Showing posts with label Week 11 - Some nights out. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 11 - Some nights out. Show all posts

Saturday, 2 June 2012

(Day 72) Drunken Wisdom


Saturday 12th May (Day 72)

The backpacker’s way of partying

So last night I went to a very smart upper-class nightclub where everyone was wearing a suit (apart from me) and every barmaid was stunning to look at.

I assume this club is one of those clubs where if you apply for a job there you have to send a photograph of your face as well as your CV.  The more attractive you are the more likely you are to get a job.  Working behind the bar or waiting the tables during the day are jobs reserved for the most facially gifted whilst the less fortunate will get jobs working in the backrooms.
I applied for a job in a club like this one and I included a photograph of my face as requested, however they never got back to me...

The Scary Canary

Anyway tonight I went to a nightclub that was completely on the other end of the spectrum.  It is a place called Scary Canary and it was mad.  It is classed as a backpacker bar because it is where backpackers and people staying in hostels go to get drunk and have fun, whereas the Ivy is for people who live in fancy studio apartments with stainless steel fridges go to stand around and talk.

Most nightclubs put an ink stamp on your arm so you can leave to club to smoke and re-enter without having to queue again.  The stamp for a nightclub is usually some kind of symbol that has something to do with the club.  For Scary Canary the stamp was a cartoon condom, I guess this is a club where backpackers go to pull.

Putting the sleazy drunken atmosphere aside Scary Canary was actually very good.  It was a big party atmosphere and everyone was in a good mood.  I spoke to a few backpackers and had some very interesting conversations about travel and where they have been.

Drunken wisdom

One guy in particular gave me some advice.  He said “when someone tells you about a really awesome place, just go there.  Don’t think about it or plan it, just book the plane tickets.  Trust like minded people”

Spontaneous exploration eh?  Of course it is never as easy to just jetting off to Laos like he told me to, but he does have a point.  Over thinking an idea can be a bad thing.  I almost never came here to Australia because I spent ages just thinking about the idea of travelling here to the point where I nearly lost interest.  It was only a spontaneous moment where my mum dragged me to the local travel agent one day to look at tickets that got me here.  We only went in to have a look at prices and we ended up leaving with plane tickets to Sydney!

Being spontaneous is fun, if everything in your life is planned then nothing surprising happens and your life becomes dull.  I supposed becoming a street fundraiser was a spontaneous idea and I had a lot of fun doing it.

I recommend that everyone should try and be more spontaneous.  Just go for it!  Life is full of fun things to do!

As for Scary Canary, it is a good place but everyone inside is very intoxicated.  So if you don’t want to feel left out you will have to get yourself intoxicated as well.  If you do that then you will have a good night.

(Day 71) The Ivy


Friday 11th May (Day 71)

The Ivy

Tonight I was going to some nightclub called The Ivy.  All I knew was I had to dress smartly so I put on my clean t-shirt and my best pair of trainers and headed out to The Ivy.

The Ivy is an amazing looking club, certainly the best looking nightclub I have ever been in.  The club is on several levels surrounding an open top courtyard that is also the main dance area.  A large wooden spiral staircase connects the courtyard level to the floors above.

Down in the courtyard is the stage where the DJ resides.  In the middle of the dance floor is a small island with a real tree growing out of it.  The tree is decorated with fairy lights.

This is only a brief description of the club’s layout; going into detail would require a good full page.

So overall the club looks great, but the night out wasn’t as good as the venue.  The Ivy suffers from the same problem as The Argyle which I talked about a few weeks ago.  The problem being the night was quite boring.  Everyone was wearing suits and people wearing suits are not party people.  They just seem to stand around talking, probably about how shiny their stainless steel fridge is or how many ties they have.

The music wasn’t good to dance to either.  It was just dance songs that had been remixed beyond recognition.  How can you dance to a song you don’t know or recognise?  At one point the DJ played one original song, she played Daft Punk's around the world and people actually started to dance.  Things started to pick up but then the next song was just another unrecognisable song and the party mood died down again.

People watching

So we didn’t really do much in the Ivy.  The most fun I had was people watching.  One couple in particular caught my eye.

There was some shady looking business man near where I was stood.  He had a sharp black suit and a face just like a James Bond villain.  He just looked evil and I could easily picture him being the head of a tobacco company or something on those lines.

He was with a woman who immediately looked out of place.  I had a theory that she was actually an escort rather than his genuine partner.  She kept going off and dancing on her own and then he would go over and pull her back and give her a good talking to saying stuff like “you are supposed to be with me tonight”.  She had that bored expression on her face like coming out here tonight was work rather than fun.

This place doesn’t suit me

So the Ivy is an amazing looking club but it really wasn’t my scene at all.  It is also painfully expensive with a $20 fee just to get through the front door.  I didn’t even buy a drink because I only brought out $20 with me that night and that just got me into the place.  I am sure the drinks here are painfully expensive too.

So in one long sentence (try saying this in one go without taking a breath)
“If you have a lot of money to burn and enjoy standing around not doing much whilst wearing a suit listening to overly remixed music in a nice courtyard fill with people who are also standing around not doing much whilst wearing a suit.  Then the Ivy is perfect.”

The only photo from the night, in front is the spiral
stair case and the courtyard