virtue per the Mandarin street sign, is also near Shaolin Kung Fu, a school where students of all ages can learn the most famous martial arts style, and they also perform lion and dragon dances when a new shop opens.

TIP: Improve your good fortune with a Lunar New Year charm and a lucky bamboo plant from Hong Kong City Mall.

You might even see one of these celebratory dances at the many shopping centers in the area. At Diho Square, or The Best Square in Mandarin, put your money where your mouth is, starting with dumplings and buns at Dim Sum King. For dessert, enjoy a Hong Kong bubble egg waffle cone with a scoop of ice cream and toppings.

Dun Huang Plaza is inspired by the old Silk Road trade route that linked China and the West. That spirit of commerce continues today among shoppers buying Asian produce at Great Wall Supermarket and kids spending their allowance on Hello Kitty and Pokémon at Ellicor Gift Shop.