[Deepheat]

Real Street is closing down. I went to Tequila Reef for dinner and to meet an old friend.... Chris the owner. Business has been slow throughout the year and diners passing thru from Wild Orchid / Pacific Breeze are keeping TQ afloat.

My favourite bar Tropix has closed down and Crystal Palace will also be closing its doors for the final time very soon. This came as a surprise to me as Tropix & Crystal Palace belong to the Dollhouse Group of bars. Situation must be real bad if they are closing down bars. Raymond street is dead ever since Eager Beavers closed and the triangle area around Real St / Raymond St / Santos St is becoming toxic with almost every business owner putting their premises up for sale. Swiss Chalet is surviving because of the old expat community supporting them.

After leaving TQ... I went into the only bar still "active" along that stretch The Body Shop bar. Same old decor as 3 years ago with decent lineup on stage. Not bad crowd and was half filled with customers mostly westerners and not a Korean in sight. Being the only Asian I sat in the corner alone.... the waitress served me my drink and also left me alone too. No drink pressure here either from staff or dancers. While into my 2nd drink.... an AngMo came to sit beside me and introduced himself as David the owner of this bar. After exchanging pleasantries and drinks..... I found out quite a lot about the situation happening in the AC scene. Finally he told me he is also selling The Body Shop bar and a few walkup apartments across the street as it has become untenable to live in the PI. As long as he gets a reasonable offer he is willing to let go and move over to Thailand and start all over again. When big players like the Wild Orchid Group & the Dollhouse Group are quitting the scene.... the future looks bleak for small players like himself. On top of that the payouts to the PNP has become more frequent and even the Mayor and Barangay staff are approaching for "donations" for almost every community event. Finally left Body Shop after lights on and strolled towards Skytrax / High Society to see if I can get a bedwarmer for the night.

* These events are base on my AC trip earlier this month from 8th-10th December 2017