Bikers' Club (Donetsk)

Bikers with an attitude at the door of the Biker's ClubDonetsk (Donbass) - drink beer, listen to music, nothing else
If young people do like to have a beer together in public parks in Donetsk like elsewhere in Ukraine, that doesn't mean that there are no fancy bars and venues in town. We tried this one which is named the Biker's Club, I think it's an offshoot from the nearby Chicago Club, a big high-end Disco where many different types of events can take place. Chicago is a night spot large enough for hundreds of persons, it has a top-of-the-art sound system and hosts a lot of partying events or concerts. There's always a bunch of sleek cars parked in front. International music stars come at Chicago like here earlier this year techno king Stephan Bodzin (Donetsk show video). The Chicago night club was built maybe 10 years ago and it is considered also as has having the best strip-tease shows in town (no picture, sorry).

Chicago/Biker's Club at nightThe place is only a few meters down the slope from Lenin square, hard to miss, just ask any young people, they'll be happy that you know about Chicago and want to go there. The Biker's Clubs is on the left, the door being under the giant chopper. It's not a bikers-only club, don't worry, just a large underground bar with fancy decoration and relax ways. Girls welcome too and there are quite a lot of them, you might even be there when an improvised striptease takes place (seemingly not by professionnals but by ordinary patrons). No entry fee, just the drinks to pay (very reasonnable) Did you know the saying that circulates in Donetsk ? the region is known for its industrial riches but its main asset is its young women. They are quite cute and often with super-short skirts. There is even a drab town in this part of Ukraine, Lugansk, where organized groups promote young women looking for foreign men, many girls dreaming to go live a better life abroad.Biker's Club - the bar roomIt was pretty crowded there and the music (metal of course) made any lengthy discussion difficult, but whatever, you don't go there to discuss the world problems and existential issues. Just ask for a draft beer (пиво - Pivo), make yourself at ease and try to find a place to sit or stand comfortably. I don't remember the price but for my Sarmat beer and a tea it was very cheap compared to a west-European music bar. We soon exchanged a few words with two young guys who understood that we were from out of town, one of them was from Kiev and he said that there was no such place in Kiev. I don't know how we could get ourself understood with the heavy metal background but we probably read on lips...Floating in the placeThere was live music actually that evening, I don't know if it was the norm (don't remember if we went a weekend or a week day). The thick wooden tables and long counter gave the place an other layer of Americana feel, of course, it's a bikers' club... Speaking of bikers, there begins to be quite a few of them in these countries, particularly in Russia where an increasing part of the population has seen its living standard raise dramatically and where the endless horizons toward Vladivostok and Siberia call for road aventures and Easy-Rider freedom. When these people hit the road in eastern Russia, they're probably very close to the original feel experienced by American bikers in the late 1950s' early 1960s'...This is a long way from the Ural sidecar motorcycles that you could see on all the bumpy roads of the USSR... Today, Russia's bikers group Night Wolves, which appeared as soon as 1988/1989 during the Soviet-Union times, even owns a major disco named Sexton and its chief was pictured at the side of Vladimir Putin...mock shooting range at the Bikers' ClubThere was this odd shooting range in a back room of the bar (we found it as we were looking for a room a bit further from the live show and with manageable high decibels). This girl and her two friends had come with their pint of beer and were testing their skills for the fun of it. The target was some sort of deconstructed WW2 scene, two german soldiers with a grotesque pose if I remember, something between parody and bad taste with provocative arch symbols like a svastika, a red flag and a kalashnikov. Well, this is a bikers' club and not a boarding school...The Lonely Planet's website says that there is also KGB prison cell-like private rooms but we missed them.Tight jeans.....Bikers' Club - Chicago123 Artyoma street - Donetskphone + 38 062 335 64 88Katia and her crown of leavesNow, a little bit of poetry and pure thoughts full of the wonders of Nature to counterweight the noise of the Rock culture, with this surviving tradition which is also very widespread in Russia : the crowns of leaves and the selection of the Queen of Autum... Here come the colder days and the changing colors of the trees. An ephemeral art flourishes on some heads, this tradition is taught in school and I'm happy that it is still followed here and there, like here (sorry, the picture is blurred) with Katia in front of the new Donetsk stadium. Making a crown of leaves is not that easy but thanks to the many pictures of this web page in Russian you might try, it's the perect time these days. The leaves are preferably maple leaves, and you can make all sort of decorations with them, including roses (see this photographic how-to).

Comments

[jb]

Katia is truly, truly gorgeous. I thoroughly appreciated reading of your experiences and impressions of Russian sparkling wine- deeply fascinating, and very thought-provoking.

Thanks and regards,

jb