Report from the Dollhouse 2

After dinner, I met with old friend Edwin Fernandez of Cotabato and Franklin Caliguid of Butuan. They want a tour of Angeles and Ansbert was absent so I am The One. I asked them what comes to mind when they hear of Angeles. So they gave me the old pre-Pinatubo cliche. I gave them the cliche. We rode a trike to Balibago specifically to Fields Ave. Edwin wanted to go to an Atm Machine and it turned out he forgot his card. We walked for a few minutes until I went to the old reliable. Dollhouse. It turned out we were the only Filipino customers. Not that it is an exclusive club like what Edwin had been telling us of a bar in Makati. The beer is only P80 and the LD was P280. The two don't know what LD was, which is fine. If this was in Cotabato, they might have lobbed a grenade long ago, someone said. The security was lax. BUT the first thing that will catch your mind, is that there are about 50 girls in Tback dancing on the circular elevated stage and on the ledge above. Only in Bangkok. The guests were mostly Americans who were either retired or attending the Balikatan. Weird but the GIs were staying in Holiday Inn where we also stay. That is their barracks while the Filipinos were, of course, staying in their barracks. There were also some Koreans who were obviously regulars because binabatukan lang sila ng mga babae. There was no nudity just your regular Patpong tourist-trap bar. But occasionally, a mulatta waitress would flash her blouse to an old Japanese who would then smilingly give her a P1,000 bill. Another waitress immediately cozied up to Edwin and she told her about how much are they paid. That is the story, said Edwin. Obviously, he has not been into that many places. But I learned another euphemism, this time for a bar fine. I forgot what it was but it has to do with early evening something. We left at about 1 am. Alex was snoring when I came back and was still at it when I awoke. He awoke. Called for towels. Opened the TV for CNN, took a bath and left when it was my turn. Later, he would be crucified by the media. Abangan!