88 Steak House, Fairfield Hotel, Fairfield

It's a rainy Thursday night in a suburban hotel in Sydney's south west.  The Fairfield Hotel is relatively empty but for a table of middle aged Vietnamese.

One couple is singing karaoke, it's a love song, melodramatic in typical Vietnamese style.  My Vietnamese is not good enough to fully comprehend.  But I sense the raw, barely controlled emotion.  When he hits the high notes his voice gets louder as if to mask his feelings, she responds with a kind, feminine, considered croon.

Another couple are swaying slowly, close to each other, but their minds are somewhere else.  While others watch on... like the Pacific Islander barman with a greying beard.  He's bemused but he too, senses something tonight.

Even the pre-recorded karaoke track seem to ooze pathos tonight.