Mandy’s birthday. The majority wanted to dance somewhere. The vote was “We can go to Funky Buddha or Bamboo” ……. too easy a choice. I was going to Funky Buddha for the first time.

About Verandah Bar
Inside: Since the last report at Verandah Bar, the place has undergone extensive internal renovations and reconfiguration. On entry, the right hand side now has a sealed off section, and the DJ booth has been located to this area. The left side booths still remain. In the main area, there are now rows of tables (secured to the floor it looks like) and the wall booths removed to allow more standing room and the insertion of internal toilets. Also part of the balcony has been converted to floor space, leaving little room to stand outside.

About Funky Buddha
Music: Mashup of RNB, House (Electro)
Crowd: Asian
Dress Code: Casual. I had jeans and nice shoes.
Cover Charge / Entry Fee: $20 non guestlist. Guestlist $15
Occurence: Weekly Saturday Nights
Website: www.funkybuddha.com.au/
Atmosphere: Vibrant around the DJ area, bit dead in the back.

Timeline
Line
We got there around midnight and paid the $20. There was only a small line of about 5 people. This was a stark contrast to the 2 hour wait on the first night at Arthouse Hotel.

Dancing
There were two podiums on each side of the DJ booth. I danced a bit on one side and only got the attention of a girl and a group of 2 girls on the closest proximity to me, but they weren’t keen on grinding for longer than 5 seconds. The music was too loud to converse, perhaps I should try to extract them next time.

Podium with guys
Soon went to the other podium and there were 3 crazy guys jumping up and down, fist pumping the air. I smiled at one of them with my hand up and he instantly grabbed me and pulled me up as well. Big hugs and saying ‘YEAHH!!’ to each of the guys on the podium (obviously too loud to even talk or introduce names) and we just kept jumping up and down screaming ‘YEAH!’ and ‘WOO!’ trying to get the attention of females. One girl was staring at me, I stared back and she kept staring. I pointed and smiled. She looked away, face reactionless. Once the girls around us dispersed, so did we.

Friendly dancing gets messy
Headed to the back and Mandy and the other girls were dancing. Brojo was drunk and couldn’t dance any more. Danced with Srey (she is brilliant) but it was mostly Mandy. I got a bit bored so I picked her up and span her around, totally forgetting she was drunk, and also totally forgetting the previous night I span that random girl at Cargo Bar she spewed right afterwards..

Coda
While I was spinning Mandy, everyone yelled at me to stop. At the time I didnt see why I should’ve stopped. Later Mandy went to the toilet to chuck up, and security followed her into the toilets to verify. She was then promptly kicked out, where we end up calling it a night.

I like it that its not packed like Perfect @ St James, or Bamboo next door, but its way too sparse at the same time.. maybe a few more people and it would be a nice place to visit. I would not mind coming again at the discounted price, but probably only with friends, not alone.