As our conversation turned to why Jennifer, my new “wife”, ventured all the way to Angeles City from her home province of Samar, in the South, she looked me straight in the eyes and stated, rather matter-of-factly, “to meet a good foreigner like you”. This, my friends, encapsulated for me why the GFE experience in AC and Manila was so intense and so prevalent; unlike any other place I’ve been to. The Filipinas genuinely aimed to please, and did it with panache and with flair; the girls did and said things that literally threw me for a loop. While my other travels to CR, RIO, Mexico and LOS produced many a GFE for sure, nothing was as intense, nor as inspired and spirited, as the GFE experiences I had in the Philippines. This is what made AC so alluring for me, as I’m sure it does for the many other Hobbyists and loyalists to AC.
The Philippines has a good number of attractive girls, with a good representation of stunners; albeit not as many as in Thailand or RIO. Most of the working girls were 19-22 years of age and most, if not all, spoke decent to good English. There was a good allotment of spinners as well. A lot of the girls had a certain “Latina” look to them and many were often a bit more filled out than their Thai counterparts.
The majority of the girls I met were genuinely sweet to a fault, not a trace of selfishness or professionalism in them. An equally important impression the Filipinas made on me was that they absolutely loved to party and were as fun-loving as they come – they loved to dance and appreciated a good joke or flirt session. Most refreshing was the Filipinas ability to converse in English, which made the overall GFE experience all the more unique. The Philippines is vastly underrated and certainly warrants a serious look by al Hobbyists.

MORE BANG FOR BUCK

One of the most amazing things about the Philippines is that everything, except the hotels, were dirt cheap. While I was in the Philippines, the exchange rate was a whopping 55 to 1! Finally, I knew what it was like to be rich man with what seemed like unlimited resources. Bar fines in AC was $1K pesos ($20.00) and the drinks were about 100 pesos ($2). I often tipped the girls 100-200 pesos ($2-$4) and they were very happy with that. The fees for trikes (my mode of transport) were usually under 50 pesos ($1) and the Jeepneys were even cheaper at 5 pesos. I averaged about 300-500 ($6-$10) pesos a day on food, and that was splurging. In all, you could easily spend between $50-
$70 per day and live like a king.
As I noted, the only thing relatively expensive was lodging, which cost me about $23 in AC and $55 in Manila. Also, I hired a private driver to take me to AC from Manila, and back to Manila. Each trip cost me about 1600 pesos (about $30). There are certainly ways to cut down on these costs, but one thing is for sure, the Philippines is certainly one of the best deals anywhere for our hobby. This alone warrants a trip to the Philippines.

MANILA

Manila was expensive in relative terms but a lot of fun. There were more lookers and more things to do in Manila than in AC Burgos Street and Edsa are the primary places to party, both locales were in the middle of business/tourist areas so the facilities were nice and modern. The L.A. Café was a lot of fun and a great place to meet some good looking freelancers, but I didn’t spend too much time there. My favorite spots were on Burgos street, Jools, Bar Bandido, Bottoms and Going Bananas. Each of these places had between thirty to fifty gals, all in sexy and revealing outfits. Jools had a pretty interesting vegas-type show at nights worth checking out.
In most of the bars, the girls dance in a “choir” like arrangement, all facing the audience. Not many places had chrome poles (except Cambodia in AC), and all the girls were dancing their hearts out and often broke into synchronized routines.
The Manila girls were certainly not shy. They often took the initiative to come over and start a conversation. If you bought them drinks, about 290 pesos (about $5), they’d stay with you as long as you wanted. When I went, several girls told me that they came to Manila recently by way of the crackdown in certain parts of AC on underage girls.
Many of the Manila bars charged about 3K pesos ($60) for long time, which is quite a bit more than in AC. The costs often included multiple sessions, BBBJ, DFK and anything else you could talk your girl into. In the Philippines, I don’t think there is the concept of a “short time”. I tipped the girls about 100-200 pesos, depending on performance and they were very happy with that. I checked out some massages, but didn’t participate since there were no girls I thought interesting enough.
One great thing about the Philippines was that the bars and go-gos closed in the wee hours of the night – 3pm or 4pm.
My favorite bar in Makati was Bar Bandido. Stairs led you to a basement area that was very nicely set up with upwards of 50 girls in sexy, black outfits. The motif is a Western, “Mexican bandido” type of thing. This was the most popular bar with the most Hobbyist and was just a great place to just hang out and fool around with the girls.
When in Makati, I stayed at the Oxford Suites was the name of the hotel that I stayed at and I would wholeheartedly recommend this place if you stay in Makati. It’s right in the middle of all the action on Burgos street and just steps away from Bar Bandido, Bottoms, etc. It’s a highrise, very modern and extremely clean rooms. Its on par with a Marriot. The service was excellent and the security was top-notch.

ANGELES CITY

THE HOBBY SCENE

In AC, the hobby activities centered around the go-go bars on Fields avenue and some of the bars. I’d say there were about 30-40 go-gos, with about ½ dozen being large and the majority of the other go-gos being small outfits with about a dozen girls each. I checked out Santos street for the lower tiered girls but they just did not do it for me.
The Hobby activities weren’t as varied as in Thailand, nor did it seem like there were unlimited supplies of working girls. But there were more than ample supplies and varieties of girls in AC to keep any Hobbyist happy.
Getting to AC was the difficult part, but man was it worth it. The trip from Makati was about 2 ½ hours, a lot of traffic in Manila and a lot of construction on the tollway leading up to AC. As other posters have said, AC reminded me a lot of TJ with congested traffic, lack of urban planning, run down buildings and cars, and many unpaved roads. Fields Avenue, which was located right outside of what used to be Clark AFB, was actually not as big as I thought it – the bars and go-gos were clustered in about ½ mile area of Fields . There may have been about 50 bars and go-gos, but some of the notable ones were closed such as Neros and Misty’s. It was a small area and you constantly ran into other Hobbyists and girls during your stay, which can be a “plus” or “minus” depending on how you see it.
There were some bars and go-gos in AC that opened at 2 pm or earlier, and most of them did not close until 4 or 5 am! The late closing was awesome great because it gave me an opportunity to lazily check out all the go-gos and bars (often with my barfine in tow) without rushing to take out the barfine before 2am as often happens in Thailand.

CAMBODIA AND BLUE NILE AND BLUE NILE EXECUTIVE

Although I visited most of the go-gos and bars in AC. I particularly liked Cambodia, Blue Nile and Blue Nile Executive.
Blue Nile (“BN”) and Blue Nile Executive (“BNE”) were probably the largest go-gos and most fun for me. Blue Nile accepted all the girls from Mistys and Neros, which were recently shut down by the cops, and so there were lots of girls. BN opened at 3pm until 5am and they had so many girls there that they had 3 shifts, different colored outfits, each group taking turns dancing on a stage that was raised and lowered by a hydraulic device. The décor and ambiance was very modern and the best looking girls and waitresses worked at BN.
BNE was located above the BN and was a bit smaller, but there were a good number of girls, with a few lookers. The waitresses here were the most friendly and the papasan actually kept buying me drinks for some reason (no complaints).
Cambodia bar had the most interesting set up, with an upstairs dance area, downstairs dance area, and a bar in the middle. There were chrome bars for the girls to dance around and the girls here were generally good looking. I believe the owner of Cambodia was also the owner of the BN and BNE so the service was excellent and I also got some free drinks here also. Cambodia was one of the few bars that opened at 2pm, and closed at 4am. Two shifts worked Cambodia, the night shift and the day shift. Between 8-11 pm, the two shifts overlap so you had a serious number of girls dancing on stage.

ORCHID INN

I initially stayed at the Orchid Inn, in a standard room on the second floor. I had problems with this room because there were no windows, no hot water, the air-con barely worked, and the walls were thin. The room they gave me had seen better days to be charitable. I visited the Deluxe rooms towards the pool area and they were very nice. If I stay at the Orchid again, I would insist on the Deluxe rooms in the back or go elsewhere.
The good thing about the Orchid is that its very convenient to all the bars and go-gos. Also, the pool, bar and restaurant in the back were very clean and a great place to hangout and meet other Hobbyists. The room service and the food was excellent also. There is also a good restaurant and bar in the front area which had a billiards area.

APARTELLE

As Porker and Blazers mentioned, this was the cleanest, nicest hotels in AC, located within 3-5 minutes walking to all the fun spots. It’s located right above the Camelot go-go with a different entrance. I paid $23 for a standard room, which was extremely clean and everything in working condition – air con, TV, hot water, etc. The place was also very quiet and the staff was very efficient.
There are no common amenities at the Apartelle such as a pool, lobby, room service, etc. Also, since it is located above Camelot, you can hear the music in some rooms coming from downstairs. The other minus was there was no elevator and the trek up the long flight of stairs was often a pain.

SAFETY

The Philippines reminded me a lot of CR in that there were armed guards with sawed off shotguns in all banks and in some fastfood restaurants. I never had any problems, but the presence of all these armed guards made you feel that you weren’t in Kansas anymore. I never felt unsafe in AC, but the Makati and Edsa areas of Manila was a bit strange seeing soldiers patrolling certain areas. Apparently, the soldiers were out in force to deter further demonstrations and problems, a few weeks earlier, a group of army mutineers took over a plush apartment complex just two miles from where I stayed at the Oxford Suites.

EXPAT/FELLOW HOBBYISTS

One other notable thing about AC was that it had a good number of ex-pats and an equally large numbers of hobbyists. The camaraderie, the opportunity to exchange information, and the instant mentoring possibilities reminded me a lot of RIO.

Merlin, very interesting to hear your thoughts, especially your comparisons of the PI to other destinations. And your description of the GFE in Angeles was quite definitive, IMO. Thanks for taking the time to write up such an informative report.

Excellent report. Are there any cheaper hotels in the Burgos Street area than Oxford Suites? Perhaps there might be something cheaper just a little farther away. You stated it cost about $55.00 per night. Anything descent in the 30 dollar range?

Porker, I think your report is what got me really motivated to go to AC. I'm sure others will say the same.

Platinum, I heard the City Gardens and Century Citadel were good, in the middle of the action and somewhat less expensive. There's good info on these hotels in the Asia-Phillipines-Manila Hotels section of clubhombre. The Oxford had less expensive rooms also and was good in that they did not harass the girls nor request an ID. I even took 2 girls with no problems. I would stick to the hotels that are mentioned here or in Angeles2.com, you certainly don't want surprises when you take a girl in.

Couple of comments.
1. You forgot to mention that 3,000 pesos is for the barfine only in Makati and you must also tip the girl about 2,000 for short time and 2,500-3,000 for long time. The exception is Bar Bandido which has a 1,900 peso bar fine.

2. Blue Nile lost a lot of girls after the mayhem. Very few of the girls from Misty's and Nero's work at BN now...if you thought the girls looked hot now, you should have seen it before the crackdown...10 times more hotties.

3. Spacegirls has the best assemblance of talent in the PI right now...at EDSA. Did you check that place out?

4. Oxford Suites has a deal for 1,900 pesos a night for the Executive Rooms (About $35)....I just made my reservation online. They also have a sign indicating this outside the hotel, so walk-ins are probably welcome.

Good to see someone else's perspective...well done

Nice report Merlin, as per usual - you get right to the point. A couple of questions - How long did you stay - a week? Did you have a hard time finding daytime activities or were you sleeping in (sounded like you stayed at the bars 'til closing time). And the big question: Thailand or PI? Which one gets the nod if you can only do one?

Blazers, as always, I look forward to your comments and your insights. You're right about the additional barfine, the bandido girls wanted 3K on top of the 1900 bar fine. I spent most of my time on Burgos street, primarily at Bandidos Bar and Jools. I took out mostly Bandidos girls (BF 1900 pesos) or LA Café girls, I had one sneak out from Jools and one from Going Bananas. I wasn’t even considering paying the 3k pesos for barfine from the other go-gos, which is totally out of whack. I did spend a brief spell at the Edsa Complex, and particularly liked the fact that all these go-gos were clustered together. I was somewhat turned off and annoyed by how pushy the girls and the waiters were with the damn expensive drinks – they literally swarmed me as I walked into these places. I’m sure I went into Space Girls, but again, the whole pushy nature of the place didn’t inspire me to stay too long at this complex.
In AC, at the BN, I did run across several girls from Mistys and Neros and the info I got about these girls coming from these closed down places was from Rose, the Mamasan at BN (heavyset, dyed blonde hair), who I spent a lot of time shooting the breeze with.


WALLSTREET, I stayed 7 nights total -- 4 in Manila and 3 in AC. The daytime activities involved the LT girl of the day (after multiple sessions well into the late morning). We often did not go to sleep until 5 or 6 am). After lunch or some shopping or site seeing, I would head over to BN, Cambodia or the other afternoon venues after considerable efforts to ditch the previous LT. In Manila, same routine with the girls who usually wanted to stay with you until you ditched them; a lot more site seeing, huge shopping complexes to explore, lots of people watching at the LA cafe, etc.

I'm still hardcore Thailand and can say that there are more working girls there (perhaps prettier) and more variety of Hobby activities than anywhere I’ve been. Thailand is just huge and varied, but the recent crackdown and the more frequent pros that I encounter at NANA gives me pause to think. And Thailand can get very expensive.

Given that, I was truly enamored enough with AC to visit it more often in the future. Perhaps more often than RIO and not as often as LOS. The girls just seem less jaded, less professional, sweeter, and truly interested in hooking up with boyfriends or hubbys to rescue them from their plight. But then again, the GFE experience means hurt feelings, jealous fits, and creative ditching techniques. The slight inconvenience is that AC is so small and concentrated that you are often running into girls you dated or other Hobbyists. Sometimes, when you had a girl from a go-go, it was difficult to go back to the same go-go to haul out her friend or co-worker. I can see how this can eventually end up reducing the number of venues you can go to. For instance, I had two girls on the night shift from Cambodia, so each time I went in, the waitresses, mamasans and other bar girls would rush over and bring the two girls over to me, to the exclusion of all other and despite my protests. There’s a bit of that in LOS, but you can go to the other hundred go-gos or beer bars and never have to reappear at the same go-go twice if you wanted.