RR007

......so we hit the bars ( bear in mind we were complete newbies so prices etc etc were only our experience others will obviously differ) Just outside of the top end of "Walking st" is a sports bar called "Envy" and if you sit at the front all the freelancers (or streetwalkers as they're called here) are literally in front of you. It was clear to them that this idiotic pair were worthy of talking to....... I'm sat there grinning like an idiot at all and sundry (probably as I did those 30 years ago in Soi 8 first trip) and they're coming from all directions. Some nice ones and some rottwiellers.... Ordered the SML and first experience of pricing just 50 Baht (82 Peso) I'm thinking gotta be more than that....... Nope drinks for the guys are very cheap compared to Pattaya and that applied everywhere...... There is a caveat which I'll come to. Get a couple freelancers sat with us nice girls indeed (on the surface lol) and the obvious difference between Filipinos and their Thai cousins became clear.....these Girls English is very good and we're having normal conversations. Offloaded them no problem said maybe later (lol) but still others are steaming in....check the bill and something else becomes clear. Tips are obviously greatly appreciated but its utterly clear that change given isnt done so in a fashion to encourage tips.....I suppose on average throughout the trip and also each mornings breakfast at "Kokomos" that 10 Peso tips was the average. Appreciated and nobody going cheap charlie. Maybe average is more with other guys ?? No idea Vacate Envy and my wingman had remembered one "Go Go" from the 1990s (deliberately in inverted commas people who have been before know whats coming lol) in "Roadhouse". He had remembered it as a great club.....in we go to find 2 other blokes playing pool and errr thats it. On stage are 5 of the fattest birds I've ever witnessed in Asia. They couldnt dance. They could hardly waddle and as for "movement" they've got their arms folded lol.....I'm thinking and laughing wheres the cameras clearly this is a wind up or something.....as an introduction to "Go Go's" its on a par with abysmal...... (no showing at all in Angeles)... Thinking right lets have a bit of fun start the usual antics of Pattaya.......fook all is happening. These 80kg gargantuan whoppers aint taking the bait. Klaxon goes off change of "dancers" lol.....right am anticipating all 5 of the mingers over. Nope nothing zilch nada instead they seem to be having a union meeting . Am bemused its all going pear shaped. Thinking christ hope this gaff aint an entire reflection of Angeles (it wasn't) we decide to check bill. Just 64 Baht SML (105 Peso) so its clear drinks prices for us are going to be ridiculously cheap on average Moving few bars further up in we go. Jesus Wept there are 6 girls up line dancing following a video on TV screens........ I'm falling about in laughter but in this place there are a lot of girls.....what is becoming clear though that Filipinos are much shyer at initial contact than their thai cousins....very very much shyer.....waitress is chatty so start getting more info on the girls......firstly you really need to give the international sign for "do you want a drink" if you want contact at which point whooooosh all line dancing forgotten and down they came....first lesson learnt.....2nd lesson learnt is the eye watering prices of Ladydrinks that would make even "Whats Up" seem reasonable......215 Baht a pop (350 Peso) I'm thinking are we being rammed here (nope) so whilst our drinks are very cheap at 73 Baht (120 Peso) the ladydrinks are 3 times ours pretty eyewatering to say the least.....If you're in a pattaya go go and our beer is 150 baht probably LD is 170 ish a small percentage increase but in Angeles its a 300% increase.....this does add up lol Having had enough of line dancing we hit Voodoo and Shooterz back in actual walking st itself.....some cracking girls in Shootersz and having now established whats occuring get the best two birds down....very very very nice. Bang straight in with the LDs again for both (again 215 Baht 350 Peso) we're underway. Start chatting and bear in mind the great English we ask what these girls earnt as regards salaries etc etc....on average the daily rate is between 200 to 300 Peso per day on a monthly basis so taking an average salaries are 4600 Baht (7500 Peso) monthly.....on top they get on average around 61 Baht (100 Peso) per drink....make no mistake these two are going nowhere except later to bed... hopefully with us. Now I knew from some basic research that all the money is paid up front to the bar and they get the girls to sign an "early release" chit allowing them to leave the bar......in all the 5 days trip the price for a takeaway from any Go Go didnt change.....if they were dressed in Black bikinis it was 2150 Baht LT for everything (3500 Peso) and for those in white bikinis 1845 Baht (3000 Peso).....for those dancing in dresses we needed to ask but it was always 3000 or 3500 Peso no matter what Go Go (I acknowledge only our experiences)....I'm taking mine called Emmaline lol in black kit stump up the dosh and she goes to get changed......now am thinking will she come back out in flip flops looking shight.....nope wrong again came back out with high heels in lovely black dress looking a million Dollars.....the GFE was underway make no mistake (same experience we had everywhere).....heading out we hit another Go Go called Lancelot (Ladydrinks in here we knew subsequently were the cheapest at 184 baht (300 Peso)...... Shes shovelling Gin and Tonics down her neck (on average 73 Baht 120 Peso) and wants to go back up dancing here.....50 Peso charge on me lol and up she goes I'm loving this place...... To be continued

Happiness, Pandora, Boomerang, Luxor all in Soi 7 had the grand total of about 6 punters last night at 10.15pm Bear in mind as well Happiness had 20 odd Girls and 60 Baht beers. Something gives soon

Jesus wept. Beyond savage now. Last night Soi 6, Soi 7, Soi 8, Soi 2 and Soi 3 utterly deserted. God alone how anyone with invested monies will ever see a return Just imploding currently.....the popular bars will survive as always but the cull is coming this May onwards Even Sailor Bar an excellent Barometer was struggling for customers from mid evening onwards last night. I'd expect 200 bars to go by next November

.........For christ sake lol wheres the Taxi Driver.....On the the flight over I had jokingly said to my wingman if the pick up aint there we're slightly in the shit here. First visit with no sim cards the only solution would have been go and buy a sim at airport buy some airtime and ring the Hotel...it was our intention to just use hotel wifi in general and ditch phones for nights out Alternatively I'd have to use roaming charges on UK phone or use my True Sim which was on roaming automatically......bollacks Waited about 20 minutes thinking maybe traffic for the driver and spot an Airport Police booth and a female officer returning. Thinking might as well ask her christ she couldnt have been more helpful so I get the booking print off out she gets out her mobile and calls the hotel. Passes phone to me but I cant understand a word the reception is babbling partly because area was noisy. Hand the phone back to Plod who speaks in tagalog. Reception now give mobile number to her of taxi driver who she now calls from the landline and all sorted.....he's stuck in traffic lol Anyway eventually he turns up and I thank the officer profusely now thinking do I give her a bung or will it be taken the wrong way lol....decide on caution and rethank her to which she responds we're here to serve you have a nice day......I beginning to like this place Taxi driver had been 4 hours from Angeles coming. Now for illustration distance from Angeles to Manila and Pattaya to Survanabhumbi are almost same distance at 100km give or take. The difference .....traffic Off we go and we've all seen shanty towns in Bangkok and elsewhere but this place is something else entirely...... Its like Beirut just desperation poverty begging and the simply biggest cacophony of air horns on lorries, car horns and motorbike hooters all competing for the same stretch of road all desperately avoiding collision. Have never seen anything like it simply unreal Kids playing football at the side of "roads" as lorries metres away thunder by.....people running across traffic in all directions narrowly avoiding vehicles Eventually after about 1 hour 45 minutes driver says (great English) here we go about to get on the highway and the mad sod accelerates to at least 100mph with my mate telling the bugger to slow down which he did......for 5 minutes. Theres no seat belts in minivan at all lol and am hunkered down across rear seats thinking its only a matter of time before we take an unscheduled air trip. Arrive outskirts of Angeles after about 2 hours 45 minutes all up and I resurface from the seats thinking how the hell did I get persuaded to come to this madhouse......Now Larry had answered elsewhere our query about Pacific Breeze hotel because someone else had recommended to us and Larry said he had stayed at PB about 50 times but had stopped because of dirty linen poor internet etc and a few other issues and instead was using Scorebirds Hotel literally about 50 metres away instead We stuck with Pacific Breeze however....Now firstly in general Hotels are more expensive in Angeles than Pattaya not excessively so but in general they are. I'll convert Peso into Baht from here on to give a direct comparision....PB have 6 types of rooms (apparently) and we had the Executive rooms which was only one above the standard rooms....It was fine for me and came to 1660 Baht (2700 Peso) We pull up outside hotel and theres two geezers in some sort of security uniform with what looked like pump action shotguns on a sling around their shoulders lol....(jump in anyone if you know what the shooters actually are as we saw them outside plenty of hotels) I'm thinking WTF have I come to here.....a 123 Baht tip to driver (200 Peso) which he was clearly more than happy with Get checked in reception staff lovely to say the least......Now the rooms are "ok" (and fine for me) but it is a 1660 Baht room at the end of the day. You decide. Get showered and here we go...... Angeles "Walking St" is literally 70 metres away and its time for action and its starts off in spectacular fashion at "Envy"....... To be continued.....

It was originally my intention to do an extensive trip report but I acknowledge many here have already been so will instead precis with a few photos included later..... Despite an extensive trip count to Thailand that would have the Inland Revenue eyes watering I have never been to Angeles City or indeed even the Philippines...an absolute virgin trip. My friend had been twice in the late 1990s with originally Brian Kelly and Nick Hurn with 25 odd others on 2 group tours with that "Thai Adventures" group (later became Asean Explorer) one trip to be known as the "Pinatubo Ashes" am sure some here will remember them pre the internet taking off. Wonder what happened to them.... He had wanted me to come back then but I had met a Thai girl and was lubbed up lol in 1998 and aborted and subsequently married her instead....... Always regretted not going and the 2 times he went he had really enjoyed it as a young 32 year old with some great memories and photos.....but roll forward to November 2019 and I said how about Angeles lol. He looked at me as if to say are you serious to which I said lets get it booked time for some action.....Game on Will tell the story warts and all for hopefully benefit of others who havent been previously....it was 22 years since my mate went. Times had changed clearly I had asked elsewhere about Hotels and Flights and Larry had responded elsewhere over the Hotels which will come to later.... The issue though on flights is an extensive roundabout route to get to Clark International close to AC or fly into Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila with the associated traffic... Cebu Pacific had great departure times from Bangkok but the return timings were not good so we booked one way on Cebu out for £81 and will mention Air Asia on return sector later back into Don Maung (right minger of an aircraft lol) Checked in at Survanabhumbi (didnt bother with online check in) and having already sussed supposedly that the aircraft was an A320 the seat allocation is clearly indicating a wide body instead...... Bit bizarre but in fact it was an A330 with an all economy configuration at nine abreast with the motor being about 40% full at best and In the all economy set up most have been 400 odd seats plus....Flight attendants had Denim skirts on lol most delightful...... We had paid for 20kg of checked bags and they included 7kg of cabin bags....we were nowhere near the limit but had decided not to purchase in advance onboard any food. It was absolutely dirt cheap anyway if you fancied a snack. Literally £2 or so so unless you're desperate for a meal booked in advance I'd not bother.....just grab something onboard Pushed back early with a 2 hour 45 flight time. As it was daytime great to see the islands as we're starting to get nearer to Manila.....both toilets were inoperative on centre section of aircraft and one out as well at the front.....good job motor was not full. I'm 6 foot 2 and leg room was fine (even if had been a full flight) so no sweat. No onboard entertainment but no surpise obviously Landing was heavy to say the least and we docked right at the far end of T3 and filtered off pretty quickly....as we were sat right beside the exit door we were off promptly thinking that immigration likely to be busy so we'll at least keep in front of all the people on this flight but there was no need..... As we walked along a Qatar widebody drew up on an airbridge.......approached immigration and theres literally no sod there....... Am not joking.......Mate went to front of one desk and myself to another and literally 60 seconds later we're on the carousel....I (and he) had been anticipating big queues but couldn't have been further from the truth in reality On each of the carousels they have CCTV of the baggage handlers lol. Lets just say clearly they dont give a shit as the tossers were lobbing the bags in specatacular fashion on to the rollers.....thank christ ours came off intact am sure others may not have... Came into T3 area and now its heaving.....girls am guessing waiting for their teeraks everywhere and I'm smiling at all and sundry in usual fashion and not only are they smiling back keenly but saying hello. I'm thinking shit we're only at the exchange booths and we're underway..... Unlike the arrivals exchange Cartel at Suvarnabhumbi the exchange rates at the airport at Manila are only marginally below what they were at Angeles as it turned out...... At T3 they were around 64.30 for Sterling and Interbank on the day we landed was 65.43 so very fair rate no question so we lobbed over a ton each just needing enough for first night and got 6430 Peso each back......the Hotel had pre booked a taxi for us at 3000 Peso to be charged to the hotel bill and they had given very clear instructions as to his location with our names on a board outside the entrance to the Burger King and clearly all was going swimmingly well..... The tosser aint there............................lol Shit.... To be continued......

The one thing really noticeable is the amount of shady geezers on corners clearly offering drugs plus all the usual viagra cialis etc etc Walking around normally in Pattaya I simply never feel the need to look over my shoulder but here I'm very aware of my surroundings. You're fine inside the Go Gos etc (two crackers last night) but outside of their "Walking st" area you gotta be careful. I'd go as far as to say I wouldnt come alone albeit thats only my opinion. Am sure many do A Wingman is a good addition I would suggest. Last night tonight....

Am currently on this side trip to Angeles first ever visit. Will do a trip report when back in Thailand. Its been an eye opener. The poverty is extreme to say the least. Only thing that is expensive LDs from Go Gos with an equivalent price of 215 Baht (350 Peso) a pop. It adds up for sure I'm taking top end Go Go girls and maximum all in price has been 2150 Baht equivalent (3500 Peso) and stand on me they are in no hurry to leave lol. Its a full one day if thats what you want Will report it next week

Oman if you're not too bothered about their never ending saga of check in changes. Reading elsewhere that their London Muscat last night flight was less than 50% full as well. Both morning and evening departures have standard connections around 1.5 hours on average

Just bailed on the Sun....absolutely hottest day since I've been here with that clear(er) sky

Today has been the first time in last 2 weeks its been clearer. Certainly not clear of old but much improved.

Absolutely. Its part of every exchange we make here in Thailand no matter what our base currency is. All the way to 33 for openers will do. Seeing as Coronovirus now appears out of control I think its a foregone conclusion over next 3 months as airlines lock down flights in and out of countries

^^^ They couldn't look more amateur if they tried

Now main headlines on Sky. 21 dead so far. No surprise that the the gunmen is still roaming. American and British police would both have had him shot dead long ago

I see Dollar/Baht closed at 31.34 weakest for 8 months (was 31.35 earlier last night) All the way out to 33 please

To park mine at Heathrow (or more likely a field 5 miles away) for an average trip costs £200 plus and then 10 gallons plus to and from Cornwall. As much as I dislike National Express getting a return ticket as long as you book fairly early is £30 as opposed to £260 for car. Sadly its a no brainer still I did use purple parking at Gatwick last June but it was only a week and it was still outside of kids holiday so relatively cheap when I went Bulgaria. Car came back with mud on tyres (hence field comment above) but was completely unmarked

We're seeing a very slight weakening of the Baht over the last 72 hours against the Greenback. Am hoping its the result of some internal fiscal policy of the Thais 5 day graph here

Normally Tiger but partial to a drop of Gin...........

I can remember paying less in shitholes like Saweedee Court and Sawadee Mansion in the early 90's but it modern times these prices have to reflect the current lack of customers though the door. Sabai lodge in November had 21% occupancy when we were there as well

Read it and weep booking sites.....prices are for 3 nights in standard room in Soi 8 in Eastiny Group......496 baht a night.

Exactly Steelers exactly but more to the point why would anyone expect them to be cheaper when for each booking they pay out a wedge of commission. Find it hard to comprehend. We're off to Angeles next month. Needless to say we booked direct via email etc (never stayed there before) and got it equivalent of 240 Baht cheaper than any of these sites

Down Soi 8 and I kid you not one of the hotels of the Eastiny Group have 76 Square meter suites via own website for 938 baht lol when booking 3 nights. Once again a hotel pisses all over agoda and all the rest on pricing. I've booked for later this year but the prices are no different in February. Their standard rooms are 539 again on 3 days booking basis. There are Indians there before its mentioned Secrets as Evil says want 2200 up Booking.com my arse lol.....yet again Ive never seen the bottom line cheaper on any booking site rather than going direct to hotel via email or in this case completely open on their website I used to use Sabai Lodge frequently and occasionally still do. Whatever room style I had and they had many going via their own website was never less than 200 cheaper. You can add any hotel you like that I've stayed since these sites started as well.

Dear God 5-6 rounds lol.....Your tallywhacker must have been in tatters.

One of the reasons you should always a few minutes before you visit TT check Interbank rate on your phone. Then deduct 20 satang give or take and you got the TT rate. If its wildly different you're probably at an "imposter" booth lol

2200 night for a place without even a swimming pool and parking. Utterly bonkers and then some

They did and extensively lobbied against it. Definately looks though like just all menthol cigs and flavoured rolling baccy. Still bound to hit a lot I'd imagine