It was a good and interesting night, to the point that I had to write this report.
Some prequel words first. My last visit to Angeles City was in January 2014. I stopped going there due to bad experiences -- the last was grabbed by two different transvestites on Fields Ave and my wish to avoid further assaults. My last visit to Burgos was about 3 months ago to see the shows at Jools and Stardust, but on Kalayaan and Burgos (a busy street intersection) two transvestites saw me walking towards them and waved/called to me to come to them. I crossed mid-street amid passing vehicles to avoid them. Invasion of trannies continues.
In the meantime, I made several weeks-long trips to Pattaya and a week-long trip to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and have been writing reports on them, which have not been finished. One observation was a Jan-Feb visit to Pattaya had a lot of guys in the go-go clubs, too much competition for me and hopefully just a seasonal variation.
Wednesday night, 9 pm.
My taxi wound its way through heavy traffic, even on the back streets. My driver, a 51-year Filipino male, boasts of his five years working seven days a week in Nagoya, Japan; his houses in Pampanga, Cavite, and Manila; his wife who stole his 2 million pesos and is married to an Arab and living in Bahrain; seven children who need college money; his kidney stones and enlarged prostate; his sleeping 3 hours a night; and restlessness to look for ways to make more money. I tipped him the agreed-upon 50-peso tip on top of the meter price, because traffic was heavy and most taxi drivers avoid Makati during day and early evening hours. The driver was unusually talkative.
CRAZY HORSE. A new small club, next to Rascals club, had loud music, full of men and smoke. I texted S to meet me at Ivory.
IVORY. No Wednesday night sign on the sidewalk, but the club still had a half-priced beer on Wednesday. San Miguel pilsner (called SMB) or San Miguel Light for 80 pesos. Cheaper than L.A. Cafe, Del Pilar and Salas streets, Ermita. The club had over 30 girls, were dancing on stage. About double the usual number of girls. After fending off the usual rush of half-dozen girls at our table, S and I caught up on lives, travels, and plans.
Eventually, S could not resisted the compulsion to call over one of the girls who fascinated him. Wow, she claimed it was her first night at Ivory and in such a club and the reason for her shyness. S has a way of picking his type. Slim, young, pretty, short, shy. And there were more like her in the club -- unlike my previous visits over the past two-three years. I thought I must return alone and with more cash.
S and I exited and looked for another club. Crazy Horse was the same as an hour ago, not for us two guys who want to chat and hear. Bottoms was full of customers too and half-dozen of dancers came of the dressing room wearing suspenders over their nipples. Me like. Two other nearby clubs were similarly full of girls, men, loud music.
What is going on? Those men looked suspiciously like a large part of the Angeles City crowd. Late 40s-50s, jeans and casual shirts, white. HAS AC EXPATS COME TO BURGOS? Why are the clubs crowded on a Wednesday night?
I did a quick analysis.
-- Beer price in Burgos is probably the same or lower. Yes, many Burgos clubs charge 160 pesos. But, 70 pesos at Crazy Horse, 80 pesos at Rogues and Ivory on Wed night, 100 pesos at Hot Spot, Kojak, and Plan B.
-- Bar fine in Burgos is probably still high, considering that the customer has to pay the girl an additional service fee of probably 3,000 pesos. BF is generally ten times the price of a lady drink -- 150 pesos at Crazy Horse, 300 pesos at Kojak, 350 pesos at Jools.
-- Exchange rate in mid-April ranges aroung 44.40 pesos per US $1.
-- Better shows than AC.
-- Better-looking girls are returning to Burgos, maybe the AC scene has turned against them.
-- Other option on the sidewalks.
The sidewalks have a large number of all kinds of Filipinos. -- The usual aggressive viagra vendors, whose asking price is 500 - 1,000 pesos for a box of four viagra-like or cialis-like tablets.
-- The usual girls and ladyboys offering massage in your hotel room. A Sunday newspaper article on humorous signs ( www.philstar.com/sunday-life/2015/04/12/1442741/youve-been-warned ) showed a sign seen in the men's room at a Burgos bar, warning against sidewalk girls and ladyboys. (Not mentioned in the sign was those sidewalkers' effect on the club's income; cheap alternative to bar fine plus service fee.)
-- No police officers around or at their street corner stand.
-- New were a number of beggars -- pre-teen boys, girls/women carrying a baby.
Burgos street scene is starting to resemble Angeles City's Walking Street when the local police are not doing their job.
I recalled a July 2013 newspaper article about neighborhood bars in metro Manila ( www.philstar.com/sunday-life/2013/07/28/1020061/27-bar-topnotchers ). One bar was near Burgos street. I passed by it one time, but on subsequent Burgos visits, I could not remember where it was and I could not wander around and find it. A week later, I found the article, which gave the street address, Felipe street.
At my request, S and I walked from Burgos street, down a side street to Polaris street, turn towards Kalayaan Ave, and found a side street called Felipe. Sure enough. there were El Chupacabra on the right and HJ (or Heckle and Jeckle) bars/cafes on the left. The first had raised their beer price from 35 to 45 pesos, but its sidewalk tables/chairs were all occupied. The second was also full of customers. Further along Felipe another sidewalk cafe was full of customers, albeit more Filipinos. Around the corner was a Senor Pollo, a large indoor cafe, that had many available empty seats. And further at the corner was a classy two-story glass-walled restaurant-lounge listing beer for 65 pesos. S was surprised to see so much local life eating and drinking along the small back streets.
S and I walked back to Burgos to get another beer. Cheers, an open-air cafe that used to be full of water-pipe smoking Arabs was relatively empty. But, another open-air cafe next to it, Pasha, was full of Arabs. S said that Burgos had a lot of cafes and clubs dedicated to Arabs. But, the evening was probably too early for Arabs who would be up and out around 2 am.
KOJAX located behind Bourbon Street club, down the side street where Mojimbo [sp?] club used to be located. This club has been opened for about a year. It reminds me of the former Carousel, without the revolving stage and rocking horse. Modern interior, lots of video screens full of abstract images, and house music. 2nd level. Beer for 100 pesos. Full of girls. S and I entertained two girls. Mine was called Kit Kat, so I said my name was Babe Ruth.
HOT SPOT, ground level, under Kojax. New place. Full of guys, drinking and leering at the buxom girl on a small stage in front of a glass wall, behind which were over 30 girls sitting/lounging/standing. I have to return to find out.
We stuck our heads into the clubs -- Bourbon Street, Papillon, Hollywood, String, and Moulin Rouge. I did not feel energetic enough to walk upstairs to Rouges. Notable was the suspender-covering nipples dancers in Moulin Rouge, who continually tried to grab our genitals when we walked in the crowded club.
WILD WEST. We walked passed Moulin Rouge onto Makati Ave to peek into this old club. Gone. Closed. Walled up. There was no more Wild West. Back in the old days, there was a group of Filipino owners of four clubs -- Bar Bandido, Carousel, Mojimbo [sp?], and Wild West. Those names are gone. Bar Bandido is now Plan B. Carousel is now Moulin Rouge, which has above it two clubs for Arabs. Mojimbo is within the back space of Bourbon Street.
About 1 am, I headed down Makati Ave towards Jupiter St where I would get a taxi. Still to be dodge were persistent viagra vendors, beggars, middle-aged women, and taxicabs driving around and parked looking for passengers. Suddenly, six pre-teens and teens ran on Makati Ave amid the passing vehicles and a few seconds came two police vehicles which had to stop behind other vehicles waiting for the traffic light. Was there a robbery? Was the police doing a night sweep of street children? All the teens had split off in various directions at the intersection and none were in sight when I got to the corner.
I flagged a taxi, which took me to Ermita in light traffic, about 20 minutes. Along Mabini St, some police had slowed traffic to talk to a Filipino man standing besides a half-parked vehicle. Some KTVs were opened, new ones and old ones with new names, with girls in evening gowns sitting outside. Adriatico St, next to Robinson mall had some night life -- a few obvious beggars, men with calculating eyes, women with waiting sexual parts.
For the past year, I have stopped going out at night in Ermita. But new places beckon.
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Next.
Next week, I fly to Pattaya. I acquired a 60-day tourist visa from the Thai consulate, Rada St, Legaspi Village, Makati, www.thaiembassymnl.ph. The visa cost about 1,500 pesos. The web site said two business days to process, but it actually took four business days, including drop off only in the mornings and pick up only in the afternoon.
So, I may not be able to respond to comments on this report for awhile.
Hope you find this rough draft of a report informative.
