The Manila Gay Bar Guide: Part 2

(continued from Part 1: Introduction)

The Macho Dancing Gay Bars at the Pasay-Paranaque-Manila City areas

For those staying in Makati City, the best bars I can recommend due to its proximity to the city are those located in the cities of Pasay (pronounced PAH-sai, not PAH-sei) and Paranaque (pronounced Pah-ran-NYAH-keh, not Pah-rah-nah-cue like bar-be-cue). It takes around 15 to 20 minutes without heavy traffic from Makati to get to these cities. 

If you take a look at the map below, you can locate where Makati City is and the areas where the most popular gay bars are.

Let me then get into detail how to get to those bars in the map. Let's start with the closest to Makati.

The Manila Gay Bar Guide: Part 1

This week, to commemorate this blog's 1st year anniversary and to give a little holiday treat, I will finally feature my version of the Manila Gay Bar Guide. I've been planning to do this since September, after some conversations with a few foreigner visitors. But when I started creating this post, I realized that this task will require much effort. 

I am writing this with foreigner visitors in mind, as they are the most clueless about the gay bars in Manila. Local gay bar goers can also use this, but you guys would just have to adapt the information that's in this series of posts. Part 1 will mostly be about Introduction to Metro Manila, while Parts 2 and 3 will each focus on the two areas where most gay bars are located and how to get there. Insider information about those bars will be out of scope for this guide. 

Hope you find this guide useful in getting around Metro Manila to reach your target gay bar. 

All GB Goer Wants for Christmas

Dear Santa,

Hi. How are you? It's me, GB Goer. You don't know me? Maybe because I only started writing to you this year. Heck, my persona was only created just a few days before the end of 2010.

But check your lists again. I may be on your "nice" list. I wasn't that naughty the past year. Yes, I may have been going to the gay bars since last year, but both of us know I was well-behaved with the macho dancers. You can even ask the ____ number of men I've met just this year. Yes, ganun karami, and nope, I don't get affected nor offended when you say "Ho, ho, ho." Promise, those men will say something nice about me.

Because I was more good than bad this year, can I still ask for my Christmas wishes? Don't worry, my list is not that long, unlike some of my unedited, drawn-out, explanatory blog posts. Anyway, here goes. 

Gay Bar Advice: Just Say No

"Natatakot akong magpunta sa gay bar kasi hindi ko alam kung ano ang gagawin ko sa loob. Lalo na't kung may hingiin sa akin at hindi ko alam kung paano ako tatanggi. (I am afraid in going to the gay bar because I don't know what to do inside. Especially if something is asked from me and I wouldn't know how to refuse). " 

"Minsan nagpunta ako sa gay bar, at napilitan ako magbigay kasi nahihiya akong magsabi na ayaw ko yun, hindi ko gusto yun. (Once in the gay bar, I was forced into something because I was too reluctant to say that I really didn't want that)."

When I read revelations like these from email senders, I can sense their worries in going to the gay bar. These can be money matters: worried about not having enough money or worried about losing all your money to one guy (parang lang casino, but isn't love just one big gamble? chos). It can also be guy matters: worried about choosing the wrong guy or worried about being thrown out the bar for not tabling a guy (no, this does not happen).  

I started going to the gay bars with the same feeling of being not in control. A stranger would approach me inside the dark bar, and I wouldn't know what to do. As I wonder what the proper response should be in certain situations, I worried I couldn't refuse anything this stranger would offer. Thus, I would always just say yes with anything they pushed me. Looking back, the fear I felt back was actually coming from a feeling of powerlessness.

But a gay bar goer shouldn't feel powerless. On the contrary, he or she has power of what would happen in the bar. It includes the power to say No.

For illustration purpose only, and not misheard lyrics.

So all you single ladies (and bekis), here are some examples of when to decline offers and tips on how to say it.

Read more:

The Annual Mr. Gay Bar Title Competition

On a regular gay bar night, you always hear the gay bar DJ introduce some particular macho dancer onstage: "Up next is the 2010 Mr. Hot-Dream-God-Papa-Bird-King." And as you hear that single title, you turn your attention to whoever is coming next onstage. You ask yourself how this unique macho dancer might look like. As the song's first lines are played, your eyes are then expecting to see the most handsome, most muscular, and most talented macho dancer in that bar.  

Once you see the Mr. Gay Bar for 2011, you then ask yourself, how did HE win? 

It's already December, and to cap off the end of the year, most big gay bars would hold one of their biggest "Big Nights" (event) of the year. This event is the annual Search for the Mr. Gay Bar 20xx, a pageant held among the bar's existing macho dancers. This is supposedly the most prestigious title any macho dancer can hold, especially if the winner gets to carry the name of the bar for a year (as part of his resume for a future corporate job also?).  

"It's an honor", as the macho dancers say. "Makikilala ka talaga ng mga customer. Kahit sa mga first timer na customer, malalaman nilang ikaw ang pinaka sikat dahil may titulo ka."

So what happens behind these annual competitions?