I'm kinda fascinated by the place, my grandparents lived there from the 50s/60s to when it was torn down. I've actually been there in the late 80s. I was only a few years old at the time but I remember it pretty clearly. The outside does look like compacted cars and that was the first thing I thought when I was a kid. The atmosphere inside is just what you'd expect from the photos and the videos, except you have to add the numerous rats that seemed to be all over the place. They'd gather at the refuse piles and of all the things I could possibly remember, I somehow remembered that they were eating their veggies. That's the thing that sticks out in my memory of my visit to the place - the rats. The rest of it was just a bunch of dimly lit corridors and old apartment doors. My grandmother's place was a pretty small apartment inside; it was quite clean and cozy but devoid of natural sunlight (lit by fluorescents).

My father told me a few stories about what it was like living there. There was nothing really special about it, aside from the fact that it became a huge architectural mess. For regular folk, it was quite safe to live there because the Triads treated it as a place of business and to attract customers, they made sure it wasn't dangerous for outsiders. They certainly left the regular people alone. There was a time when the place was decent, it had regular houses that were gradually overbuilt. The houses were subdivided into many rental units, which accounts for the density.

Anyway, once you get to know the place, I'm sure the mystery disappears. I'd ask my dad for more info but I think he gets tired of me asking about it. I ask him once a year and every time I ask more detailed questions and he just doesn't remember or gets bored answering them ("What types of restaurants were there?" and he'd answer "The kind that serves food" and stuff like that).

He's lucky I'm not studying to be an anthropologist, because I'd certainly do some sort of research project on the place and he'd have no choice but to answer all my questions.

I remember having to cover my ears because a plane passed directly overhead while I was in that area. It's unbelievably loud.