Davao

[GoodEnough]

GoodEnough, Barba.

In all seriousness, why don't you write a letter to the Mall manager or even better, go and see him / her.

When something aggrieves me so much and I cannot see the logic of it I try to change it.

I have already (1) changed the ticketing arrangements in PAL offices in the airport and in Pasay and Ali Mall by pointing out to management the silly procedures that they had in place that were "anti-customer". They listened and changed it. The simple fact was that NOBODY had ever complained until I did, and the managers never noticed.

(2) I advised a barangay captain to put the 3 guys he had working on 3 different holes in the roads to form a "gang" and get each hole repaired in faster time. Result. He listened. 3 holes fixed. (3) A record shop (part of a chain) had installed a bar code reader for purchases but ALSO required a shop assistant to write out receipts using 3 pieces of carbon paper. I wrote a letter to the head office pointing out this redundant and time-wasting activity. Result: Head Office had forgotten to tell staff that the bar code reader supercedes the need to have a paper record. The shop manager was too brain dead to work this out.

These 3 simple examples show me that we CAN make a difference if we go about it in a simple way. I suspect that if GE told the mall manager the effect that the music had on him personally and how it drove him and his pocketful of pesos away then it just might be the very first time this "manager" had even thought about it. If nothing changes or our suggestion is dismissed then by all means we can go on complaining about it (but at least we know that we tried)

Well, RK, you're still a youngster, so you've got plenty of energy to devote yourself to rectifying wrongs. For me, it's simply easier to withdraw. To attempt to change something, you first have to care about it, and there's not much that I care about here. At least not to the extent I would devote my dwindling energy to a quixotic quest. I think that the Ayala Group likely includes some reasonably smart people, so I'll llet them think of it for themselves. I'll focus on more quotidian concerns like making sure by the time I come downstairs in the morning, the house helper has water boiling for my coffee.

On a more productive and positive note, I had dinner last night with a mutual friend of ours, and we shared not only some excellent food, but two very good bottles of French wine--one a Loire Valley and the other a Bordeaux, and by the time the first bottle was gone I had forgotten all about the unpleasantness of the afternoon's experience.

GE

[Red Kilt]

In any case I totally agree with you and it drives me off the premises within minutes to see either a band or a ladyboy beauty contest taking off.

GoodEnough, Barba.

In all seriousness, why don't you write a letter to the Mall manager or even better, go and see him / her.

When something aggrieves me so much and I cannot see the logic of it I try to change it.

I have already (1) changed the ticketing arrangements in PAL offices in the airport and in Pasay and Ali Mall by pointing out to management the silly procedures that they had in place that were "anti-customer". They listened and changed it. The simple fact was that NOBODY had ever complained until I did, and the managers never noticed.

(2) I advised a barangay captain to put the 3 guys he had working on 3 different holes in the roads to form a "gang" and get each hole repaired in faster time. Result. He listened. 3 holes fixed. (3) A record shop (part of a chain) had installed a bar code reader for purchases but ALSO required a shop assistant to write out receipts using 3 pieces of carbon paper. I wrote a letter to the head office pointing out this redundant and time-wasting activity. Result: Head Office had forgotten to tell staff that the bar code reader supercedes the need to have a paper record. The shop manager was too brain dead to work this out.

These 3 simple examples show me that we CAN make a difference if we go about it in a simple way. I suspect that if GE told the mall manager the effect that the music had on him personally and how it drove him and his pocketful of pesos away then it just might be the very first time this "manager" had even thought about it. If nothing changes or our suggestion is dismissed then by all means we can go on complaining about it (but at least we know that we tried)

[Member #4491]

So my question is of course, what the hell is the point of doing this?

As someone wise once told me "just because you I have an idea, this isn't necessarily a good idea".

Abreeza management are probably suffering and then they do what many Pinoy (Pinoys?) will do to "develop" anything; look at how the neighbor did it.

Gaisano is just up the road and they will torture you with these kind of brain dead venues weekly. You know all of this GE, but it naturally serves as a strategy for keeping mental sanity to pretend that we are discussing these (believed) states of error, when we in fact reached consensus long ago. Buddy therapy in the Philippines. LOL In any case I totally agree with you and it drives me off the premises within minutes to see either a band or a ladyboy beauty contest taking off.

It would cost some 5000 PHP to evaluate the effect on sales from such a spectacle but I wonder if it was ever done and if so, what this investigation concluded. Maybe the purchase patterns of this culture is just as mystic as these marketing arrangements, thus making us totally inadequate to evaluate the actual consequences. We should collect money here on ISG and launch a study that can be used in the quest to rid the Philippines of sound pollution in malls.

Barba.

[Fslag338]

I think that whole Abreeza mall can not be anything else than a commercial failure, even without that "music". Unless they import a few thousand well to do people to Davao. I am not a retail expert, but I think that even with only my swim diploma I can calculate almost every business must be losing money there.

I would not be surprised if in not too long time a part of it will be "redesigned" as offices, condo's or whatever can bring in cash / rent.

But what the heck. This is a sex forum and now we are discussing malls. Maybe I should visit a mall forum next time and see what they are talking about there.

)

[WestCoast1]

So my question is of course, what the hell is the point of doing this? The audience is young, poor, and not spending anything. Those with any taste were unimpressed and likely left rather than expose themselves to it. Seems like a net financial loss to the stores and the mall operators.

I will never understand the utter mindlessness associated with commercial activities here. Never.

GE

Insightful. Right on the money. I've experienced this in several public places, both in several cities in filipines, and also in Jakarta.

However, herein maybe lies part of the problem. I just didn't see it as you saw it, GE. I saw it as a fun activity that attracted a bunch of shoppers. Its not that I stayed very long to enjoy the thing (well, once I did, the music was good). Normally I check it out for a moment, then head out of there like you do, to avoid the noise level (like Sarge says, speakers buzzing from decibel overload). However I just didn't see it as driving my money out of the place. I missed that part, I was probably thinking of my next mall pickup or tonight's 3-some, or grabbing a burger.

If WC can miss it (he has a couple of them-there college deegrees) , then the mall management can miss it also. Consider the culture, and consider what Sarge said about music on jeepneys, malls, and most any public place being played nearly non-stop: the people are in love with music there (more-so than other places). While everyone loves music, pilipinos seem to have it as a national pastime. Live band is everywhere, and loud music in public is a way of life. It so engrained, they aren't about to change the behavior (for any reason?).

As a similar cultural experience elsewhere: mexicans will show up at a public performance to watch it, and, as a group, they will ignore the performers and performance and chat vocally with friends or onlookers through the entire performance. Seems odd, but it happens all the time. An elementary class in the american southwest will be performing its rendition of 'Pocahontas' (or similar) , all the parents will show for the annual performance, and almost all of them will sit and chat with their neighbors while ignoring their own children on stage. The only people paying attention to the play are the handful of non-mexican parents, and the schoolteacher. That's right, you will be in an auditorium of 300-1000 parents (supposedly) watching a play, listening to a cacophony of parents chattering away (the noise is so loud, the players on stage cannot be heard). Its a large social situation, like a block party. Very few people actually came to watch the play. I've experienced this in Mexico also: a live band is playing at an outdoor gathering with a large crowd, and nobody applauds when the band finishes a song (or only a few people applaud) , because they are busy chattering away and ignoring the band. This is accepted culture.

You will not experience this in a place filled with gringos: they pay attention to the performance they came to see. However, this is changing with technology. Now, when people show up to a public performance, they whip out their cell phones to capture the moment. They also txt like crazy. Recently I attended a movie. Even though they run a thing on the screen about silencing your cell phone, various screens light up around the theater during the flick at different times. Some people just can't stop, no matter what. Two different people in the theater at some point turned on their phones, and turned on a movie / video of some kind and watched for a long period of time that vid on their phone screen. Its beyond me why anyone would pay money to see a movie, then watch something else on their phone? The times they are a changin'?

[SergeantRay]

As I was sitting in the salon, thinking while drinking coffee and getting my hair cut, what a generally civilized and pleasant experience this was; as I was reflectiing that is, on the improvement in ambience over the other malls in this city, the entire building started to shake due to the ear-shattering cacaphony (which passes here for music) from a "dance concert" in the large, open area one floor below. I mean the noise was overwhelming, reverberating off of walls, windows and all other reflective surfaces. I immediately abandoned all further thoughts of shopping ad fled, after my hair cut, through the nearest exit to the outside world that I could find.

Now there were a couple of bewildered thoughts that drifted through my head as I passed the actual source of the dreadful sounds: first, that the 300 or so people standing enthralled by witnessing this crap were spending no money shopping. Second, those attracted by the "free entertainment" didn't look like they had any money to spend, and thus, under normal circumstances, would never have been inside the place. Third, people like me (presumably I wasn't the only one who retreated) who actually did have funds available and came there for the purpose of spending some of them, left rather than expose themselves to the unartistic mayhem.

I will never understand the utter mindlessness associated with commercial activities here. Never.

GE

Whether on the bus, inside a restaurant like Jollibee's, or in a mall, in the Philippines the volume is always turned up to 11. Never mind that the speakers are buzzing, or that there's profanity in the rap song blasting throughout the public bus.

I was flabbergasted when I saw a show at the Cebu SM mall that included in a show for kids, with kids on the stage, a very obvious fat, sloppy, transvestite in a short skirt and fishnet stockings in a lead role. What the whole show was supposed to be, I don't know.

[Redman69]

They did it for us when we were young and poor. Also kids can get the money from the parents. The older you get the less you spend. That is a known fact. So, they are going after current parents thru the kids. And in 10 years guess who will want a new I-pad. Not me. Hi GE.

[GoodEnough]

So today I went to Abreeza (Ayala) Mall to do some shopping, pay a Globe bill and to get a haircut. I like Abreeza because, according to my asawa, it's known now as a "mall for rich people," out of the reach of most Filipinos. Therefore, usually, it's uncrowded, quiet, and, since it's started to attract several higher end retailers, a fairly good place to shop-within the context of Davao.

As I was sitting in the salon, thinking while drinking coffee and getting my hair cut, what a generally civilized and pleasant experience this was; as I was reflectiing that is, on the improvement in ambience over the other malls in this city, the entire building started to shake due to the ear-shattering cacaphony (which passes here for music) from a "dance concert" in the large, open area one floor below. I mean the noise was overwhelming, reverberating off of walls, windows and all other reflective surfaces. I immediately abandoned all further thoughts of shopping ad fled, after my hair cut, through the nearest exit to the outside world that I could find.

Now there were a couple of bewildered thoughts that drifted through my head as I passed the actual source of the dreadful sounds: first, that the 300 or so people standing enthralled by witnessing this crap were spending no money shopping. Second, those attracted by the "free entertainment" didn't look like they had any money to spend, and thus, under normal circumstances, would never have been inside the place. Third, people like me (presumably I wasn't the only one who retreated) who actually did have funds available and came there for the purpose of spending some of them, left rather than expose themselves to the unartistic mayhem.

So my question is of course, what the hell is the point of doing this? The audience is young, poor, and not spending anything. Those with any taste were unimpressed and likely left rather than expose themselves to it. Seems like a net financial loss to the stores and the mall operators.

I will never understand the utter mindlessness associated with commercial activities here. Never.

GE

[PinoyLover88]

pl88, as ge writes it has all been covered here but let me try to answer your questions;

autoshop is named hybrid nowadays and there you can find some working girls if you are lucky. you will always meet social and friendly "normal" girls during the weekends, but as in any country these will necessarily not be impressed by an offer to have sex with you for money. other more subtle techniques will render a better result. try guru on torres also. matina town square can sometimes deliver a few curious poor girls with no money, but do not expect to much. the bars on torres is nothing like how i imagine the angeles scene. you have davao totally wrong if you compare these. as my friend said,"a thai village disco is better than davao on a friday".

you will find sw:s of various quality rep001tered all the way from central bank to and around san pedro. just walk that stretch and you will see. some sporadic sw:s can also be fund around victoria and gaisano at night, but these will most likely be the ones you would not kiss wearing a mares dry suite. on querino you will also see the occasional streetwalkers. it seems that here the number of lb:s is higher, than the number of actual females ready to play for pay.

reward the ladies around 500-1000 php for a st. they will ask for 2000 but bargain.

davao is not the right place for enjoying a sparkling bar scene in the sense where you will find girls that entertain you and rub your cock for an over priced lady drink. davao is a place that you should come to with some numbers and names, or target malls and other locations with a high concentration of young females. prepare to text on your phone more than you would ever imagine possible.

good luck and please report back.

barba

thank you senior, will do a report after my trip

[Member #4491]

pl88, as ge writes it has all been covered here but let me try to answer your questions;

autoshop is named hybrid nowadays and there you can find some working girls if you are lucky. you will always meet social and friendly "normal" girls during the weekends, but as in any country these will necessarily not be impressed by an offer to have sex with you for money. other more subtle techniques will render a better result. try guru on torres also. matina town square can sometimes deliver a few curious poor girls with no money, but do not expect to much. the bars on torres is nothing like how i imagine the angeles scene. you have davao totally wrong if you compare these. as my friend said,"a thai village disco is better than davao on a friday".

you will find sw:s of various quality rep001tered all the way from central bank to and around san pedro. just walk that stretch and you will see. some sporadic sw:s can also be fund around victoria and gaisano at night, but these will most likely be the ones you would not kiss wearing a mares dry suite. on querino you will also see the occasional streetwalkers. it seems that here the number of lb:s is higher, than the number of actual females ready to play for pay.

reward the ladies around 500-1000 php for a st. they will ask for 2000 but bargain.

davao is not the right place for enjoying a sparkling bar scene in the sense where you will find girls that entertain you and rub your cock for an over priced lady drink. davao is a place that you should come to with some numbers and names, or target malls and other locations with a high concentration of young females. prepare to text on your phone more than you would ever imagine possible.

good luck and please report back.

barba

[Red Kilt]

. but I'm hardly an expert anymore on the scene, domesticated as I've become. .

Thou doth protesteth too much GE. I gauge there is still a fair bit of life in the old dog yet LOL.

[GoodEnough]

Hi to all seniors, will be travelling to davao in a month time, been reading up this thread, did some homework, like: torres st, many bars and discos, rizal st, rizal promenade, central bank for FL.

Can any seniors help:

Is there any disco for pick up / FL?

Beside central bank is there any other place for FL?

What is the price for the FL (central bank)

So the bars are all in torres st, just like angeles city located near to each other?

Thank you in advance for any seniors help.

I'm told that the Torres bars are relatively dead now, and that Auto Shop and one or two others are the places to go. Someplace Else on Rizal St. Is also packed every Friday and Saturday night, but I'm hardly an expert anymore on the scene, domesticated as I've become. I suggesst you look up some of Barba's old posts on Davao nightlife as he is truly an expert and has written extensively on many places.

GE

[PinoyLover88]

Hi to all seniors, will be travelling to davao in a month time, been reading up this thread, did some homework, like: torres st, many bars and discos, rizal st, rizal promenade, central bank for FL.

Can any seniors help:

Is there any disco for pick up / FL?

Beside central bank is there any other place for FL?

What is the price for the FL (central bank)

So the bars are all in torres st, just like angeles city located near to each other?

Thank you in advance for any seniors help.

[WestCoast1]

I remember once driving from Kaputian to Babak to catch the ferry, and this young slim girl with HUGE tits in just a thin white cotton t-shirt walked over the road just in front of me. I drove slowly and could see her jugs rolling and hopping in the t-shirt. Hard nipples and a washed out almost transparent t-shirt. Her tits where perfect and way to big for her tiny body. Instant reaction in my pants. She looked, said Hello, and smiled invitingly, and Barba had one of those male teenage black outs. The ones where you later ask yourself "why the fuck did I not stop and talk to her!". When I managed to get a grip and had turned the bike around to go back, she was consumed by the jungle.

Barba

Hot DAMN you gave me a stiffie from 8000 miles away! Feel free to post more jungle stories.

[KongKing]

Thank you.

<clipped

Needless to say, a swim in the sea was required after 1000 000 bats took a dump in your hair.

I am hopefully scouting out another water fall on the way from Pinia Plata over the mountain to Kaanan in a couple of weeks, and if anyone is around and have a decent motorbike, it would be good with some company. It sound more dramatic than it is, so no need to be Jacques Cousteau to tag along.

He was wearing a tank top and nothing else, and he had a hard on that he soaped very carefully. Two girls that looked to be at least a couple of years younger than him, was sitting just 2 meters away with big eyes and huge smiles on their face.

I drove slowly and could see her jugs rolling and hopping in the t-shirt. Hard nipples and a washed out almost transparent t-shirt. Her tits where perfect and way to big for her tiny body. Instant reaction in my pants. She looked, said Hello, and smiled invitingly, and Barba had one of those male teenage black outs. The ones where you later ask yourself "why the fuck did I not stop and talk to her!". When I managed to get a grip and had turned the bike around to go back, she was consumed by the jungle.

Barba

Great information and wonderful word pictures there Barba.

KongKing