The night is still young when I left Sandra’s to continue my bar tour. Recto was now a place empty of people. The street is well-lit, unlike four years ago when it was dark and dangerous to walk alone in this avenue. But in my youth, I used to take a stroll here to search myself at past midnight. In those times, my new non-straight lifestyle still mystifies me, and as a test to know how far my newfound liberation would take me, I tried to feel and become one with the cruisers.
The jeepney trip that would take me to Cubao took almost an hour. In that span of time, I tried to look back and remember at what point did I stop exploring things that relate to my lifestyle. In my five years of being a PLU, I have never set foot in a bath house, a gay bar or have done nasty things most of my peers had already done in their lifetime. I stopped living the fast lane the moment I realized that my life is not just mine anymore. Now that my entire family counts on me, such trippings remain the least of my priorities.
Cubao, at the strike of midnight, was very much different from what I usually see during early evenings. There were still lots of people doing their errands everywhere, however this time, that stretch of Aurora becomes a promiscuous boulevard where pimps would openly ask you, “boss babae, bata pa mura lang!” and where young girls would look at you with such lusty eyes, I’d begin to wonder if I’d still get a hard on once these girls touch my moony.
I turned left at a street just below the Gateway LRT 2 station. Walking past six establishments to my right, Palawan beckons. The wikimapia website was much of a help. Without its instructions, I would have a hard time finding my second destination.
Click MapPalawan One Bar and Grill.
If Sandra’s is the old mother of all PLU watering holes, then Palawan is the youngest child among her brood. This stand-up comedy and videoke bar is surprisingly gaining popularity in the local gay dating sites such as Guys4Men, as an alternative hang-out place to the well-established domains of Malate and Makati.
There is a P50 peso cover charge for the entrance, which doesn’t include the beer. As you enter the main door, a large platform that serves as the stage is the first thing you will notice. Several effeminate kids wearing clothes which they probably brought from the Kids section of a department store, immediately exchanged glances at me, while the rest of the audience remains indifferent to the comedian spewing punchlines on stage.
A first time visitor would immediately have an impression that Palawan as just a comedy bar. However, as I explored the interiors of this place, I discovered that the other half of the bar is actually a large videoke room. The only difference between the two rooms is that the other half lets a guest sing on stage and be interviewed by the comedian, while guests on the other half take turns singing on the lone videoke machine in front of the room. In order to get inside the other room, a guests will be charged three songs a table. Since I don’t sing anyway, I decided to pass the opportunity to check the other room out.
Just by looking around the comedy bar area, I observed that the place is less lighted compared to Sandra’s. The circular red lanterns that hung on the ceiling don’t illuminate the floor at all. No wonder, I see shadows eloping on the darker areas of the room. However, their theme is more defined than the first bar I checked out. Small portraits of old muscle cars were plastered all over the walls, while a huge picture of Elvis Presley hung on an empty wall not far from where I am seated.
In less than my hour’s stay in Palawan, I was virtually non-existent to all the waiters and waitresses who passed by my table. For some reasons unknown to me, nobody even bothered to ask for my order, despite the fact that the comedy bar isn’t in its full capacity that night.
Appalled by their staff’s inadequate service, I left my table to go to the bathroom.
As drops of water falls around me from pipes that hung on the ceiling, the bare hollow blocks that serves as the wall where the urinal was installed reminds me that it was far better at Sandra's. It might be very smelly out there, but the algae that thrives on the tiles tells me that at least, there is life out there. The sights of muscled moreno men alone - the SMK types flirting with old gay men shows how busy and thrilling the place is.
Besides, at least over there, somebody notices my arrival. What they lack in amenities and entertainment, they make it up for genuine service and humility.
Here in Palawan, despite the four large television sets that shows the lyrics of the songs being played; despite the sleek black uniforms of the waiters and waitresses who just stand at corners watching the perfomers sing on stage; and despite their mediocre ventilation provided by several ceiling fans in the Comedy Bar area, what this bar really lacks is service. Honestly, I’d be happier being a nobody elsewhere, rather than to be stuck here, where the comedian is amazingly boring, and my presence is ignored by the very people I expected to make me feel welcome.
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