The Philippines FAQ

[Fastpiston]

A word of warning to all.
Just because someone advertises their transport services on this site does not mean they are safe or honest. In the Philippines, it is best for new vistors to be street wise and hire from accredited companies only (such as those at the airport or registered with a hotel). Filipinos themselves are frequently 'help up' with guns or knives in jeepneys and buses, so be wary of special transportation offers. Most Filipinos are great, but there are those rotten apples around.

[Tbm Fan]

Pretty good report to initiate the beginner in Angeles. Would add that there is really nothing for most of us in PUD anymore as it seems to have attracted baklas lately besides a heavily filipino crowd as compared to the filipina crowds from years back. SkyTrax have always stayed away from due to the potential of trouble amongst a lot of young filipino males. Filipinas used to bring me into the Music Box back in the mid-90's but gave that up when even their company couldn't always keep me safe from those less than subtle shoulder slams as one passes another.

I would tell a beginner that he shouldn't concern himself with dinner for two or breakfast for two unless he is an incurable romantic. Of course there are always incurable romantics in Angeles. Better would be to find a girl by 10pm and then pay her barfine and tell her you will come back to pick her up around 1:00am so you can keep partying. Take her to one bar for a drink if you want and then back to the hotel. Too many girls and not enough days in a vacation to get hooked on one girl especially on the next night when you find your next true love and on and on.

[Fastpiston]

Juniour's comments on AC are very good.
If I can add my "two-cents", I was in AC last week and a notice was posted on the hotel's front door warning residents that bag snatchers have been roaming around late at night, snatching girl's bags. These scum bags are probably watching hotels and snatching the bags of girls they reckon have just scored. A bit of a food chain.
The other part of the notice also warned residents to only take trikes that have a registered trike number. These are clearly displayed on the trike side-car. It seems some scum bags are going around pretending they are registered trikes and robbing customers.
As with all other places in the Phils., always be street smart and watch your wing mirror at all times!

[Cerberus]

Junior,

A excellent brief, concise summation of Angeles City for all. Are you sure that you aren't the mayor of Angeles or merely hold all the mortage deeds to the town? (LOL)

All joking aside, very, very exccellent work and probably a hell of a lot of fun research on your part!

[Wilbur Mills]

Please note this information was current for March 2005, it has been repeated for this section.


Getting there: Manila – Angeles City

Arriving at NAIA and going up to Angeles City, which is around a two hours drive away north-west, there are a number of options open to you. There are no international flights direct to Clark, that I am currently aware of but a flight from Manila is offered several times a week by Seair www.flyseair.com. Its not a frequent service so your next best bet would be going by bus or car. However, I don’t recommend travelling up at nights or after dark; the crime rate is slowly getting worse. There are currently several airlines in talks to arrange direct air services into Clark, look out for details.

There are several bus options that travel regularly to Angeles but the most well known and fairly useful is: www.swaggy.com/flythebus.htm

Car options range from first asking your hotel if they can collect you when you arrive, Swagman and the Orchid Inn already do this, at a price. Next option, Private Cars in the Arrivals halls there is an office to your left where you can book a car to take you up there. In fact it is very easy to get a car and most taxis will be willing to take you there, if you agree a fixed price first. The price is anywhere between 1,600 Pesos up to 4,000 Pesos, depends on the time of day and your negotiation skills.

My advice to a first time visitor is to spend a day or two in Manila first and travel up later shopping is better in Manila and you can get some cash via ATM or money changer and take it up with you.

Hotels

Obviously Angeles City is the type of place that a majority of guys come to for SEX, easy sex, so let’s make no bones about that. There are a couple of hotels here and you have to make your own judgement call on what you want, a room right in the heart of the action or somewhere quieter that is close by to all of the action. The noise you get is either from fellow guests having a party in their room at 4am with three bar girls or being near a road where you can here Karaoke being sung 24-7 or these unserviced motorbikes that screech up and down Fields Ave.

Will I have a problem bringing girls back to my room?

This is the Philippines I am not aware of any hotel that will restrict or block you taking any girls to your room. In Angeles City you will have no problem taking two, three or four girls back to your room.

You have many options open to you and prices in AC are much cheaper than Manila but then so is the quality of service you may not get the range of services up here like gyms or swimming pools. Two I can recommend from personal experience are www.orchid-inn.com and www.hotelroyalamsterdam.com there are currently two other new hotels being built here, so do keep a look out for them.

Here is a full list of all the hotels in Angeles City www.balibago.com/where_to_stay.html

Getting Around

Angeles City is a relatively small town, not really a city however the options are Tricycles, be warned that some of these tricycle drivers will try to rip you off if you do not agree a price beforehand. Never jump in without agreeing a price first.

Jeepney, easy to use the prices is fixed at 5.50 Pesos the blue Jeepneys take you from the Checkpoint to the Savers, Robinson’s & Nipper Malls down town but it’s a limited route.

Taxis on Field Ave are difficult to find you can find them at the terminal to Clark’s check Point.

Those of you a little adventurous, who really do want to live life to the full; you can easily hire motorbikes from 500 Pesos a day, from many stores along Fields Ave or your hotel will be able to recommend a good dealer. Likewise you can also hire cars at around 1,000 Pesos a day to go further afiield.


ATMs & Cash

There are a couple of ATM machines to be found in the area but do what I usually do, whilst in Manila take out enough cash to get you by for your stay in Angeles; obviously, if you are staying for a long period you will need to locate a ATM machine. There are four banks within a ten minute walk from Field’s Ave and many money changers and for those of you that have spent rather more than you have budgeted for a couple of porn shops that accept cell phones. Robinson’s Mall does not have any ATMs, which is strange for a mall, while the SM Mall in Pampanga has several but the SM mall is around 20 minutes away by taxi and will cost you between 700- 1000 Pesos to get there and back.

For European holders of Maestro, Delta or Switch cards will work in Metrobank and Chinabank ATMs, HSBC and CitiBank are only in Makatia although according to HSBC website that claims to have a branch and ATM in Angeles but I could not find it. Note you need to check with your bank what the charge is for using overseas ATMS, so its not good to keep taking out small amounts of cash.

How much will I need to bring with me?

Its up to you, if you pay for your hotel with a credit card then basically you will just need money for drinking, girls, eating, laundry, cell phone and getting around.

Typical day for a monger

1 girl 1500 Pesos (includes ladies drinks)
1 blowjob 500 Pesos (in the afternoon before you go out)
12 beers 840 Pesos
Dinner for two 700 Pesos
Laundry 70 Pesos
Breakfast for two 700 Pesos
Top up Cell 300 Pesos

Total 4610 Pesos (U$85/£44/€63) @ no of days you stay

However, I doubt you will be spending this amount every day.



Girls

This is Angeles City there are all types up here and generally its difficult to say what is attractive to you would be attractive to me. I walk into a bar and the type of girls I go for are a little older and experience looking the ones, who I think will enjoy sex, which many guys would not go for. I have seen many guys this week and couple of them had gone for girls I wouldn’t touch. Your typical Asian guy or rather I should say Japanese, Korean or Taiwanese would go for the young looking, fair, white skinned, some American and Europeans prefer the darker skinned older types. As for myself I would say if you look hard enough you will find something that will appeal to your taste – if you don’t then you are just too dam fussy. I doubt you will find any beauty queens up here, but having said that many pretty girls do pass through this city on their way to other things, I have met many girls who are going to Japan or have just returned, so go to as many bars as you can and if luck is with you that beauty may just be waiting for you.

Don’t let the door girls cloud your judgement on the quality available inside, all bars employ the prettiest girls to work the door to pull in the customers (obviously!!) I mean if you ran a bar would you keep your beauty queens hidden inside in the dark, whilst you had all the dragons on the door??

Many of the girls here maybe new to working in a bar, some may be naïve to sex so you might have to tutor them a little in bed. If a girl has good looks and gain some experience they will usually head off to other places to make more money. Frequent visitors to AC will notice the changes of girls in the bars. If you are coming here to seek out a wife I would suggest you try other places in the Philippines first, you can meet some nice companions especially if you are going to other places.

My Tip for you is to put on your walking shoes and check out as many bars as you can – you never know what you will find until you look.

Day Time Action

To be honest if you’re coming for the tourist thing up here, I would say there are other places in the Philippines to be for that. However, I have seen a few places that offer tours of Mount Pinatubo but as of yet I have never made one tour up here. If you meet a girl I would recommend you take her to Pampanga Mall or check with the hotel what is available.


Cellphones

It’s easy to find all your cell phone and accessories up here even if you bring a compatible phone from home you can purchase the chip from Globe www1.globe.com.ph/default.aspx or Smart www.smart.com.ph and a charger locally, and top up your phone easily on and around Fields Avenue 24 hours a day. The top floor of Robinson’s has a good choice of new phones for sale latest models also available.

Note Philippino girls are incredible inquisitive, if you leave your cell phone lying around they will check to see who you have been receiving text messages from and which names you have in your address book. Worse still some of the devious ones will transfer credit from your cell to their phones. So keep your phone either in your pocket or locked away.

Computer and Internet

Angeles City like most other cities has several internet café available 24 hours a day; this being the Philippines means it inexpensive in terms of costs. If you travel with a laptop several hotels in AC have rooms with internet access, check their websites for details.

Bar Fines:

I have tried to make a point of visiting as many of the bar in AC to get a realistic idea of bar fines, since on the board there are mixed messages about the bar fines. Yes, it’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.

Contrary to other places when you pay a bar fine here you don’t need to agree an additional price with the girl. Tip only if you want to, but usually the girls will tell you that’s its up to you what you want to pay or how long they can stay for. So your best bet is to bring some small presents for the girls and yes they all like chocolates and treat them right but them dinner or drinks. Most girls will stay all night and will usually have breakfast with you. The bar fine varies between 1000 Pesos and 1250 – 3000 Pesos for the spotlight dancer in the DollHouse. Many guys come up here bar fine a girl they like for several days and take them to Boracay or wherever takes your fancy Cebu, Hong Kong, Paris?.

Note: In a bar dancers, door girls, waitresses and if you really fancy it the mamasan can all be bar fined, although I have never seen anyone actually bar fine a mamasan.

Bars Charging:

1250 Pesos

Blue Nile Executive, Angel, Vodoo, Lollipop

1200 Pesos

Agasya, Treasure Island, Dollhouse, The Flamingo Club, Dirty Duck, Cambodia, Blue Nile,
Geckos, The Owls Nest 1200 [photos], Club Lancelot, The Bedrock, Misty,
Top Cat, Wild Wild West, Brown Sugar, Camelot, Insomnia, Black Jacks, Nero’s, Viper, La Pasha, The Kitten Club, Bunny Bar, Jungle, Stinger, Las Vegas, The Blueberry Hill,

Note: Dollhouse, the 6 or 9 spotlight dancers are bar fined at 3000 Pesos each (U$55/£28/€41) these are the girls who come on and do a sexy routine every 30 minutes throughout the day.

1100 Pesos

DMZ

1000 Pesos

The Wellcome Inn, Bananitas, Rhapsody, La Banitas, Roadhouse, Private Dancer, Butterfly Rocks, D'Club, Bar Hoppin, Lipstick, Stampede, Cherry Club, Gentleman’s Club, Emotion, Touch Of Class,

What is a good bar..?

Its difficult to say, this depends on your age, your preference in women and taste in music, whether you want a quite bar with pool table and being able to talk to the girls instead of shouting or somewhere you can enjoy a drink and watching the girls. This is Angeles City there is likely to be somewhere that matches your tastes

Clubs / Discos

There are a number of clubs up here The Pick Up Disco & Sky Traks and other more up market establishments like R&B, which has live acts. I don’t know if these are really good places to pick up girls although the disco do have a few freelancers in here, I would suggest that if you meet a girl in a regular bar that you take her to one of these places on her night off.

Viagra and Cialis

I will put my hands up and say that I am not an expert on these drugs, however, I would suggest that if you are purchasing these items that you go to a proper pharmacist and don’t use one of these street vendors trying to flog you them from anywhere between 500 pesos and 1,500 a box. (see photo)


Pool Tables

There are around 20 odd bars with Pool Tables, larger ones like Margarita Station and Kokomos have several tables, so you will always find somewhere to play when you are fed up with drinking and looking at the sexy girls dancing, you can have a ball or two. You can bring your pool cues or purchase them locally.

Laundry

For all your laundry needs l suggest you go to Mamacitas which is close by the Orchid Inn, but as you will have plenty of time on your hands so make a point of taking your laundry there and a kilo starts off at only 30 Peso, yes that is only 30 Pesos. There are many places that provide this service but its easy to arrange. Mamacita’s is a much quicker service because if you take it early in the mornings usually you can get it back by early afternoon, especially if you ask nicely.

Mamacita Laundryshop
110 Oak St
Tel: 09186 349813


Crime

Unfortunately crime seems to be on the rise here, I have heard a number of stories from people and mainly it seems tricycle drivers are the main culprit. One girl told me that when the girls go home in the early hours the tricycle drivers are setting up the passenger, diverting somewhere and have someone snatch their bags for their money or cell phones because they believe the girls are carrying 500- 1000 Pesos tips every night working in the bars. Once they realise that in fact many girls are only carrying 50- 100 Pesos in their bags at most, they will no doubt move on to the tourists. A couple of shops have been robbed in the early hours and many are no longer remaining open after midnight. There are malicious people hanging around the streets after dark hoping to snatch a cell phone or money – so be vigilant. One reason there is now a more visible police presents along Fields Aves, with a Tourist Police office down by the main strip and I kept seeing the police, K9 Unit and walking up and down with their dogs on a daily basis and SWAT several times.


Scams

If you are like me and like walking you will no doubt be stopped by people claiming to be the driver from your hotel and offering to do you a big favour – buyer beware is all l say. Don’t go anywhere with them and do not give any personal details and don’t lend them any money.



Beggars

Anyone walking about in Angeles City is likely to be faced with beggars at some time during your stay; some are polite others can be aggressive or rude. I tend to keep a pocketful of 1 Peso coins which I give to the polite ones, this way the next time you pass they don’t bother you too much. But even if you changed a 100 Pesos into coins in a week you would not got rid of them all.

ICE

A while back I stated that it was safe to have ice in your drinks, I know there are still some travel books written in the 1960’s that states the only safe thing to drink overseas is Coca Cola. Well, things have moved on since that time and the water purification industry is a multi-million dollar industry. I have just spent two weeks in Makati and Angeles City, taking my drinks with ice with no ill-effect whatsoever. As a majority of the bars in AC are owned by expatriates I mentioned this to one and his answer was blunt and simply. We’re not in the business of making our clients ill we want them to keep coming back spending their money.” So there you are, its safe to enjoy your Martinis shaken and not stirred and on the rocks and you can live to Die Another Day. This only applies to the bars some of the street vendor’s ice looks somewhat dodgy and I saw many with the ice left on the street.



24 Hours

Angeles City is the type of place where you can find just about everything 24 hours a day, food, women and some stores 7-11 etc but those of you planning to come down here in the early hours you around 1- 3am, there is still plenty of action available. The DollHouse is open 24 hours and I even went in there at 8am to have some breakfast OJ, inside were two other customers, one of them fast asleep. Blow row of Santos Street is open 24 hours.

Sex Toys

There are a couple a places that sell sex toys, the first is the perfume place, Ask Cosmetics between Sub Delicious and Road House has a selection of vibrators and lubrication jelly in there and the other place is:

Nice & Nawty
1035 Fields Ave
(45) 625-6091

Opposite Rick’s café open from 12 – 12 every day, they also have DVDs and VCDs porn movies in there and various thongs although l saw no edible panties in there. Both places sell condoms international brands such as Durex and Trojan, but its always good to bring your own.


Juniour

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