Singapore: Hot Spot

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BACKSTAGE PASS For Singapore's gay crowd, the hottest place for getting an evening started is the Backstage Bar, tel: (65) 6227 1712, in Chinatown. Set in a renovated Chinese shop house, it's perfectly located for visiting the gay clubs, karaoke bars and other venues in the area.

There's a vaguely colonial bar in the venue, with a smattering of Caucasian business types and their local boyfriends. But the rest is all sofas and Asians, at least until about 11 p.m. on weekends, when the place becomes an inferno of international partygoers. Drinks are reasonably priced and the choice of audiovisuals eclectic: I found myself watching Wong Kar-wai's film Happy Together while being cruised, smoking a cigar and listening to a remix of Gabrieli brass quintets. Exquisite.