Dancing in Thamel

Funky Buddha Club & Fire Bar
Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal

Funky Buddha Club
There are not but a few legitimate dance venues in Thamel. If you feel the need to exercise your night moves or just get your dance on, drop into the Funky Buddha Club. Although this place has a mixed reputation--fun but with the occasional fight--it is worth rallying the troops for a night of scoping and spirit catching.

Funky Buddha Club is divided into three areas. A strategically placed juice bar identifies the main floor entrance. The street level courtyard pumps out bumping, trance-inducing Electronica and attracts the western crowd like white on rice. Tables and patio furniture meld into the background and provide great people watching cover. Inside, on the same level, is a small bar and handful of low tables lined with pillows. Drinks range in price from 140 to 340 Nepali rupees except during the 7-hour long happy "hour" (1 - 8 pm) where fish can get two-for-one deals on all domestic liquor.

Not in the mood for an impromptu rave, join the local Nepalese and African tourists upstairs for a tightly packed night of Hip-Hop. If you're not a meat-marketer, I recommend going in a mixed gender group of at least 3 people. Otherwise, you're on your own. Friday nights are the big night out but you'll be glad to know that even on this, the most popular night of the week, you can still get in without paying a door fee.


Fire Club
Super seedy and overpriced but with fun Hip-Hop, black lights, lounge seating, a mirror-lined dance floor, and no door fee, Fire Bar is one of the few dancing venues in Thamel that isn’t a “dance bar with shower”. Like many second story venues in Thamel, this one stays open after the recently instated curfew. However, its reputation for getting busted means that the music dims to almost a whisper when the clock strikes 10:30. The crowd is largely Nepalese sprinkled with a few African, Japanese, and Euro tourists. I had fun dancing with friends, but as a female, I wouldn’t consider going here alone.