New Chinatown

For the 37th Worldwide Sketchcrawl, Joburg Sketchers went to 'New' Chinatown - old Chinatown in the city centre has fallen into dilapidation, but in the suburb of Cyrildene, a busy, thriving community has sprung up over the last few years. Fantastically fresh vegetables spill out onto the pavements, grown in the gardens of the surrounding houses - and tea shops, restaurants, fishmongers, hairdressers, Chinese massage and therapy studios, supermarkets full of strange, unidentifiable products, so much to draw. A good turnout of seven, we started on the veggie shop near our meeting point, then trickled up the road finding other viewpoints. We met up for lunch at 'Northern Chinese Restaurant', a humble looking place, but with delicious, plentiful and very reasonable food. We should have kept it for last - we all ate far too much, sketching after that was a bit slow and most of us felt the need to go home for a little nap soon after.