My response to him:J.R., Winston,
Greetings from Angeles Shitty. I apologize for writing you in tandem but am doing so in order to fill you in on my experiences so far and to get suggestions, contact numbers, etc.
J.R., you mentioned that Ladislav was currently staying in Angeles--Do you (or Winston) have his phone number and can you give it to me?
I have another American friend here who lives in Pattaya and who is here to escape Songkran--the Thai water festival held every April which is particularly annoying in Pattaya. Anyway, he is not much help because he has been coming to Angeles for years and no longer does the bar scene. He has many female friends he will hook up with but he declined my request to fix me up with any of their friends.
My initial impression of Angeles is not good and I do not like it here much at all.
My first night was a real disaster which started at customs at Clark. I did not know this at the time but apparently the Philippines has a law that one cannot bring over 10,000 Pesos into the country. The customs declaration form had a box to check where you had to declare how much money you were bringing in. I debated whether or not to lie about this but due to my extremely bad luck with customs in various lands I decided to tell the truth. In retrospect, knowing what I know now, telling the truth was a huge mistake.
The result was that I was detained by the rather sleazy customs agent and shown a copy of this rather asinine law (since it stands to reason, within limits, that the more money a person brings into the country, the more he is likely to spend, thus helping boost the country's economy),
However, if I have learned one thing after 3 days here it is that it appears the Philippines is operated on a convoluted system that seems hell-bent on finding the most inefficient and impractical ways of operating.
Anyway, after bantering back and forth with the customs agent for over an hour (and missing my hotel ride from the airport as a result), it became clear to me that the customs officer wanted a bribe to let me in the country. I suggested a "gift" of 2000 Pesos, which he accepted, and was then allowed in the country and had to take a rip off taxi to my hotel.
I was and am not impressed at all by the Swiss Chalet and my first room was infested with many gigantic roaches. I HATE cockroaches and after killing five or six of the buggers I complained that first night to hotel staff and demanded to be switched to a new room and advised them I would seek a new hotel the next day if my request was denied. They agreed to move me to a new room that night and so far I have had no more roach problems. That said, the hotel is tacky and the decor reminds me of a cheap Mexican hotel. I am likewise paying a rate that would get me a much nicer (and cleaner) hotel in Thailand. If I do return to Angeles, I will not stay here again. Other than being "close to the action," the hotel has no merits whatsoever.
But wait, as the TV commercials say, it gets worse and here I admit I am to blame for what happened next to cap off my first night of horror here in Angeles.
I had info on the bars on my phone but was so flustered by my customs experience that I could not locate my voltage converter plug-ins and did not have any phone battery power. I was on my own.
I foolishly stumbled into a high-dollar bar called Crystal Palace? near the hotel and ordered a water. I was very frustrated and horny and was deluged by my customs experience and by being in a new country. The end result of this was my bar-fining a 3000 Peso "gold" dancer (whatever the f**k that means) and taking her back to the hotel. Had I been in a better state of mind I would not have had the very negative experience that followed.
This girl was to be my first Pinay f**k and she was a solid "8" stunner--so I was very excited. Curiously, while she was all over me at the bar, she became very reserved in the room--taking off only her top. I began sucking her breasts and kissing her and got almost no response. The f***ing girl wanted to talk and most of her talk centered on the fact that many of her customers wanted "boom-boom" up to three times in a night--but, she said, she was only a one time a night girl. I did not take this as a good sign and this boom-boom talk soon changed into her real agenda; which was that supposedly her menstrual cycle had started that day and she was happy I understood. Obviously I had made a HUGE mistake by not asking this question in the bar--though judging by the looks of the girl she did not appear to be on her period at all (she had no bloating or other obvious signs) and while I did not bother to check I was so pissed at my stupidity and the girls' deception that I spent the next hour giving her a stern morality lecture (normally I would have kicked such a girl out ASAP). Of course by the time I finished my lecture it was 3:00 AM and I was exhausted and the girl gave what is no doubt a ready-made excuse that she had to leave to help close the bar. I gladly let her go.
However, this initial f**k up and disappointment has stayed with me and has tarnished both my attitude and my trip. I have gone to very few bars since and have refused to buy drinks for ANY women in any bar. After I refuse to buy a drink I am usually ostracized which only makes me more bitter.
My only salvation, thus far, has been blow row, where I have had a couple of satisfying 3-somes.
I am much more of a beer bar guy by nature and inclination and Angeles is definitely not a beer bar city. I have not been able to sample the bars on perimeter road because it is barricaded due to some sort of Holy Week bullshit.
My time in Thailand was much more enjoyable though I took a girl long-time there and did not f**k all that many women. To Winston, I do not have any pictures. I am not much of a picture-taking person and did not even bring a camera on this trip other than my cell phone.
Winston--you are right about Angeles--it is not a very healthy city and is full of fat slob men who line the bar counters spewing bullshit and stuffing their faces with shit food and copious amounts of alcohol. I was walking up to 8KM a day on the beaches of Thailand but here I am forced to walk on Fields Ave. amidst the very persistent hawkers of Viagra, cigarettes, etc. I am sure my rather sour attitude toward the place is not helping but on the plus side I have found one vegetarian restaurant with semi-decent food and am trying to maintain an exercise regimen despite the pollution, noise and constant nuisance of the street vendors.
Any suggestions you guys have regarding women here would be much appreciated. I have already made many observations and when I get home, Winston, I will write a screed comparing Thailand to Phils that you may want to publish on happier abroad. I hesitate to judge a country based on limited travel there so I may hold off until I have spent more time here and maybe will have had better experiences and had a Pinay GF or two. Thailand also has its share of bullshit but so far I find it a much easier country to deal with.
I'm off to 7-11. I hope to hear from one or both of you with some suggestions and hope all goes well for both of you.
Sorry for the delay in my reply. I was in Taichung for a few days.
I don't understand what happened to you. It doesn't make any sense. There is no law that says you can't bring in 10,000p into the country. The customs form says that you need to declare your cash only if you have $10,000 USD on you in cash. But who carries that much in cash on them? Where does it say 10,000p? That's only $250 USD. Lots of guys carry over $250 on them. None of them report it to customs. So what you told me doesn't make sense and doesn't fit what I know. Did you misread something?
Why would you need to declare 10,000p ($250) in cash? What for? If they want you to spend money, then why would they give you a hard time about it? You did not need to bribe anyone. They will not hold you there forever. They will let you go after you look away and get annoyed. By giving them 2000p in bribes, you set a bad example because now the customs guy will think that every white foreigner will be willing to pay 2000p in bribes for no reason. That could reflect badly on others. You should have held your ground and given them hell. These are not civilized intelligent beings. They are dogs, so treat them as such. Humor them with small treats, not big ones.
If you do have to give a bribe though, you start at 100p and go up in 50p increments. You don't start at 2000p. That doesn't make sense. I don't understand why white guys make illogical moves like that. Even traffic cops will accept 200p as a bribe. When I left the PI, they caught me carrying pirated DVD's in my luggage. I was going to offer them a bribe, but the guys just let me go and told me not to bring them through customs again next time. They didn't want my bribe even though I offered it to them.
Also, I've stayed in Swiss Chalet many times and never saw a cockroach there. It is pretty clean and European style. I don't know how you got a bad room. Go down the street and try staying at Orchid Inn. For the same price of 1600p, you get a nice clean room with a nice pool area.
When you barfine a girl, you are supposed to discuss in advance how long she will stay with you, and make sure the mamasan knows about it too. Some girls will leave early and break their promise though. But you don't need to pay those 3000p barfines. There are plenty for 1500p.
Here is Ladislav's number: ********
I'll forward you his email too, so he can contact you. Hope you avoid such mistakes in the future.
Regards,
Winston