club life

I'm not the type of traveler who has to have a steadfast itinerary when I go on trip. I'm a more fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda girl, and that applies to almost anything else in my life as well. However there are a few must-dos for every visit. Besides the shopping and the sampling of the local cuisine (which I believe is standard for all tourists), I gotta see the nightlife. It's a (very) familiar ritual to me that takes on a new light when in another country. There aren't many better ways to get intimate and immersed into the local culture than by checking out for myself the musical styles, the dance moves, the pick-up scene, the come-on lines in every language, the differences in alcohol tolerance, and the capacity of the people to let loose and have some mindless fun.

Take Washington, DC for example. Seat of power of one of the world's biggest superpowers, full of government workers, lobbyists, lawyers, academics, consulates, and just general brilliance all-around. People sure do take themselves very seriously here, after all, the fate of the world may rest on their shoulders. And it shows in their off-time. I went clubbing in the city this past weekend and I swear I was bored to tears. The scene never seems to change or evolve there. Even the dancing of the city is stuffy! Just a mindless back-and-forth shuffle or a bump-and-grind mating ritual, with no skill or rhythm to speak of. That is, when there is any dancing. Or maybe I'm just hanging out at the wrong places. I don't know.

Thai dancing, generally speaking, is um, shall we say, classical. That is, slooowww and graceful, and it's lovely in traditional settings. That's the music and movement in their blood, but it doesn't translate well in the club scene. People just stand around bobbing their heads. Check out this statement on Thai nightlife, in the form of an installation I saw at an arts festival in Chiang Mai. Incredibly creative and trippy.



I don't know about you all, but when I dance, I become a woman possessed as I get drenched in sweat and my makeup melts off my face. Beware everyone in my path. This is why I so rarely wear stilettos. I'm not saying I'm hot shit by any stretch of the imagination, but at least when I dance, I feel it.

But the older I get, the less capacity I tend to have for all-night, alcohol-fueled ragers in super clubs, and instead tend to gravitate towards smaller, more intimate venues where I can dance my ass off, but I also have the option to sit, drink and chat with friends when my old and decrepit butt needs a breather. A few of my favorites in New York include 205 Bar and APT. Then of course, there's Cielo, the epicenter of what the New York "scene" is to music-lovers the world over, with its constant rotating marquee of all the top names in house and hiphop music. I've sworn off this club a few times-- sometimes the attitude just puts me off-- yet I keep returning again and again. Much like the city itself.

Then of course, my Manila is just full of karaoke, in a true reflection of the utter cheese running through our veins.

My favorite? Hard to say. Any scene on any night can match any mood. But tonight I'm staying in with a beer. :)