Travelling for work can be exhausting both physically and mentally. With always needing some personal downtime, usually I find this smoking shisha. To that end some of the places I think you’d also like. Enjoy the Shisha Connections!

Bonn is a sleepy University city close to its more wilder brother Cologne, Germany. The houses are majestically pretty in their appearances with muted but contrasting colours adorning the tree lined streets. It’s a great place to raise a family, kind of. However for a dashing dude like myself its a bit of a bummer. Having to visit here a few times for work, i’m fortunate enough that my hotel is on the street with the most, well, life. However one evening being extremely bored and severely needing some downtime, I noticed something on my trusty google maps. Buddha Bar Lounge. I was instantly intrigued. Upon further investigation raising this writers left eye brow, as I cannot do the right one without both being raised and looking like a shocked idiot, it was actually a shisha lounge. Result! Onwards and upwards, In less than 5 minutes walking distance we were there. I say we, because I managed to totally charm my new colleagues with me at the time and asked them if they wanted to accompany me, they collectively said, “Fuck it, let’s go”. One mature female colleague even said, “I never knew someone who looks like you would be so much fun and nice. This is a whole new experience for me. I love it!” Awww bless. Cute older innocent ignorance can be quite sweet sometimes. I gave her a little hug. Just to solidify the feeling she had.

Eventually arriving to our destination, from the outside you could not tell this was a lounge of any kind. Clearly the owner forgot or didn’t want to invest in a sign. Which actually is better, because when you enter you realise this is a place for the locals. Totally humble in its ambience and decor. Not completely sparse however, there were a few cute Buddha statues around, some nice little light cubes behind the bar and the shisha’s themselves were of various designs.

Noticing a nice comfy crescent seated area, I think this was the VIP area, naturally I took advantage of the white privilege with my colleagues and based ourselves there. Apple mint shisha promptly ordered, with a cup of fresh mint tea, served with a warm friendliness by the owner. The shisha itself was lovely. Usually I would order a more exotic flavour but stayed safe for the sake of my colleagues so they could also join in on the experience. It was funny seeing them try and laugh, they adopted me that week and was really happy they enjoyed themselves. Music wise, each time I visited was slightly different, be it new wave hip hop, classic r’n’b, western hip hop, Arabic both modern and old. So basically, awesome. The owner, Ibrahim was just lovely. His English wasn’t the best but it didn’t matter as we had the language of smile.

Each time I visit Bonn, I always relax here each night before sleepy heady time. It’s a great place to mentally de-stress, do some reading, writing, chat with friends and even catch up on some work. Why? Because it was just honest down to Earth humble. Shisha lounges now are becoming like night clubs. Which is fine by the way. They are fun, totally get the target audience and there is a demand for it. However to me, the very essence of smoking shisha is to relax, take your time, stop time for a bit, have some tea and either socialise with friends or enjoy ones own company. As such, places like this hold a special place in my heart and will continue to be a regular chillfest. Peace & Love.