Saturday, June 21, 2008

Manila Love Story

"So what do you guys have planned for this trip?" He asked.

"You wait and see la! There will be so many places I will take you to! Oh my god Jay! The clubs here are really fun!" Replied another.

Jay was in a plane, heading to Manila with four of his friends, Gideon, Terry, Isaac and his cousin Walter. Of course, he was the youngest one in the group, only a mere 17 years old. It wasn't his first time visiting Manila of course, his father used to have an condo in Makati City, but since his dad doesn't do Business in the Philippines anymore, the condo was sold off and Jay had to stay in a hotel just like every other tourist who visits the Philippines. His friends and him were all happy to go to Manila, each of them being in their own worlds wondering what to expect there, he on the other hand, was not expecting sex in any way, so as his friends were busy chit chatting amongst one another, he just stared out the window, and went into a world of his own.

"Tuan-tuan dan puan-puan, kita akan mendarat sebentar lagi, sila kembali ke tempat duduk anda dan memasangkan tali keledar." The flight attendant stated. The announcement woke him up from his sleep, it only felt like five minutes, he was very tired for not sleeping the night before. He was always like that before flights to other places.

"Little Kid! Sleeping like a baby just now!" His friend Terry said to him. Terry was in his thirties and he loved bullying Jay. Terry showed Jay a picture he took of Jay sleeping. It wasn't a nice picture.

"Bitch! At least I'm not old and wrinkly like you!" Jay replied. He also loved arguing with Terry, it's what makes their relationship fun.

*****

The plane then landed and they made their way to the airport. The airport was two hours away from Manila in a place called Clarke. Walter already had a driver waiting for them in the airport, and even booked a hotel for them. Jay looked around the airport and looked at the people, everything was new to him, he felt like a kid in a candy store. And he also noticed that they drive on the left hand side instead of the right. The cars were different, the people were different, the place was different. He loved every single part of it.

He then made his way to the immigration, already seeing a cute guy there. The cute guy was white of course, long messy looking dirty blonde hair, a bit of facial hair as well, with a huge backpack, and a guitar. Must be a musician. A damn hot one he thought to himself. His friends were behind him chatting endlessly, he also joined in the conversation. He got his passport stamped and made his way to the baggage claim. Already he felt lucky upon getting his luggage because it was the first one out. He checked and noticed that the lock was still in tact and waited with his friends for their luggage to arrive.

After getting all their luggages, they made their way out of the airport, the driver was already waiting for them there and immediately he helped them to load their baggage into the van. He just got into the van and kept quiet. He was feeling tired. He of course noticed that some people were looking at him. He thought that maybe those people think that he's some sort of a celebrity or something as he was dressed in his Burberry Polo Tee, Versace Sunnies, and Antik Denim Jeans, he felt like he overdressed, but then he snapped out of his fantasy and just thought maybe he looked different from many people, which he usually does.

"Oh my god! I can't believe we're actually here!" Jay said to everyone.

"Yeah! I'm gonna take you guys to The Library tonight!" Walter replied.

"What is that place?"

"Well, obviously it's a bar, but it's a gay friendly place which has performances by different comedians every night! I was there the last time i came here and It was fun! I bet you would love it too!"

"Damn! I woul...." He was disrupted by Terry who tickled him.

"Eh, come lets play some cards!" Terry said as he took out a deck of cards from his backpack.

"Haiya! Okay la!" Jay replied.

Terry, Issac and him were playing the cards together while Gideon and Walter were in their own world. They started betting on who will win the most and Jay ended up winning, Isaac was being a sore loser and kept on complaining about loosing. But it was such a time killer playing that game. The game however stopped when the driver made a stopover in a R&R at some random petrol station.

All of them then got out and made their way to the kiosk there. It was so different compared to the ones he would find back home. The kiosk had some random cafe in it and it was stocked with so much snacks and food! Again, Jay felt like a little boy in a candy shop. He then decided to order a pork Hot Dog, he's never really tried one before as there aren't much hot dogs available in Malaysia. Isaac however stocked himself with tons of this cake, apparently it has some nice filling inside it, it's like Crispy Creme? Or a cupcake with chocolate filling inside. Apparently Isaac claimed that only in Manila there is a snack like that. He offered Jay some but Jay refused.

They got back into the van and continued their Journey down to Manila. This time, Jay turned down the card came and decided to get some shut eye. It was close to evening already and he wanted to conserve his energy for the bar he was gonna go to later that night. He looked out the window, lay against it, his eyes began to get smaller, smaller, and then off he went to dreamland.

******

"Wake up! We're in Manila already!" Gideon said as he gave Jay a slight Nudge.

Jay opened his eyes, looked out the window, it was already dark, they were stuck in a jam. He saw buildings, many building, many people, many cars, many honkings. He saw Manila.

The van then started moving again. And he saw that the city was so busy, it was filled with so many people. Unlike Kuala Lumpur, Manila was such a mess, but he sort of liked it because it was different from all the cities that he's been to. What did scare him the most that the roads had no lines! As in usually there are lines on the road that indicates which lane you're in, but in the city, there were no line, the cars were everywhere, going in, out, swooping in, pass, through everywhere! He wondered how can a person keep their car in perfect condition if they were driving in Manila. It was scary.

Everything seemed different in Manila, he came across a market, a market selling flowers. Though it was dark, but the colors of the flowers itself was still striking, he saw that there were many people walking there, stopping by each stall buying flowers, he also noticed that there were particularly many indians in that market, the driver claimed that that area was an indian area and that people there buy flowers for religious purposes. He also saw many food stalls and food places found there, "Lechon Kawali, Pork Skewers, Adobo." Were some of the words that he saw there.

"Oi Little Kids! You have to try the Lechon Kawali! It is fantastic! We will go and eat that later kay?" Terry said.

"What is Lechon Kawali?" Jay asked. He saw many signs with that word on it but he wasn't sure what it is.

"It's deep fried pork! Everywhere here has pork! It's like Sao Nyuk (roast pork belly)! But they deep fried it! It is devine! There's this place near our hotel called Harbour View or something, it's kind of similar to Water Front in K.K la! But there are tons of food there! Eh, Puki, Kami pergi makan tu Lechon Kawali ah Nanti!" Terry explained and then turned towards Walter and asked him to go and eat Lechon Kawali for dinner.

"Yala tu! Kau ni, tak sabar-sabar saja nak makan Babi Kau tu!" Walter replied.

"Pukimu buruk!" Terry scolded Walter jokingly.

*****

The van stopped outside their hotel, it took about 2 and a half hours to get to their hotel from the airport, there was a jam of course, the hotel couldn't get any more gay-er, Jay thought to himself. It was called the Rainbow Pacific Hotel. It was gay friendly, Walter claimed, Jay thought it was practically a Gay hotel. Rainbow made it so obvious! It was a sort of nice setting though, a one star hotel, he felt it was okay, at least it was situated in the clubbing district of Manila.

"What is this place?" Jay asked Walter.

"Oh, this is Malate." Walter replied.

Malate apparently is one of the clubbing districts in Manila. He could tell by the busy streets outside and there were already at least ten clubs and bars right in front, beside, behind the hotel itself. There was even a Starbucks in front of the Hotel. He loved it. But the street was crowded with cars, people, tramps etc. It was messy, he loved it.

Jay was making his way to the elevator after registration and he noticed that Terry was already "eye-fucking" with one of the staff at the hotel. The staff was outside, Terry was in the elevator "eye fucking" with the staff. As soon as the elevator door closed;

"Yeee, just arrived the hotel already horny! You this ah!" Jay said as he gave Terry a slap on his arms.

"B.Y (hot in gay language)! I want I want!" Terry replied. There was another staff in the elevator as well, he was showing them to their room. "So how are you?" Terry asked the staff who was in the elevator.

"Fine sir." The staff said smiling.

"You're very cute you know." Terry replied.

"Thank you sir." The staff said, he looked down, smiled and started blushing. Jay gave a nudge to Terry.

Jay held the keys to their room and they opened the door, Gideon, Terry and Jay were sharing rooms, and Walter and Isaac shared rooms with each other. The three of them made their way into the room and placed their bags to the corner. There were two queen sized beds. The walls were Blue, the toilets were tidy, the room was quite good, clean, and Rainbowy.

"So, who is gonna share?" Jay asked.

"Let the old woman take the bed la, I share the other bed with you." Gideon said as he placed his backpack on the firt bed which was situated on the right side.

"Pukimu Buruk!" Terry replied. He then took the second bed. Jay jumped onto Terry's bed and lay there. "Eh! This is my BED!" Terry scolded Jay.

"Let me enjoy it first la! You're the one who is getting this bed all to yourself tonight!" Jay replied as he lay on the bed while Terry went to look for a socket to charge his phone. Jay then remembered that he kept his phone on silent and didn't get the chance to turn it on. He took it out from his pocket, and noticed that he had over ten Sms-es in his phone. He opened his inbox, and noticed that they were all messages from local Philippine telephone companies asking him to use their service. Apparently each Sms would cost him Rm2 and a call would cost him Rm2.50 a minute. He thought that it was a huge ripoff for such a high charge. But he dialed his mother's number anyways and called her.

"Hey mom, I'm here already!... Yeah! The hotel is great! I love the place!... Oh, Walter is staying in another room... Yea, Sure... I will not forget to take my vitamins... Bye mom... Love you..." He then ended the call. Only being away from home for a few hours made him miss his mom. He didn't however missed his hometown yet.

"... Ok lah! 20 minutes kami jumpa di bawah! Jangan lambat ah Puki!" Terry was also on the phone with Walter, he was using the hotel phone though. "Eh! Get ready, we're going to have dinner soon! 20 minutes we have to be downstairs! Faster get ready!" Terry said as he looked at Jay who was looking at him, and then looked at Gideon who apparently dozed of on the bed. Terry took a pillow and threw it towards Gideon, who woke up after.

*****

They made their way out of the hotel, to the busy street. Jay felt excited, he didn't know what to expect, he knew clubbing in Manila would be a totally different experience from Malaysia or Singapore because Manila of course was a more open-minded city compared to the two cities he frequently visits.

"This is The Library, we'll be going there later!" Walter said as he pointed towards this shop lot which had a sign that said, "The Library", it looked dodgy from the outside, but the whole area seemed dodgy. The buildings did look a little aged, but it was also nightfall so it was dark. The streets however were crowded with people and cars, there were noises of Horns everywhere.

Jay saw so many things while following his friends, he saw a lot of clubs, there were a few with television screens outside showing videos of the inside of the clubs with promoters standing at the entrance handing flyers to people walking pass. There were also lots of food stalls serving all kinds of food and beer of course with all kinds of people sitting down, there were lots of Caucasian tourists there. Apart from that, there were also tons of 24 Hour shops around that was practically like a fast food restaurant, it was so much more different from Malaysia, that area was practically run 24/7, no matter at which time of day, there will be food to find! No one would have trouble finding food in Manila.

They then made their way passed the city square, Malate was apparently near the sea, only fifteen minutes of walking they could see Harbour View, it was much more different compared to Water Front in K.K. There were many eating places or in other words restaurants found in that stretch of board walk. It was so long, there were stalls selling food, little toys, snacks and funny people walking around or playing music. There was one restaurant which has an old bus on it, the bus has two floors and instead of seats, it has tables in it where people can dine on, there was also a live band playing top 40 hits. Most of the restaurants on the board walk were like that, not in the sense that all of them have double deck busses, but they all have a specific theme towards it with bands performing in almost every one of them! And even thought there were many restaurants, there were also many people eating in those places.

Terry, Walter and Gideon were all Chatting with one another, Jay and Isaac were in their own world, looking at everything, trying to analyze everything, trying to take in everything, Jay was just so fascinated by the new things that he was experiencing, the culture, the people, the area was just so new to him. Terry then made a signal to Jay and Isaac indicating that they've reached their destination, it was a restaurant, with a live band, that has sort of a tropical beach theme towards it, it was obviously by the sea, and the waiters were all pretty hot, the guys were gorgeous, and so were the girls. Jay wondered why the Pinoys were so good looking.

A really hot waiter then lead the five of them to their table, Terry as usual was being his naughty self, trying to "eye-fuck" with the waiter, but sadly, the waiter ignored him, Jay however was again feeling uneasy because he felt that people kept staring at him, he then thought to himself maybe he looked different, he was wearing his Black Ralph Lauren Polo and the same pair of Jeans. He wondered again, and when they got to their table, he sat down right beside Terry and Gideon, the band was playing in front of them.

"You just order what is nice for me la!" Jay said to Terry who was looking through the menu.

"Okay ah! I order you my most favorite one!" Terry replied.

Jay picked up the menu and started browsing through it, he saw all kinds of Pork Dishes, Pork Adobo, Roast Pork, Roast Pork Skewers, etc. Apparently all the food in the menu seemed nice to him but he wondered what Terry was gonna order for him.

"Two Lechon Kawali ah!" Terry said to the waiter, "Eh! Budak! Minum apa?" Terry said to jay.

"Oh, Can I have sprite please?" Jay said as he looked at the waiter. The waiter then took orders from the others as Jay just paid attention to the band that were performing on stage. The rest of them then started chatting with one another, Jay joining in occasionally.

"So, are you hoping to screw anyone while you're here?" Jay asked Terry.

"You think I'm a slut kah? I'm not like you la!" Terry replied.

"Cheh! I'm not looking for sex here la! I just want to experience Manila since It's been quite awhile since I visited!"

"We'll see, I bet you'll be waiting for men to come and amput you tu!"

"You go die la you old woman!" Jay said to Terry.

Their argument was cut short by the arrival of their food, The Lechon Kawali Terry ordered for Jay looked devine. There was a piece of pork belly deep fried to perfection, the color was gold in color with three layers, the fat which was light gold, the middle which was darker and the end which was brown in colour. The deep fried pork belly was served with fragrant rice and a side of vegetable which was known as "Pucuk Ubi" back in K.K, but they served it differently in Manila, it was cooked in some random sauce, it tasted good though, every bite Jay had was like having a piece of heaven. He enjoyed every single part of it.

*****

"You guys need to pay 150 pesos each to get in." Walter said as the five of them stood outside the bar. Dinner was great, Jay wanted more, but he was also worried about his weight. He took out 150 pesos from his wallet and handed it to Walter who then paid the bouncer. Each of them were given a stamp on their palm and a receipt which entitles them for one drink. He made his way into the bar, it was quite cramp, Walter was joined by his friend in Manila, his name was Joe, Joe was kind enough to show them around though.

The bar had a Library design, it is sort of an Irish Bar/Classic Library kinda thing. The stage had shelves with tons of books in it and three girls were on the stage telling jokes. The whole bar had an english feel towards it, it was full of people but they managed to find a place to fit the six of them. They were however placed in the back.

"Your privates are not private parking! It's more to Public parking! Anyone can park there!" The comedian then said. Everybody started laughing, the six of them too. The performers were actually joking in Tagalog, but also using some English language. There were singing and stand up jokes from the performers. There were three women, one Big sized, Medium, and petite, all dressed in sexy black Lingerie looking dresses. They were all such wonderful performers and singers as well. They performed songs like Lady Marmalade, Unfaithful and Dancing Queen which was obviously a Gay favorite. Jay ordered himself a long island iced tea and enjoyed the show.

They were only there for an hour when Isaac started bugging them to go to this Gay club that was also in the area. Apparently it was called Bed, and he wanted to go there badly.

"He just wants to look for some poor guy to fuck!" Gideon whispered to Jay's ears. Jay just smiled. They all had to leave the Library even though they were really enjoying themselves due to the fact that Isaac was so persuasive, they then made their way to Bed. Upon arriving, Jay noticed that the club was quite empty, he figured that it's like that because it was a Thursday night. At least it gave him the chance to look around that club. It was dark there, there were a few guys on the bar, all of them were disappointed at Isaac and really annoyed with him because he made them pay for cover charge to go into a club with so little people in it. But Jay could tell that if the lights were on, the club would be a very Chic looking lounge area. The walls and the cushions were white and red, a really nice retro feel towards it.

After spending like 15 minutes there, Jay had enough of getting attention from a couple of old men by the bar and decided to leave with Gideon, he told Walter that he was going back to the room to sleep and went back with Gideon.

Upon arriving the room, he washed up and just crashed on the bed. He never felt so comfortable. He was of course really tired. He lay down, stared at the Blue Colored wall and thought to himself.

"I wonder what will happen tomorrow..." His eyes got smaller, and he was transported into his own world of fantasy.

*Please do click on the Mudah, Digi, Mr.Potato, Windows ad placed by Nuffnang, it would help me alot if you do. And for a totally different post, please visit www.xanga.com/jeffreytanggau

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