It is a little remote from the centre of Beijing in the Chaoyang district and almost impossible to find the bar unless you are in the scene. It seems that Taxi drivers have never heard of this place before. It´s inside a retro drive-in cinema complex off Liangmaqiao Lu in the middle of nowhere with some run down Chinese restaurants and coffee bars around the cinema itself. Turning left away from the drive-in (I know it is hard but try to explain the taxi driver that you don´t want to go to the drive-in), you can see a run down building with blue letters ‘2Kolegas’.
2 Kolegas - no joke – it has a Spanish name although it is run by two Chinese guys. In Chinese Mandarin the place is called liang ge hao pengyou, meaning “two good friends”, but it probably seemed cooler in Spanish.
This bar with a plastic furniture garden (and a proper loo inside!) is probably the best live music venue in town, covering rock, punk, blues, jazz and experimental music with the odd charm of the illegal bars in Berlin in the mid-90s. Rarely you can rely on opening times and programs, however, if open it is an absolutely amazing place to chill out, especially in summer.
2 Kolegas
21 Liangmaqiao Lu
Inside the drive-in movie theater park
亮马桥路21号汽车电影院内
燕莎桥往东500米路北汽车电影院内
Published by trippen
[...] by Kalzone « Q-ing [...]