Tuesday, November 01, 2005
fact: melbournians take sports seriouslyno, i'm not just talking about footy, or even cricket. right now, i'm talking about horse racing. inconceivable, to us singaporeans, most of whom would have never seen a horse race outside of a movie before. it's such a big thing, they've made a public holiday out of it.
i'm not kidding, i'm not even remotely exaggerating. take, for instance, today,
melbourne cup day 2005. yes, there is a cup for a sports outside of soccer and tennis. practically everything was closed, apart from some of the asian cafes and the large food franchises such as subway and kfc. at flinders, there were just hordes of people, all dressed to kill for the racing. and when i say dressed to kill, i mean
really dressed up. men in suits and women in flowy dresses with either fancy hats or elaborate fascinators, an incredible fashion parade including people ranging from the ages of 16 to 60 (it's also a great social event: they bet on the horses, and if they win, go and drink like fish after that; if they don't, they go and drink anyways.)
each woman was more outstanding than the next. one was wearing a gorgeous red silk cheongsam, not the stupid chinatown flower brocade sort, but a unique embroidered one, and a fascinator so large and elaborate it could have been a small hat. another wore a backless fuschia dress with matching feathers cascading from piled-up hair. my favourite was a deep jewel-bright peacock green satin dress with a fascinator that consisted of a fan of peacock feathers. of course, the prize for the most interesting headpiece would have to go to this scrawny lady with a fascinator with long, flourishing feathers that stuck out above everyone else's head in the crowd.
some of the men tried really hard to make themselves stand out; well, they'd certainly have to try hard if they wanted to distinguish themselves from every other guy in a dark suit. one interesting fellow was running around in a grey top hat and coattails. then there was a group of men in black suits with top hats featuring feathers that were about a foot-long, sticking straight up, and decorated with glitter, no less. i also saw a guy wearing a plastic toy crown, but that was after the race, so he could have just been drunk.
it was interesting, to say the least, and i'm definitely going one year, but i really don't know how they all survived, cos today was just so hot. 31 degrees, man. i don't know how the guys kept their jackets on. i was melting! i'm still marvelling at how it could go from being so darned cold to being so bloody hot within a couple of days. but that's just melbourne for you.
**dream until you die**7:14 PM
