DAY 9 on Subic Bay: Finding new digs, savoring Shagger's Rest
One thing energizer bunny Kathy did for me: the tiring calisthenics with her make me sleep soundly. I wake up determined to change hotels.
The Emu hotel I'm in, while well-located and inexpensive, is on the run-down side.*My room lacks a safe, fridge and wardrobe cabinet; the shower stall is too small for 2 people; and the only lamp in the room throws a harsh light that's not conducive to relaxed eroticism.
I also just killed a big bug scurrying across the floor. Even the pool looks too unsavory for me to use it.
Moving on to classier digs is a no-brainer. Subic's distinctive draw, for me, are those floating bars full of girls, so I walk down to Baloy *Beach to look for a good deal.
I ask at the upscale Blue Rock Resort first, because they give a 10 percent discount to Asian Escapades members. It's a blisteringly hot weekend, so no wonder they're all filled up until tomorrow.
Next I ask at Johan's Dive Centre. They show me their only vacancy, but it's smack where divers slip into their gear. It's impossibly noisy, and I'd have to keep the curtain closed for privacy.
I ask at Lagoon Resort across the street, but only a higher-end room will become available *at 2pm. I also ring the bell at two smaller guesthouses, but nobody answers.
Ah well, I've always believed, where there's a will there's got to be a way. I go into the Viking *Resort that has a strange sign out front: "This Property Under Litigation...Not For Sale...Business As Usual."
*The room rate is P1300--only marginally higher than I'd have preferred.*I turn down the *windowless *room the friendly receptionist Reema initally shows me. But the next room is fantastic: a spacious 3rd-floor corner suite, cozily furnished, with no fewer than 4 windows looking across to the beach and over to nearby hills.
*Almost too good to be true--so I book it for only 1 night.*
---
Wondering if *I've really won the hotel-room sweepstakes or if there's a catch, I go off*in search of a breakfast place.*First I try Lucky Mike's, but it's not air-conditioned. Two other possibilities I check out look inviting only from the outside.*
Finally I settle on Rico's Filipino Fast Food restaurant, well-patronized by locals. And I find out why: my fish and *rice with chicken soup taste terrific and cost only P105, including a mango juice!
Check out of the Emu and saunter back to the Viking: feels like trading a beat-up Chevy for a Cadillac. On the way I catch up with a guy named Ian, from Wales--"not England!" he emphasizes.*
He's here for a month, has been battling a chest infection, just returned from a hospital visit, and is on his way to a pool party at Treasure Island Resort.*
"1000 pesos admission," he tells me. "But worth it. They've 120 girls."
At the Viking,*Reema gives me the key and says, "Number 13."
"Wow, lucky number!" I say.
"Yes sir, lucky number," Reema says laughing, and the cute bartender next to her laughs too. Filipino people are notoriously superstitious.
As I settle into my room, everything appears perfect: strong air con plus a fan, a safe, big fridge, big wardrobe, and of course a large-screen TV; but I never watch TV.
Even the resort's swimming pool is super nice, with a little waterfall and jacuzzi. The Viking restaurant serves delicious Hungarian goulash. Like so often, when things don't go smoothly at first, everything seems to have worked out for the best in the end.*
There's *"Hotel Information" posted on the door of my room stating, among other things, "For your enjoyment, medications such as Viagra, Cialis and Black Ant is available for sale, please see Lilis or Jimmy."
---
Want to go to Shagger's Rest, the floating bar off Blue Rock Resort. Stop in at the Viking reception located in the downstairs restaurant, to inquire about the wi-fi password. Meet Jimmy, the personable Swedish manager of the Viking Resort, who's sitting in the restaurant with 3 other friendly Swedes.
I ask Jimmy about the "Under Litigation" sign, and he tells me, the Swedish owner is locked in a bitter divorce battle with his Filipina wife, and she put up the sign to discourage potential buyers of the property.*
I also ask Jimmy about the poster advertising Black Ant.*"What's that?" I ask.
"It's Chinese Viagra," Jimmy says. *"But without side effects." I buy a pack of 4 for P400. Can't hurt to try.
On my way to Shagger's Rest I look at the Chinese writing on the pack I just bought. A Viagra seller spots me and wants to sell me a box of something even better, called "Zhong Hua Niu Bian," for P1500.*
I'm curious and offer him P500, which he rejects. So I walk away. He comes after me and offers me a combo of 6 Zhong Hua Niu Bian tablets plus 4 Black Ant capsules, for P1000.
"Okay," I say. Could have driven *harder bargain. But just*got P12 000 from the bank machine, and I'm thinking, "Why not let the poor guy make a *little profit?"
---
The little rope ferry takes me across to Shagger's Rest, in the company of half a dozen bargirls who're starting their shift. There're only 2 other customers--guess, most guys went to the Treasure Island pool party.*
As soon as waitress *Flora brings my mango juice, she sits down across from me, and soon 3 other girls join our table. *A free-wheeling conversation ensues, and I'm the center of 4 girls' rapt attention--especially after I spring for a lady drink for all of them.
On quite a *roll, I talk sex, love, family, meaning of life and even religion with these girls, but especially sex. I manage to entertain them and, a few times, even to shock them.*Surreptitiously I swallow a Black Ant capsule and wash it down with mango juice.
I focus more and more on mature but pretty Eva as having barfine potential, and the other girls get the message and drift off. Age 36, 2 kids, from Calbayog City on Samar; only a few weeks on this job, she says, and barfined only once. Doesn't like this work, but "no choice."
We talk about BJs, and Eva says, "I'm too shy if I'm not drunk." So I buy her a vodka cranberry cocktail.*
I ask her to watch my little backpack while I plunge headlong into the waves of Subic Bay. The ocean is warm but exhilarating, and the whole atmosphere is like a dream.
That's what I came here for--the total experience, not just maximum pussy. I realize, I'll never be happier than I'm right here and now.*
---
As I towel myself off, I know it's decision time: barfine Eva or not? I ask if she can stay the night, and she says "Yes, but..."
"But what?" I ask.
"But I have to leave at 3am. Can't leave my kids home alone all night."
I'm both disappointed and relieved--relieved, because now I can avoid barfining Eva without causing her loss of face; disappointed, because I invested quite a bit to build rapport for the kind of sex-with-mutual-liking I most enjoy.
"In that case," I say, "I can't take you out because I need a lady to do boom-boom at 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning." Eva understands, I pay for her drink, and we hug goodbye.
I think I'll head over to Voodoo floating bar and see if I can find my type of girl, to test out the effectiveness of that Black Ant capsule I swallowed.
