The new International Bar Complex

A couple of new bars opened near the new International Convention center in Mandaue. This convention center is located near the old bridge to Mactan. You can't miss it if you are driving between Cebu City and Mactan (e.g. from or to the airport). The bars that just opened are only a couple of blocks from the convention center in a building called the International Bar Complex


I must say, taking a look at these bars was a pleasant surprise, even shocking. Each of these bars is two seperate levels with spacious and extremely well designed booths around the walls and a huge stage with bar stools in the center. The bars are called Egypt and Bounty. As you might suspect, Egypt has an Egyptian motif and Bounty is done up like a pirate ship. Each of these bars sports many dozens of very beautiful filipina dancers in the tradition of a Filipino bikini bar.

Picture of Egypt's dance floor taken from the second floor

A picture of Bounty's Dance floor and Pool table from the second floor

The drinks here are reasonably priced, just slightly more than drinks on Mango street in Cebu City. I think I was paying about 180 pesos for a Jack Daniels and Coke and I pay about 150 pesos for the same on Mango street. But considering the extremely beautiful surroundings, I would say that this is a pretty good deal. There were about 30 girls working in Bounty and about 20 in Egypt. The girls in Egypt seemed to have more energy, but the ones in Bounty might have been a bit cuter (but that could just be that I had more alchohol in my system by then, I don't know). Both bars do have barfines, but I don't know exactly how much they are. When I asked, I was told that the bar gets about 1000 pesos and the rest is negotiated between the mamasan and the customer.


For me, playing pool with the very excellent pool sticks and nice table in the upscale environment of Bounty is well worth the short trip to the Convention Center area. I plan on making this a regular hang out.

This is definitely a "do not miss" when you are here in Cebu, Philippines. For those people who usually take trips to Angeles city, Subic or Burgos street in Makati, Manila to hang out with pretty young bar-girls, this will be a very pleasant surprise on your trip to Cebu. But regardless if you have a thing for bargirls or not, the Las-Vegas style bar productions that are represented here are pretty fun.

I also was led to understand that there are six more bars being built in this complex as well as a restaurant. I don't know when they are supposed to finish up with all of that construction, but it appears that the point of all of it is to have a high-end production bar/entertainment area near to the international convention center that was built for the ASEAN summit. Seems like a good bet to me.

The International Convention Center
The International Bar Complex is right around the bend on the same highway, on the way to the old bridge.

Additional images and information about the new bars can be found here.

Going out in Cebu

Cebu is a great place to go out at night. Here are some of the interesting things to do:

• Gambling
• The Waterfront Hotel and Casino, two locations - the better one in Cebu City
  
• Discos
• Sunflower is the biggest and best disco in town
• VuDu is a nice grovy place in the Crossroads mall
  
• Pump is a bit crowded College type disco with a lot of energy
• Asian Karaoke bars
  
• Arena is the best in town
• Infinity is also nice
• Many others, just ask a taxi...
  
• Bikini Bars
• Many small bars on Mango avenu and Lone-Star just around the corner, good for westerners
• A lot of Filipino bars downtown, but it is recommended that you have a filipino escort

For all of these locations, just hop in a taxi and give the taxi driver the name of the place you want to go to. If he doesn't know where it is, he is either pulling your leg or incompetent - either way, change taxis and try again.