Why Angeles City Sucks - 15 Reasons

[Winston]

15 Reasons Why Angeles City Sucks and is a Terrible Place to Live

Angeles City, Philippines, is considered the worst place to live in the Philippines and a total shithole. Not a single travel guide or expat website has anything positive to say about it. They all look down on it with disgust. None of them describe Angeles as a "nice place" with anything good. If you pick up a copy of Lonely Planet Philippines, for example, you will see that under Angeles City, it is described as "dirty, seedy and creepy" with nothing positive. Usually, Lonely Planet tries to stay positive in their evaluations, so this speaks volumes obviously. No doubt about it.

In short, NOTHING is good about Angeles City, and everything is BAD about it. There are hundreds of negatives, the only benefit being cheap sex with low class low quality girls. With such unbalanced scales, you gotta wonder why anyone would put up with so many negatives just for that one benefit. Is it really worth it? After reading the primary negatives of Angeles City below, it is clear that anyone who would choose to live there must be insane. (Note: If you don't have time to read all this, just jump to the summary in the conclusion section at the end)

1. The air quality is the worst and most polluted in the Philippines. It is toxic and poisonous and gives most people eventual health problems of all sorts. This is definitely a very unhealthy environment to be in. Expats report getting sicker more frequently in Angeles City than in anywhere else.

2. The streets are dirty, filthy, and unsanitary. There is garbage littered everywhere. No one takes responsibility for it or cleans it up. Everyone just lets it be. Walking through Angeles City is like walking through a slum or garbage dump. Very disgusting. I'm used to far better. Most streets do not even have sidewalks for safe pedestrian walking, so that you pretty much share the road with vehicles. One wrong step could result in a collision and injury from being hit by a vehicle.

3. There is no nice place to walk with fresh air, and no decent park or naturesque scene. Every other city I've lived in has at least a few nice places to walk with grass, trees, lakes and fresh air, except for Angeles City. The only actual clean place to walk is inside the oxygen-deprived SM Clark Mall. But who wants to live inside a mall everyday, that is built for commercial purposes and in getting you to waste money buying things you don't need? There is nothing fresh or natural in Angeles City. The town is all concrete, filth and pollution.

4. The weather, heat and humidity are extreme, unhealthy and uncomfortable. High heat and humidity are constant year round. Heat and humidity are the worst weather combination, and the most unhealthy combination as well. It is dangerous to exercise in humidity because your body has trouble cooling off during perspiration, so it may overheat and overwork itself trying to cool off. Also, when you exercise in pollution, you breath in faster and deeper, so the polluted air gets into your lungs quicker and deeper. (Google "heat and humidity effect on health" and "pollution and health" for articles about this) Now if you can't even exercise outdoors where you live because it's hazardous to your health, then what worse of a place could you live in?

Heat and humidity, coupled with pollution, is the worst combination, for both your comfort and health. All three create a breeding ground for excess bacteria and mold, which contaminates your health and food. It is also very uncomfortable to be sweating all the time, and annoying to have to wipe sweat off your forehead every minute. Why put up with that if you don't have to?! Outdoor air should be enjoyed. But in Angeles City (and Manila too) you have to constantly stay indoors with air conditioning in order to escape the heat and humidity. That's terrible. It makes it difficult to enjoy the outdoors, thus lowering your quality of life and comfort. Also, having your air conditioner on all the time jacks up your electricity bill big time, especially since electricity costs in the Philippines are very high, higher than in First World countries even. But if you are under extreme heat and humidity all the time, you have no choice. That's what sucks. You can't avoid it. Why be uncomfortable all the time? It makes no sense, and it's insane to put up with that.

5. The infrastructure is poor and shitty. Most buildings look decaying, are in poor condition, and made of the lowest quality materials. Most streets look like slums. If you come from a First World Country, then being in Angeles feels like a lowering and degrading of your status. You feel like you've sunk way down into the ghetto. It's nothing to be proud of, but something to be ashamed of. The lack of culture shows in the buildings. There are almost no sidewalks for safe comfortable pedestrian walking. Instead, you have share the road with trikes and vehicles passing nearby, and look out for them constantly. If you take a step and forget to look both ways even once, you could be hit by a vehicle. This means that one mistake of forgetfulness could result in serious injury to you. If that doesn't spell "low class ghetto", then I don't know what does.

6. The local food and general food quality is disgusting, classless, and considered the worst in Asia. Filipino local food is unedible to foreigners, who are unanimous that it is the worst they've tasted in all of Asia. In every other Asian country, local food is good to foreigners - the Philippines is the only exception. Foreigners are unanimous on this. (But of course, they will only mention this to other foreigners, not to Filipinos so as not to offend them) The Philippines is also the only Asian country that is not vegetarian-friendly. Restaurants are also way overpriced for the value that they give you. Most Filipino-owned restaurant chains, including expat places, charge high prices while giving you small portions and low quality food. They are a bad value for the price they charge. In America, you get a lot more food for the same price in restaurants, and at much better quality too. I can give many specific examples. It is very difficult to find decent food in AC. The nearest place from Angeles to find good food is in upscale areas and malls of Manila and Makati. But other than that, food is mostly a disappointing experience in Angeles. In addition, it is also hard to eat healthy in the Philippines, as most of the food in the supermarket is junk, and there is no efficient quality control in food production and safety standards. Neither are the Filipino public even informed or educated about nutrition and health.

7. Public transportation is very uncomfortable. There are no buses except heading out of town, and taxis are few and very expensive. The two main forms of transportation, jeepneys and trikes (motorcycles attached to passenger boxes), require you to bend down into tightly cramped spaces, or in the case of jeepneys, squish yourself tightly between other passengers and crouch down low to get on and off them. If you are old, claustrophobic, or sensitive/fragile, then this will be very uncomfortable and taxing on your body. Moreover, trikes in AC are a ripoff because they charge the highest rates in the Philippines.

8. Products in general are low quality and shoddy. Things tend to break easily or erode quickly. Clothes from the mall tend to fade in color and degrade in quality after only a few washes. Food tends to be composed of bad quality ingredients that are unhealthy and unsafe to consume. Quality and reliability are not things you can count on. Allegedly, China sends its highest quality products to America, where people have high standards and complain a lot, while it sends its lowest quality products to the Philippines.

9. Foreigners are usually limited to dating women of the lowest class. We are talking the poorest of the poor, often of low quality too. When I say poor, I don't mean that they only have a few hundred dollars in the bank. I mean that they can't even buy a coke or sandwich unless YOU buy it for them. This means they can't contribute to anything and you will have to pay for everything and be totally leeched off of by an incapable girl of the lowest class. It will be a completely unequal relationship in that regard, and in other ways as well. Thus, only guys who enjoy being sugar daddies and Santa Clauses will enjoy such a role. The rest of us will feel like we are seriously compromising ourselves by dating girls of far lower class - reaching way down into the ghetto slum pools to get our fill, so to speak. Either way, such types and you are a total unequal mismatch. You have nothing in common and no mental/spiritual/romantic connection, as they are way too simple and uneducated, and cannot provide any intelligent meaningful conversation or dialogue. Other than meaningless passionless sex, you will find her very boring, as there is nothing to talk about. Your mind and soul are at such different levels that it will be difficult to expand them together. Sure you can teach and educate her, but it will be a long slow process against the tide.

On the other hand, girls with money or who are middle class and can pay their own way, are usually only interested in Filipino guys. They will put up a wall between you and them, and to strangers in general, for they are closed and cliquish. As we all know, women become far less social once they have money. So essentially, you will not be able to date women of your own class here. The only relationships available to you are very unequal ones mentioned above. Personally, I find it very insulting and offensive if no one wants to be with me unless they are broke and need me to pay for everything. This means that the "friendship" between foreigner and Filipina is not really true, for when they have money, they no longer want to be your friend. Simple as that. Of course there are exceptions, but that is how it generally is, especially in the Angeles area since there is a negative stigma toward foreigners there due to the regular influx of foreign whoremongers there. So if you seek middle class quality Filipinas from decent families, you will have better luck outside of Angeles City.

Sadly, what this means is that unless your low class Filipina partner (who can't even afford to buy a sandwich) is giving you sex, she basically has no value and brings nothing to the table. She will not provide intelligent meaningful conversation, cannot contribute financially to your expenses and outings together, cannot drive you around in her car (nor can her family), cannot invite you to parties (unless you are treating everyone), cannot teach you anything, cannot buy you gifts on your birthday or treat you, and will not have any romantic or mental connection with you. (Ok well maybe she will cook and clean for you at least) Furthermore, Filipinas lack passion and intensity, for they are very relaxed and low key, so your relationship will likely be passionless as well.

Also, only a small percentage of Filipinas are attractive. Most of them are short, have unattractive features, and are not refined in terms of their skin or behavior. They also do not age well, nor do they know how to keep themselves healthy.

10. Every year in Angeles City, prices go up and quality goes down. This happens in spite of the poor quality of the products, services and food. Costs rise for no reason, as the Philippines does not follow any linear logic. The only constants are greed, chaos and stupidity. Furthermore, the attitude of the bar girls gets worse every year too. They want more money but give less (in terms of action, affection and time). Many expats have concurred with this assessment.

11. It is very hard to find intelligent meaningful conversation in Angeles City. Such a thing is totally alien and unnatural there. Most Filipinos are very simple and understand only practical things. Many are also semi-retarded too, to put it bluntly. Not surprisingly, the average statistical IQ in the Philippines is only 86, which is one of the lowest in the world, next to Africa. Most Filipinos do not have communication skills or intelligent meaningful ideas and observations to share. They are not curious and do not like to learn new things (unless their job forces them to learn something new). Truly smart people in Angeles City will feel like "intellectual giants", as they say. Thus it is difficult to connect and bond with locals when conversation itself is awkward.

This applies to the foreign expats in Angeles as well. AC tends to attract the lowest quality expats. Most are scums, drunkards, or insensitive types with personality problems. They tend to be either cold and silent, or macho dominating know-it-all types. Both types tend to be insensitive and unfeeling, and have a depraved vibe about them. Spiritual people like me tend to feel bad vibes around them and from the bad environment as well.

12. There is nothing to do in Angeles City other than the go go bars on Fields Ave and Friendship Road. These places can be fun and fulfill some of your fantasies. But they have a greedy, hustling, depraved environment that is bad for your soul and emotions. Plus, if you sleep with many bar girls, it will erode your ability to truly love a woman, and cheapen the enjoyment of sex for you. It also does not feel good to be around depraved, greedy, hustling people all the time. People of such low quality and depravity with no shame or class are a bad influence. Furthermore, visitors to AC consistently report that every year, the bar girls get more greedy and their attitude gets worse. They demand more money but give less in terms of time, affection and action. Even worse, the percentage of attractive bar girls seems to get less and less every year. And all the while, prices still keep going up, in a town run by greed, corruption and chaos.

13. Pushy hustling rude people are everywhere, especially on Fields Ave seeking cash from foreigners. Beggars are everywhere. They get in your face, follow you and touch you, having no respect for any boundaries. Street hawkers and peddlers are also very pushy and in your face. They have no manners, follow you and don't take no for an answer. These people are very uninhibited and try to push their will onto you, having no respect for boundaries. And the many trike drivers parked call out to you as you walk by, as though you were a dog, with a commanding voice telling you what to do, rather than asking you, with no consideration for where you are going. You could be walking across the street, and they will still command you to get in their trike, even though you don't need one. But of course, they don't care. They want you to go anywhere, even if you don't need to go there, so you can pay them. They never ask "Would you like..." Instead, they command you and force their will onto you. It all gets very annoying after a while, especially if you experience it everyday.

14. If you are a foreigner, you are automatically assigned a Santa Claus/sugar daddy role, and treated like a walking ATM machine, whether you like it or not. No one asks your permission before putting you in such a role. You are stereotyped into the role of a stupid foreigner who is perpetually generous with bottomless pockets and LOVES to give out free cash to anyone in need. You are expected to be a pure giver, while expecting nothing in return (Since you have unlimited wealth, why would you need to take anything from others?). In short, you will be seen as a "walking ATM machine". This is why men who enjoy being sugar daddies tend to flock to the Philippines. But if you are frugal and like to spend wisely, you will not fit into this expectation, but will feel that it is an intrusion on your rights and free will. You will not feel respected at all. You will be judged by how generous you are, not how smart you are, which is very dehumanizing.

Furthermore, if you date a Filipina from a very poor family, her family will take advantage of you and expect you to support them with free cash and gifts. They will try to make you feel obligated to help them with financial problems and be their "walking ATM machine", while expecting nothing in return. You will be expected to be a "happy giver" while they are glad to be "happy receivers". After all, to these broke families, receiving is the highest desire, even if they call themselves Christian or Catholic. No respect will be given to you, for deep down, they do not give a rat's ass about you and do not care about you at all, period. All they care about is the cash and generosity you give to them, taking advantage of your affiliation to their daughter. Thus, your financial needs and goals will not matter and no consideration will be given to them. All your cash will be seen as "extra cash" that you don't need, since you have bottomless pockets in their mind. But if you do not play the role of a happy giver and supporter, they will resent you and respect you even less. In short, nothing good will come out of your relations with them. Thus many expats elect to have nothing to do with these families, for technically, you stand to gain nothing from them and a lot to lose (in terms of money, pressure and expectations).

15. The expats in Angeles City tend to be low quality. They consist of drunkards, whoremongers, assholes, guys with personality problems, eccentric unpleasant personalities, dominating macho know-it-alls unable to tolerate disagreement, insensitive unfeeling types, etc. It's hard to find decent quality expats or intelligent sincere foreigners. Most expats are either cold and silent with personality problems, or macho dominating know-it-alls who are insensitive and unfeeling. These types tend to only like to talk about practical matters, not intellectual/philosophical topics. You won't find romantic sensitive passionate type of guys (like me) among them. These are not genuinely nice guys.

Conclusion:

As you can see, NOTHING is good in Angeles City and everything is BAD. Based on the above, it's no wonder why no travel guide or expat website has anything good to say about it, which speaks volumes. No one can deny that.

In summary: The air is toxic and heavily polluted, posing a great danger to your health. The hot humid weather is extreme, uncomfortable and unhealthy, and provide a breeding ground for excess bacteria and mold to contaminate your health and food. The streets are dirty, filthy and littered with garbage. The infrastructure is shitty and streets look like slums. The local food is disgusting, unedible to foreigners, and considered the worst in Asia. Products are generally of poor quality and break easily. Public transportation is uncomfortable, as trikes and jeepneys require bending and squishing your body into tight spaces. There is not even a nice place to walk for fresh air, and no decent parks. The town consists of only concrete, pollution and filth; there are no beautiful or naturesque scenes. Foreigners are usually limited to dating only the poorest and lowest class girls. They are treated like walking ATM machines. And it is very difficult and unnatural to find intelligent meaningful conversation, with either locals or foreigners. There are so many rude pushy annoying peddlers and beggars everywhere who get in your face do not respect boundaries. And there is nothing to do except go to seedy go go bars. AC attracts low quality greedy scum types of people, both local and foreign. And to top it all off, every year the quality of the expat food, go go bars and bar girls goes down, while prices and costs continue to rise.

So you see, there are so many negatives that make Angeles City a total shithole and the worst place to live in the Philippines. Yet in spite of that, there are many expats living there and sex tourists visiting. It's insane and boggles the mind. Why would anyone put up with all that, just for cheap sex with low quality low class girls? The scales are totally unbalanced, as there is nothing to balance out AC's many negative qualities.

But then again, the kind of foreigners there tend to be insensitive and unfeeling, as mentioned before. And many of them do tell me that they can only take the pollution in AC for a few weeks at a time. So I know that I'm not crazy.

[odbo]

Start some activism over there. Clean up the town one weekend at a time. Plant trees or small gardens on rooftops. Lower the temperature and improve the air. Do something useful with your life for once instead of banging whores and pretending you're coming up on some grand truth. Stop complaining. I know Angeles City like Los Angeles.. SUCKS, so you know what? I don't move there.

[Winston]

Start some activism over there. Clean up the town one weekend at a time. Plant trees or small gardens on rooftops. Lower the temperature and improve the air. Do something useful with your life for once instead of banging whores and pretending you're coming up on some grand truth. Stop complaining. I know Angeles City like Los Angeles.. SUCKS, so you know what? I don't move there.

Stop giving stupid advice. Activism? No one is gonna work for free here. Why should I waste my precious time as a volunteer to clean up other people's garbage, when the government doesn't give a shit? Your suggestion is pointless, infeasible and illogical. The simple solution is to just leave. Why try to fight a sinking ship?

Why don't YOU come here and do all that, rather than lecturing me to do it? Your advice is stupid. Stop giving such dumb advice. If you're not gonna do something yourself, then you have no right to be telling others to do it, you hypocrite!

I do not waste time. I make sure my time is productively spent, or at least spent in enjoyment of something wholesome.

Dude, Los Angeles is beautiful and clean with fresh air, compared to Angeles City. Come here and you will see.

[odbo]

Winston Wu, professional loser.

-"Why won't the government clean up the trash"
-"Why are there so many taxes"
-"The NWO wants to lower the population with toxins and pollution"
-"Why won't the government require women to have sex with me"
-"Only suckers work 9-5 jobs, there is more to life than work"
-"I spend my time wisely, working, having sex with whores, or complaining"
-"I'm a non-conforming truth seeker who doesn't accept the lies of society"

[Repatriate]

Winston does have a point here though. You would have to be an enormous sucker to get involved in grassroots labor projects in the Phillipines. The entire country is broken and charity works in many SE Asian countries are tied in with the corrupt system. They will fleece you while you try to do some moral honest work. That's just how it is in this part of the world.

Go google some videos of lower class Filipino children eating out of dumpster mounds at trash sites. That should sum up how little they care about their own people. Even Thais haven't stooped so low yet but Thailand edges close to that in various ways.

[Winston]

Geez! My portable electric stove just broke while I was frying an egg! The coils won't heat up anymore! Now I can't even cook anymore! My rice cooker and toaster are also broken too! f**k man! I've never had a toaster break in the US before, not even a used one I got from the thrift store!

Everything here just sucks! I hate it! And while I was trying to fix the stove by shaking it and turning it on and off, to no avail, sweat kept pouring down my head! So f***ing annoying! Everything here sucks so bad! Sheesh!

[well-informed]

Damn Winston control your filthy mouth, it's just a toaster.

[Banano]

The same can be said about Patong and Pattaya in Thailand except that there are some good restaurants over there and its a somewhat cleaner, it smells really bad even in Bangla rd, bar girls are low class and getting more expensive. Some of them charge as much as hookers in western world, i blame silly tourists for that. Hookers in Thailand and PI should not charge more than $10 and bj shd be abt $5. I was talking to some of these bar girls and massage girls and they say some tourists pay em $100-$200, usually older men, it upsets me coz she earns more in a day then some decent thai chik in a month who works her ass off in a restaurant or burger king.
Hookers in 1st world countries would be very happy if they could do the same. Besides sex is usually passionless n they are low class, u cant talk to them abt anythin, i tired a few topics like financial crisis, middle east issues etc...guess what, they never heard of that, why would somebody wanna spend a whole night with dumb girl like that?Turn off for me

[MatureDJ]

But Winston, you yourself are a whoremonger.

[swincor]

I do not waste time. I make sure my time is productively spent, or at least spent in enjoyment of something wholesome.

"I do not waste time"? "I make sure my time is productively spent"?

What are you, a comedian?

Someone should compile a list of quotations like the one above and entitle it: "Winston's Whoppers."

Dear Winston, if you weren't wasting time, you wouldn't be writing up long essays like the one you just posted -- because you wouldn't have chosen to live there in the first place.

[AsiaBill]

1 ) Not true, Manila by far is worse air pollution and I usually respond to such complaints and negativity with "yes it SMELLS like money"
2) So what so are the streets of over a 100 cities and countries. nothing new nor especially different than a zillion other places except for the spotless clean locaztions where the women are quick to reject any men not in the top 10% is looks and net worth.
3) Ditto #2
4) Almost ditto #2 except there are dozens if not hundreds of place with a worse climate like remote deserts, equatorial Africa and India etc etc.
5 ) Plain and simple not supported by facts when compared to the 200+ countries which exist in the world; in fact most definitely in the top half of the nations in regards to infrastructure especially since GMA's stint
6) This long list of spewing hatred and negativity has already begun to be annoying and so one sided I need to counter with "why are you still there?" and "love or leave it" and go spread the disease of your shortcomings and short sighted opinions somewhere else. FIlipino home cooking is absolutely delicious but thise who are uneducated unable to follow simple recipes may serve a very limited menu to such foreigners as yourself and others who may not have learned how to cook.
7) You get what you pay for. Ever been to Myanmar, public transport in India, Sri Lanka, or Nepal? or dozens of other places?? Seems obviously not.
A great majority comes from China
9) Those men with low esteem or lack patience anywhere in the world tend to share the same fate, NOT ONLY the Philippines.
10) Now you're sounding like someone stubborn old grumpy grandpa; life is constantly changing as are each one of us, such is life prices go up and when such quality and price of material possessions fail to meet your standard it's SIMPLE - - -BOYCOTT them by NOT buying or spending your money on such.
11) True all over the globe among the legions of "salary slaves"
12) Haven't you read most liberals' agenda, especially in the States? always wanting to TAX the RICH and make them pay for all the poor losers who aren't satified with how they live and expect someone else to pay their for their lifestyle. Simple Step up to the plate and "EXIT STAGE LEFT" when wanting to avoid expectations.
13) DAHHHH everyone knows that so what of it? AC's suppose to evolve into a great cosmopolitan artistic renaissance ambiance while guys rotate their many friends and lovers???? WEIRD just plain WEIRD - Why is it so difficult for so many people to DEAL with THEIR OWN PERSONAL "Baggage" and need to blame other people or places where they live or blame anybody but THEMSELVES???
14) hey Poverty SUCKS and who's to blame for such scammers and hustlers, them or the foreigners and suckers who reward and encourage them. Why are their beggars in the street?? because people pay them SIMPLE
15) Rejects from their own countries find happiness and satisfaction with the rejects of the Philippines. Plain and simple. Want to find wealthy highly educated sophisticated people? go to the top 50 most expensive cities in the world.

[OutWest]

Winston-

Of course AC sucks. I am surprised your list is only a list of 15. I think most of the whole Manila area is a shithole. I do not even fly through Manila it sucks so bad. I fly through Cebu City on Cathay Pacific. Who would live in AC, really? You certainly lasted longer there than I could tolerate.

I even think Cebu is too big and crowded for my taste, let along metro-Manila. The closest big town to me is Cagayan de Oro, and when I am in Bohol, Tagbilaran City is the town to be in. Where my house is, the air is clean, and it is quiet, except for the roosters in the morning..my little alarm clocks.

There is a far different life to be had in the Philippines than AC and vicinity, and you will have short-changed your Philippines living experience if you
have not experienced it. Why in the world Ladislav hangs out around AC when he could be somewhere like Cagayan de Oro or Bohol, is beyond me.
I dont live in the city, but even a year spent living right in Cagayan de Oro, as I did, would give you a different take on the Philippines.
I spent a year like that in CDO, living in a little apartment downtown near the Divisoria on Pabayo St. It was close to everything, safe, and really, quite a bit of fun in some ways. That was more than 10 years ago, but I still have Filipino friends in the area that know me from that time.
I would walk to the 24 hour Dunkin Donuts about 2 blocks away, right near Xavier University. It was usually half full of Xavier U co-eds, some of them
quite friendly. I still look back fondly on that time. I remember being quite sick and I called a pharmacist I knew at Mercury Drug and as he was just leaving work, he walked over about 6 blocks and dropped of some meds for me himself at my Apartment.

Life in the Philippines can be quite different than what you have experienced, if you try it sometime. Finally leaving AC is not a defeat, it's just a realization
what it is really- its net sum.

Outwest.

[Rock]

A poster on Global Nanpa wrote:

I am 47 years old and in good health.
I’m not struggling with a mid-life crisis. Everything is, or was, going well for me.

I was satisfied with my life. I was happy and content, or I thought I was. So what the hell happened to me?

I have a good job. I was satisfied with it. I have a great wife, we almost never argue. We have two fine children, a boy and a girl, both in college. I make good money with cash in the bank. We have a nice house and a summer place on the beach. Even the pets, two cats and a dog, get along well together.
I went fishing to Canada once a year with my buddies, played tennis almost every weekend, golfed occasionally, movies with the family sometimes, cards with other couples once in a while, poker with the boys a couple of times a month, a night out with the guys once every blue moon, and sex with the wife once every two weeks or so.

Now I don’t give a damn about my current life. So what could have possibly turned my world upside-down? I went to Angeles City in the Philippines.

My downfall started several years ago when the three friends I go fishing with to Canada every year decided instead to go to Angeles City. They said they’d heard the streets were lined with sexy, young, and beautiful women, that all you had to do was show up with some cash in your pocket.
I’d heard those stories about other places in the world but I discounted them. I told them that was just a tall tale, but they insisted they were going. I couldn’t persuade them to change their minds. They attempted to convince me to go also but I wasn’t interested.

Their first trip was June 2001. They left grown men and returned little kids. They walked around most of the time with silly grins on their faces, and acted like they had a big secret they were just itching to tell everyone but couldn’t. When they were alone with the other guys, all they talked about was Angeles City. They told the wildest stories I’d ever heard. I quite frankly thought they had lost their minds, relating outrageous tales that couldn’t possibly be true.

One night my wife asked me if I had noticed anything different about my friends. When I told her I hadn’t, she said that my friends’ wives, all friends of hers, had told her their husbands had been acting a little strange ever since they returned from the last fishing trip.
I had lied to her. Of course I knew why they had been behaving strangely. The Philippines had done it to them. My friends were ten years old again, always carrying that goofy grin on their faces. I couldn’t understand how one trip to that place could cause so many changes in them.

They went the next year too, in June 2002. This time they returned with photographs. They had shots with two or three girls in the pool at their hotel, in restaurants, even in their rooms. The girls were gorgeous, sexy and young. They weren’t lying about that.Those photographs were their prized possession. They would excitedly jab a finger at one of the pictures and their voices would jump an octave while they related one of their stories. It was really strange behavior for normally mature men in their forties.

They described sex acts with those girls that I had only dreamed about, things that I couldn’t even mention to my wife. She would have left me instantly if I had even remotely suggested it might be fun to have a threesome with another female. I can just about guarantee you those kinds of subjects are never broached with a white, middle-class, Baptist wife.

Despite their photos, the vivid descriptions and graphic details of their latest adventures, I didn’t entirely believe their stories. I told them those things just don’t happen. I admitted they probably had sex with those girls, but I said I just didn’t believe they had two or three of those girls in the bed and had sex with them all at the same time.

My buddies lost interest in everything except talking about Angeles City and planning their next trip. My wife noticed the changes too, asking why I wasn’t playing tennis or golfing with the guys anymore. I just told her that they had gotten busy doing other things lately. She gave me one of those “Oh yeah?� looks. She knew something was awry but since normalcy was still the standard in our house, she didn’t push me on the subject.

It was a few months after their second trip to the Philippines that the guy that worked in the same company with me, separated from his wife. He was the first one.I was shocked when my wife told me about it. His wife had been over to my house, crying on my wife’s shoulder, really balling her eyes out my wife said. She told my wife she didn’t understand her husband anymore, they hadn’t had sex in months, he had been really weird and that she had no idea why he wanted to leave her.

My friend refused to explain anything to his wife. He wouldn’t discuss it with his two kids who were already grown and out of the house. He just took off, leaving his wife alone.

I wondered if the Philippines had pushed him over the edge. I talked to him, asking him if he was sick or something. He replied that he didn’t want to be married anymore. I told him it was those trips to the Philippines that had screwed him up. I remember his response clearly to this day,
“You don’t understand. You just don’t understand. You have to go there to understand�.

Shortly thereafter he filed for divorce. I talked to him again, telling him he was stupid for throwing away everything he had worked for the last twenty-five years or so. He just sat there with a hang-dog look, slowly nodding his head back and forth. He acted like he was being coerced to do something against his will, yet in his next breath when he mentioned Angeles City, he was instantly transformed, happy and grinning again.

I thought he was just a weak individual with no self-control or self-discipline. I told him bluntly he was just letting the little head do the thinking for the big head and that he should grow up and get over it. He told me that wasn’t it and repeated that I just had to go there to understand. It was all completely beyond my comprehension.They made their third trip to Angeles City in June 2003. When they returned, all they talked about was going again. All they cared about was getting back to Angeles City. It was their sole topic every time I saw them. Their behavior and attitudes were totally alien to me.

The guy that worked in the company with me was now divorced. Within two weeks of returning from their third trip, another one of the guys left his wife. My wife began wondering out loud about those fishing trips to Canada but she never confronted me directly.

In February of this year, my company sent a team of us to Japan on business. The friend that was now divorced was a member. We had planned to spend two weeks in Japan. As it turned out, we finished in a week. My friend suggested we take a jaunt down to the Philippines. I told him I wasn’t interested but he persisted until I relented.I wasn’t concerned in the least about what the Philippines might do to me. What had happened to my friends wouldn’t happen to me. So what if there are young sexy girls in the Philippines? So what if I could have sex with them? I wasn’t worried. I wasn’t going to Angeles to have sex with those women. Some of those girls in Angeles were my daughter’s age. I couldn’t have sex with women that young, no way! I couldn’t even imagine having sex with women that young. I was going to merely see what all the fuss was about.

So now I have been back from Angeles City almost three months. I thought a trip to the Philippines wouldn’t phase me. I was wrong. I thought I could return to my normal life without any disruptions. I was wrong. I assumed when I returned home, the memories of the trip would fade. I was wrong. I thought I would be able to deal with whatever Angeles City threw at me. I was totally wrong!

I understand my friends now. Everything they told me is true. When we get together, we howl and laugh and slap each other on the back. We tell the same stories over and over. We are closer friends now than ever before, almost brothers. We are members of a special group, for we have been to Angeles City!!!!

My friend took me to the Champagne Club first. He was well known there, several girls squealing, laughing, grabbing him and greeting us as we walked in the door. In no time at all he had introduced me to four or five stunning beauties; and I could take one, two or all of them home with me? It was something I’d never thought possible. Within five minutes of entering the Champagne Club, I had succumbed to the charms of Angeles City. I didn’t realize it then but I was already lost forever.

All I want now is to go again. I dream of the first night in Angeles City that changed my life forever. I had two gorgeous, sweet girls, naked with me in the hotel swimming pool, taking showers with me, all three of us nude in the bed, doing things I had hardly even read about in racy novels.

Or I dream of the time I stayed with Maricel, only twenty years old with a soft, sexy, purring voice that will melt you like an ice cube in the hot Philippino sun. She has a body and face that would win beauty contests in the United States.We were together four glorious days and nights. We spend most of the days around the hotel pool, swimming, throwing the beach ball back and forth and splashing water. She would wrap her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck and pull me close while we were lounging in the water. Sitting by the pool she was always near me, touching me or holding my hand. Frequently she crawled up in my lap, playing with my ears or hair and kissing me on the neck, face and lips.

She was the most loving, affectionate and accommodating woman I’d ever met in my life. My wish was her command. She would run get my cigars, go to the store to pick up snacks for the room and take the dirty clothes to the laundry. You name it, she did it for me. She never complained about anything, not once in four days.We made love in the morning when we woke up. Usually in the late afternoon we’d make love again. At night we’d go out to eat and then go bar hopping. Afterwards we’d return to the hotel and make love again. She always wanted to sleep close to me, throwing an arm and a leg over my body. Sometimes I would just lay there listening to her soft breathing next to my ear while she slept. It was heaven!

She wasn’t jealous either. When we were in the clubs, I could call other girls over, buy them drinks and talk to them. She would sit close, always touching me while she joined in the conversations. She even told me it was ok if I wanted to take another girl with us.

Can you imagine a white woman volunteering to bring another chick home for sex? I thought I was dreaming. This couldn’t be happening. This young beautiful lady was willing to share me with another girl, at the same time? I told her “No� because I was so enraptured of her, I didn’t want to share her with anyone, not even another girl.

We were making love three times a day, sometimes more. During the day she would sometimes whisper in my ear, “Honey, let’s go inside.� We did it everywhere imaginable in the room, on the desk, on the floor, sitting on the couch, in the shower, everywhere! We even did it in the hotel pool late one night.

Any kind of sex I wanted was OK with her. In fact she showed me some things I’d never done before. If you can imagine it, I think we did it. Our love-making was indescribable!Never in my life had I felt like this. I had boundless energy the entire trip, even though I was sleeping only three or four hours a night. I feel twenty years younger now. I am full in spirit. I am alive!!!

Angeles City is amazing. Everyone smiles and greets you wherever you go, even the girls on the street. They hooted and hollered when I walked into the clubs where I was known. The guys living there were friendly. You could easily meet them anywhere, in the clubs, outdoor bars, Kokomo’s and other restaurants. They would spend time drinking a beer, chatting and relating their life experiences with you. I wanted to be like them. I wanted to live their lives.When I was in Angeles City, I was a new person. The world as I knew it had ceased to exist. I could speak freely. I didn’t have to modify my behavior for fear of repercussions. People left me alone. I could do just about anything I wanted and wouldn’t be criticized – there was no politically-correct bullshit in Angeles City.

I didn’t have to get up early and drag myself to work every day. I didn’t have a demanding boss looking over my shoulder. I didn’t have those relentless monthly bills that are unavoidable at home. I didn’t have to worry about changing the oil in the cars, cutting the grass, fixing the roof or catering to the wife’s needs. Hell, I didn’t even have to take out the garbage.I had miraculously escaped the rat race and the suffocating restrictions American society imposes on all of us.

Angles City!!!! This is the way it is supposed to be! I am free! I control my destiny!So after one trip to Angeles City, I found I was locked into my life at home, a life I didn’t want anymore. I thought I had lost my mind. My behavior changed, just as my friends’ did. My wife started asking me what was wrong with me. I could see the worried look on her face. She was concerned for my mental health. I wouldn’t, couldn’t explain anything to her. She suggested I see a psychiatrist. I did, explaining in much greater detail than here.While I talked for over an hour, the doc sat there with this incredulous look on his face. I wondered if he was deciding if I was a complete lunatic or planning his first trip to the Philippines.

He told me I wasn’t crazy, advising me to grow up, get over it and get on with my life, the same thing I had told my friends. Ironically I found myself repeating, just as my friends had to me,
“You don’t understand. You just don’t understand. You have to go there to understand�.

Going to the doctor didn’t do much good. I did decide I hadn’t totally lost my marbles, but I had lost interest in everything I had held dear before.

The job? The hell with it. I don’t care anymore. I still go to work because I have to. Believe me, if it wasn’t required, I wouldn’t set foot in the office another day. I have another 15 years to work before I’m eligible to retire. I don’t think I can last that long. Physically I’m ok. Mentally, I shudder to think I have to work another fifteen years before I can retire to the Philippines.

My hobbies? Tennis anyone? Screw it, I never play the game anymore. Fishing? I’ll give you my rods and reels, just drop by the house some afternoon. Golf? My clubs can turn to rust for all I care. Playing cards with the wife and friends? No thanks, it’s boring. Poker with the guys? Yeah but we just drink and talk about the Philippines. I seldom see a movie and I never watch TV anymore.

I had never spent a lot of time on the computer at home before I went to Angeles City but I do now, always checking the bulletin boards. I crave any information at all about the place. I cruise the Angeles City and bar web sites, looking at all the photos and devouring any news about the town. When the wife’s out of the house or sleeping, I chat with the girls I know there.I haven’t had sex with my wife since I returned from the Philippines. I’m not interested in sex with her anymore. We don’t even sleep in the same bedroom now. My wife has done nothing wrong but she’s losing me, 27 years of marriage down the toilet. She’s aware it’s happening but doesn’t understand why or how to stop it.

I am thrown into depression and despair when I hear her crying and sobbing through the wall at night, yet at the same time I’m wishing she would finally go to sleep so I can sneak off to the computer and chat with the girls in Angeles City. We are on the road to divorce and like my friends before me, it’s entirely my fault, yet I am powerless to change anything.

I know I can not go back to being the man I was previously. I admit to you I don’t even want to go back to my prior life, for I have been to the Elysian Fields. I am obsessed with returning. The desire to be on the streets, and in the bars in Angeles City is an overpowering drug I can not control. I can’t wait until I get on the plane again. It’s all I dream of.

I dislike myself though, for not being strong enough to resist the siren call of Angeles City. I abhor the thoughts, emotions and desires that lure me back to Fields Avenue, yet in the next second, my spirit soars and I am smiling again as I think of my next trip, but I hate myself for ruining my family’s lives. Sometimes I cry too, knowing what I will ultimately do to them.

Yet my thoughts about Angeles City never dissipate. I care to talk only of my experiences there. I am irresistibly drawn to Fields Avenue just as lemmings are to the sea. All I want is to get back to what was heaven on earth for me. It is the sole reason for my existence anymore.

If you are happy now, don’t go to Angeles City. Angeles City will destroy your life. Once you have visited that town, you will lose interest in everything and everyone at home. Every waking hour you will spend plotting to return again, and again, and again, and again.

I am an Angeles City junkie now, addicted until I die.

Don’t go to Angeles City. Don’t ruin your life as I have done.

[ladislav]

I am in AC because of relatively good internet, cheaper than Manila rents and also good entertainment and food. Also, everything is nearby and you have many ethnic restaurants. There are many good services for foreigners, Fedex visa extension offices are nearby and the traffic is not so bad as in Mla. There is an international airport and many companies. It is like a mini capital. Also, the local people are not as gossipy as they are in Cebu and they respect your privacy. And if I want to work in Manila, it is only an hour away. There are people here from all over the Philippines and the world. That is why I like it.

[odbo]

A poster on Global Nanpa wrote:

I am 47 years old and in good health.
I’m not struggling with a mid-life crisis. Everything is, or was, going well for me.

...

I am an Angeles City junkie now, addicted until I die.

Don’t go to Angeles City. Don’t ruin your life as I have done.

brb.. buying tickets to Angeles City