Chinatowns in Asian cities: Six of the best

YOKOHAMA, JAPAN

Yokohama's Chinatown, Japan's largest, is more kitsch than cultural but has a raucous, colourful appeal. It's a popular destination for hungry visitors from Tokyo, just 30 kilometres away, and as a result is crammed with an estimated 600 eateries, from stalls selling steamed buns to noodle shops and grand banqueting halls draped in gold-leaf dragons. Souvenir stores spruik cheap, imported Chinese toys, fashions and chopstick sets, along with more upmarket jade and handicrafts. Amid the hubbub is ornate, 1873 Kantei-byo Shrine, dedicated to the god of prosperity and prettily illuminated in the evening with strings of overhead lanterns. See yokohamajapan.com.

HO CHI MINH CITY

Cholon or District 5 isn't so much a Chinatown, but it has a city neighbourhood whose majority population is Vietnamese-Chinese. With its quiet back alleys, small businesses, jade shops and incense-smoky temples, it provides a pleasing contrast to the French-influenced city centre. The most atmospheric temple is the 1818 Quan Am Pagoda, dedicated to the goddess of mercy, where a stream of visitors leave fruit offerings and burn paper money as resident monks snooze in corners. A small Catholic cathedral provides a curious contrast. Rambling Binh Tay Market offers everything from kitchenware and clothing to steaming bowls of pho. See vietnamtourism.com.

KUALA LUMPUR

This shabby Chinatown doesn't come off well when contrasted with other KL districts of sprouting skyscrapers and redevelopments, but what you get is a good, old-fashioned Chinatown of cramped street eateries where woks flare, traditional medicine stores piled with twisted roots and bark, and grungy junk markets. At night, Petaling Street erupts with a magnificently cramped tourist market of knock-off fashions, sunglasses and suitcases. A few 19th-century shophouses remain, along with Guandi Temple, decorated in bearded sages and mythological creatures. It's across the road from the incongruous Sri Maha Mariamman Temple, studded with blue-faced Hindu gods. See visitkl.gov.my.

MANILA

Across the Pasig River from downtown Manila lies Binondo district, noted for its street markets and Chinatown, which is probably the world's oldest, having been designated for Chinese immigrants in 1594. Its two cathedrals are a legacy of the colonial Spanish determination to catholicise its population. It lacks major sights but has a pleasing array of temples, ornate clan houses, martial-arts schools and teahouses. Chinatown is a great place for dining, with bargain restaurants lining Carvajal Street dishing up a fusion range of empanadas, dumplings, hopia pastries stuffed with bean paste and lumpia rolls, the Filipino version of spring rolls. See visitmyphilippines.com.