night out

On Saturday night (March 29), we went to Malate, which is where a lot of bars are located. We wanted to see Reggae Mistress play at the Penguin Cafe. Since it is supposed to be non-smoking inside, this bar is one of a handful that I can go to in Manila, as I can't stand smoke and Manila is full of smokers.

But, as I'm not really a night owl, we got there early (just after 8pm). The Penguin Cafe had their lights off--I think they were doing Earth hour, but they were the only ones doing it. They said the opening band would play at 9pm, so we went to eat dinner first. We had Korean food at Korean Palace. As you can see, we were quite hungry and forgot to take pictures of the food before we started eating it.

We went back to the bar at 9, and the opening band wasn't there yet. And I was getting sleepy. We waited a long time. The opening band--Greenleaf, who plays electronica of sorts--didn't begin playing until about . I didn't particularly like their music. The only interesting part was that this guy (the guy in the green t-shirt) started playing with the band. My friend told me that he is retarded,but he is very good with the drums and other percussion instruments. He is apparently a staple in the bars, and most places/bands allow him to play. On this particular evening, he didn't get to play get to play the big drum set, but he got to play other percussion instruments. And he is good. He probably has a better sense of rhythm than the other band members.


It was already about 11pm by the time Reggae Mistress played. They're pretty good. As you can guess from the band's name, they play reggae music. The singers are women, and the main singer (the one in the tie-dyed shirt) is over 50 years old. So, that's cool. But unfortunately, people started smoking inside and we were already tired from the long wait. So, we headed home. That's about my only night out while I've been here.