We both strolled a few times down Fields Avenue, Walking Street and a couple of side streets. It may well be that it's still too close to New Year's Day and the "bar scene" isn't full throttle because most of the girls are still in their province.
Yet, the impression I could gather was of a truly dying thing. With almost half of the bars or restaurants badly boarded up and shut, several hotels reduced in space of outright closed and very few people walking, mostly Chinese and Korean, the whole place had the ambience of a cold, empty basement. Truly pathetic.
We also popped to what my friend introduced as "the biggest and newest" disco in town, Eureka, tucked away on a side street at one end of Fields Avenue. It was about 10:30, perhaps a bit too early. The venue is admittedly new and very large, with sofas and tables spanning across three floors, balcony style. Thing is, the place was completely empty. The only occupied sofa was one of the large ones downstairs near the dancefloor, with one single foreign (possibly American) man sitting at one side and no fewer than 6 girls, all quietly having dinner, probably at his expense.
Quite pathetic (part 2)
To top it up, I have heard that barfining a bar girl would now cost upwards of P5,000. That is, P5,000 for a couple of hours of sex with a pudgy single mom with fat flaps around her C-section scar.
The only, tiny, note of colour was probably the ladyboys clustering a specific corner of Fields Avenue.
This is the second time I venture on that place and, as I do so, I always have the flamboyant descriptions given by Winston in mind: the excitement, the camaraderie with other (s)expats, the cheap shenanigans, the (relative) quality & quantity of girls available. None of this was apparent last night, not to the slightest, even compared to my first stroll with Jester more than 3 years ago.
One might say that, being married, I did not have the same incentive and zest to "take things further". Yet, in all honestly, even if had been single and horny, I just did not see anything at all that could have spurred my senses. The only word I have for the whole thing is...it's dying.
