Adventure 69 KTV Club Cagayan de Oro
I went to Adventure 69 KTV club on Cruz Taal Street on August 14, 2007. This place is basically a strip joint and it opened only one week prior. Since my office is only located one block away from this place, I pass it on occasion, and I had seen the new artistic paint on the outside of the building advertising “Girls, Girls, Girls.” While the truth is I am married and have a four-month pregnant wife, my best-ex-pat-friend in The Philippines suggested we stop and take a gander.
I pulled over to the curb and asked if the place had “air con”, (air-conditioning) In response I was told it had “Surround Sound”. In The Philippines, I am a bit more interested in airconditioning than “Surround Sound” when I go to a bar, as an Irish-American Ex-Pat, whose ancestors are ice-age surviors. I want to be comfortable. If I am going to sweat, I really don’t care how pretty the girls are. There are too many clubs that do have air conditioning for me to stay for more than a few minutes in one that does not have it.
The owner of the establishment, a German in his late 30’s came to the door to encourage us to enter. He seemed a friendly chap and I have no complaints with him on a personal basis. I wish him well in his future endeavors in The Philippines in all that he does.
Unfortunately, I sweated and the girls were bottom rung. I asked for a “Jack and Coke” (Jack Danials and Coca-Cola), they did not have., ‘out of stock” they said, having been opened for one week. Okay, I’ll have a Johnny Walker on The Rocks”, no have, The German owner replied, “but our beer is cold, try a beer, everyone that comes here drinks the beer.” Of course if the only thing you serve is beer then of course that’s what everyone would drink. I ordered two beers because I wanted to be out of there as soon as I finished them. Tom had a bottle of what is called “mineral water” here in The Philippines, but it is actually distilled water.
At least two of the girls were sleeping when we came in and it also appeared that at least two of them were pregnant. The waiter stood over us as we looked over the sparse menu. They have a minimum consumable of 100 pesos. One San Miguel Light beer is 55 pesos, and one bottle of distilled water is 30 pesos. I ordered two beers right away, but still they only brought me one. I wanted to hit my limit and get out of there as fast as possible. After we ordered a girl from the back, who was not in the main lounge came out and danced on the small stage. The stage was perhaps 4 square meters at most. She was the prettiest girl in the place but that’s not saying much, just a comparison to others who were, may I say, less than pretty.
Apparently she liked me because she came and sat next to me after dancing. I asked her if it was expected of me to buy her a drink if she sat next to me and she nodded. I told her I was not interested in buying her a drink, and perhaps she should sit next to Tom, but she refused and begged me to buy her one drink. I admit I did feel sorry for her and bought her one drink, but she would pay for it by telling me about herself and how she wound up dancing in this club. Her story was a sad one.
She came from a broken home, and from the age of eight went to live in a school in the Province of Bukidnoon. I assume she meant some kind of state boarding school, something like an orphanage. She lived there until she was 14, for six years, and then came to Cagayan de Oro and began dancing at KTV (strip) Clubs. She was 19 years old, so she had been dancing for five years already. I am sure there are some sadder stories out there, but this was the saddest one I’ve heard to date.
Adventure 69 is certainly not the worst KTV Club in Cagayan de Oro, but it is far from the best. I do not believe it will successfully survive, and I doubt I could ever pull up a good reason to go back there myself