Night Life in Taipei

Last night I was fortunate enough to get some free passes to a show of DJ Qbert. Playing at the club Luxy the time was quite amusing. His rapid beats produced a lively show that while not entirely danceable was a huge improvement according to local fans over his last show here in Taiwan. Now I'm not a big house fan by any stretch of the word but I enjoyed myself nonetheless and it seems Taipei has an active night life with a large contingent of westerners with my guess placing their presence compromising around 30-40% in the case of Luxy nightclub last night.

As for the dress code, style and music selection one can expect to see much of the same thing as back home. Drinks are comparable to western prices with a mixed drink at Luxy costing around 200NT which amounts to a $7 drink back home. When you factor in the lack of tipping and quality of service drinking is quite comparable within the club. Where the scene differs as to drinking is in the outside drinking. It is more then acceptable to leave the club for a little bit head down to the 7/11 around the corner and drink a little more before going back in. Once you've been stamped getting back in is no hassle. Furthermore, the attitude to drinking is a lot prohibitive one of my friends in fact was right about to go in while cutting in line with a can of beer to where some other friends of ours meant he got to finish his beer and be right in front of the line avoiding a good forty minute wait to get in.

As for the music and fashion scene I'll let the pictures show the clothing style. Dress code is fairly relaxed at Luxy with a no shorts rule being pretty much the only one. People come out to the club dressed in tailored suits to a pair of jeans, sandals and a printed shirt. As for female fashions, bikini tops seemed a popular choice with shrugs or wraps for modesty sake. Clothing is bright and summery even as the cool fall weather has begun to set in. Music on the other hand tends toward the poppy and also shows a lot of western influence. Chinese raps will throw in English words periodically and most of the music is only about six months behind the cutting edge in North America.