After watching some of the various YouTube videos and reading some promising reviews out there for Lobby Hip Hop club I decided it’d be my next night out in Taichung.

I’d previously hit up Pig Pen and intended to eventually hit up and write about all three pub/clubs in the immediate area, Pig Pen, Lion King and Lobby.

Well that was the plan, until I hit the brick wall of racist management at Lobby.

My first rejection from Lobby didn’t trigger any suspicions. I was in a group of three guys and even back home, without a female in the group, it wasn’t uncommon to get knocked back entry into places.

The reason we were given was that we didn’t have a reservation. I struggled a bit with the English Chinese language barrier but accepted it. I knew that particular weekend was the Taiwanese equivalent of Valentines day so it was plausible Lobby were hosting some kind of reservation only event.

We moved on that night and wound up at Xaga who were more then happy to have us. No problems.

A few weeks later I tried again, this time on my own. There wasn’t a line the first time I tried to get in with a group but this time it was quite long. Thankfully they kept it moving and after about a half hour wait I was near the front.

I was hoping I’d be able to ask someone in the line if it was a reservation night or if reservations were the norm at Lobby but the people infront and behind me either didn’t speak English or were too shy. Instead I paid particular attention to what was going on at the door.

Some groups of guys had to wait a bit till others left and girls were flagged in. Nothing unusual here. I noticed there wasn’t any kind of reservation list anywhere in sight, the routine ID check seemed to be the only qualification for entry.

As I got closer I noticed there was a giant entry requirement board out the front too. Going through the list (standard stuff, no sandals, no betel nut, no crappy clothes etc.)  I was confident I’d have no problems.

The guys infront of me were waved through and I got out my ARC (identity card) and gave a ‘nihao’ to the door staff. The guy didn’t even look at it and instead said something to me in Chinese. After getting him to repeat it three times I said in Chinese I didn’t understand, then the other guy said ‘reservation only tonight. Solly.’

‘but you don’t even know who I am, how do you know I don’t have a reservation?’

‘solly reservation only.’

‘Alright look, I’ve tried to get in here twice now. I don’t speak much Chinese so how exactly do I make a reservation? Is there a website, over the phone or what?’

‘Solly only reservation.’

I gave up at that point. I wasn’t there to make a scene or cause problems, I just wanted somewhere to go relax, have a drink, dance and meet people and hopefully get an article out of it.

This time I walked away quite suspicious. I don’t look like some of the poor dropkick stereotypical teacher’s I’ve seen hanging around Taipei, I don’t rock up to places plastered and I was polite the entire time I was in the queue.

Later that night my suspicions were confirmed by a random guy I was talking to in another bar.

‘Yeah, you’re not going to get into Lobby. They don’t let foreigners in. If you’re with a Taiwanese you might get in but probably not.”

…

I know venues are able to knock people back at their discretion but coming from Australia and never having had issues getting into anywhere, it was quite a shock to hear the open racism out loud.

These are the same guys who cried bloody murder when Pauline Hanson told them to go home. Yet here we are in 2010 and I can’t get into a club becuase I don’t look Asian.

I’ve been in Taiwan a while now and can honestly say that apart from the random stares and whispering  I haven’t experienced any direct racism. The venues I’ve been to have been quite welcoming and the people inside (both male and female) friendly and willing to have a chat with a random non-Taiwanese guy.

When I asked the guy why they had this policy (he’d been in Taiwan for seven years) he told me it was because they didn’t want any trouble with foreigners and locals fighting over girls.

Right, like because I’m sure two Taiwanese guys fighting over a girl has never happened before. Honestly how stupid to blanket anyone who doesn’t look Asian as just wanting to go in there and fight over girls.

What the hell are security doing that they even let fights break out. Back home if an argument breaks out and looks dangerous security are usually on it like a donut.

My racist experience at Lobby kind of turned me off going out in Taichung a bit. I will head back there eventually though and continue to write about the various night spots.

Surprisingly none of the information on the internet mentions anything about foreigners not being allowed into Lobby. I don’t know if it’s because it’s all outdated or because nobody is writing about this sort of stuff. For someone like me who uses the net a lot to research what I’m doing in Taiwan it’d be nice to have some warning beforehand of these kinds of things, rather then reading great welcoming reviews and then rocking up only to be racially discriminated against.

I know Lion King, Lobby and Pig Pen are probably more Taiwanese then foreigner orientated but I can honestly say I enjoy myself more in these kind of places. You get to see how the Taiwanese themselves have a bit of a party rather then watching a bunch of Taiwanese try to imitate how they think Americans party in some of the more foreigner orientated clubs.

In Taipei it’s unavoidable as most places are going to have a healthy dose of foreigners in them.Taichung’s appeal is that it’s nice to have a night out in to get away from running into foreigners in bars all the time.

Next on the list is Lion King, hopefully they don’t also have an equally stupid racist ‘no foreigners’ policy.

Lobby Hip Hop club photo by justastranger


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