As I walked home from our hump night dinner at the Dublin Irish Pub a few weeks ago – yep, you heard that right. Irish Pub – they are everywhere in the world and they are really homogeneous. As Roland said, Ireland should really have franchised the concept – that would have kept the country in the black forever!
Anyhow, that is not what this post is about…it is about the comment I made about the main strip of TEDA that night . As we left I said “It really is Vegas-like!” The main strip has the most neon I have seen outside of Vegas and 2 Fridays ago at my first KTV experience the TEDA/Vegas analogy seems to have been somewhat cemented for me.
I am aware of the multitudes of KTV venues in China that cater to the ‘businessman’, i.e. you can sing and drink while the woman or women of your choice keep you company (as most speak little to no English), pour your drinks, and well….I suspect one of these such places can be found on the corner of TEDA”s main strip – it is called HEAVEN ON WORLD…and you often see a veritable battalion of scantily-clad ladies lined up and ready for inspection in the lobby. So I think my friend took me to a more friends and family kinda-place…cause if such girls-for-hire were about, they were not on prominent display.
a typical KTV lounge
KTV means quite literally Karaoke Music Video (if you can call them that!) they are really cheezy montages usually of couples cavorting in the park with little or nothing to do with the actual song. A lot of these ‘videos’ they show that accompany the lyrics were filmed in the early nineties and ironically many of them were filmed in Vancouver!
Yes, here I was singing away (sitting of course – which I love…none of this ‘have-to-get-up-and-perform’ stuff) in our very own 10-person (really could fit about 30 comfortably) private mirrored and black pleather-couched room with giant flat screen TV, 2 microphones, private bathroom and servers…viewing my hometown on screen! Stanley Park Rose Garden, English Bay, False Creek were all prominently featured.
You pay by the hour, so the more the merrier. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera on this adventure but believe me when I say, the amount of neon, crystal and mirrored surfaces in this building really was insane! Packed with party goers of every age and range…including those already stumbling their way around at 9pm, KTV in TEDA makes for a great night out. Pure Nightclub at Caesar’s Palace ain’t got nothing on this place! And when you can mix up The Final Countdown with Hey Jude and Lady Gaga – I’d say bring on the Vegas cheese!
Pure Nightclub, Caesar's Vegas