Beijing #7 – Clubbing

It happened to be the weekend when i was in Beijing, so i thought i would hit up some clubs while i was there. From what i had read, there is a pretty cool little underground scene there with 3 cool clubs that are not the typical cheesy megaclubs. I wanted to check out one on Friday and one on Saturday, but as has been the norm, things here are not that easy.

The first club, Dada, was not too far from my hotel. I wandered down there and when I got to the entrance, there were a lot of people standing around outside chatting. Some people were holding random stuff like lighting equipment or other stuff that you would expect in a club, so i assume they were there to help set up. Not sure what was going on, I stood around awkwardly. As some time passed, people started dispersing little by little. Hmmm… that’s not a good sign. Finally, i asked some guy what was happening and he said that there “is some big meeting with China and some other countries, so it cannot happen”. Um.. what does that even mean? Oh well.

The next night i headed out to try to find a club called Aurora. Unfortunately, there was no address for it on any of the sites i checked except that it was in the “Tongli” building in this one area of town. This area of town has a crazy street of bars, all lit up in crazy neon and every single one had a band playing. Seriously, like 20 buildings in a row. What is this? Are there really that many bands playing on one night here? Is there such a thing as karaoke but with a live band? No clue.

Anyways, I am wandering around and showing random people my phone with the Chinese characters for “Tongli”. A lot of people are perplexed and have no clue what i am asking. Others point me in some direction and then when i ask someone else, they point me back in the opposite direction. Then it starts raining. I am wandering the streets of Beijing, in the rain, totally lost, looking for a “Tongli” building that may or may not exist. As i start getting more drenched, i contemplate giving up…

But, just as I am about to quit… I stumble upon the building. Omg! The club is pretty small, and the turnout is even smaller. Maybe i was just there on an off night, but it was pretty empty. The vibe there was pretty fucking great though. People rocking out, having a blast, despite the emptiness. It seemed like a super fun place actually. Unfortunately, I had to get up at 6:30am the next day, so I had to call it a night after a few beers. Too bad i dont have any more weekend nights in Beijing!