Clubbing and social drinking are some of the most wonderful joys of life. These acts remind us that life does not have to be a total bore, and that there is actually a pot of gold at the end of that eight-hour full-time job we would like to think of as a fun and happy rainbow.
Whether you are a corporate slave or a corporate-slave-in-the-making (read: a student), you would most definitely appreciate the fact that clubs exist to give you some relief after a week’s worth of hellish experiences. For the weary partyphile, a club is their version of that wonderfully refreshing waterhole in the middle of the desert on a hot summer day. Thus, clubbing is more than just a reason to get drunk; it is a way of letting one’s hair down—de-stressing after a long week. And as a bonus, it is the perfect place to expand a network.
Unfortunately, if you have stayed in the party scene for a long time, you find that it has gotten quite routinary. Admittedly, the party scene in this city is not all that exciting. Thus, I have rounded up some of the most unusual bars from around the world in the hopes that some moneyed millionaire form this city of Durians and Eagles finally invests in a bar that has more personality than Betsey Johnson.
1.) Eternity, The Coffin Bar: This bar in Truskavets, Ukraine is styled to look like a giant coffin on the outside. The interiors are quite interesting as well. All the walls ad ceilings are black and there are coffins scattered inside the bar. Their servers are dressed in a black polo and black slacks ensemble and serve beer and other simple cocktails. To lighten up the mood of the interiors, they have several funeral flowers inside.
2.) Danse le Noir: This bar literally leaves you in the dark. With branches in Barcelona, Paris, London, and Bangkok, this is the most popular dark bar. They make you leave your cellphones and other gadgets in lockers and have you order before you get inside the bar. Then, everybody holds on to their blind guides and start to drink and dine in a pitch black room. It is so dark that you would not be able to see anybody in the room, no matter how much glutathione they ingest. What is the whole point of the bar? The owner says, it makes you experience the food and the drinks better. I say, they just want to offer something different. And with four international branches, I think it is paying off.
3.) The Clinic Bar: This bar in Singapore looks like a clinic. With industrial looking interiors, wheel chairs for seating, hospital beds, and the most unforgiving of lightings: overhead fluorescent, this bar looks exactly like that place we go to whenever we want some Botox stuck under our skin.
4.) Alcatraz ER: This bar in Tokyo, Japan is styled to look like one of the toughest prisons in the world: Alcatraz. I would not know why somebody would actually want to party inside a prison cell complete with hand cuffs and cell guards, but I find the fact that I can bang a metal rod against the prison cell rails (to call a waiter) quite exciting...but that’s just because I enjoy creating irrelevant noises (thus my radio show). Oh, and they serve food in stainless plates, bowls, and feeding bottles, and do not allow people to wear shoes inside the prison cells. Don’t ask me why; it is one of the greatest mysteries of my life.
5.) Vampire Café: This bar in Tokyo is the new safe haven for Vampires around the world. This is probably where the cast of Twilight, Vampire Diaries, True Blood, and all the other cheap vampire rip-offs party. Vampire Café is drenched in red velvet, and is decorated with skulls, bats, candelabras, spiders, and as a bonus, a real Coffin! Plus, their waitresses are dressed in French Maid outfits, which is probably more sexy than creepy. Their expansive menu is just as creepy as their interiors, as they have been known to serve coffin-shaped cakes, and some blood based dishes.
6.) The Red Sea Star: This bar is the first underwater bar in the world. It is located in the middle of the Red Sea (wherever that is) and is decorated with jelly fish stools and star fish-shaped light fixtures. I guess it is quite a delight to get drunk while staring at some fishies swimming by. The good news is, you have the whole sea as your toilet bowl when you finally decide to throw up.
7.) Guacara Taina: In the Dominican Republic, this bar is sixty feet under the ground and has a capacity of three thousand people. It is minimally decorated with stalactites and has three stories of pure hard partying bliss.
8.) Baobob Tree Bar: The Baobob tree in South Africa is six thousand years old and is probably one of the oldest living things in the whole world. So, what does one do with an old tree? Well, South Africans deemed it would make a very good wine cellar and bar. People may enjoy al fresco drinking (probably to the stench of a nearby Safari), or choose to get drunk inside the tree. They also have darts, and some very tacky interiors that are composed of wood, wood, and more wood.
9.) Cova D’en Xoroi: This is a bar set in one of the cliffs in Spain. It has a view of some of the most breath-taking mountain sides and is at a very high altitude. The actual establishment is worked inside a tunnel-like structure right in the middle of a mountain.This bar seems to attract all the liquor-hungry tourists, making it one of the main tourist attractions for this particular Spanish district. Another bit of good news: they serve alcohol even in the morning, making this columnist want to leave Durian city and move to that bat-infested cavern.
10.) Skeleton Bar: Designed by the Academy Award Winning set designer HR Giger, this bar looks like the insides of a weird, mutated, alien whale. Decorated with ultra-modern fixtures that are set against strange walls that are filled with cement statues of baby heads that are stacked up on each other, and chairs that resemble some kind of octopus tentacles with several horns and a velveteen back; this takes the cake for the most unusual bar in the world. It is so unusual, it actually looks other-worldy.
Listen to Confessions of a Partyphile (the radio show) on 105.9 Mix FM every Wednesday nights, from six to nine in the evening. For comments, suggestions, and more confessions from this partyphile, log on to http://party.i.ph. Follow the columnist on twitter.com/zhauna
