Here are a couple of photos taken on the weekend when we turned up for the Chinese New Year celebrations at Melbourne’s China Town and Crown Casino. The event at China Town was more chaotic than in previous years. There were a few changes that I was not very happy with, but I guess everyone involved was doing their very best. I just wish that Crown would celebrate this fun cultural event on the weekend before or after China Town’s turn. My neighbour told me that Chinese New Year is usually celebrated over 15 days (commencing from the eve to the 15th day of the New Year). So, if China Town is celebrating it on the weekend after the actual date of the Chinese New Year, then Crown should celebrate it before or after that. Then everyone can easily make it to all of the venues. We didn’t even get to the Docklands to see the Dragon Boat race on Sunday. There was just too much happening on the one day. I reckoned that China Town should have top priority because it is after all Chinese New Year we are talking about. People will still turn up even if the events are planned for different weekends as long as they don’t clash with another Aussie event. That happened this time because Sunday was the final day of the St Kilda Festival and as a result, the number of non-Asian Aussies was clearly lower on Sunday evening at Crown.
For free events like these to work it also requires the attendance of some bossy people to ensure enjoyment for all. These days crowd controllers do less, so it is up to bossy people with guts to tell other people to sit down so that everyone else can enjoy the performance on stage. These bossy people were no where to be seen on Sunday night and we ended up standing and getting squashed for around 4 hours. This is made worse because many people do not observe other people’s right to a little bit of personal space. If you think that Cameron and I have an advantage over most of the people around us, my 5 foot 7 inch height can never beat someone an inch or two shorter than me, because they usually have their little 3 year old child on their shoulders as well. It’s not easy trying to sway left and right and ducking the squirming precious little ones just to watch the performance on stage. It was really quite horrible but where else can we experience such cultural events in Australia if we didn’t take part last weekend? Cameron was not bothered one bit but then again, he is well over 6 foot. He was reaching the clouds! I did try to tell some people in front of us to sit down but to no avail. People with precious bottoms absolutely refuse to sit down on the steps (like some lowly coolies) to enjoy the beautiful free entertainment. They prefer to stand. It wasn’t like we were all rocking away at a rock concert. Everyone was just all squashed together in an upright position. Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy the event down at Crown as much as in the previous years. May be it is all in Crown’s interest to have everyone standing up. Those who can’t stand for hours can cut their viewing short to try their hands at a bit of gambling, watch a movie, do a bit of high end shopping or dine at Nobu and the like. People like me who were there for the cultural experience, should really be grateful that we were offered such wonderful shows on the stage despite the physical discomfort.
Ok, enough already! I will stop the whingeing now. Below is a list of brief descriptions of the photos above. I am forever grateful that we have a great education system in place in Australia that requires children to attend schools on Monday mornings. Towards the end of the evening, families in front of us began to leave and their vacated spots allowed some of us (including Cameron & I) a chance to move forward a little. My height became my advantage from then on and I finally got to snap a few photos.
For free events like these to work it also requires the attendance of some bossy people to ensure enjoyment for all. These days crowd controllers do less, so it is up to bossy people with guts to tell other people to sit down so that everyone else can enjoy the performance on stage. These bossy people were no where to be seen on Sunday night and we ended up standing and getting squashed for around 4 hours. This is made worse because many people do not observe other people’s right to a little bit of personal space. If you think that Cameron and I have an advantage over most of the people around us, my 5 foot 7 inch height can never beat someone an inch or two shorter than me, because they usually have their little 3 year old child on their shoulders as well. It’s not easy trying to sway left and right and ducking the squirming precious little ones just to watch the performance on stage. It was really quite horrible but where else can we experience such cultural events in Australia if we didn’t take part last weekend? Cameron was not bothered one bit but then again, he is well over 6 foot. He was reaching the clouds! I did try to tell some people in front of us to sit down but to no avail. People with precious bottoms absolutely refuse to sit down on the steps (like some lowly coolies) to enjoy the beautiful free entertainment. They prefer to stand. It wasn’t like we were all rocking away at a rock concert. Everyone was just all squashed together in an upright position. Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy the event down at Crown as much as in the previous years. May be it is all in Crown’s interest to have everyone standing up. Those who can’t stand for hours can cut their viewing short to try their hands at a bit of gambling, watch a movie, do a bit of high end shopping or dine at Nobu and the like. People like me who were there for the cultural experience, should really be grateful that we were offered such wonderful shows on the stage despite the physical discomfort.
Ok, enough already! I will stop the whingeing now. Below is a list of brief descriptions of the photos above. I am forever grateful that we have a great education system in place in Australia that requires children to attend schools on Monday mornings. Towards the end of the evening, families in front of us began to leave and their vacated spots allowed some of us (including Cameron & I) a chance to move forward a little. My height became my advantage from then on and I finally got to snap a few photos.
- Two groups of lions met up and kow-towed to each other. How cute! (Melb ChinaTown)
- People flocking to checkout the market stalls. (Melb ChinaTown)
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