Where is the new big casino in Manila located exactly? I heard it was close to the Airport? I will be there next week.

Resort World? Its about 10mins from the airport.

I have some questions.

1.) Do you pay health insurance there? How good is the medical care in the Philippines?

2.) Are there really that many hookers? How much do you pay for them? Im really curious.

3.)Is it true that online poker is legal in the Philippines?

4.) Is it easy to get money from moneybookers to a bank in the philippines or is that a problem?

I think the Philippines are awesome, even tough i have never been there.

Maybe i will go there on vacation next year.

Hope you enjoy it there!

Flight booked! Arriving the 2nd of Nov.

Plan to get into a hotel on weekly deal (any recommendations?) and check out Rockwell in person and try to get a place there for 3months if I like Manilla.

I know a couple of locals living around Greenbelt so I hope they can show me around where tourists usually don't go.

Also looking forward to have a beer with some 2p2ers

Does anyone know how I can get a 30'' monitor once I'm over there? Would the best option be to take a trip to Singapore or HK?

You're also about a 2 hour drive from Angeles City depending on traffic which, along with a few places in Thailand is pretty much the hooker capitol of the world. Prices range from 1000php-5000php and that's for all night. 6pm-6am is fairly standard.

I could do a full write up on AC from a 26 y/o average white male's perspective if there's interest. There just doesn't seem to be a big want for it.

full write up plz

Fair enough... I'm off to work but I'll do it sometime this afternoon/evening.

In the meantime, I dug up a TR from my trip to AC, originally posted somewhere else:

What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

I'm riding in the back of a van. My driver, Lando is jamming to the same 10 or so classic rock tunes with some Air Supply thrown in over and over again as he weaves his way through other cars, trucks, jeepneys, trikes and people walking across six-lane highways seemingly without a care in the world. Lando mentions something about a "shortcut." Seeing as he's been hired by my hotel and probably won't get paid if I die between now and arriving at my destination I decide to tell him to go for it. Soon we're weaving down two-way streets with what seems to be about three other lanes of traffic, not to mention food carts, kids playing in the street with and without clothes on and everyone that sees me through the window giving me a, "Wait, what the hell is he doing in our community? Doesn't he know the highway is that way?" look.

"What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

Two hours after starting our journey Lando finally has enough road to pass third gear. And judging by the noises our vehicle is making it's a good thing. One hour later we've probably traveled five times as far as we did in the previous two when suddenly I feel like we've pulled off to our destination. I say "feel like" because I've seen the correct highway signs but this looks more like BFE, Kansas, than a tourist destination. In all honesty I'm reminded of the bar district of Manhattan, KS, where I had the displeasure of being thoroughly out-sexed by a bartender last month. I'm taking it as a good omen. We arrive driving up what I later learned to be Santos St and that's where I get my first glimpse of Fields and the surrounding perimeter. People are literally falling over everywhere. It's like someone decided to pull the 2AM party crowd from Las Vegas and place them in the middle of a dirty farm town. Unbelievable. I'm dropped off at my hotel, tip anyone I felt needed tipping, get into my room, and freeze. As I'm here only as a five day prequel to meeting one of my out of country girlfriends in Boracay I've decided to stay in one of the nicer rooms on Fields. However, as nice as it is, and I've got nothing but good things to say about the folks at Royal Amsterdam, it has exactly one 1X2 ft window looking to the main drag and it's located, conveniently enough, behind the toilet. As I have little-to-no shame I find myself extending that 30 second pee for an eternity. It could have been five minutes, could have been two hours. I'm honestly not sure. I was looking at the door girls standing outside of Golden Nile and just watching their interactions. As a budding lover of all cultures different than mine I'm fascinated. But in the end, the world is at my fingertips and I'm frozen.

"What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

30 total hours of travel will wear on a man, especially when he has REM sleep for probably two of them. At least that's what I've always assumed. But four hours later I'm suddenly awake and ready to go. It's five in the morning and everything outside my door is winding down but my senses are completely alert. I've made a conscious decision to declare day zero into morning one a loss for my experiences and a win for my bank account. I tool around the room, have some coffee (instant coffee is the devil) and wait until things start to pick up. I'm enjoying things I enjoy back at home, room service, tv, a nice couch when suddenly my phone rings. Like an arch-angel descending from the heavens another tourist and board member, one month older than myself, rings my phone in the room as I told him he was welcome to do and comes to my rescue. It's only two in the afternoon but my new guide is like a mom pushing his kid for the first day of kindergarten. The cultural experiences flow. My first 1,000 yard stare while walking passed a shoeless 4-year-old, check. My first wonderings of how devout catholic culture puts up with this kind of specific tourism, check. My first jeepney ride, check. The first exposure of the Philippines to my epic clumsiness as I fall out of said jeepney while attempting to disembark. The locals are good-humored and it's a good thing because I'm standing in the street roughly a foot taller than all of them having damn-near face-planted out of their most efficient mode of public transportation.

"What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

My first bar, check. I'm in Lost In Asia roughly two minutes before this thought enters my brain, "Whoever owns this place is one hell of a good disciplinarian." I've never seen so many girls/ladies/women in such a cramped space without any of them doing something stupid. It's one of my first laws of existence that I, as a man, to take control of a woman only need to square her off against another woman. As Chris Rock so eloquently put it, "Women don't rule the world because women hate women." So true. But here I am seeing about 15 of them on a stage without a single one causing drama. Incredible. Two beers later and though the talent is clearly good, and bravo for undersized bikini tops, I'm simply too shy/inexperienced to call a girl down. Having looked like a cheapskate I decide it's time to inform arch-angel tour guide that we should probably move on before I'm unfairly labeled as anything other than a pure capitalist, in which I take so much pride. It's an ego thing, you know.

The second bar, check. First LD, check. It isn't really my choice. I'm seated on a couch in the back and accosted by two waitresses and two other workers. I do what years of experience has taught and immediately set them against each other telling them the closest guess at my age will get an LD. It's really just an excuse for me to get rid of three of them and continue getting my feet wet. The girl who ends up winning guesses it exactly and proceeds to have, with me, the most intelligent, personable conversation I've had within the first five minutes of meeting a woman ever. I'm a singer by profession, have worked in multiple countries, dated, been in relationships with, sexed women of all ages, education, intelligence and never have I been so surprised as to the level of a woman shattering my expectations. For a quick example, I use the word 'malleable' when trying to decipher an English word she was trying to think of and she scolds me because she knows that word and that clearly was incorrect. So much for that massive musician's ego. Serves me right. In the end I thank her for her time and move on anxious to pass the "never barfine from your first anything" game.

Another bar, my first disappointment. Some will say let the girl choose you and in Nasty Duck as soon as I walk in they all immediately choose me and my guide. I'm sure the fact that I'm 26, 6'6" and reek of CK and cherry boy confusion has nothing to do with it. I select two of them that seem the most eager and pass off the good-looking one to my guide. I really don't care if he has a steady barfine, this man has been my entry into the world I was anxious to experience. I owe him. Turns out I'm jealous within about thirty seconds. All my years of experience that uglier girls work harder is gone out the window when this 18-year-old hottie to my right that I've supplied for my guide happens to be much more of a good time than the 26-year-old dud on my left. I consider that I'm 26 and have bad knees and a bad back. Standing on a stage for three or four 45 minute sessions a few nights a week kills my body. I can only imagine what it does to her doing it every night. We sit there for roughly 30 minutes and she barely touches her drink. Yup, exhausted. The poor thing. Unfortunately, my sex drive doesn't respond to the damsel in distress routine. In fact, it's repellent to all things boom. I decide while this establishment clearly has many positive aspects I've probably screwed up any chance I had for success or fun. See ya, Nasty Duck.

On to Candy Bar. A blur. An amazing dancer I call down. Move from table to couches. Inquiries and arguments over the size of my organ. I assure her it's quite small. Her reaction is to rub her ass on it and then measure it with her fingers and call me a liar. Touche, amazing dancer. From that moment on it seems her hand is magnetically attached to my pelvic region. She asks about my thoughts on threesomes. Again, well-played. You've done this before. First barfine, check. A few pizzas are ordered. I have two slices and share the other 14 while I encourage her to call down two more friends for a drink and to eat. One of the others starts openly competing to be the third in our equation to which my girl, though obviously into women, doesn't seem to be too excited but she's grinning and bearing it. Four hours later I decide I'm getting tired and take my barfine back to the room. Total damage for my four hours, three women, two pizzas, one barfine and a few drinks for me and several others about 3000php all-inclusive. Candy Bar... you rule.

My next disappointment, check. I've decided the girl I've barfined really isn't that into me before we get in the trike to go home. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've barfined a woman that's exclusively into other women. Pretty sure that's why she brought up a threesome roughly 20 times in the four hours I was there. Oh well. She is, however, a business woman, which I respect. I attempt to make her as comfortable as possible but it's not flowing at all. We each shower, get to it, her technique is pro but she's too concerned with pain. She's doing her best to grin and bear it but she weighs close to 80lbs and I weigh close to 240. I'm literally three times her size and it's obvious she's in pain. I do the gentlemanly thing and speed things up and get mine, there's no way I'm going to bed with blue balls, and send her away. The conversation is interesting at this point. She's so obviously used to trying to be professional and look out for my needs but I tell her I'm not into bull**** and she's perfectly fine to stay if she wants and perfectly fine to leave if she wants. She smiles at me like she's won the lotto as she gets dressed. Some may argue with my tactics, but at this point I'm not feeling her and I'm glad she's chosen the leave option to be honest. She departs, hopefully to a girlfriend that she's much happier with. I tip her for the night, she was incredible for the first four hours of the evening, what I was planning on tipping her in the morning and attempt to sleep again. Six hours only. Oh well, at least that's two more than last night.


"What the hell have I gotten myself into?"

I'm sure of only a few things. I've seen the most stripped-down form of capitalism a man could ever see. I spent less than 100usd and had an experience I will never forget. I've busted most of my cherries with regards to mongering. And I'm psyched to do it again. As far as the rest, I'm not sure. But I'm pretty sure I like it.

Okay, got a quick break so gonna start to write on AC. Let me say before I go further that I was in the Philippines for a grand total of 19 days. So there are many more folks in this forum that know WAY more than I do. I have done a ton of research on AC though, and I've also traveled there. Even if it's just for a week, you get the gist of AC pretty fast. Furthermore, I'm a capitalist and an agnostic. Judgments on my behavior and lifestyles are worthless because I simply don't care. Let's begin.

AC in general:

Angeles City is in the province of Pampanga roughly 100km north of the northern stretches of Manila. It has ~300,000 people living there but you won't be concerned with most of them. It's not a small city but again, we're only concerned with one basic road and a few of its tributaries for whoring purposes. If you want more on the history, geography, demographics... wikipedia.

Infrastructure:
For this forum's purposes let's just be clear up front. AC is not a nice place to be as far as scenery. It is not a resort. It serves its purpose perfectly in that it's one street lined with gogo bars, food, and hotels. I immediately thought of a lower-rent Manhattan, KS upon arrival if that tells you anything. You will encounter vendors, peddlers, beggars (including children) and locals that cast odd looks at you. My advice is to just keep to yourself, don't talk to them, enjoy what you're there for and look for nothing more.

Getting around is relatively easy. For those accustomed to jeepneys they are readily available at 7p a ticket. Trikes act as cabs and can take you where you need to be. Just make sure you stay safe as you would with a cab in another country. Know the route before hand. Don't let him take you somewhere else. If you sense in your gut that **** is going sour get out immediately and walk back the way you came. It is absolutely possible to spend an entire vacation without using any public trans. But it's possible if you're at one end of the strip and don't want to walk the 2 miles back to your hotel at the other end you'll want to take a trike. Just make sure you and he both know where you're going.

Don't expect 4 star accommodations hotel wise. Expect motel 6 and be happy with anything better. I stayed in the "penthouse suite" at Royal Amsterdam which was really nice on the surface. Two rooms, two tvs, huge bed, in room safe, full bar and tableware, mini bar stocked, nice leather couches. However, once I got in deeper the plumbing was absolute ****. My showers were awful, hot water would fade in and out so it was either freezing or scalding and you were waiting for the 5 seconds when it moved in the middle. The jacuzzi was dirty and suffered from the same plumbing issues. Unusable imo. But the hotel was located immediately on Fields. Had a decent restaurant and it was just $110 a night. For my first trip I think it was a good purchase. Know that there are plenty of barebones rooms that can be had for $30-$50 a night. Google and tripadvisor are your friend.

There are lots of restaurants. I had no problem finding something to eat for <$10 for each meal but others have complaints. Again, if you're expecting a resort in the south of France you're in for an unpleasant surprise. If you're more adventurous and open minded and willing to gambool it's just fine imo.

Getting there:
There are two airports you will be concerned with arriving to AC. One is MNL in Manila and the other is CRK (Clark) which is the airport that serves Angeles. There are direct roundtrip flights to Clark from Korea, Thailand and Singapore that I know of. There may be others. Americans and Europeans are probably best served flying into and out of MNL as it's going to be cheaper.

Once you get there I would highly recommend having the hotel you're staying at send a driver to meet you at the airport. Manila was a bit of a scary place upon arrival. I got there around 8pm and it was dark and dingy and I didn't feel exactly safe. Luckily I had arranged a driver and he took me to where I needed to be. Total time was about 3 hours during rush hour traffic. When I came back early Sunday morning to catch my flight out it took 80 minutes. Ymmv obviously.

Fields Ave:
The main drag of bars is located on Fields Avenue. You could stay there two weeks, hit a few bars a day and never enter the same bar. There are a few bar groups that own a group of bars on their own. Research is readily available on this. Fields also is your access to many hotels.

The Bars:
The bars are access to the girls, the main reason we're here. Most (and all that I went to, more than 15) are run by foreigners of some sort. Koreans and the Korean mafia have a footprint here. Many bars are run by North Americans as well as Europeans. It's up to you to judge the bars you like the best.

Your standard bar routine/etiquette is as follows: wade through the mass of door girls out front looking to entice you into the bar (yes, they CAN be sat down for a lady drink) and be shown to a table by a waitress. Order a drink or scope out the talent on the stage first, I usually ordered a drink immediately. If you see a girl you like on the stage tell the waitress and she will get her for you. The girl will then come to you, sit next to you, and it's customary to buy her a lady drink. You will be pressured to do this at most bars. If you're a stone cold killer you can ask her the few important questions before hand and exchange her or leave if you're not interested. But again, we're 2p2ers and usually not cheapskates so one LD isn't something that's going to break the bank.

How the girls react after this depends on you. If you have any game at all, nay, if you are even barely sociable you will have no problem with the girls. They will touch you. Most of them will rub your dick incessantly until you tell them to stop. A good judge on how much a girl is into you is how fast she finishes that LD. Most girls with me took ~30 minutes to finish one. I equate it to being in the VIP room at a strip club with the service you get in the bar. I have been blown openly in bars. Lap dances are common. Kissing is okay most of the time. Be the man. Take charge and get what you want. On the other hand, if the girl is standoffish and sucks down that LD in 5 minutes don't waste your time with her. Send her back and get another girl or find another bar. There are literally thousands of girls on duty at any one time. No need to waste it on someone that you don't vibe with.

Eventually you may decide she's the one you wish to spend the rest of the night with. You can tell the waitress you're going to barfine her (you should ask the girl EARLY in the conversation if she barfines. Some just sit for drinks and it's their right to do that. Just be up front with her.) A barfine, or early work release (EWR) is that and only that. The girl is NOT required to **** you. Prostitution is illegal after all in PI. However, they know what they're there for and sex happens 99% of the time. You can take them out to eat, to one of the few clubs, to another bar and have her pick a girl to come down and hang. Most likely she'll take you to a bar where she has friends. This can be fun.

One thing I did during most of my bar adventures was at some point I'd order 2 pizzas (the girls all love hawaiian for some odd reason) and share one with the girl I was with and one of her friends and give the other to the rest of the staff working. I was treated like an absolute king afterwards and with each pizza costing ~10usd it was an investment well worth it imo.

There are other things to get your money in the bars. You can usually throw around some ping pong balls which the girls will fight for rugby style because they're each worth a certain amount (miniscule imo) of money. Can be entertaining. I think it's a waste. You can also ring the bell for a price that gives everyone a drink and it's customary that they will all come thank you for it. Again, money makers for the bar.

Bottom line, just be polite and let them take care of you. You will enjoy yourself.

Bar Pricing (the real reason AC is worth a visit):
Local beers, coffee, bottled water, soda: San Miguel and San Miguel Lite are the local beers. All these drinks will run you 1-2USD.

Lady drinks: Usually some sort of juice or sometimes an alcoholic drink and they'll run you 2-3USD, a BIG difference from my time living in Korea where a lady drink runs you about 20usd. Girl on you junk for 2 hours in a bar, think 4-5 LDs per girl for that time period. Maybe 30-40USD spent for that? Unreal cheap iyam.

Barfine/EWR: It varies. Most bars are somewhere from 1000-1500php and that is a fair price. Some bars offer tiered pricing for "better looking" girls... whatever. It gets up to 3000php for them and the super expensive girls, usually in Korean bars, are 5000php. At an exchange rate of ~45php/1usd you're looking at what I consider an entertainment value. A tip of 300-500php is customary for good service. It pays to tell the girl what you want before you barfine her, i.e. all night, a few gos. Whatever. Leaving it to chance is fine, just don't be shocked when she wants to leave after one go at 10pm and makes some excuse for it. Most will stay, you just have to be up front about it.

There are also stories that Asian customers, especially Koreans tip 1000php+ for one go round. You will see them get some extra attention from certain girls. It makes the local expat community extremely angry, but like I said. I tipped 500php after I got what I wanted and never had a problem.

Ping Pong ball buckets are usually around 750php I think. I don't know for sure, I never used them.

Bell ring: anywhere from 3000php to 7500php and up I'm sure at times in certain places.

The girls: They're your average poor girl looking for a guy to spend money on them for whatever reason. Most take care of their basic needs and buy some nice clothes, a nice purse, a nice cell phone and ship money off other places, usually their family/boyfriend whatever. They live in apartments together usually. And, having seen a few of them these places aren't bad. They're your standard college level USA apartments imo. They all have internet, full kitchens, cable. They're not dumps. If the girls earn in the bar, they live well.

The ultimate goal for each of these girls is different but it always centers around money. Several that I was with had guys who "support" them by sending them a few hundred bucks a month via Western Union for whatever reason. Not sure why because the girls were happy to **** me without second thought. I didn't get the feeling that these girls were being forced to work there through any reason other than the market dictates it's the best-paying job they can get. I talked to several girls who said they'd quit certain bars because they felt slighted or mistreated. Many go back home frequently and come back. The average lifespan of a girl in these bars is prob 3-6 months from what I gather.

The quality is for each man to decide on his own. For a filipina woman I would say there were a TON of 6s and 7s but not many 8+. They are around but you have to get out early and possibly pay more to barfine them. Service is also not guaranteed. I've heard Thailand is a better place for professional quality bargirls that look and perform better. However, you're also paying more. AC is also famous for the girlfriend experience although that really wasn't my thing/intent so I can't comment on it too much. I mean, I was there to **** whores and to me each one felt like that.

Overall, it's a supremely convenient, inexpensive mongering destination but other than that there isn't much to do. It has a reputation for the quality of girls being low and if you're used to banging only stunners in Pattaya you will probably not enjoy AC. If you're low maintenance and happy taking home a 7 that turns into a 9 once you've been drinking you will have a hell of a time. If anyone has any specific questions they want to know just pm or post them. I'll be happy to answer any I can. If anyone else wants to tag on feel free. Cheers.

Post pics of what you refer to as a 7 imo.

I got a message from the metro card club telling me they are having a 1.5mill GTD MTT next week with a buyin of 3000php so I think I am going to come up for it.

If I can get some pisos in time i'm planning on hitting up ICON on wed night. If anyone wants to have a mini 2+2 meet up let me know.

Nobody knows about 30'' monitors?

You can order it to the States and have it shipped over via courier service.

http://livinginthephilippines.com/fo....html#msg32007

What's the deal here, is it hard to get proper computer stuff in Manila?

Most stuff is easy. 30'' monitor isn't.

This is a 5day satellite to the APT (4seats gtd). FYI RW have sats every sunday for 5k (1seat gtd) and there will be super sats later. RW also are giving away 3 seats to cash game players, u get 1 ticket for every 5k you buy in for. I plan on luckboxing a free seat. IDK about metro, but seats won at RW are non transferable unless you have 2. So you'll have to play the APT ME.

I'm not really sure if it's worth it but hey. I like donking in tournaments.

I'm pretty close to Icon, I probably should join in as I'm becoming socially ******ed and ordering in food 3x a day. Hit me up if you gather some people and we'll get a table with service or whatever. I'm off to the RW cashgames asap before I wear out this couch. Cyas

Anyone interested in buying a honda CBR150R, 2006 model? It is located in Angeles City. PM me for more info.

do you find RW cash games juicier compared to Metro CC?

This is the message I got

I might play it anyways. How many people are the RW satellites getting?

Looking at it they did a little trick here so it's basically a 1.5m gtd with embedded seats (4 seats would be close to 500K). So it looks like an overlay when it isn't, they need 500 players which at this stake thru 2 days will be np. So basically no chance of overlay, might still play it for the heck of it.

The RW sats, with no fee IIRC, have around 100-120players on avg. I expect it to increase in later weeks. Top18 or so will be paid, as usual, lame sums unless ur in the top. I'm unimpressed by the structure but it isn't terrible.

At this point, I would say I've done a pretty good job of investigating the more popular live venues in Manila, that at least have 50/100.

RW is loaded with terrible old regs that play there a ton, a few femme fatales that are better off in baccarat, the occasional WHALE and when I mean whale I mean a **** big blue one. If you get a 1/1/2 going on especially in the weekends, with a couple rich guys spewing - be prepared for massive EV. The autostraddle games in the weekend play on average pretty deep, expect 300bb avg stacks. Good games play slightly higher than $5/10.

To judge the venues I've been playing at, I would say the following based on my experience.

-RW>=Hyatt. The average table is close but RW have 3-4 tables as Hyatt only have 2. Tableselect tables with deep stacks and spewy regs.
-Hyatt>>Malate Poker Club>>>>Metro. MPC won't consistently have 50/1, and actually it is the only room where rake is capped as high as 500. Free beer though, which makes up for it if you wanna chill and drink while u play.

Not taking into account the 1/2/5 AS games at Metro, I am not rolled for them yet and can't make a judgment, Metro is by far the worst place to play cash games.
Metro has tons of house players, aka hired regs that are "paid" a couple grand per day. These won't be better than at best average 50nl regs, but they have decent fundamentals - and they softplay each other extremely obviously. If you have a couple mill I would suggest try Metro "high stakes" games (they have at least 3 fish). If not, RW is your best bet.

For drinks, ur gonna spew if you wanna drink at hyatt/rw. Beers are minimum 200 and it tilts me.

Further notes:
-Hyatt has free food, coffee, ice tea and coke. Hyatt has allowed semi-expected tipping.
-RW you can get simple dishes for p100 that are pretty convenient. All non-alcoholic drinks are free.
-RW has prohibited tipping. You CANT tip dealers or the cashier. Waiters/waitresses accept small tips. With no tipping culture at all, this makes RW the most profitable place to play.

All rooms except MPC have 10%, cap at 400.

Edit: I forgot to mention Pan Pacific. You will have trouble finding 50/100+ there. What's cool though is that they promote some PLO, so if you wanna go play some live PLO that's ur best bet.

thanks!! I don't even think I'll need to bother going to Macau for cash games when all the good games and good girls are in the PI

Hi Kaizenk

Did you know that there will be having poker tournament in the Philippines this AUGUST?

Just got to Manila with problems with the boats. Was going to play at the Metro today but couldn't be arsed sitting in a taxi for an hour and half to get there. Think I'm going to play tomorrow if anyone is there and fancies having a few beers whilst playing some cards let me know.

One of the reasons for coming to Manila was to buy a monitor. I have found a company selling 2nd hand 24inch monitors for 11500php does anyone know if I would be able to find them cheaper elsewhere?

fanapathy- Where is the Pan Pacific and what stakes PLO are we talking. Is there some action at the table or quite tight and boring?

Pan Pacific is in Malate, walking distance from Hyatt. I don't remember the exact street but it should be an easy find asking in that area. The poker room is on the 5th floor. I don't know the stakes or how consistent there's a table running but I expect them to be low, like 20/40 or 25/50. In the far end of the room there's a sign with the text "OMAHA" rolling across it. It's probably the only place to play PLO since holdem is booming here.

Probably going to Metro tomorrow for the day1b depending on how late I'll play tonight. Might cya then

BTW Metro nits lurking this thread imo, there were like 4 metro regs at RW yesterday which is 4 more than ever