Other Areas

[Tomasb]

Actually, I was attempting to say that LB's use the inquiry 'massage'. I suppose they could always argue that they were offering nothing else but a massage. Yes, I needed to add that there are many legit spas on the beachfront road with young girls in uniforms offering standard massages through their spas.

I mentioned in my prior report that I took a girl out of Cocomangas on Tuesday night. She texted me last night, Christmas eve, and wanted to know where I was. I told her that I was at a party in the lobby of my apartment. She then asked if she could come join.

Kind of rude, I thought, and ignored the message for a while finally telling her her the party was for guests of the apartment, which was true.

This morning she texted again and said she was going to Manilla tomorrow and needed more cash for the flight. Also, mentioned she got into trouble the night before, Christmas eve, and had scratches on her face but not entirely certain what she was trying to say as her texting and general English skills were so garbled and hard to understand. To make a long story short, she wanted to come over this afternoon and bang me for some quik cash. I told her no as it sounds like something weird is going on. She just texted me again. What a pain! This probably means I will have to deal with her tonight at Cocomangas.

I concur. "Massage" seemed to be the code word for the FLs along the beach. There are also many uniformed massage girls outside their parlors also saying "massage" which would get you a legit, non-sexual massage. It's not hard to distinguish the two categories but their clothing. A few of the FLs were more direct, asking if I wanted "company".

[JPF]

The key word seems to be 'massage'? If they say that to you, more than likely, that's all that is on the menu.

I concur. "Massage" seemed to be the code word for the FLs along the beach. There are also many uniformed massage girls outside their parlors also saying "massage" which would get you a legit, non-sexual massage. It's not hard to distinguish the two categories but their clothing. A few of the FLs were more direct, asking if I wanted "company".

[Tomasb]

I went to Cocamungas around midnight last night. Lots and lots of young cute girls. It rained hard most of evening so perhaps that delayed the crowd from arriving earlier as girls tell me that 10 pm is the optimum time. A few girls quoted me $2 k for all night. One girl said that was as low as she would go so quite certain some would go for less. I discovered that focusing on girls from Manila yield more and better English speakers, plus they seem less jaded than the girls from Kalibo and other closer locales near Boracay. I found one girl off to the side from MNL but with several other cute friends nearby. She came to my apartment and, in fact, was eager to leave from Cocomangas and stayed until 11 am today. She turns 21 in a few weeks. I expect that Christmas Eve should still be crowded though local girls may travel to their province homes for s few days.

Also, several girls confirmed to me that ladyboys are not allowed inside Cocomangas, nor are they allowed in Red Coco bar on the beachfront road. This rule probably pertains to other bars and clubs as well. So avoid the LB's hanging around the beachfront and one should have no issues. The key word seems to be 'massage'? If they say that to you, more than likely, that's all that is on the menu.

I was just in Boracay for a few days and saw many available women along the beach. I stopped by Cocomungas but it was dead at 9 pm.

I only had one night before my girl arrived and I had a GFE session with a nice grandmother of 33. She was not the petite type that most here like but I found her attractive and the service was very good.

I did see a few groups of LBs on the beach, some looking very presentable as women (but tall). None of the real women flirting with me on the beach were particularly attractive to me. Just the one that I took and that was all I needed.

[JPF]

I was just in Boracay for a few days and saw many available women along the beach. I stopped by Cocomungas but it was dead at 9 pm.

I only had one night before my girl arrived and I had a GFE session with a nice grandmother of 33. She was not the petite type that most here like but I found her attractive and the service was very good.

I did see a few groups of LBs on the beach, some looking very presentable as women (but tall). None of the real women flirting with me on the beach were particularly attractive to me. Just the one that I took and that was all I needed.

[Amavida]

I am in Boracay and will be here for two weeks and below are a few observations.

There are plenty of women and young girls in Boracay looking for action, contrary to some reports I have read about this island. However, many appear to have a mercenary character and these FL's appear older than their years based on my conversations with them. A remarkable number of them speak poor English. I suppose the poor English puts them on even keel when conversing with the Koreans here.

I could return to the disco tonight as prices will probably start coming down to more reasonable levels as the night wears on. The issue for me is whether these girls provide good service regardless of the price. With the full on pro attitude being exhibited, I am doubtful of finding any GFE here. Hope I am wrong but that is my sense of Boracay so far.

Boracay is a place that you take your 'A' team girls for a special treat. Its not a mongering venue per se, but, as you found out, there are street worn P4 P'ers in the bar's if you're hard up for a root.

AV.

[Tomasb]

One other thing to note about Boracay is there are many LB's hanging around Station 1, most prominently in the the area that stretches from the Epic restuarant and night club to Starbucks. They generally hang back in under the trees in the darkness but there are some attractive ones who can easily deceive. Below is a case in point.

To wit: a few nights ago, I was near Epic restuarant and club and saw a taller Chinese looking girl pass by a few times with her girl friend, also with a Chinese appearance. They were dressed like many of the Chinese tourists here with a proper dress and walking with poise. After passing a couple times, I caught her eye and engaged her in conversation but was somewhat disappointed to discover she was part Chinese and part Filipina and claimed to hail from Cebu. She explained that was the reason for her height when compared to other Filipinas.

Nevertheless, just to be absolutely certain, I asked her twice if she was a LB and she feigned disappointment and adamantly said no, that she was not a LB and seemed offended. We struck a deal for $2000 for the night, if I wished her to stay that long, and returned to my apartment. When we arrived, she asked to be paid in advance but I refused. She seemed quite nervous and her jittery behavior made me think that perhaps she was lying to me about her gender status. So I asked her to show me her unit. She reluctantly removed her panties keeping her legs crossed so never got to the essence. The weird thing was she had two pairs of panties on which really sent the alarms off. However, she also had a scar below her stomach that she said was a the result of a see-section temporarily assuaging my suspiscions.

She then offered to begin with a massage and I agreed but after about five minutes, she said she could not have sex as she had a baby a short time ago and was too sore. She offered a he and / or BJ instead. I promptly got up off the bed and asked her to leave. Whereupon she sulked off to the bathroom and changed back into her dress. As she was leaving, I scolded 'her' about her duplicity. It's quite possible that the scar on her belly was not a Csection after all. Regardless, I am quite amazed that this person may have been a LB though audaciously 'she' continually denied it, even in my room.

[Sean EZ]

I am in Boracay and will be here for two weeks and below are a few observations.
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Hi Tom I'll be in Boracay around Jan 5th, if you want to meet up. Sorry posting here. Your private mail box appears to be full. Cheers.

[Tomasb]

I am in Boracay and will be here for two weeks and below are a few observations.

There are plenty of women and young girls in Boracay looking for action, contrary to some reports I have read about this island. However, many appear to have a mercenary character and these FL's appear older than their years based on my conversations with them. A remarkable number of them speak poor English. I suppose the poor English puts them on even keel when conversing with the Koreans here.

Tonight I went to Cocomungas. Originally, I thought this club / disco was located right on the beach and walked by several times during the day and night only to find it empty. However, the main branch is opposite the beach bar and located directly off the main drag, after passing the center of town heading south, on the right hand side of road. The club was full with FL's and with a rare Japanese / Korean or Caucasian girl who stumbled in without realizing what the main business plan is here. Most of the girls are fairly attractive if you are into the 45 kilo petite type and many are between 18-25 with a few MILF's tossed in. Did not see any LB's, which is good as the place is dark and that could get confusing.

However, they can be very aggressive. I always look for shy girls hanging in the corner but here that type does not seem to exist. There appear to be a lot of hard core pros too. As an example, they start quoting prices almost immediately and virtually all of them ask if I wanted two girls. This seems to be the trend these days wherever I travel and monger. As someone recently advised me, 'you pay twice as much and they work half as much'. I told a few girls that unless there was lesbian action that I was uninterested, which generally redirected the conversation. One girl quoted me 4k and I started laughing. Unclear if that was ST or LT but get the sense there are a lot of runners here anyway so I would not take a LT commitment to bank unless the hour was late. Later she quoted me 3 k for each girl finally coming down to $2k only for her even though I was not even participating in the negotiation as I was not interested. Pretty funny. I just walked away.

I also saw a girl at the club who I spoke to the night before. She was a hot little trumpet and quoted me $1500 for ST and $5k for LT and made a face when I asked about LT. I more or less agreed to ST and we started walking to my place but after a few paces, I asked her if she liked to kiss. She said no that was not her thing. I stopped and said sorry, it is MY thing so I am not going with you. She was a bit nonplussed by my reversal. Tonight, I saw her at Cocomungas and she barely looked at me once she recalled our conversation. I think she was initially trying to remember where we met because she was flirting with me originally. LOL.

One other thing. I am surprised how poor some of these girls comprehend and speak English. The girl who was trying to conduct the one-sided negotiations with me could not understand virtually anything I said to her and she was from Kalibo where the international airport is located that services Boracay. I kept telling her I was not ready to leave with anyone but she continued to blab on and on about her various pricing options. Finally, she asked me to speak slower.

I could return to the disco tonight as prices will probably start coming down to more reasonable levels as the night wears on. The issue for me is whether these girls provide good service regardless of the price. With the full on pro attitude being exhibited, I am doubtful of finding any GFE here. Hope I am wrong but that is my sense of Boracay so far.

[Questor55]

A reality check and a caution to those of us who travel through Mindanao. 10 killed and over 30 injured when a Rural Transit bus was bombed in Bukidnon Valley, close to CDO. May have been extortion, may have been Muslim insurgents, maybe both in the same package. Local military commander uttering predictable inanities suggesting that they don't have a clue and probably never will. Be careful out there, guys, and bring your lucky rabbit's foot.

[Pantot]

If I ever do bite the dust one day in the province, it likely won't be at the hands of some angry Mohammed. It will be something much more mundane.

The many dangerous modes of transport would be my bet. The safest seem to be the Supercats provided the weather is nice and they are not overcrowded, which I have yet to encounter. If the weather is bad I'm not getting on any watercraft over there. Once I was taking an Asian Spirit flight from Manila to Calbayog and the pilot announced about 30 minutes into the flight that we had to turn around to some unspecified mechanical issue. I was happy to get back on the ground on that aborted plane ride. But didn't hear about any ones falling out of the sky lately so that's encouraging.

The worst are the ubiquitous late model white minivans scattered everywhere. Many a time I have had to tell the driver to slow down or let me out at the next town. The better the vehicle the more fast they will drive it. I am waiting for a blind hill with a stray carabo just over the apex and the 130+ kph missle will have no out but to kill us all. A close second is the buses, again the newer ones appear to be safer but it just encourages the driver to get to unsafe speeds.

I snapped this foto of a Rorobus last December south of Puerto Princessa we chose the other more rickety one White Rabbit or something I forgot. The pic was snapped out the bus window as we passed by. Supposedly no one was killed in this one but I am not certain.

[GoodEnough]

I've lived and worked in the conflict areas of Mindanao for more than ten years, and anyone who believes that one should have no qualms about going to Zamboanga and just hanging out is either recklessly foolish, not very bright, or woefully uninformed. Ikksman is 100% correct in his assessment: the Abu Sayyaf and other KFR groups maintain excellent spy networks in the city, and they focus on the hotels such as the Garden Orchid and Lantaca where foreigners are most likely to stay. Further, there are no taxis in the city, so jeepneys and trikes are the only readily available options, and neither offers any concealment. The proximity of the city to the jungles of Basilan offers a varied assortment of bandits and insurgents ready access to impenetrable concealment, and the fact that the armed forces and several politicians are widely thought to share in the ransoms further exacerbates a highly unstable situation.

For several years I was privy to a fairly steady stream of intelligence information on the presence, activities and locations of these groups and I can assure everyone who reads this that the travel advisories from various embassies are well founded. Add to this the fact that Zamboanga is pretty much of an uninteresting hole, and there's little or no reason to contemplate going there.

GE.

[Pantot]

"I survived" therefore it is safe. Common mistake made by kidnap wannabe's. Your advice is so very dangerously wrong. I've sat barricaded in a house while armed guys rummaged around outside "looking for the foreigner". The illusion of safety is easy to create in our minds. Do not advise guys to go there.

AV.

I wasn't saying that at all. It was a mistake to take the bus. My point was to stay in the cities and avoid travel in inter city public transport in the countryside anywhere west of CDO. Sorry if I was ambiguous. I wouldn't do it again. I always took a private car or van from CDO to and from Iligan Pagadian etc. One time I noted I got stuck and wasn't comfortable. If I'm not comfortable in any situation I avoid repeating it. Its not advice for others to do it.

Also to be clear I rarely try to pick up girls or go to girlie bars anywhere outside of Angeles. In all my trips to Mindanao there was only 1 night I got caught in CDO with no pre arranged girl and I snagged a forgettable runner from a dive bar. Angeles bar pricing and selection have completely spoiled me from trolling anywhere else even Metro Manila. I am in country for short 2 week bursts and my days as a PUA are long past. I don't have the time or patience for it anymore.

Sorry if anyone inferred I was advising mongers to go to Zamboanga. I think I repeatedly said that one was safest in the city in any part of western Mindanao. I even used the term city proper. Staying with a girls family anywhere in the Phils, well you better know the girl really well and girls don't live in the city proper. I like to maintain control of my situation. And jealous relatives and neighbors anywhere could cause a problem not just in Muslim populated areas.

The Muslims are not only in the mountains and the mountains are not only for Muslims. What I was referring to was institutional and effective control of the area. You see Halal eateries all over Western Mindanao. The Maguindinao massacre could have occurred in other small clannish towns for sure, but not in the places that would qualify as cities.

Is Mindanao Mayberry? No. But I can say I have felt far less safe in parts of Manila and Angeles from petty street criminals than I have in the cities of Mindanao.

Again I never said I have visited Zamboanga, Never advised anyone to go there. Only said I am curious to go there given the right circumstances which haven't arisen and may never arise. The further you go west and south of Cagayan de Oro the relative safety due to the boldness of you becoming victim due to Muslim unrest increases. I would not take a public intercity bus again anywhere west and south of CDO. Like I said I did so once and was not comfortable. If I was not clear that it was a mistake and not an encouragement for others to do the same I apologize for my lack of clarity.

[Ikksman]

The most important thing to remember if you have safety fears in Mindanao is that the disaffected 'Muslim extremists' who the worried posters are obliquely referring to in their concerns of Mindanao in general, do not have any quarter in the cities proper. {S N I P}
Most of the Muslims who reside in Mindanao are poor and in the 'mountains'. {S N I P}
Sure they have clannish strongholds like that lawless Maguindanao area where they murdered all those journalists.{S N I P}
Even in Zamboanga I would have no reservations to fly there and stay in the city. {S N I P}

I too have spent a lot of time in Mindanao. In my opinion, Iligan is not part of the 'western muslim areas' and is totally different to city of Zamboanga. However, a friend of mine narrowly escaped being kidnapped in Iligan (it was not known who the would-be kidnappers were aligned with).

I have spent a lot of time in Dipolog and Dapitan in Zamboanga del Norte province (which is even more west than Iligan). Muslims are not highly visible in those towns, but there is still some danger, so caution is prudent. One of my in-laws was a police officer in Dipolog, so we had access to reasonable intel.

The muslim rebels have extensive networks of spies, informers, supporters and sympathisers in Zamboanga City. And many of the so-called rebels actually just want to get rich through kidnappings and subsequent ransom payments.

BTW most of the people in the mountain areas were neither Catholic nor Muslim, but had animist beliefs. And many people who refused to convert to Islam escaped to the mountains. There are only a few pockets of muslim rebels in the mountains. And I think that the reference to the Maguindanao massacre is an irrelevancy (it could have happened in many places in PI).

I have travelled extensively (through my profession) to many dangerous parts of the world. I have narrowly escaped a serious problem just outside Islamabad, witnessed atrocities and robberies near Port Moresby and Mt Hagen, worked in Mosul during a period of major bombings, and witnessed a 2 hour gun battle between police and gangsters on a major highway outside Caracas.

But in my opinion, Zamboanga City is an order of magnitude more dangerous than any of these places for a lone individual westerner. There is a very high probability that one will not leave the city voluntarily if one stays for more than 2 days.

Just my opinion (and I don't really care if anyone chooses to travel to go to Zamboanga).

[KongKing]

I've done a lot of traveling around much of Mindanao. ........... I would caution newbies to not come unless they are seasoned travelers. My main advice would pertain to every place and everyone traveling off the beaten track: Be respectful, be friendly, be careful, stay sober and keep a low profile.

Some really great advice here below by Questor and also by Sam, Pantot, WestCoast and RollAides.

[Amavida]

The most important thing to remember if you have safety fears in Mindanao is that the disaffected 'Muslim extremists' who the worried posters are obliquely referring to in their concerns of Mindanao in general, do not have any quarter in the cities proper.

We all hear figures of Mindanao being x percentage Muslim 20,30, 40%. People might think they are entering the Phils version of Saudi. Its not like that at all. The fact is that the major and medium sized cities have very little Muslim power presence other than Halal eateries, Most of the Muslims who reside in Mindanao are poor and in the 'mountains'. Their grievances are probably as much rooted in poverty as the are religion.

Sure they have clannish strongholds like that lawless Maguindanao area where they murdered all those journalists. But your pursuit of pussy will never take you there.

Even in Iligan the place I have spent the most time over the past decade, as part of the western 'Muslim' areas, its supposed to be dangerous. Its not. Mind you I have only spent time in the city proper. Once I got caught with my old GF in her small nursing college town somewhere west of there, near Pagadian, I am not sure. I had to take a bus to get back and they said some foreigner got killed last week. That made me a little disconcerted but anyway I survived no problems.

Even in Zamboanga I would have no reservations to fly there and stay in the city. It by all accounts is a relatively advanced city with a rich history. Would I take a local bus into the countryside wearing a GWBush t-shirt? No. But I want to visit Zamboanga if I find a real local girl to meet but I never have for whatever reason.

"I survived" therefore it is safe. Common mistake made by kidnap wannabe's. Your advice is so very dangerously wrong. I've sat barricaded in a house while armed guys rummaged around outside "looking for the foreigner". The illusion of safety is easy to create in our minds. Do not advise guys to go there.

AV.