Melody Karaoke Bar

Melody Karaoke Bar is the current name of a Mongolian institution: the gay bar that Zorig Alima first opened in 2004, the first in the country. Over two decades it has changed names and addresses several times - regulars have known it as 100%, Hanzo and d.d/h.z - but the community follows it wherever it lands, and many locals still just call it Hanzo. Today it operates as a karaoke bar a few blocks from the central railway station. There is no signage; like its previous incarnations it hides in plain sight among ordinary apartment blocks, and finding the door is part of the ritual. Inside it is warm, scrappy and very Mongolian: private karaoke rooms, a small bar floor, occasional drag performances, and an older mixed crowd that has been coming for years alongside students discovering it for the first time. Because the venue has a history of moving, confirm the current location with locals or the LGBT Centre before you set out - and bring cash.