After hours around the world

Clubbing in Edmonton.

After hours club in Chiang Mai

Thai rock band in the club.

Rave in Beijing

After hours clubs around the world....or what I like to call RAVES. I just had the idea ‘why not tell everyone?’or at least remind myself later that I still do this even though it has been 11 years since I started.

Canada, Edmonton: (Therapy) Now it is called Y-afterhours.

Price: I believe that ladies night is Thursday or is Friday, it has been quite awhile since I have gone. So free for ladies on ladies night and $13.00CAD.

Time: It is open on weekends.

People: This place is filled with eccentric oddly dressed individuals of all different genres that love to dance into the middle of the night. Ravers, casuals, goth kids etc.

Music: Sometimes has headliner djs playing but the resident djs put on a great show. Everything from house, breaks, electro even trance. I’m sure I have forgotten some. They use to play garage, minimal, chill and drum and bass.

Indoors: It varies from 1-3 rooms with djs playing electronic music into the late hours of the night and even until sunrise. The main floor has odd pillars in the middle of the dance floor and picnic tables at the back of the room.  The basement a very nice place to chill but for reason isn’t always open. There use to be an upstairs where there were couches and comfy place to have one of those deep conversations with a stranger.

Washrooms: Small washrooms where you can very easily make new friends, most people are fairly friendly. You can find people filling up their water bottles here.

Idiosyncrasies: There is no booze and no re-entries. So if you leave you’re stuck outside unless you want to pay again. You get searched at the door for weapons and drugs and you have to smoke outside in a pig pen. But you can buy chips and redbull.

China, Beijing: Banana club.

Price: 50RMB no exceptions, I believe that it might be even more when head liners pay. I don’t know if the Chinese people pay more or less. 

Time: open on weekends (I believe that it is Friday and Saturday)

People: People that show up are well dressed and the richer upper class Chinese folks and the foreigners show up after the bars close around 2am. The Chinese people go home to get some shut eye.

Music: Main stream dance music, feels like 1990’s Ibiza. I wouldn’t be surprised if I heard the techno version of the Macarena.

Indoors: This is a huge bar one room but 3 levels of oddness. Main floor is a giant dance floor, and to sit at the tables you have to spend 500RMB on drinks. Floor 1.5 have a stripper pole and a bar. Second floor consists of a balcony all the way around and secret VIP looking rooms filled with fun fur of odd colours. Giant TV’s playing everything from psychedelic visuals you can find on winamp/windows media player or the big version of the dj playing. Even thought you can’t really tell who is the dj since there are about 3-10 Chinese people smoking behind the dj booth at one time.

Washrooms: The bathrooms are small and have a lady that gives you toilet paper and you can buy all sorts of things from her. From condoms, perfume to gum.

Idiosyncrasies: Okay so this is the odd part that I have to point out. The bartender does a fire show behind the bar. Best one I have ever seen. There were female dancers that did a short show on a hideaway stage that comes up and down from the dance flood.  They were very appealing to the eyes. The stripper pole was used by the foreigners when they got really hammered. Lastly the visual (lighting) was phenomenal I believe I used the words ‘My eyes were being assaulted’ To top everything off, there was the most erotic cat woman dance I have ever seen with lighting and the music in choreographed into it. I used ‘All my synapse went off at the same time, I think I just had an orgasm.’

Thailand, Chiang Mai: Fabrique

Price: 300 Baht

Time: open on 7 days a week I believe

People: People that show up are well dressed and the middle class Thai folks there were very little amount of foreigners there. Punk-ish looking people and rich business casual types.

Music: Main stream dance music, hard trance and a Thai live rock band. (the band for some reason played at 3am)

Indoors: So there were 2 rooms, one with a stage and another one with a bunch of squares taking up the dance floor, i believed that these were tables.

Washrooms: The bathroom are huge to top things off there was an extra room where there were blow dryers and hair straighteners for the ladies to purdy themselves up.

Idiosyncrasies: So they served popcorn, you can smoke inside but there are no ash trays.