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I originally came from an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Called Richmond (no relation at all to the USA version). Once an original industrial area, with factories and tanneries dumping sludge into the river, and tiny roads fit barely for horse carts, and cramped houses with families of twelve children (maybe four of which survived to adulthood), it earned a bad reputation. A reputation and corresponding cheap land prices that some people saw the value of. Because it gentrified. More than anywhere else. It was partway through the process when I was little. Now it's mostly rich people territory, with land going easily well above a million $AU [$733k US] a quarter acre (just the land, most of the time the house is a hindrance, they want to build units and apartments on it). But a lot of its old roots remain. The strangely appealing grungy sides, near the old train station or the heritage factories. The north of the suburb is the most interesting though. It's like a little Vietnam. With some of China and Korea, and Thai and Malaysia too. Once you go there you would not even think of shopping anywhere else for most good things! Every sort of spice, every normal and exotic vegetable, dried and fresh beans and pulses, all kinds of rice. Every second store seems to sell Pho. Terrible as the Vietnam War was, and despite all the lives needlessly lost, this place is the silver lining. Also it is apparently Melbourne's heroin hotspot, despite dedicated police patrols. But I prefer the sheer amount of chilli you can buy there (I have never seen so much chilli).
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Nov 21, 2017 16:20
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 03:11 |
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