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Es Paradis (Ibiza)
by als0101
Me and a group of five girls have just got back from ibiza, and I have been so excited to discover you can review places in ibizaaa! If you're thinking of going holiday soon, or are interested by these types of reviews I will also be adding more, so watch this space.
**Tickets**
To explain quickly, for people that ... don't know, Es paradis is a nightclub situated in San Antonio, Ibiza. We went to Es Paradis, on a Monday night to go to the waterparty. We booked the tickets before at home rather than when we got there. Big mistake. Because our holiday was a package through Thomsons, we had been told they sometimes sell nightclub tickets. We thought it might be an idea to buy tickets before, to ensure we get tickets if busy and to save us the hassle of buying them there. However, when we went around the West end on our first night (main strip of bars in San Antonio) we discovered that free wristbands were being given out free!
The tickets cost us a miserable £35 (which we thought at the time was pretty cheap!) and to discover that you can get in free, we felt scammed. Don't buy club tickets from home, especially Thomsons. Another example to support this is the fact that they were selling Space tickets (another big nightclub for the less knowledgable readers!) for £50, whereas when we got to ibiza, tickets were 60euros including a free bar at a preparty from 6pm-9pm and travel there included. This was a pretty good deal, and there will be plenty more as well. I strongly recommend buying tickets there. You can shop around and find out loads of different prices and packages. When we got to Ibiza we also found out that other events we're on the same night which we wanted to go to, so we missed out.
Another downer about buying the pretickets was the fact that because I was the one that booked it, I had to take my credit card to the door to claim admittance. This isn't necessarily a problem for other people, but it was quite annoying for me as initially I wasn't going to take this card abroad.
One more nuissance was on the print out receipt/info from Thomsons (after we booked it), it said we had to go there before 12pm, no later. Now some people reading this might be thinking this isn't too late and gives you a lot of time, but in reality the actual water for this club isn't switched on til around 4/5 am so you were waiting around a while.
The only advantage that we got from booking it in advance was that we were able to leave the club and get a stamp. When entering the club, a bold sign when you enter and exit boldly says, no stamp until 4. Because we paid in advance, they let us get a stamp. This let us leave the club and come in later, which was good to go to cheaper bars and get better drinks.
**Getting there**
As San Antonio is one of the main resorts in Ibiza, it is also the hotspot for the young, night-lovers. Es Paradis is a short walk from the West End, which is handy as you can get cheap drinks before. We stayed around San Antonio bay and it cost us about 10-12 euros in a taxi and it also costs 2.50 euros to get a boat across the bay. For us it was perfect location, and we also walked back, wouldn't advise walking both ways though, cause it takes about half an hour.
**The club itself**
We were pleasantly surprised when we walked into the club, as we found the atmosphere and deco seemed a lot better than people made out. The music was mainstream dance, which we loved because we could sing along to most of the songs and knew them. Often when we went to other nightclubs, wordless unknown songs we're being played by DJ's we had never heard of which was a put off after a while.
The nightclub wasn't too busy when we got there, but throughout the night it picked up and by the end it was packed. I think this just added extra to the Ibiza atmosphere, but also got quite dangerous later on when the water came on. There is a central dancefloor that you walk down over steps. This dancefloor filled with water eventually, and became practically a swimming pool. This became pretty dangerous especially if you stood next to a group of drunken rowdy lads! I don't want to put people off or sound like a whiney bore, but its just something I thought I should mention. The health and safety in this country is far different than here at home and I've heard some pretty nasty stories about accidents! Not saying don't go, just wear good footwear (flipflops not really a good idea).
As mentioned before, the water doesn't get fully turned on til 4am, so you have quite a lot of time to kill. Best thing to do is go to bars before at West End and head to es paradis later. Only thing is though, I think the free entry wristbands aren't valid after either 12 or 2am, so if you want free entry you'd have to go early!
When the water came in it was really fun! We loved it, but we did end up setting off a bit earlier than when it finished, consider us boring or not, but we were knackered. We also didn't buy any of the drinks there, as the prices were really expensive. It cost 12 euros for a mixer, but it cost 6 euros for water which is cheaper than places like amnesia (9euros for a tiny bottle of water!!!). Just go to bars before and get trolleyed, not in here.
Having these events on so late, also lets you watch the sunrise which is beautiful! Something you have to go see when you're in Ibiza is the sunset and sunrise.
The interior of the club is really attractive, and well decorated. It looks almost like a circus and quite magical which gives a unique and original feel to it. For all the lads as well just to mention, there are some hot dancers all over the place ;)
Me and my friends went in bikinis which was worth doing, as you get soaked! We took small crop tops with us though, and then put them in our bags after. Try and get a waterproof bag though, because otherwise everything will be wet through!!
**Overall experience**
The club in general is one of my favourite, personally even better than Amnesia and Space. However, I have heard some people say it was bad, although I can't believe this, so it will depend on personal taste. I would definitely love to do this again, and also go to other events at es paradis. Unfortunately we had so much planned in ibiza, we didn't have chance to go again,
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Simon Cabaret
by thefund
So if you're heading for Thailand there's a big chance you've heard of the "ladyboy" culture. Well Simon Cabaret is where you are going to find them. As a warning, this isn't you're usual cabaret - these performers are all well.. lets say, "a bit of both", so if you are really against that, this isn't for ... you!
Having said that though, the cabaret is family friendly as the dancing is not promiscuous and of course young children wouldn't know that the performers were actually "ladyboys" - they don't look it at all. In fact when we saw it the audience was full of families with children and it is one of the most popular attractions in Thailand with Simon Cabaret's dotted around the entire country.
I saw the cabaret in Phuket and the theatre was very nice and clean and definitely one of the most upmarket buildings that we saw with exclusion of some of the top hotels. They also provided everyone with a Simon Cabaret bottle of water which was great because you probably wouldn't want to be drinking the tap water and if I remember correctly there is no bar outside, though this may of course be different at the other theatres.
So, the actual show. Well it was alright. The performers didn't sing to the music though they did mime, but the dancing was quite good. After seeing the performers after the show you realise that their voices are what gives them away so maybe it was for the best in order to keep a family friendly show without a lot of questions from the kids! To be honest you probably aren't going for the performance, more to marvel at the performers but the overall show is perfect for children and they all seemed to really enjoy it. It's packed full of cheese and there are a couple of comedy routines which were a laugh. The performers were also dressed up and made up very well and you wouldn't be able to tell that they are/were men which was really quite fascinating!
At the end all of the performers came outside for pictures (at a price) and while it was interesting to see them all up close I was actually quite disgusted at some of them for their behaviour. I remember one family wanted a picture with their 2 children but only had 100 baht, and they said no. I don't know whether the performers are just vastly underpaid or incredibly greedy but I thought that this was downright wrong since they had just paid out for four people to see the show.
The price for the show was 700 baht and 500 baht for adults and children respectively, which works out at about £15 for adults and £10 for children, which is an alright price for a good family friendly show and of course an insight into the world of one of Thailand's most famous cultures.
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Coco Bongo (Cancun, Mexico)
by k3vbain
Where do i start with this place, this is going to be such a mixed review here, Coco Bongo is just by far one of the best nights out you shall ever experience anywhere in the world but you will come out relieved you came out alive.
This is not a nightclub, its not a theatre but it is both but on steroids, the shows are ... absolutely wonderful, let me tell you the work that goes into the shows here are completely professional, you will be very impressed indeed, i have never seen anything so impressive ever. From the routines to the music and lighting all being incorporated into one massive show its purely immense.
On this particular night the show involved tribute acts to some of the best artists known as in Madonna, Michael Jackson and Elvis plus many others and there was music invigorated acts with similarities to the likes of Gladiator and Pirates of the carribean and more, it never stops the entertainment just rolls on and on to much delight to more than 70% of the 27 party we had in cancun, i must add that the other 30% were older people above the age of 50 so this maybe an indication that this may not apeal to the older person but if the description excites you then you must try this out
It is with regret i have to write this piece though because this is where the safety side of things come into play, this place could be a complete death trap, we all came out of Coco Bongo with the same thought on the place, absolutely fantastic but if fire broke out in there we would have all perished.
The building certainly would not pass safety regulations in the UK and i am not being over critical, i must admit we probably had cheaper tickets to see this show as there are seated areas at lower level but this had been purchased as a night out package through Thomson holidays so it is surprising Thomson let there customers go into such a place that may cause harm to there customers, we had been told that there were vip areas for us Thompson customers to be then shoved into an area to stand and that all it would take is one person to fall onto you for you to fall over a very low barrier with a fall of at least 15-20 feet is not a good prospect
We all wanted to get a good drink in but we had problems moving in this place and getting to the bar was a complete nightmare, i suspect Coco Bongo on this occasion was over populated on this night so others may never have this situation but its a thought for you. We were all trying to get out by now which there was very little signs of how to get out, we wanted to get a drink and a dance and this was about 2am, when we did get out we were all surprised at the size of the exit, as i said earlier if there was an event of fire i firmly believe many would perish.
I would have given Coco Bongo 5 stars but i simply cant forget the safety issue, i dont ever bang on about safety but the place is a concern
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