Ah, the saga of a lonely man continues. Well, just because you are lonely doesn’t mean you have to be alone. I’m actually on the introvert side of the personality spectrum, but I prefer having people around when I’m drinking. That’s why I rarely drink at home. I’m not saying I need to have company with me at the bar, but being in the company of other patrons gives me something to look at while I imbibe. Entertainment if you will. Of course, the thirsty bargirls make their living by sitting with lonely strangers and I’m okay with that too on occasion. Anyway, it being Saturday night and all, and with the pain of my recent breakup needing medication, I headed into town with the intention of drinking copious amounts of alcohol in the form of beer. Here’s an illustrated story of the night’s events.
The first thing you have to do is get there. Here’s the view from my street shortly after leaving the house on my journey to the bars of Barretto.The path I take down to the main street in my neighborhood.And this path is my shortcut out of the neighborhood.It leads to this narrow pedestrian alley……that leads me to La Union street.A couple of blocks later, I make a left turn onto Gabaya street.Then a right turn onto Del Pilar street and I’m smack dab in the middle of the bar district. That’s the National highway dead ahead.And across the highway up on the third floor is my first stop of the day…Cheap Charlies.The view from inside Cheap Charlies. There were a few more customers than usual for this time of day (around 4:30). There are some new faces in town since the ban on tourists was lifted earlier this month. Also, some of the expats who’ve been stranded back in their home countries are coming back to live now.My old friend Alma, a Cheap Charlies’ fixture since I first visited the bar in 2018, was there to entertain me.I don’t recall her name, but she sat on the other side of me. Yeah, I bought a couple of rounds of lady drinks while I enjoyed my beers.I didn’t stay too long at Cheap Charlies, there were many other places beckoning me to visit. Diagonally across the highway in the yellow building are BarCelona (rooftop), The Green Room, and Wet Spot.But my next stop was the Central Park Reef hotel’s 6th-floor restaurant, bar, and pool.No San Miguel Zero beer served here, so I went with my old standby, San Mig Light. The difference is a Zero has 3% alcohol content, and SML has 5%. My friend Kat is a waitress here as well, so we had some brief chat when she wasn’t busy with customers.Kat surprised me with the belated Valentine’s gift. Ain’t she sweet?A view from the rooftop at Central Park.And a beach view from the other side of the building.The pool was busy as well. I had a couple of beers, then said my goodbyes to Kat and headed out.Right across the highway was the recently relocated Sit-n-Bull restaurant. I decided putting some food in my belly would be a good idea.Here’s what I ate–the roast beef dip. Ron (the owner) told me he doesn’t call it a French Dip for some technical reason that I forget now, but this one was excellent.After dinner, I went next door to Wet Spot. Sat at the owner’s table with Dave and his manager, Brett. Shared some adult beverages and interesting chit-chat. Dave is a Barretto fixture and one of the most interesting people I’ve met in the Philippines.After a few beers at Wet Spot, I moseyed up the street to Alaska Club to pay my respects to owner Jerry. That’s him standing by the front door. Still not real busy, but better than before. Jerry is happy as hell to be back after his 20-month exile in the USA.
I had thought about stopping in at Outback and/or Queen Victoria before calling it a night but went back home instead after a brief detour at the Car Wash. Yeah, I’m having a hard time letting go. But what’s done is done. I’ll find a way to live with it.
3 thoughts on “‘Twas just another Saturday night”
Making the rounds. I expect your spirit will be haunting these bars someday, just as mine will be haunting the Four Rivers trail in Korea.
That first path you take to the main road in your neighborhood looks a potential minefield when a person is sober. After a few adult beverages……..
Roughly, how far from your door to the bar district?
Kev, yeah, maybe I’ll have my ashes scattered in the bars where I hang out! Or on the My Bitch trail…
Brian, those loose rocks can be tricky, that’s for sure. I actually never walk home after drinking though, so alcohol is not an issue. It’s about a 15-minute walk to the bars, so around a kilometer.
Making the rounds. I expect your spirit will be haunting these bars someday, just as mine will be haunting the Four Rivers trail in Korea.
That first path you take to the main road in your neighborhood looks a potential minefield when a person is sober. After a few adult beverages……..
Roughly, how far from your door to the bar district?
Kev, yeah, maybe I’ll have my ashes scattered in the bars where I hang out! Or on the My Bitch trail…
Brian, those loose rocks can be tricky, that’s for sure. I actually never walk home after drinking though, so alcohol is not an issue. It’s about a 15-minute walk to the bars, so around a kilometer.