1. BUS TO AC.
Fly-the-Bus has raised its one-way fare to 600 pesos in August 2008. This is the same price as the other bus line from the Southern Cross Hotel, on Del Pilar Street, between United Nations Avenue and Flores Street. FTB still has the same schedule of three departures (11:30 am, 3:30 pm, and 8:30 pm) from Swagman Hotel, Flores Street (1/2 block east of Roxas Blvd), Ermita, Manila. The Southern Cross bus line leaves Manila 3:30 pm.
FTB's return schedule from Angeles City to Manila is 8 am, 12 noon, and 3 pm. The Southern Cross bus line (Angeles telephone, 045-892-5475) leaves Angeles City at 1 pm.
2. EXCHANGE RATE.
The exchange rate for US dollars was rising through Sep 2008 and fluctuated at the end of Sep and early Oct when the US President Bush adminstration presented $700 billion bailout proposal to the US Congress for enactment and stock markets around the world fell. The exchange rate was 45.5 pesos when I arrived, 46.5 pesos a week later, and hit a peak of 47.6 in early Oct.
The rate at exchange stores on Mabini Street, Manila, and at exchange places on Field Avenue were either the same or very close. I have to fudge my statement, because the rate seemed to change on average twice a day, that is, morning and afternoon. At one Mabini exchange store, I saw three different rates in one day. In general, the best rate of the week seemed to be mid-week. In other words, the rate seemed to drop on Friday and was about the same throughout the weekend. I ignored all the Filipinos on the street who shoved a piece of cardboard in my face showing an exchange rate almost one peso more and wanted me to follow them. I only dealt with the stores that displayed a sign on its counter that could be seen when walking by. The four stores were Sheena, Sheeha, Skyline, and Tivoli.
The rate at exchange places on Field Avenue varied up to 0.2 pesos per dollar and were either better or the same as the rate at BDO bank, SM Clark mall. I found the best rate at Top Value Jewels, located across from D'Club and Natalia Apartelle, and opened only during the day. Second best rate was the exchange place adjoining the little store inside of the Natalia Apartelle building.
cond best rate was the exchange store adjoining the little store inside of the Natalia Apartelle building. Someone told me that the best exchange store was Norma's, two blocks from Fields Avenue on Teodoro Street, the street that borders the block with Natalia Apartelle.
3. HOTELS.
In general, hotel rates have gone up.
CENTRAL PARK HOTEL. Its lowest rate was $32. One little problem was that it used the rate current on the day that I checked out for my payment in pesos, which meant I paid more in pesos on my day of check-out than my day of check-in. I gave the hotel a big advance in pesos when I checked in, but the hotel considered it as a deposit rather than advance payment. Guests on the side of this hotel away from the basketball court complained of construction noise during the day.
(new). BANGKOK HOTEL, 993 Fields Avenue, Hotelbangkok@yahoo.com.kr , 045-892-1818, 045-625-6156, fax 045-322-1945. Located down a private alley behind a building on Fields Avenue, and about 100 feet from MacArthur Highway. P1,100, Standard room. P1,450, Deluxe room. P1,650, Superior room. P2,200, Executive room. Tiny bathroom with no divider between the shower and the rest of the bathroom to stop the shower water from spreading all over or onto the toilet seat.
(new). WALK-ABOUT HOTEL, Lot No. 2 Fields Avenue, walkabout.hotel@hotmail.com , 0475-625-6154, cell 0928-501-8142, fax 045-625-6157. P1,200, Standard room. P1,400, Deluxe room. P1,800, VIP room. P2,400, VIP jacuzzi room. Free wi-fi and two free desktop computers in the lobby. Swimming pool to be opened. 4 floors, elevator. Building houses Vortex club. One problem is that music can be heard while trying to sleep at night. The hotel give 10 percent discount for advance cash payment (note - hotel was not accepting credit cards at that time) during Sep 2008.
(new)? RAMADA HOTEL, Lot 5&7 San Narciso Street, www.pjramadahotel.com , p4144889@hanmail.net , 045-892-0001, internet phone 0707-898-8609. P1,000, Standard room. P1,300, Deluxe room. P1,500, Executive room. P1,700, Jr. Suite. It planned to re-name itself as RICH & RICH HOTEL. It is located across from Medgar Apartelle and Tiger Hotel. All three hotels are about three blocks down the cross street (Narciso St) to Perimeter Road, between the two blocks that have Margarita Station and ABC Hotel. I looked at a room at each of these three hotels. The best value, that is, price commensurate with quality, is the Ramada Hotel. Medgar is a little more luxurious and has a lot of large dark furniture. Tiger is acceptable, but I like the window to have a view and I rather not see a sink in the main room and a large water cooler next to the bed.
HOTEL TIGER, 126 Narciso Street, www.tigerhotel.co.nr , 045-892-3333, 045-892-5555, fax 045-982-2252. P1,100, Standard room. P1,300, Deluxe room. Discounts for stays of a week (10%) and a month (15%).
MEDGAR EXECUTIVE APARTELLE, 146 Narciso Street, www.medgarinac.com , 63-045-323-5202, cell 63-928-671-9333. P1,700, Deluxe room. P2,400 Executive room. Discounts for stays of a week (5%) and a month (10%).
LORIETTA'S APARTELLE, 11-13 Teodoro Street, Loretta_apartelle@yahoo.com , mobile 0927-874-9890, 045-625-6047. It is located two blocks down the cross street to Perimeter Road, down the block that has Natalia Apartelle. P1,300 for a room with queen-size bed, P1,500 for a room with a king-size bed.
(new). LEXIS GRAND HOTEL. It is located on Perimeter Road going north before reaching the big church and the Petron gasoline station, which is on the triangular bit of land between Perimeter Road and Malabanias Road.
(new). CHARLIE APARTELLE. Perimeter Road and Malabanias Road. A banner in front said 3 nights for 2,500 pesos. See www.patioinnhotels.com . A hotel clerk said that the Standard Room did not have an in-room safe, but the higher-priced Large Room for 1600 pesos did have an in-room safe.
BALIBAGO CENTER HOTEL. Located on MacArthur Highway, across the Bali Hai restaurant and the road that leads to Donald Paul Apartelle. Formerly Thunder Inn, which last year, a few waitresses told me that it was a hotel for cheap guys and was full of roaches.
(new)? CENTURY RESORT HOTEL, McArthur Highway, www.centuryresorthotel.com , century@comclark.com , 045-322-5946, 888-1771, fax 045-892-4615. Located behind the Pagcor casino. P1,880, Standard room. P2,355, Deluxe room. P2,508, Twin room. P2,821, Family room. P3,136, Jr. Suite. P3,764, Executive room. Includes breakfast.
(new). BOURBON STREET ESTATE APARTMENTS, Santos Street, may@rovimar.com, 0921-961-0777, 045-892-0193 local 519. Has rental rates of daily, weekly, monthly, multi-months, and yearly for studio (37 sqm), 1-bedroom (66 sqm), 2-bedrooms, and penthouse. For a Studio, rates are P4,000 per day, P20,000 per week, P60,000 per month, and lower per month for a minimum of 3 months. Manager said that there was a possibility of negotiating lower rates with the condo owner. Monthly and longer rates do not include electric charge (option of fixed charge or actual cost) and housekeeping charge (optional). All rates include internet and water (I forgot to ask about telephone).
4. HOTELS/RESIDENCES UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
GOLDEN NILE. Located near Nero's Forum club. Structure looks completed. May be doing interior work, but did not see many men at work. Not sure if this will be a hotel or not, but it is a tall structure of about four floors and no windows.
DONALD PAUL APARTELLE, Surla Street, 0909-6045-466, Steve Phillips 045-322-5569. It is located about half a block from MacArthur Highway where Bali Hai restaurant is on one corner. Other guys mentioned that this apartelle was supposed to open July 2008. In Sep 2008, it was still not opened, although it looked completed. The only staff on premise was one guard.
LEXUS HOTEL. Located next to Swiss Chalet Hotel. The location formerly housed the Winchester Club and the Hole-in-the-Wall restaurant. Construction stage was at: erected five-story high crane, pilings in the ground, re-bars sticking out of the ground, some workmen located at the materials staging area between Central Park Hotel and the basketball court.
See www.thelexushotel.com .
NATALIA APARTELLE. Located on Perimeter Road, close to D'Club. A new building was under construction behind the first building and on Tinio Street (which runs parallel to Perimeter Road). A facelift of the rooms of the first building is reportedly planned.
EUROASIA HOTEL. Formerly the Europhil Hotel. Located on Perimeter Road next to America Hotel, between the ABC Hotel and Lewis Grand Hotel, but closer to the latter. Extensive teardown leaving only the floors, walls, and support beams.
SAVANNAH RESORT HOTEL. Located on Perimeter Road, heading north about 150 meters before reaching Siam House, Club 68, and Santol Road. Structure looked completed.
GRANDVIEW TOWER CONDO. Located on Perimeter Road, noth of Savannah Resort Hotel, about 100 meters before reaching Siam House, Club 68, and Santol Road. Construction was up to the three floor of the structure.
5. PERIMETER ROAD or DON JUICO AVENUE.
Perimeter Road is called Don Juico Avenue starting about where the ABC Hotel is located.
Fields Avenue runs through the main entertainment area and into Perimeter Road, where SubDelicious restaurant is located.
6. BARS/CLUBS - CLOSED. This report does not include bars/clubs along Perimeter Road.
ANGELS, renamed PARADISE. A club manager told me that Paradise was raided by the police, who found under-aged girls, and the government wanted the owner to pay 5 million pesos to re-open.
FLAMINGO (rear of Orchid Inn, next to its swimming pool).
DMZ.
MIDNITE RODEO. For a live band, try the Crazy Horse Saloon in the evenings, located in the vicinity of the ABC Hotel.
MISTY. Its interior was being ripped out.
BLUE NILE. Was closed for at least a week or longer in mid-September 2008, but was opened in late September. A club manager told me that the owners of Misty, Blue Nile, and other places were divided between them.
7. BARS/CLUBS - with new names.
HEARTBREAKER => CRYSTAL PALACE.
TOMCAT CLUB => THE BYRD CAGE. This new club said that it is in the empty space next to the former Tomcat Club.
BLACK JACK [sp?] => THE BODY SHOP. One of the better clubs with about 20 girls on stage. It has 30-peso draft beer all night.
STINGER => EAGER BEAVERS.
8. BARS/CLUBS - Renovated.
THE ALASKA CLUB. Back half of the club was closed off with a black curtain so that it can be renovated.
INSOMNIA. Has a new stage.
BUNNY RANCH. Renovated, moving the bar at the front to the raised section at the rear. The stage along the left wall was extended to the entrance.
9. BARS/CLUBS - New.
TROPIX. It is located next to Agasya.
CLUB ATLANTIS. It is located in a new building next to the club Carousel. www.atlantis-ac.com
KING OF DIAMONDS. It is located as part of the Kokonutz (or Mo's Place) complex. Its entrance is on Fields Avenue, a few feet away from Voodoo.
VORTEX. It is in the same building as the Walk-About Hotel.
Others tell me that the four clubs, Tropix, Club Atlantis, Dollhouse, and Crystal Palace, are uder the same owner/management. A common feature of these four clubs is that they each have the most girls on-premise. I saw a placard that advertised Crystal Palace having 400 girls and another placard that advertised Club Atlantis having 200 girls. Three of the four clubs (that is excluding Tropix) have two or three floors or levels.
What these three clubs have done is to position about 50 girls on stage, another 20 girls on the balcony or upper level above and behind the stage, and in Crystal Palace, all the waitresses in front of the stage. It is a wonderful sight to see so many girls on display at one time -- and apparently available for selection. These numbers do not include another ten and more girls in front of each club beckoning guys to come in. In short, these clubs as a group, and the three multi-level clubs, top the clubs/go-go's in Pattaya in terms of the number of girls on display. It was simply wonderful to sit back, sip on a light refreshing beverage, and eye all the girls with hardly any male competition around.
By comparison, there are fewer girls at Blue Nile, Nero's Forum, Champagne, Pasha, and Agasyna; although Lancelot and Camelot are holding their own in terms of the number of girls inside.
However, I noted two drawbacks to these four clubs. One, the interior design of seats and tables is odd, not especially good for viewing from all seats, and seemed to be for a small crowd of customers and not a large crowd. Two, unlike a small club where seats are next to the stage and the girls sit among the customers, it is not easy to select a girl without the assistance of a waitress.
10. Bar/Club PRICES.
The average price for a bottle of San Miguel beer was 85 pesos at many clubs and 95 pesos at other clubs. Happy hour price for beer was respectively 50 and 60 pesos. Happy Hours varied from before 6 pm at a couple of clubs (The Body Shop and Geckos), to 6 pm - 8 pm at many clubs, to a one-hour time slot at a few clubs (like 7 pm - 8 pm at Brown Sugar), to no happy hours (Pasha, Blue Nile). Note that the happy hour time written on a banner in front of the Viper Room is later than what the waitress said.
Some clubs offered draft beer. Price varied from 30 pesos (The Body Shop) to 55 pesos.
Discounts are available at a few clubs to certain card members and club members (such as Piatnight and Asian Escapades). This was written on the wall or wall mirror at The Body Shop and The Byrd Cage. But, the waitresses wanted to see a club card as proof. Dragonstar, the owner of The Byrd Cage, said that he posted a card on piatnight.com for download and use as discount at his club. He said his discount was 20 percent on customer's drinks, 10 percent on lady's drinks, and no discount on EWR.
Bar Fine (or, EWR early work release) generally ranged from 1,200 pesos (such as Viper Room) to 1,400 pesos, but the three largest clubs supposedly set a range for bar fine going up to 3,000 pesos for their top class of performers. Clubs along Perimeter Road have lower bar fines. I got quotes of 1,000 pesos and 1,100 pesos.
Always check your bar bill. On numerous occasions, the price was higher and in error.
11. Bar/Club WEEKLY EVENTS.
See section below on a spectacular Hawaiian event.
MONDAY, SATURDAY eat/drinks. See Harry the Horse monthly newsletter for a list of which club is holding this event. In Sep 2008, it ran from 6 pm - 8 pm on Mondays and 5 pm - 7 pm on Saturdays, and it cost 550 pesos includes a meal and drinks. For example, on Monday, Sep 15, 2008, Stampede held this event and the plate of food was lasagna, light salad, and a piece of bread. On Saturday, Sep 20, 2008, La Bamba held this event and the food was chicken chunks in a white sauce and a macaroni-type pasta. Other clubs holding this event have included Blue Nile Executive, Bedrock, Cherry, and Nero's forum.
TUESDAY eats/drinks. A club manager said that his club and other clubs used to hold this Tuesday event consisting of free food and cheap drinks for a couple of hours, but it was cancelled.
WEDNESDAY eat/drinks. Several clubs rotated in Sep 2008 holding a special 6 pm - 8 pm event. It featured local drinks for 50 pesos each, free appertizers, a raffle(s), and dance shows. I attended this event at Bunny Ranch and Cambodia, and could not find a seat at Rhapsody. Best appertizers were at Bunny Ranch, but they were gone by 7 pm. The raffle at Bunny Ranch consisted of ten prizes or more of drinks at various clubs and another raffle was announced for half hour later which I did not stay for.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and/or Thursday night. About 8 pm or 9 pm on one of these nights, a few clubs advertise a special event, like body-paintings, lingerie, photos, or other. Check the posters in front of the clubs, like Club Atlantis and Dollhouse.
ROADHOUSE. Special mention for this club in regards to eats. On Wednesdays and Fridays, 6 pm - 9 pm, it has a two-for-one local drinks (95 pesos for two San Miguel beers) and a table full of three appertizers (deviled eggs, lumpias, and cross-sliced hoagies). The food comes out about 6:30 pm, is continually refilled, and you serve yourself. Good way to start the evening bar run with some snack in your stomach to soak up the alcohol. This club had the best and most plentiful free appertizers.
AUSSIE BBQ. A sign/banner is placed in front of a club announcing Aussie BBQ or something similar starting at 7 pm, usually on the day of the event. Such clubs included The Honeypot, Coyote Ugly, and Viper Room. A couple of years ago, I visited a club about a half hour after the party was to begin and the manager said that a crowd of customers came in on the hour and ate up all the food; so there was no food left when I got there. This time, I arrived on time and there was no party and no food. One club manager said that the food was being prepared and might be delivered to his club about 9 - 9:30 pm. Similarly, Eager Beavers had a banner in front of the club advertising a special event on Sunday which included extended happy hours and sizzling sausages; but on the night of its event its staff told me that happy hour was over at 8 pm and inside I saw no food being served or available. So, going to these events for something to eat and to enjoy a party is a waste of effort, or it might be that the BBQ is only for Aussies.
12. MASSAGE.
Fields Avenue and Perimeter Road stalls have a large number of massage establishments. A few massage stalls have girls in front during the afternoon shouting massage at men walking by. They advertised massage in your hotel. I did not try any of them. The advertised price was 500 pesos for one hour, and 600 pesos in your hotel room. Do not forget to give your masseuse a large tip.
BODY AND SOUL. Located on MacArthur Highway, across the street from the Pagcor Casino. A banner in front announced a massage for 168 pesos, Monday - Thursday, 12 noon - 4 pm. I did not try it, but the price seemed ridiculously low compared to the usual 500 pesos for a one-hour massage.
13. FOOD - CHANGED EATERIES.
CONEY ISLAND JOE's. The stand in front and the little restaurant are gone. Others said that the owner went to Cebu City. I missed its hot dogs with fried onions for a midnight snack.
MOLLY MALONE's restaurant. No longer served its lunch and dinner buffets.
BOURBON ST. restaurant. Closed. A banner in front said that it would re-open as a pub.
14. FOOD - CHEAP EATS.
HYPERMARKET, SM CLARK MALL. I liked the packaged sliced fruits and bananas sold at this supermarket. Price started at about 20 pesos. The mall also has several stands that sell a fruit smoothie; for example, 16 oz of two types of fruits and ice mixed in a blender for 55 pesos. The mall also has the usual fast food chain stores.
EL NIDA. A cafeteria for locals, located near Bourbon St. restaurant. Several times in the evening, I bought a roasted chicken for 150 pesos, which I snacked on in my hotel room. I liked it because it was well-cooked and was a fast take-out.
BUNNY BURGERS. One menu item is fish and chips for 190 pesos. The fish had a slight breaded crisp coating over the white flesh steamed and falling-apart tender. The chips were limp and full of oil; I preferred the fries from Jollibee.
SHANOs. The pub on the ground floor of Bourbon Street Apartments. I tried its cheese steak hoagie twice, because it was listed on the menu twice. The first one for 150 pesos had hardly any fried onions, just tiny bits, and hardly any cheese. The second one including fries for 250 pesos had more meat. Both had minimal steak. They both in no way resembled the pictures of thick hoagies shown on the menu. The menu on the blackboard on a wall listed Black Angus steak on Sunday. But, the waitresses said no stock for at least two months.
Fast food chains. SM Clark mall has several fast food chains and a food court. At the chains, a burger sells for as low as 27 pesos. At the food court, a small plate of rice and a mixed vegetable/meat stew sells for about 60 pesos. Outside the mall, there is a Jollibee on Teodoro Street, a half block from Fields Avenue, opened to midnight. A McDonald's is under construction on the corner of Fields Avenue and McArthur Highway.
15. FOOD - BIG EATS.
ROYAL AMSTERDAM HOTEL's restaurant. Has dinner buffet for about 349 pesos on Thursdays, and dinner buffets for about 389 pesos on Fridays. Each buffet has a different theme, like Spanish/Mexican, Indian, etc. Also, has breakfast buffets on Saturdays and Sundays to 12 noon for 250 pesos but its bacon was half-raw and my requested omelet tasted like a flat scrambled egg.
EDELWEISS restaurant. Located near the ABC Hotel, going north on Perimeter Road about a block from D'Club. On Friday evening, starting 7 pm, it has a buffet of sausage, cold cuts, potato, sauerkraut, and a few other items for 275 pesos. The mustard was outstandingly sharp and biting. The buffet could have included more green vegetables. For your music pleasure, an accordion player jams next to a table of full of diners.
CLARKTON HOTEL. It has dinner buffets, starting at 420 pesos for its Monday Italian buffet and highest price for its Sunday roast buffet. Standing on Perimeter Road near the ABC Hotel, I flagged down an empty jeepney and asked if the driver was going to the Clarkton Hotel, because many jeepneys with Hensonville was making a left turn off of Perimeter Road. When I climbed on in back, I gave the driver a ten-peso coin because the custom is to pay in advance and he gave me change of one-plus pesos. Returning from Clarkton Hotel is simple and free, if you take the hotel shuttle which leaves the hotel at 6:30 pm, 7:30 pm, etc to 3:30 am. The Monday buffet was half the size of its buffets of two or three years earlier, but still had a variety of entrees, vegetables, soup, bread, a few desserts and fruits, and a small selection of sushi for an additional 99 pesos. The best item was a slice of pizza with a soft thin tasteless bottom but loaded with flavorful cheese and toppings.
16. VITAMINS.
SM Clark Mall has at least two shops on its ground level that sells vitamins and the chain pharmacy Watson has some vitamins. However, prices seemed to be double or triple prices in the USA. The mall also has a stand in the hallway near Hypermarket that sells Carica products. I tried the Carica's Herbalberry, which was advertised as a substitute for CoQ10. It cost 385 pesos for 90 capsules, 350 gm each. A special offer was to buy five bottles and get a sixth bottle free, and the six bottles did not have to be the same product.
The chain pharmacy Mercury has some vitamins. It is located on McArthur Highway, about a block from Fields Avenue.
17. READING MATERIAL.
Some hotels have a shelf or two of paperbacks and books left by previous guests. For example, Central Park Hotel.
At SM Clark mall is a small shop along a short corridor between two large wings on the ground floor, called Book Sale. It offers used paperbacks for about 90 pesos. Of course, the mall has a National book store, which sometimes will have a book sale with new but old paperbacks starting at 99 pesos.
18. DVDs.
Sidewalk vendors and walking vendors on/near Perimeter Road quoted prices of 80 pesos for a single-movie dvd and 100 pesos or more for a multi-movie dvd. I negotiated a price of 50 pesos instead of 80 with only one walking vendor. Vendors on the second floor of Saver Mall on MacArthur Highway, about a block away from Pagcor Casino, also sell dvds, but they asked for similar prices. An expat resident told me that dvds are sold in downtown Angeles City for lower prices.
Recently-released movies tend to be a camera taping of a movie shown on a big screen and some of these dvd's were out-of-focus and included audience laughing/talking and getting up in front of the screen to go to or return from the refreshment stand or comfort room. To be able to exchange dvd's, it is better to deal with a vendor that has a permanent stand.
On MacArthur Highway a half block from Fields Avenue, there is a dvd rental store. It rents dvd for two or three days for 20 pesos. You have to become a member in order to rent dvd, which costs 10 pesos and provide for identification purpose, two photo id's including your Angeles City address.
19. POKER.
Poker games are available, at least two places. One is the former restaurant at Wild Orchid Resort Hotel, converted to a poker room. Other is the first floor of Pagcor Casino on MacArthur Highway, about a block from Savers Mall and Marlim Mansion Hotel.
I also received a flyer for poker. The flyer said Texas Hold'em every Saturday at 8 pm, Hotel Stotsenberg and Casablanca Casino, Clarkfield, Pampanga, 0917-742-1111. It also said, maximum of 20 plaers, maximum playing time of two hours, and buy-in of 5,000 pesos, no entrance fee, and no rebuy.
20. ROAD CHANGES.
Walking Street is the name on the movable three-foot high wrought iron gates, that are placed on Field Avenue in front of Club Atlantis and on Santos Street, to prevent the entrance of vehicles at night. However, trikes, motorcycles, and occasional vehicles continued to enter Field Avenue, although much fewer than the daytime.
Sidewalk area in front of the house on Fields Avenue, across the side street (Raymond Street) from SubDelicious, is paved.
Walking Street and Perimeter Road have more vendors, beggars, and transvestites than last year. The beggars have increased, with two additional groups appearing at night. One new group of beggars are amputees, who mostly stand between Bourbon St restaurant and Cambodia. Other new group of beggars are women in dirty raggedly clothes carrying a baby, who jab your arm and forearm with their opened palm.
The women are very aggressive. For example, one woman saw me passing by and chased after me when I ran, until I ducked between the guard and girls of a club soliciting customers walking by. Another example was two middle-aged Aussie guys who gave money to one woman with a baby and who were immediately surrounded by five women with babies pleading for money; after two minutes of giving money to a couple of more women and fending off pleads for more money, the guys made their escape; but they were chased for another block by one woman with a baby until her finger jabs forced one guy to open his wallet and give another bill. I hope the guys learned to give to charitable organizations instead of to beggars, which only encourages the beggars to continue harassing men walking by.
One night a pretty girl well-dressed approached me and tried to talk to me. I know that a normal pretty girl would never approach me, so I avoided her and walked on. About 20 feet later, I passed Star Trax which was closed that evening and I noticed that half dozen obvious transvestites stood in front of it and eyed me. I realized that the well-dressed pretty girl was a part of the group of transvestites. On other nights when Star Trax was opened, the transvestites stood on the side road (Raymond Street) next to SubDelicious and in front of the house next to Club Atlantis. One possible reason for the transvestite presence could be the gay club, next to Roy's Pub on Oak Street which runs into the side of Orchid Inn.
21. TOURIST POLICE.
Office for the Tourist Police had a banner in front that said Farewell.
Harry the Horse believed that local businesses should have supported the tourist police, and their unavailablity will cause problems for some tourists unjustly accused.
22. ATTORNEY.
Harry the Horse recommends an attorney, especially if you land in jail. Various scams have been reported, such as an under-aged girl (usually met on the street or accompanying a legal-age girl), planting drug in your pocket while walking outside or in your hotel room during a police search, a complaint made against you, etc.
Harry the Horse emailed me the cell number of his recommended attorney and the attorney gave me permission to pass his name and cell numbers to other male visitors to Angeles City, who might have need of his legal service.
The attorney recommended by Harry the Horse for a male visitor having a problem with the police is: Ronald P. Duro, 0905-359-7947 amd 0929-907-7856
23. AIRLINES COMING TO ANGELES.
A free magazine-sized publication listed a flight schedule for Clark International Airport Corporation's Diosdado Macapagal International Airport. It listed six airlines: Air Asia, Asiana, Seair, Tiger Airways, Cebu Pacific, and China Southern. The Air Asia and Asaina flights were to and from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Seair flights were to and from Caticlan. The Tiger Airways flights were to and from Caticlan and Singapore. The Cebu Pacific flights were to and from Cebu on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The China Southern flights did not specify destination, and flew only on Friday and Sunday.
Another visitor told me that he arrived late at night and had to take a taxi, which quoted a price of 350 pesos for the ten-minute ride to his hotel in the main entertainment area.
24. SEX.
First, you should know that this topic is here because others criticized my prior reports as lacking my encounters with the girls. This is true My defense is that my experience would not be representative of what you would probably encounter, because in many ways the girls do not view me as attractive. That is to say, if you are young and reasonably good-looking, relatively wealthy, a stallion in bed, and/or exercise the gift of gab to express a picture of another reality, then you do not have my handicaps.
To provide you with some understanding of my outlook and perhaps philosophy on life, know that just to sit in a music-pounding club with many girls eyeing you as their possible mattress mate for the night is enough to say that I am in heaven. More would be mere topping on the cake of romantic travel and self-satisfaction.
After many nights of searching, club crawling, and hand-wringling of what-if I chose her, I saw a lass on stage hiding behind other girls. She was obviously shy and trying to avoid being selected by a customer. I sent a waitress over to ask her to sit with me. She looked at me, did not react with horror, and walked over to sit with me. We introduced ourselves and I bought her a lady's drink, which was a fruit juice that she barely touched. She passed my second test of not ordering a shot of tequila and slamming it into her mouth in one gulp.
We talked. She was from a distant island and was there to earn money to help her parents and siblings. She had worked in the club for a few weeks, was single, and had no boy friend and no children. I asked if she would go to a hotel with a customer? She replied that she was cherry. Customers had paid her bar fine, but they only took her bar hopping. Since I wanted mattress action, I decided to not pursue her. I asked how much for her cherry. She replied 100,000 pesos (that is, more than US $2,000). Only two years, the price for a cherry was 30,000 pesos. I gave her a big tip for being pleasant and frank, and left the club to continue to look for the right girl.
One night, I finally saw a slim lass with long hair down to the north end of the crack of her ass. She was in her mid-20s, but to me she was beautiful in looks and hope for the night. I beckoned to her to come off-stage to come to me, sit, and talk of what-might-become-a-beautiful-friendship. Sitting next to me, she was jumpy as a kangaroo sitting next to a crocodile. I managed to convince her that I was a good guy and a night with me would be not horrible.
She agreed to stay with me until 6 am, so I paid the bar fine (EWR) of 1400 pesos, she dressed, and we proceeded to my hotel. She was not interested in visiting other clubs, which made me wondered if she was an innocent or had been there and done that. No answer was forthcoming. .
In bed, she screamed, I think, from pain. But, maybe this was an egotistical thought. The long and short was that the interplay was not worth repeating. I tried to sleep, but woke up occasionally and noted that she was watching tv. I assumed that she worked until 3 am and thus could not sleep. At 6 am, I stroked her body to let her know that a second interplay was of interest to me. She huddled in the far corner of the bed and said that she wanted to go home. I could not figured out what her problem was. I could not persuade her that a second interplay would be mutually beneficial. So, rather than pressure her for a second sex, I tipped her the equivalent of a one-sex night, walked her out of the hotel, and said goodbye.
In my outlook/philosophy of life, it is better to accept rejection than to dwell on why she rejected me. My hope was that tomorrow night I can find other girls who will go to bed with me -- at least one time.
25. ANGELES CITY WAS BETTER THAN PATTAYA, 9/2008
Can this be true? Yes, it was, especially under the conditions as defined and in the time period noted. The qualifications are not a cop-out, but a try to focus on my reasoning. I like Pattaya very much (my last visit was in Nov 2007), but in Sep 2008 Angeles City blew my socks off.
One important factor to me is the number of girls on stage. The more, the better. In Sep 2008, Pattaya had two new clubs and one older club (Club Atlantis, Crystal Palace, and Dollhouse), that astounded me with the number of girls on display. Occasionally, I have seen the number of girls on display elsewhere, but nowhere in recent years have I seen the number of girls on a consistent basis in three, or more clubs in one locale. These three clubs displayed at least 50 girls on stage, at least 20 girls on the balcony level above the stage, and in one club another 15 females who were the waitresses. In one evening, I saw over 100 girls on display inside one club and visited another club and saw a similar number of girls on display. I thought I had died and gone to paradise.
For the bush-counters in the past, Blue Nile and Agasya had a large number of girls. But, their total numbers never equaled those on display at Club Atlantis, Crystal Palace, and Dollhouse. Also, during this visit, Blue Nile, Agasya, and other big clubs seemed to have fewer girls than in previous years.
26. SPECTACULAR WEEK IN SEP 2008.
I guess that I was lucky to visit Angeles City in Sep 2008. During prior visits of two weeks or more, there were at least one special event in Angeles City. For example, the night before Christmas Eve, D'Club put on a Miss Calendar contest. When I arrived for this visit, there was a Fat Boy event, which was supposedly a weekend ruby tournament held annually.
For the last week in Sep 1008, there was hardly any advertising, except for small leaflets handed out by the girls in front of Club Atlantis, Crystal Palace, Dollhouse, and Tropix a few days before and some banners hanging in front of the clubs. What happened was that these four clubs put on a week of parades, shows, free appertizers, etc, ending with a beauty contest at the Dollhouse during the last week of Sep 2008. The events, especially the nightly parades, were iffy due to a typhoon passing near the north part of Luzon causing unexpected rain and some electrical brown-outs in Angeles City.
Nevertheless, to see nightly parades, about 7 or 8 pm, of up to 300 girls in Hawaiian costumes marched around the block housing these four clubs sectioned off by the clubs they represent and torches to light their way and the pounding of drums to Hawaiian rhythm was exciting.
Inside the clubs for the regular price of 85 pesos for a beer, about 9 pm there were dances of various Hawaiian dance groups composed of 8 to 12 girls. The best was a fast Tahitian (I believe) number. While watching, customers received the usual free large bowl of popcorn, but on these festive nights, the waitresses came around many times with plates of appertizers (grilled chicken wings, lumpias, shiskabob, sandwich triangles, etc) to eat. While body painting is a regular weekly event (It is complex painting of the torso of topless girls, which is fun to look at the design and to gauge how small breasts are disguised and large breasts are minimized.), there were among the Hawaiian-dressed girls some body-painted girls.
Inside the clubs, between the shows when a mass of girls stood/danced on stage, customers shot poppers above the heads of the girls. Out came a mass of paper bits like snowflakes. The girls scrambled for some of the paper. Why? Wadded up peso bills were mixed in. Better than ping pong balls and tossed coins, thrown on stage at some other clubs. Better yet were the customers who took stacks of peso bills and threw them over the heads of girls on stage. Nothing like seeing girls competing for bills floating down and instantly disappearing into the hands of the girls. Such poppers and tossed bills added to the excitement of the girls and their motivation to participate on stage.
I wondered why these clubs did not advertise more this week of Hawaiian parties, other than outside banners hung a few days in advance? The only answer seemed to be the Angeles clubs' fear of the local police and government. Their intimidation and apparent demand for payoffs have stifled Angeles club's advertisement.
Economically, I wonder if these four clubs are earning a profit? For example, I do not know how much salary they pay their female staffers? On the other hand, a lot of their female staffers probably are thankful to earn any money and not have to go out with any customer.
27. Other Information Sources.
www.centralluzoncorruption.com
One article on this web site describes what to do in case of the police shows up with a search warrant. For example, you should tell the police to wait while you get two people to accompany and watch the police search and to allow no more than two policemen to enter your premise.
www.asianescapades.com/free/interactivemap/index.php
Asian Escapades has a map that is fairly recent, although it does not show Friendship Highway, the places along this highway, and the places along Surla Street such as Donald Paul Apartelle and woman's clinic.
www.pashagroup.ph
For information (mostly in German) on La Pasha, Carousel, Typhoon Bar, and Mirage Hotel. The web site seemed to have dated information on other subjects.
www.rufer.net/start_en.html and click on Night Life
For information on Champagne, La Pasha, Club Lancelot, Brown Sugar, Club Camelot, and Royal Apartelle.
www.atlantis-ac.com or http://atlantis-ac.visitangelescity.com/index.php
For information on Club Atlantis. The last entry was dated in spring 2008. The web site said that a customer could bring a camera in and take photos at any time.
28. PERSONAL CONCLUSIONS.
Angeles City is not for every guy. There are many reasons why and why not. The bottom line is that you have to visit and judge for yourself.
Personally, I enjoy my visits to Angeles City. This visit suffered from no Coney Island Joe's hot dogs and no Molly Malone's buffets. But, this visit wildly enjoyed the Hawaiian events at Club Atlantis, Crystal Palace, Dollhouse, and Tropix.
While there are all kinds of local people trying to get your money, a bit of prudence and fast walking meant no such problem for me, other than being pissed off by the momentary harassment. Street vendors did not seem to understand that I did not want to buy another umbrella when I am using my umbrella in the rain. Also, street vendors of sunglasses did not seem to understand that I did not want to buy non-prescription sunglasses that would be useless, because I wear prescription eyeglasses.
In my humble opinion, for price, shows, number of girls, etc, Angeles City is better than Pattaya. The latter is better for beer bars, number of clubs, number of tourists, non-nocturnal activities, and quality of food. On the other hand, AC has a number of scams run on visitors, so be wary and have the cell number of a good attorney handy.
The girls of Angeles City were my main reason for the visit, and they did not notably mark this visit as good or bad. In other words, I did not fall in love and I did not contract any disease.
I met some good guys (club owners, hotel owners, and fellow mongers), who made me observe that there was a bunch of us who enjoy this style of life. It makes life worth living.
Keep on mowing.
Green G
