ADVENTURE DAY HUSTLE
On Tuesday, Sally and Victor were up and around and,
having heard of the goodies me and Jerry experienced
in Bo's Coffee Club, had to try it for themselves.
They called me to meet them there and so off I went.
The plan was to go to Minglanilla, way out in the
boonies. The problem, though, was finding a taxi
driver that would take us there without trying to
hustle for some unrealistic price.
Hustling seems to be standard procedure for some out here in the Philippines. Last week, Sally, Victor and Jerry took a boat to the island of Bohol and apparently many people there, from taxi drivers to shop keepers tried to put one over on them. They were charged as much as 1000 peso for rides that should have cost 150 or so. This type of thing never happens to me, but I guess, being Korean, many locals assume they have plenty of money to burn and, not understanding English so well, make for good targets. Even as we stood outside Bo's Coffee Club I heard drivers asking for 600 peso to take us to Minglanilla, which is nowhere near as far as that film studio I went to on Mactan Island for only 250. Finally I decided to talk to a driver and got him to agree to 200. He even offered to wait for us for two hours while we enjoyed the beach.
It was a long drive out to Minglanilla. To make matters worse, we didn't know where we were going once we got there. Luckily, I remembered that Marifel lives out there and she lived right by one of the well known beach resorts. I couldn't remember the name unfortunately, but I figured I would know if I heard it or saw the place, as I remembered the picture of it from a magazine. When we arrived in the small town the taxi driver asked a couple of people and one mentioned Palm Beach Resort, which sounded familiar, so we went.
Now, to find the pristine picturesque beaches like you see in movies or magazines, you have to leave this island of Cebu. Here, there are only what some call "dirty beaches"; dark sand, rocks and generally not very pretty. Still it was so awesome to be at the sea and the sound was relaxing. If I had known this was the plan, I would have brought my swim wear, but I was wearing long pants. Sally and Victor were content to sit in our booth on the beach, but Jerry wanted to go in the water and look for shells. Not content to go in alone, she rolled up my pants and dragged me out to the water. It was a lot of fun, even though we got completely wet anyway. Any shells which had a good look or a good sound we kept. The rest we threw back.
Eventually we decided to explore the area a bit, but most places only ended up in areas where locals were standing around just staring at us. Remember this is not Cebu City. We were in the boonies. There were cows and chickens walking around. Sally didn't feel we were too safe. As the sun began to set we decided it was time to head back, but we were surprised to find our taxi driver was gone! So now we were out in the middle of nowhere, with no transportation and everyone staring as though they had never seen foreigners before. We went to the hotel receptionist to see if they could call a taxi for us. She said she didn't know any numbers, but that we should walk out to the main road and find a trike to take us into town.
We set out walking, taking note of the goats, cows and chickens, but also being aware of anything else around us. Aside from this little path it was almost like jungle around us. It certainly seemed like a scene out of a horror movie where we were the young crew to be killed or eaten and I would be the black dude who dies first.
We got to the main road and were quickly surrounded by a large group of people, mostly kids. No trouble, just curious smiles and questions. They were very helpful in telling us how to take a trike into town where we might find a taxi. A trike soon arrived and we had another dilemma. A trike is basically a motorcycle with a large sidecar made to ideally hold two people, but could probably fit three or four Asians. With me being a big guy and Victor being a champion bodybuilder, though, it was unlikely we were all going to fit. The driver seemed to think it could work though. We finally decided that I would sit in the front cart, Sally and Jerry in the back of the sidecar and Victor sat on the back of the motorcycle with the driver. We waved goodbye to the crowd of smiling people and the kids and off we went.
At this point we were still on dirt roads with cows and chickens, so it was a rough ride before we came to something resembling a town. We eventually stopped on a busy road and got out of the trike, but some guys standing around on the street said that taxis are rare here so we need to go to the center of town. We all piled back into the trike and off we went. The town center was busy and crowded, and looked more like what we were used to. The trike driver saw an empty taxi driving near us and beckoned him to pull over. We paid the trike driver a total of about 50 peso and transferred to the taxi. Luckily, this guy had no problem taking us back to Cebu City on the meter. Being the only guy around he could have easily switched off the meter and charged whatever he wanted. That's what many hustlers do. This guy was cool, though, and happily took us back, making light conversation about who we were and what we were up to. I guess an American with three Koreans is a strange combination to most here.
Once back in the familiar Cebu City, we went to the amazing City Grill, a place I was introduced to a while back by Alona. We ate like we hadn't eaten in ages. We had two big bowls of Rumi soup, about eight pieces of fried chicken, six pieces of barbeque chicken, a large tuna steak, three orders of pork belly, and 6 or 7 orders of rice. City Grill has to be one of the best places to eat in Cebu. They have some really fresh stuff that you see and choose before they cook it. They have large crabs still walking around in the tanks there.
After that we went back to the hotel and were relaxing and nearly falling asleep. I checked my phone was surprised to find it was only 8:30 PM! Sally said it's because we're sitting here doing nothing. We need to go out and do something. In the past, the girls have, kind of half jokingly, said they wanted to see a strip club. this time we decided to really go to one. So we all got up, went back into a taxi and went to one of the clubs near the hotel.
Going into a club like this with the girls is a very different experience. You get a very different perspective on everything, from the girls to even the customers in the club. Needless to say they pulled no punches in their assessment of things. Granted, there were no super models in this particular place, many of the girls clearly had already had babies and sported the stretch marks to prove it. A couple were pretty hefty as well. Still, you see things very differently through their eyes. Victor seemed oddly embarrassed to be there and sat facing me, Sally and Jerry instead of the stage. A couple of girls did sit down and chat with us for a while, but if guys already have girls with them, they probably don't think things will go very far.
After becoming bored with that place, Sally decided she wanted to see a gay bar. I was happy to report that I had no idea where such a place might be. Wouldn't you know it, though, Sally just happened to pick a taxi driver who just happened to have worked in a gay bar before and knew were one was. When the driver realized we were mainly just "bar hopping" for the night, he offered to be our driver for 200 peso per hour. Since the previous bar only had girls dancing in bikinis, he said he knew where the all nude dancing was. Still it was too early, so we had to visit the gay bar first.
The gay bar was equally boring. There were oiled up guys dancing on the stage who all pretty much looked and danced exactly the same. There were a couple of ladyboys doing lip sync and dancing shows. They ladyboys sat down and chatted with us for a bit. Jerry and Sally concluded they must be rich because, for one, they had completed their operations, and, looking at their show, you would believe them when they claim to be pro level dancers having won many big contests. On the whole, though, it wasn't all that interesting, to any of us.
Finally we went to the club where there was supposedly all nude dancing. Inside, we immediately could see this club was on a whole different level that the first one. Drinks costs three times as much as the other places and here, the girls really did look like super models. No stretch marks seen in this place. Unfortunately, the girls didn't seem too happy that we brought girls with us, and many were shy to take their clothes off on the stage. As the night wore on things degenerated even more, and we started to hear a number of Korean obscenities being hurled at us from the girls. Eventually Sally got angry and mentioned this to our waiter who said he didn't hear anything. Even I heard it, and that's about all the Korean I know.
Finally Sally decided we should leave and so we went outside and back into the taxi. Victor, though, got out of the taxi and went back inside, saying he had to use the restroom. While we waited, I explained the many reasons to never make trouble in the Philippines to the girls. Eventually Victor came back and we left. The story I later heard from Sally, though, was that Victor went back in and demanded an apology from the manager and from the girls. He caused them all to line up and asked them why they are so unprofessional. He asked them if they even knew what the bad words they were using meant, which they did not. He then explained to them what they meant and told them to never use such words again. He then asked them to apologize, to which they mumbled an apology, causing him to yell, "I can't hear you. Sound off!" Then they apologized out loud. Although a very nice guy and usually quiet, if he gets upset, he does this kind of thing. Another story I heard was that back in Korea, some wannabe gangsters were bothering Jerry and he did something similar to them, causing one of them to even cry.
So we went back to the hotel and ate some Ponkan and talked about all that we had seen that day and night. Overall it was an amazing day and we covered a lot of ground. Yesterday, we went for a more simple night of swimming and hanging out in my room eating Ponkan and ramen. I am wondering what they plan to get into today.
Hustling seems to be standard procedure for some out here in the Philippines. Last week, Sally, Victor and Jerry took a boat to the island of Bohol and apparently many people there, from taxi drivers to shop keepers tried to put one over on them. They were charged as much as 1000 peso for rides that should have cost 150 or so. This type of thing never happens to me, but I guess, being Korean, many locals assume they have plenty of money to burn and, not understanding English so well, make for good targets. Even as we stood outside Bo's Coffee Club I heard drivers asking for 600 peso to take us to Minglanilla, which is nowhere near as far as that film studio I went to on Mactan Island for only 250. Finally I decided to talk to a driver and got him to agree to 200. He even offered to wait for us for two hours while we enjoyed the beach.
It was a long drive out to Minglanilla. To make matters worse, we didn't know where we were going once we got there. Luckily, I remembered that Marifel lives out there and she lived right by one of the well known beach resorts. I couldn't remember the name unfortunately, but I figured I would know if I heard it or saw the place, as I remembered the picture of it from a magazine. When we arrived in the small town the taxi driver asked a couple of people and one mentioned Palm Beach Resort, which sounded familiar, so we went.
Now, to find the pristine picturesque beaches like you see in movies or magazines, you have to leave this island of Cebu. Here, there are only what some call "dirty beaches"; dark sand, rocks and generally not very pretty. Still it was so awesome to be at the sea and the sound was relaxing. If I had known this was the plan, I would have brought my swim wear, but I was wearing long pants. Sally and Victor were content to sit in our booth on the beach, but Jerry wanted to go in the water and look for shells. Not content to go in alone, she rolled up my pants and dragged me out to the water. It was a lot of fun, even though we got completely wet anyway. Any shells which had a good look or a good sound we kept. The rest we threw back.
Eventually we decided to explore the area a bit, but most places only ended up in areas where locals were standing around just staring at us. Remember this is not Cebu City. We were in the boonies. There were cows and chickens walking around. Sally didn't feel we were too safe. As the sun began to set we decided it was time to head back, but we were surprised to find our taxi driver was gone! So now we were out in the middle of nowhere, with no transportation and everyone staring as though they had never seen foreigners before. We went to the hotel receptionist to see if they could call a taxi for us. She said she didn't know any numbers, but that we should walk out to the main road and find a trike to take us into town.
We set out walking, taking note of the goats, cows and chickens, but also being aware of anything else around us. Aside from this little path it was almost like jungle around us. It certainly seemed like a scene out of a horror movie where we were the young crew to be killed or eaten and I would be the black dude who dies first.
We got to the main road and were quickly surrounded by a large group of people, mostly kids. No trouble, just curious smiles and questions. They were very helpful in telling us how to take a trike into town where we might find a taxi. A trike soon arrived and we had another dilemma. A trike is basically a motorcycle with a large sidecar made to ideally hold two people, but could probably fit three or four Asians. With me being a big guy and Victor being a champion bodybuilder, though, it was unlikely we were all going to fit. The driver seemed to think it could work though. We finally decided that I would sit in the front cart, Sally and Jerry in the back of the sidecar and Victor sat on the back of the motorcycle with the driver. We waved goodbye to the crowd of smiling people and the kids and off we went.
At this point we were still on dirt roads with cows and chickens, so it was a rough ride before we came to something resembling a town. We eventually stopped on a busy road and got out of the trike, but some guys standing around on the street said that taxis are rare here so we need to go to the center of town. We all piled back into the trike and off we went. The town center was busy and crowded, and looked more like what we were used to. The trike driver saw an empty taxi driving near us and beckoned him to pull over. We paid the trike driver a total of about 50 peso and transferred to the taxi. Luckily, this guy had no problem taking us back to Cebu City on the meter. Being the only guy around he could have easily switched off the meter and charged whatever he wanted. That's what many hustlers do. This guy was cool, though, and happily took us back, making light conversation about who we were and what we were up to. I guess an American with three Koreans is a strange combination to most here.
Once back in the familiar Cebu City, we went to the amazing City Grill, a place I was introduced to a while back by Alona. We ate like we hadn't eaten in ages. We had two big bowls of Rumi soup, about eight pieces of fried chicken, six pieces of barbeque chicken, a large tuna steak, three orders of pork belly, and 6 or 7 orders of rice. City Grill has to be one of the best places to eat in Cebu. They have some really fresh stuff that you see and choose before they cook it. They have large crabs still walking around in the tanks there.
After that we went back to the hotel and were relaxing and nearly falling asleep. I checked my phone was surprised to find it was only 8:30 PM! Sally said it's because we're sitting here doing nothing. We need to go out and do something. In the past, the girls have, kind of half jokingly, said they wanted to see a strip club. this time we decided to really go to one. So we all got up, went back into a taxi and went to one of the clubs near the hotel.
Going into a club like this with the girls is a very different experience. You get a very different perspective on everything, from the girls to even the customers in the club. Needless to say they pulled no punches in their assessment of things. Granted, there were no super models in this particular place, many of the girls clearly had already had babies and sported the stretch marks to prove it. A couple were pretty hefty as well. Still, you see things very differently through their eyes. Victor seemed oddly embarrassed to be there and sat facing me, Sally and Jerry instead of the stage. A couple of girls did sit down and chat with us for a while, but if guys already have girls with them, they probably don't think things will go very far.
After becoming bored with that place, Sally decided she wanted to see a gay bar. I was happy to report that I had no idea where such a place might be. Wouldn't you know it, though, Sally just happened to pick a taxi driver who just happened to have worked in a gay bar before and knew were one was. When the driver realized we were mainly just "bar hopping" for the night, he offered to be our driver for 200 peso per hour. Since the previous bar only had girls dancing in bikinis, he said he knew where the all nude dancing was. Still it was too early, so we had to visit the gay bar first.
The gay bar was equally boring. There were oiled up guys dancing on the stage who all pretty much looked and danced exactly the same. There were a couple of ladyboys doing lip sync and dancing shows. They ladyboys sat down and chatted with us for a bit. Jerry and Sally concluded they must be rich because, for one, they had completed their operations, and, looking at their show, you would believe them when they claim to be pro level dancers having won many big contests. On the whole, though, it wasn't all that interesting, to any of us.
Finally we went to the club where there was supposedly all nude dancing. Inside, we immediately could see this club was on a whole different level that the first one. Drinks costs three times as much as the other places and here, the girls really did look like super models. No stretch marks seen in this place. Unfortunately, the girls didn't seem too happy that we brought girls with us, and many were shy to take their clothes off on the stage. As the night wore on things degenerated even more, and we started to hear a number of Korean obscenities being hurled at us from the girls. Eventually Sally got angry and mentioned this to our waiter who said he didn't hear anything. Even I heard it, and that's about all the Korean I know.
Finally Sally decided we should leave and so we went outside and back into the taxi. Victor, though, got out of the taxi and went back inside, saying he had to use the restroom. While we waited, I explained the many reasons to never make trouble in the Philippines to the girls. Eventually Victor came back and we left. The story I later heard from Sally, though, was that Victor went back in and demanded an apology from the manager and from the girls. He caused them all to line up and asked them why they are so unprofessional. He asked them if they even knew what the bad words they were using meant, which they did not. He then explained to them what they meant and told them to never use such words again. He then asked them to apologize, to which they mumbled an apology, causing him to yell, "I can't hear you. Sound off!" Then they apologized out loud. Although a very nice guy and usually quiet, if he gets upset, he does this kind of thing. Another story I heard was that back in Korea, some wannabe gangsters were bothering Jerry and he did something similar to them, causing one of them to even cry.
So we went back to the hotel and ate some Ponkan and talked about all that we had seen that day and night. Overall it was an amazing day and we covered a lot of ground. Yesterday, we went for a more simple night of swimming and hanging out in my room eating Ponkan and ramen. I am wondering what they plan to get into today.
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