Queeriosity Palace: Men’s Private Sanctuary and Playground

After doing a series of guide articles on Epitome and Club Bath, I will now start featuring the next bathhouse and that is Queeriosity Palace. This bathhouse is the newest among the ones in Metro Manila, having opened last April 5, 2008. Unfortunately, it was raided soon after (see my post about the raid for a backgrounder). The raid was apparently a case of mistaken identity (see below) and the bathhouse continues to operate to this day (and even had a change of ownership) with no more hitches from the authorities.

Fahrenheit’s cousin

I first heard back in 2006 or 2007 that Wilbert, the owner of Fahrenheit (that bathhouse in Quezon City), planned to have a second bathhouse in the south. Queeriosity Palace is apparently the realization of this plan and the establishment is located along F.B. Harrison Street in Pasay (along the same road as Club Bath, but on the opposite side of Buendia).

I don’t know why he named the new place Queeriosity Palace, but I think he missed a huge marketing opportunity by not naming the bathhouse Celsius. Fahrenheit—Celsius, get it? Even if he didn’t pick the name Celsius, Wilbert could have done better picking a name less... um... queer. Bathhouses, by their nature, are relatively discreet places, and a name like “Queeriosity” just doesn’t cut it. An additional problem was that the entrance of the bathhouse had this big-ass signage proclaiming the name of the place. On a locally-busy street. Good thing the sign is no more and has been replaced with a more discreet metal lettering on the wall.

The true story behind the raid

Apparently, the real story behind the infamous raid at Queeriosity Palace was not because the place is gay, but because the police thought that the establishment was a continuing KTV joint fronting for female prostitution. Before Queeriosity Palace was opened, it was a place called El Barako. Male clients ostensibly went there to sing karaoke, but girl G.R.O.s were on hand to “serve” the eager clients in private KTV rooms.

When QP opened, the police thought that it was still the same place, with just a name change. When they realized that the place is actually a gay bathhouse (which is not illegal since there is no prostitution involved), they continued with the raid to save face. No charges were filed and they released everyone shortly after bringing them to the precinct. According to one policeman, “Kung alam naming na baklaan pala yun, hindi na naming pinasok yun.” Of course, this doesn’t diminish the fact that those people caught were humiliated and this incident diminished QP’s reputation.

Change of ownership

Sometime early this year, the owners of Hilom decided to buy Queeriosity Palace. There wasn’t really any noticeable change in operations except that the planned gym at the ground floor became a sort-of lounge instead and that Hilom masseurs had rotating assignments at Queeriosity to provide massage services at the bathhouse. In addition, I think you can now get free condoms on entry. This wasn’t done before, anywhere, because apparently the police thinks that an establishment that offers free condoms equates to prostitution. I think the owner managed to be successful with his dialogues with the authorities.

My initial thoughts

My single biggest beef with Queeriosity Palace is its location. Yes, it’s very much accessible and easy to reach, but the street where its located is much too busy for my taste. There’s far too many people loitering on the street and there are many active shops nearby. And it’s located right beside Unioil. It’s unlikely for you to go inside without anyone outside noticing you come in. I think this is the biggest turn-off for Queeriosity Palace. It was worse before when the place had a huge sign outside as I mentioned above. Club Bath, Epitome, and Fahrenheit have vastly more discreet entrances.

Aside from the location, Queeriosity Palace is a pretty decent bathhouse. It’s housed in a two-storey building with all the usual bathhouse amenities: lockers, showers, and private rooms. The showers on the first floor is an exhibitionist’s and voyeur’s delight—it consists of two rows of back-to-back shower heads on a free-standing wall with no dividers. The shower room on the second floor is a bit more palatable to the self-conscious since it has dividers.

Unlike in Club Bath and Epitome, there is no mini-gym here (the original owner planned to have one but the new owners decided not to pursue it). There is a bar on the ground floor, a jacuzzi (better than Epitome’s), and a steam room. The second floor contains an Internet cafe and a movie room showing blue films. The second floor also has four private rooms that you can avail of, but for the budget conscious, there are plenty of free-for-all smaller rooms with beds. These rooms (when clean) is the best feature of Queeriosity Palace compared to Club Bath and Epitome.

Other articles

If you want a different view of Queeriosity Palace, you should check out Joel McVie’s two-part blog posts. He went to the place on the suggestion of the new owner and provided feedback. It was from McVie where I obtained the story about the raid I wrote above. This other blog post by mgm is also quite informative.

Anyway, just like with Epitome and Club Bath, I’ll be writing more posts about Queeriosity Palace to serve as a guide for the PLU community. Stay tuned!

Pila Balde

I just had to ask: who experienced the ultra-long line going to Bed's door last night? Who would've thought that Bed's Black Halloween Party would be that popular? And the place was so packed, it almost brought back memories of the smaller Bed circa 2004. I actually know of a couple of people who left about an hour after entering just to escape the crowd.

The leaving-your-card trick

So, you’ve exchanged the look a few times with this guy in the gym and you both know that you are both interested in each other. But how do you get to know each other discreetly, mindful that other people might be watching or that either of you may have companions that you don’t want to learn of your flirting ways?

One way I know of and one that I’ve personally experienced is the leaving-your-card trick. (Yes, I made that term up.) Basically, it entails one guy leaving a calling card (or even a number written on a small piece of paper) somewhere discreet but in full view of the other man. The other guy then gets the card a short time later. It’s perfectly discreet: wordless and inconspicuous!

One guy I met at the gym before used this trick. We've been exchanging glances but neither of us had to courage to approach the other and have small talk. So I was sitting on a couch when he went to the nearby drinking station. I then saw him leave his calling card on the side and when he left, I went to the station pretending to be thirsty myself. I grabbed the card and several minutes later, we were texting each other.

I tried doing this trick myself before but it didn’t work out. The small piece of paper where I wrote my number was intercepted by the janitor who promptly threw it in the wastebasket. Sigh.

Ang Laro ng Buhay ni Juan

It’s a bit hard writing your thoughts about a movie when you’ve met the film’s director and screenwriter, especially when they were gracious and nice to you. But since I’m not The Bakla Reviewer, nor a professional movie critic, I don’t think it will be a great loss if people think my “movie review” is biased. That said, I will try my best to give an honest opinion on the latest Altarejos-Bonife film Ang Laro ng Buhay ni Juan, which opened last Wednesday in various Robinsons Movieworld cinemas. I also briefly blogged about this film back in August.

I was able to attend the special screening of this film at Mogwai at the Cubao Shoe Expo the other Wednesday, October 14, thanks to Lex Bonife, the movie’s screenwriter. There, I met him and director Joselito Altarejos and they each told me that they enjoyed reading my blog. Joselito recounted how he just came from having the movie approved by the MTRCB that day and how it was a learning experience to be in charge of producing the movie from start to finish—Ang Laro is the first movie to be produced under Joselito’s BeyondtheBox production.

The special screening was also graced by some of the film’s actors like Ray An Dulay, May-i Fabros, Tony Lapena, Mark Xander Fabillar and newcomer Ace Ricaforte. I’ve had a crush on Ray An ever since I’ve seen him in Moreno and he looks even more attractive in person. He may not be as muscular or as ripped as other actors or models, but I like him a lot. As for Ace, who has been the focus of the movie’s promotional efforts, he’s quite cute in person as well as being very nice.

Going back to the movie, I would have to say that it isn’t my most favorite Altarejos-Bonife film. The best for me is still Ang Lihim ni Antonio and Kambyo is next. That said, the movie wasn’t bad at all. It’s far from being crap unlike other films I’ve seen and I’m not saying that just to be nice to Jose and Lex. The movie’s plot is quite simple and there’s really no overarching conflict. What you read about the plot in the promotional material is basically it: Juan (known to others as Erwin) decides to go back to the province, leaving his poor neighborhood and his lover behind; he engages in one last live-sex performance in an underground gay club called Inner Sanctum and the place gets raided by the authorities. (What happens after? Watch to find out!)

The film runs smack into two very common Pinoy gay indie movie clichés: sex workers and nitty-gritty poverty. But Ang Laro manages to give a pretty fresh take into these concepts. I also liked how they added some social commentary into the movie but kept it subtle and in the background (and in one scene, quite literally). The acting is pretty good, with commendable performances by Ray An Dulay, Nico Antonio, who played Juan’s lover, and Angeli Bayani as the poverty-stricken mother. In addition, the film’s sole song (written by Lex) that framed the boundary between the movie’s two acts is quite good. (Lex, pahingi ng kopya! )

What amazed me most about Joselito’s direction is the really, really long take in the first half of the film. Unless I blinked, there’s a 20-minute-long scene in the first half of the film that had no cuts at all. While this makes for a very shaky camera-work, I find it hard not to marvel at the effort needed to coordinate everything so that the long take goes off as planned. I forgot to ask Joselito if and how many takes they did to make that scene.

As for the much-touted live-sex performance scene? Don’t expect much. If you want to see this film just to get a glimpse of Ace’s privates, then skip the theater and just search for those frontal nudity screenshots that were posted at RDDantes’ blog (but were later taken down). Little Boy Big Boy, Lex and Jose’s previous film, is more erotic, and that’s considering that it was already censored when I saw it.

Speaking of Little Boy Big Boy, I suspected and Lex confirmed that the O party scene in that movie was inspired by Sanctum. Well, Ang Laro is greatly inspired by Sanctum as well since it featured a fictitious gay club called Inner Sanctum that was unabashedly patterned after the real Sanctum. I had fun comparing and contrasting Inner Sanctum with the real Sanctum, since I’ve been to the latter a few times. The raid in the film was also obviously taken from the real Sanctum raid. If you haven’t done so, you should read my three-part series about the raid to get some extensive background.

Ang Laro ng Buhay ni Juan is a decent film to watch and would recommend you see it. Just don’t expect a lot of skin (though there’s enough but not too much to be exploitative).

Here are some other substantive links about the movie elsewhere if you want to get more perspectives:

• The trailer on YouTube
• Review at the Pinoy Gay Guy Confidential blog
• Review by The Daily Tribune’s Edgar Cruz
• Ang Laro posts at Lex Bonife’s blog (for lots of behind-the-scenes details)

Pinoy PLU Signal: Single Gym-goer

A friend once told me that he confirmed that I was PLU when he saw that I was enrolled in a gym. I was utterly bewildered by this, but on hindsight, I realized that he may be on to something.

I now think that if you see a man who is single and works out in the gym, then the chances are good that he is gay. I believe this idea works because gay guys are still men after all. Men are more into looks than women. (I know this for a fact since I’ve seen too many nice and pretty ladies with boyfriends that I wouldn’t give a second look.) Gay guys know how other guys think and thus, to have a good shot at nabbing that hunk, one has to be well-built himself. Therefore we have such stereotypes like the gym bunny and the reason why gym is the gay church.

Of course, this should not be generalized to every single gym-goer or to the preferences of every gay guy. But, don’t you think that there is some truth to this?