Sydney (Australia)
This is part 3 in my Year full of Saturdays 'review and reflection' special. I think after this one I'll probably have one more left in me, and I think it might be an idea to have a look back at my top 25 moments, then it'll be time to move on, but for today, lets just go with my top 22 spots for acquiring a beverage, or many. Like many of the lists that I create, they are particularly subjective and my recollection and preferences have quite a lot to do with the company in tow, the time and place, my mood etc. Still, I think a lot of the venues would stand up to scrutiny, so with that in mind, here we go....
The top 22 'Rethinking your drinking' experiences
This is a tip of the hat to those locales that warmly greeted me, had invited me in to their domiciles via their very own clandestine and stealthy means, lulled me into that foreseeable false security where my safeguards were felled quite expeditiously through my very own prolonged lapse of reason, to then, only much later for me, allow me to come to the bewildering and stupefying realisation that I’d been unceremoniously kicked to the grimy, lurid curbs of another unknown metropolis without so much as a cursory wave. To the bars that have supported me up to and well after the midnight hour, this is your moment. . The top 22!
1. Intercontinental Resort & Spa - Papeete - Tahiti (French Polynesia) Considering that I allowed Bardeaux (Queenstown) to make the list even though it's not included in my Saturdays entries, this then needed to be allowed into the mix, and therefore its entry means that it certainly has to occupy the top spot. Now the story of how I got to Tahiti was a little unconventional. I recall that one afternoon whist working at OzEmail, from memory sometime in early 2000, my 'trip switch' was triggered, it may have been the fact that I was required to deal with yet another irate and irrational customer, perhaps it was activated by the inert management that surrounded me but whatever it was my brain just went to thinking 'tropical holiday? Yeah, I think it's time!'. Now the critical factor when working in a call centre, and by far the greatest inhibitor to you being able to do ANYTHING at all is that your pay is crap, I mean it's quite pathetic, sooooo, what can you do?? Easy solution my friends, I got around to pulling some heavy duty overtime, and when I say heavy duty OT, I mean seriously HEAVY DUTY OT, overtime on steroids style! I went for one whole month pulling 6am to midnight shifts, every single day. It was ludicrous, and in the end my bosses concurred, they thought it was ludicrous too, so much so that they methodically attempted to pick holes in my 'work story' and pathetically attempted to discount hours where I actually did work. Let me say now, I actually worked a lot of those hours, but not all of them, certainly not all. In any case the trade off was that I was able to spend three weeks in Tahiti and my first port of call was the stunning Intercontinental Resort & Spa in Tahiti. Sincerely, places like this are what dreams of made of. If you attempted to describe the turquoise blue colours of the waters or the variations in hue and chroma of the sky you'd either be very misguided in your attempts or would seriously understate the scene and do it an enormous disservice. Even photos don't quite do the capture the vibrancy of colour and still do it an injustice. The bar itself, as you can see from the photos, is a swim up bar that's located on one side of an infinity pool that fronts the warm tropical waters of the South Pacific, that's for starters, it then has in its arsenal breathtaking views across a 14km stretch of South Pacific sea to the island of Moorea which in turn gives a 'best supporting role' performance to any sort of mood that the day offers, be it early morning or during those long afternoons when the sun takes an absolute eternity to drop out of sight behind the island. More than just enchanting, more than just idyllic, it's a fantasy location in your mind that's brought to life and the bar, whilst being just a token gesture in this setting, has to take out the title of best bar by a long...long...margin!
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Intercontinental Resort & Spa - Papeete - Tahiti - French Polynesia
Intercontinental Resort & Spa - Papeete - Tahiti - French Polynesia
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2. Porto Bay – Copacabana – Rio de Janeiro (Brasil) – It’s just the view that makes everything about this place so special. The rooftop bar of the Porto Bay hotel in Copa is nice enough, as you would expect a standard hotel bar to be, it’s inviting, relaxing, somewhere to ease off. But when Rio switches on the sun it's just so damn easy to get lost in those Cariocan sunsets that dazzle over some of the most famous grains of sand on the planet. Golden painted beaches, picturesque emerald green surrounds and the South Atlantic knocking at the front door, those beams of bedazzling Brazilian rays capture you in their outstreched arms and as the brilliance of another day sinks behind the Morro dos Irmaos which provides the dramatic backdrop to Ipanema you're just compelled to stay a drink or two longer. On those brilliant days you really do crave the chance for time to slow down for you just a little, and maybe it even does.
Copacabana from Porto Bay Hotel - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
The sun settling behind the Morro dos Irmaos - Porto Bay Hotel - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
3. Skybar – Traders Hotel – Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) – Another place that has the market cornered when it comes to elegantly framing an iconic view. Located on Lvl 33 of the Traders Hotel there’s no better place to gaze out at the impressive conjoined double phalluses that represent the unique signature of KL and knock back a couple of martini’s than right here. Jet and I spent the annual ‘conversion’ from 2009-10 here and it was by far and away our best NYE to date. Let me just add that the Burj Khalifa in Dubai could learn a little bit when it comes to lighting structures of such magnitude. The Petronis Towers were for a short period of time the tallest buildings on the planet and their night show had absolutely nobody in any doubt that this was the case. I guarantee that you can see their beams of light from the moon, as for the Burj Khalifa, well it couldn't light a sideshow alley game at a travelling circus. Someone needs to pick up their act!
Skybar - Traders Hotel - Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia
Skybar- Traders Hotel - Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia
4. Hotel h10 Montcada – Barcelona (Spain) – Back in 2008 this was my introduction to Barcelona. I remember on that very first evening in Barca I sat up on the terrace of the h10 gazing out at the Barri Gotic, then to Vila de Gracia, Glories, St Marti, et al, and remember thinking then that the town kind of looked a little dishevelled to me, perhaps somewhat ram shackled, like a little tumbledown jerry built pueblo. First impressions right!? What the hell do they really mean any way, other than your chance to make a particularly poor judgment call on face value!? I do remember that the main thing that caught my eye that very first time was the unconventional and incongruously placed, 'disco dildo' (Torre Agbar), its position on the landscape looked kind of obscene. Never the less, Barca grabbed me all in one foul swoop that very night and kept me well and truly in its hooks on my return in 2010 with the Montcada hosting a brilliant ‘arrivals’ session for JJ. Good times Montcada, good times!
Hotel h10 Montcada - Barri Gotic - Barcelona - Spain
View from the rooftop terrace - Hotel h10 Montcada - Barri Gotic - Barcelona - Spain...That 'disco dildo' really makes its presence felt at night
5. Bardeaux – Queenstown (New Zealand) – Technically I shouldn’t be adding this the list as it isn’t discussed within the ‘Saturdays’ blog, but I’ve been there, I’ve loved it, loved it HARD in fact, and I make the rules when it comes to my blog and the lists that I construct! Now this place is definitely somewhere that you’d want to bunker down in for a few hours when the temperature outside drops to low single digits, when breathing in the cold night air gives you that sharp knife-like jabbing pain in your lungs and when the evening sky is musing over its decision to turn into a turbid Winter concoction of whatever it is, all the while deciding what exactly its next move should be. This place occupies a smallish corner of the Queenstown landscape but it’s just so damn cosy, you can get lost in this more than agreeable arena on the back of several whiskeys, or, several bottles of wine (hmmm, now that sounds familiar to me...). It has that après-ski, hanging out in the lodge with my ‘huck buddies’ kind of atmosphere, but it’s the roaring fire that gives this place its charm and the ‘primo’ seats are of course on the leather lounges positioned right in front of it. On the night I was there I was fortunate enough to have occupied one of those lounges with my great friend JJ and another ski buddy of ours… for many an hour! We hijacked a three seater lounge, backed it up against the bar and managed to take down seven bottles of some of the finest red that I can recall, although after the third bottle it didn't really matter. That night will forever remain in my mind as just being LEGENDARY, and the price for that is that the next day will forever remain in my mind as being AWFULLY DIFFICULT!
A roaring fire, a leather lounge, great company, 7 bottles of wine! Bardeaux - Queenstown - New Zealand
6. La Poesia – San Telmo – Buenos Aires (Argentina) – Maybe I’m just old school, or perhaps I just like that classical style, or both, which is more to the point, but this typically traditional café/bar that's housed in a turn of the 19th century building, has chequered tile floors, an enchanting dark wooden bar, shelves lined with books and random artifacts on the uppers levels, and was previously a noted place in San Telmo for attracting the artists and thinkers of the era, and area. They would come in to wile away the hours in their contemplation of what a picture of Argentinian democracy could look like post military dictatorship. The place certainly has that air about it, not a weightiness as such but an ambiance and mood that is welcoming, warm and purposeful. It’s a corner of San Telmo where I’d be happy to let a few hours slip by in the contemplation of my own thoughts or within the muted gaze and musings of the the ebb and flow of the world outside the windows.
7. Kosy bar – Marrakech (Morocco) – Make no mistake about it, when you’re in Marrakech ‘you know that you’re somewhere else entirely’. Your senses get accosted like the proverbial baseball bat to the back of the head. If it’s not the rhythmic but somehow chaotic sounds coming from the square of Djemaa El-Fna, then it’s the potency of smells wafting over the crowds from the grills in the square, or it’s the vibrancy of colours coming from the shops that frame it. If you’re not prepared then it can catch you by surprise and your only way back into the fold is to counter attack, which can at times be a futile process. I love Marrakech, it’s a large dose of exotic, a shot of mysterious and it has an ambiance that wraps you up in its cloak of bewilderment and demands that you stay on your toes. Kosy bar is part of this set, yet another rooftop bar, it has fantastic views out over the medina with a direct line of sight to the iconic Koutoubia mosque. It's placed in a location that will also allow you to take in one of the most stunningly brilliant sunsets around whilst the hauntingly beautiful call to prayer strikes up for the evening.
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Getting Kosy - Kosybar - Marrakech - Morocco
Interior of Kosybar - Marrakech - Morocco
Sunset over Marrakech - Morocco
8. Praia Grande – Paraty (Brasil) – idyllic, what other word could do this place justice? With the emerald green waters of Isla Grande Bay lapping up against the front deck of the bar what else could you be justified in asking for? I’d be none too surprised if Corona headed on down south and shot a commercial here, it really is a postcard that can be sent with the caption , ‘from where you would rather be’.
Bar on the beach - Praia Grande - Costa Verde - Brasil
9. Hogfjallshotell – Hemavan (Sweden) – When you’re on the Arctic Circle in the middle of Winter and the sun drops out of the sky come 2pm, you think to yourself, ‘man, the idea of a drink really suits me about now’. So you board on down to the front door, clip out of your bindings and walk up to the lounge area for a game of snooker and perhaps a whiskey or several, all the while looking out at snow covered Lapland and thinking, ‘Now how the hell is it that I find myself here?’ . Well you could ask me, or you could ask Jay, because both of us know the answer to that question.
Hogfjallshotell - Hemavan - Sweden
Hogfjallshotell - Hemavan - Sweden
10. Hotel Majestic – Saigon (Vietnam) – And it's yet another rooftop bar making the list. I think sometimes that’s just the way you want it when you’ve dialled your ‘action-meter’ back to tranquillo and you just want to soak in the space that you’re in with the least amount of energy possible. This bar has a great view over the Saigon river and provides the wander lusting voyeur with the opportunity of witnessing locals amassed on both sides of the river, cramming themselves and their two-stroke Hondas OM’s onto the ferries that run the cross river dash every few minutes.
Hotel Majestic - Saigon - Vietnam
11. Bamboo bars on the Nam Song – Vang Vieng (Lao PDR) – Cruising down the Nam Song on an inflated tyre, letting your mind wander, with perhaps a can of beer Lao in hand, drifting sweetly into eternity, then being sharply snapped out of it when someone shouts out something to you, you pause for a moment, glance over at your travelling partner and just nod, nothing else needs to be verified. A rope is thrown out, you catch it and get pulled into one of the endless number of bamboo bars that are perched on the rivers edge. You select yourself a beverage, climb into a hammock and sway away on the gentle breezes.
Post-script – my memory of Vang Vieng was built upon my one and only encounter with it in 2009. Since then things have changed, the government has stepped in and dismantled many of the bars that line the Nam Song and all the evil contraptions that would allow you to fling yourself with complete disregard for your safety into the boulder riddled river have gone the same way. Foreigners have died in Vang Vieng, either on the river or post Nam Song exuberance, that is a fact. The boozy, drug fuelled, hedonistic ways of backpackers made that inevitable. The place is not what it once was, and that perhaps is a very good thing, but as I remember, ‘back in the day, this certainly was a wild place for a drink!?!?
JJ rocking those Vang Vieng hammocks - Lao PDR
Pick a bar, any bar....
12. Captain Hooks’ – Barcelona (Spain) – Back in July 2010 I spent the better part of two weeks in a fantastic apartment located on Carrer Ample in Barri Gotic, the Old Gothic Quarters of Barcelona. Literally directly across the street was a quirky, oddball, kind of ‘off the wall’type of bar whose theme was based on the fictional character of the same name from Peter Pan. This place also had a curious feel to it, an atypical barin the sense that on occasion you felt uneasy being in there. Uncharacteristically quiet except for the voices that carried throughout from the smattering of conversations that were taking place inside, this place also ended up being a favourite.I remember that they had a great drink there called the Tio, tio Garfito es mio (Uncle, uncle, Hooky is mine) or the cooler version (Dude, dude, Hooky is mine), the construct which I’ve just been able to locate, it goes a little something like this, rum, crème de café(café cream), milk, ‘nata y hielo pile’ (pile of ice cream) – it sounds simple, and probably was, but is was outstanding.
Carrer Ample - Barri Gotic - Barcelona - Spain
Carrer Ample - Barri Gotic - Barcelona - Spain
13.Bar Urca – Urca – Rio de Janeiro (Brasil) – This is a typical ‘corner pocket’ bar located in probably one of the most spectacular parts of Rio. Located on the Urca peninsula in the shadows of Sugarloaf, right on the shores of Guanabara Bay, it has views down into Botofogo and to Christo Redentor beyond, there’s not too much that you would want to change with its setting, and, it’s all outdoor seating. Order at the bar, walk across the street and pull up a piece of concrete real estate that is the wall that fronts the bay. This place serves great seafood and all you need to do is select the right amber ale for your liking and you’re away.
Urca - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
JJ and Jetson about to kick-off proceedings - Urca - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
14.Cervantes – Copacabana – Rio de Janeiro (Brasil) – Again, another bar that’s not spectacular for the expected reasons, it doesn't have either the good looks nor a prime location to sing from the hilltops about, and inside it's standing room only for that matter, but with that said this place is a Copacabana institution. Its beer on tap mostly, but the catch here is, and the thing that will also get you coming back at 3 in the morning, are the ridiculously tasty pork sandwiches, or what the crew at Cervantes call sandviche pernil com abacaxi. It’s basic fare, a roll piled high with tender pork, topped with a slice of pineapple, to be accompanied by a glass or three of chopp. That’s your only obligation. Its old school, simple, but a classic never the less!
Copacabana - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
15.. Rainforest café/bar – Deira – Dubai (United Arab Emirates) – What to say about a rain forest themed café/bar where by law you aren’t allowed to drink!? You make the necessary alterations and adjusments then say ‘Time to get your shisha on! Pass me that hookah habibi!’. I commenced a short lived love affair with the hookah in this very place, a chilled out bar where you could order up shisha of all flavours and smoke away the hours in complete bliss. I accidentally discovered what I called the rainforest café, because of its wild décor, on my first occasion in Dubai when I got to chatting with a Canadian guy in some random hotel bar and we decided that a smoke induced morning would be exactly what we needed to get us through to the morning light on other side. The second time was quite the ‘random’ encounter. I was on a flight back home with Emirates out of Vienna when I ran into an old boss of mine, who incidentally was staying at the same hotel as I was in Dubai! All I had to say was ‘Hey Michael, I have a great idea’ – of course this was said after many drinks in the hotel bar – 8hrs later as the sun was coming up at 6am we kind of thought it might be an idea to head back, both of us were on the same 9am flight out to Sydney that day too.
16.. Beatles Bar – Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) – The set up here is fantastic, except for the fact that it’s just Beatles music! I’m sorry but there music has never ‘done it for me’. Still, a place where the tables are on raised platforms, filled with comfortable cushions for you to just laze about on and drink away quite comfortably must have something good going for it.
Chinatown - Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia
Chinatown - Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia
17. Bar Federal – San Telmo - Buenos Aires (Argentina) – San Telmo is my favourite hood in the world...in THE WORLD but somehow I haven’t quite made the ‘bar’ discoveries in the area that I might have anticipated, partly, (well perhaps wholly) because I spend most of my time in one of the copious numbers of parillas gorging on their wonderful bife de chorizos, bife de lomos, papas fritas and bottles of Malbec, but, with that said, I did manage to track down this throw back to the good ‘ole days, when bars had that musty, woody, earthy type of smell and feel. This is a relatively small place on a nondescript corner of San Telmo but it has warmth, soul, character and it makes you feel good. Can’t dispute those qualities huh?
San Telmo - Buenos Aires - Argentina
18. Wirstroms Irish Pub – Gamla Stan – Stockholm (Sweden) – I remember Jay taking me to this bar where on first impressions it looked like a ‘one lane’ in and out type of place with a ridiculously high bench against one wall where after I clambered up found my feet to be dangling at least half a metre above the floor! Even for a bunch of 7ft Vikings the seating seemed a little disproportionate. The interesting aspect of this bar were the hidden little nooks that you encountered as you ventured to the back of the venue and walked down the flight of stairs, it seemed to be an endless cavern of potential discovery. A room for a band to play, a clandestine sitting area, another corner bar if you cared not to venture up higher from your subterranean abode, it was a labyrinth of bar space. I tried to find the place when I was back there in 2010 but didn’t have the ‘guy in the know’ with me.
Gamla Stan - Stockholm - Sweden
Gamla Stan - Stockholm - Sweden
19. Zurriola maritimo (Zm)– San Sebastian (Spain) – Overlooking Zurriola beach and with a view to Monte Urgull this place justifies its position by having a fantastic view in my one of my very favourite places on the planet. San Sebastian is a bar/tapas town and this bar doesn’t fit into that mould at all, in fact, it wouldn’t stack up against many of the places in San Sebastian if it came to food, charm and character, but as they say, location is everything and these guys have it in spades.
Dina, Jay and myself at Zm - San Sebastian - Spain
View from Zm - San Sebastian - Spain
20. Fusion lounge – Hoi An (Vietnam) – Hoi An is a dreamy little place, quaint and charming, it’s beauty is also quite disarming. Overlooking the Thu Bon River however there’s what I call a 'cultivated venue' that has some great drinks, fantastic food, and all served at a ridiculous price in a lounge area that wouldn’t be out of place in any thriving metropolis. I actually kind of enjoyed the alternate option of sitting out on the terrace and simply watching late night world of Hoi An sail on past. The lounge area was a little unused in any case and didn't really need me drawing attention to it!
The gorgeous town of Hoi An, across the Thu Bon River - Vietnam
Big night at Fusion, I was there and ummm....all my friends too..??
21.(The WTF is that place!?) – Huay Xai (Lao PDR) – Huay Xai is a two street town that sits on the Mekong, which acts as the Lao/Thai border, in the north-west corner of the country. This sleepy town hosts travellers that are either making the hop into Thailand or those that are wanting to travel further north and take up trekking opportunities out of Luang Namtha. This place SHOULD NOT have the bar in the locations where JJ accidentally discovered it on one of her random walks. As she strolled on a road heading north out of town, some way out in fact, she was somehow diverted down a random lane by who knows what and there found a massive multi-levelled, all wooden, open aired bar that had not a soul in it! Why did a place like Huay Xai need a bar of that size? What the hell was it doing in a place that no normal person could find? Why the multitude of levels? Questions that I’ll never be able to answer in my life, but I loved it never the less!
Seriously, this place is in the middle of nowhere in a town that is nowhere - Huay Xai - Lao PDR
Huay Xai - Lao PDR
22. Random wine bar – Paraty (Brazil) – Paraty is a preserved Portuguese colonial town that has prime position on the Costa Verde with the Bay of Isla Grande lapping at its door. In a place like this time just slows down, JJ and I found this out one afternoon in a charming little wine bar in the old town itself. Time just strolled on by without either of us taking notice, and I think a lot of that had to do with me getting ‘schooled’ by a Brazilian lady why I shouldn’t call JJ ‘nuts’. I mean her explanation was ALL in Portuguese, and JJ’s responses to her were ALL in English but somehow they understood each other perfectly, perfectly enough to both know that I was somehow THE problem!
Honourable mentions
Yono’s - Marais district (Paris) – Served JJ and I quality whiskey sours and gave us happy hour prices well after happy hour was over, and their service generally, as JJ reminded me, was the best in any bar, anywhere! Yono's kept us going on those nights where we waited until was time to hit Chez Robert & Louise for what I remember as being the GREATEST meal(s) of my life! As I've said in an earlier write up, when that hypothetical question is thrown up of 'What would you have as your last meal on earth?', I'd say, 'If they were open, and if I had the chance, it would be an evening at Chez Robert & Louise'
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Random bar- Phonsovan (Lao PDR) – If ever a place need a bar it would be the tediously dismal town of Phonsovan! In fact, 'tediously dismal' is talking them up several notches but for the sake of this entry I'll let it stand just there. Phonsovan as a town has nothing going for it, NOTHING, other than the ability for you to be served a G’n’T at 8:00am. Thank you Phonsovan, I thank you for at least providing JJ and myself with that much.
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Several bars of Sucre (Bolivia) – there were some cool places in Sucre but one place, a pizza joint and bar also, sold a mojito type drink name 'The Boliviano'. Rather than utilise mint, as a standad mojito does, their version was mixed and infused with the wholesome goodness of cocoa leaves! Taking down a few of those, both D and myself were dialled into a ride on the happy bus hours thereafter! They were AWESOME!
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Raffles Hotels – Singapore – I like this place, it’s vintage, it’s a classic in terms of name, and apparently the last living tiger in Singapore was shot under the snooker table in the bar, and to add to that, I don’t mind that the Singapore Sling is made in enormous batches, much in the same manner that you’d mix 100 litres of Gatorade on the sideline before a D-grade footy contest on a Sunday afternoon. It’s still a drink, and I still liked it!
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Hotel Atlas – Chefchaouen (Morocco) – You can’t acquire an alcoholic beverage within the city walls of Chefchaouen, but if you escape its breaches and walk up the hillside you can make it to the balconies of the Hotel Atlas which provide a fantastic view of the town and the surrounding country side. Somehow I took a liking to their rose martinis, and JJ acquired the good lovin’ of a Moroccan goat herder, but that’s another story!
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