Karaoke in China is HUGE! (Patreon)

Growing up, when it was time to go out for a good time with your friends, you usually had the following options, go to a bar, go to a club, watch a live band, have a house party or go and watch a sporting event / concert, but mainly just go wherever you can listen to some music, have a beer and a good time...

When I arrived in China I found that it's completely different! Yes you get clubs in China, but they're all seriously over the top seedy with basically pole dancing going on, strobe lights, incredibly loud music and outrageously priced and usually fake alcohol, sure over the years I've been in China it has changed and there are more upmarket clubs and bars, but they're still very different to the ones back home and remain incredibly overpriced, seedy and loud for the most part and also not very popular with most locals, most Chinese people of my age that I meet have never even been to a club before in their lives. 

Karaoke is different! Everyone goes to Karaoke and in China, Karaoke is the one and only failsafe "Night out".

Most karaoke establishments are huge, multi-storey buildings which offer a buffet floor, loads of alcohol specials and of course each party gets a private room (you can choose the size of the room depending on how many of you there are), it's actually a lot of fun! You pay per hour and there are specials where you'll pay for a 3hour package that includes a bucket of beer and the buffet, as your time starts to run out you'll be prompted on the screen as to whether you'd like to extend your time or not.

For the first few years I was in China I used to go fairly often and would always look forward to Karaoke with my Chinese friends, we would have a fantastic time all taking turns singing songs, and the English song selection was always hilarious, a mixture of the most cringey 90's boy band songs and cheesy pop, it became fun seeing who could sing "Careless Whisper" the best and of course it was a fantastic time to learn some Chinese songs too.

As time went on however I fell out of love with Karaoke nights and I haven't been for a few years now, perhaps I'll need to make a video about it and re-kindle that lost love.... Either way if you're coming to China I can wholeheartedly suggest that you give Karaoke or "KTV" as they call it here a try, you won't regret it!

- Stay Awesome!

SerpentZA