Cherry Girls

“Cherry girl” is Angeles-speak for “virgin”. Generally speaking, they are not up for it unless you are their Mr Right, or prepared to pay large sums of pesos. Back in 2006, when I first visited Angeles City, there were large numbers of them. There are not so many these days, but a recent visit (two weeks ago) showed that they are still around.

The following extract from my 2006 diary recounts my first meeting with a cherry girl:

“Went to Champagne and saw a girl I liked. She was just my type, petite, long hair down to the middle of her back, and sweet looking, so I signalled to her to come for a chat. Her name was Lorna. She was 19 and a cherry girl. We chatted for a while about this unique phenomenon and I found out the following: 

• There are a lot of cherry girls, e.g., approx. 10 in Champagne
• Their ID card number has 3 digits (compared to 4 for regular girls)
• Their status is verified by a doctor every week
• Some will sell their cherry for 50,000 PhP, while some are awaiting “Mr Right”
• Lorna would do nude cuddles but nothing else
• Some will give a blow job, a few will do anal

 Despite this useful information, chatting to her was hard work, as she just sat there unmoving, like one of those Japanese love dolls, so I decided to let her go.”

I was soon to find that most of the girls I liked turned out to be cherry girls, the reason being that, though the ages of the ones I met ranged from 18 to 28, they all had a fresh-faced innocence that was appealling when compared to some of their battle-hardened sisters.

A few days later, I got carried away and barfined one:

“What a night! It started at Bunny Ranch where there were about 15 girls on stage in red bikinis. Bunny Ranch is a smallish bar with a stage against one wall. I got talking to a waitress named Nita. She told me that five of the 15 girls on stage were cherries. I almost didn’t stay, but the set changed and I noticed two girls who I liked. They were smiling and friendly, and one of them was cute, so I invited her down for a drink (her friend invited herself). The cute one was Ria (20) and her friend was Brenda (22). Ria turned out to be (another!) cherry. That nearly put me off, but she said, “I horny cherry girl!” They were good fun – dancing in the aisles of the bar, and dry-humping in my lap, with promises from Ria of BJ’s and 69’s – but they never happened. Back in the hotel, the “horny cherry girl” hid in the bathroom and left me with a girl I had not wanted in the first place.”

I had learned the hard way that, while some cherries are sweet and sincere, some just play on it, often with a hardened accomplice, to get barfines without having to do anything.

Later in the week I found out about yet another kind of cherry girl, the “on the shelf” cherry:

“First stop was Rhapsody. Within minutes I saw a girl I liked and asked her to join me. I bought her a drink and chatted to her, and soon found out that she was a cherry girl. She told me that the bar has 30 girls in total, 8 cherry, and that she had worked there for five years. Before that she worked in a cigar factory for 200 pesos a day. When she had got to know me a bit, she asked my advice about her problem: how to lose her cherry (under the right circumstances, of course). My private thought was that, at 28, she was too old, the main attraction of cherry girls being that they are the youngest and hottest in the bar – but I brushed off the question by joking that I’d take her cherry myself if I could afford it.

Four years later, in 2010, I had a night-long encounter with yet another cherry girl:

“My next stop was Club Asia. I like the name, as it hints at all the things I travelled 6,666 miles to find – but the reality was disappointing – just another bland new bar. The next bar along, Club Genesis was similar, but I decided to stay for just one drink. [Club Asia is now a Korean bar and Club Genesis is closed].

It’s funny how you can go from bar to bar, spending hours gazing at the girls, and can’t find one who is halfway decent, then all of a sudden, there she is! I had spotted her and decided to talk to her in the time it took for the waitress to return with my drink, so I asked her to call her down. Jenelyn, 18, from Samar. She is one of a family of 10 – I didn’t get whether it was 10 in total or 10 kids, but it was big. There is no work there, so she joined the mass exodus to AC [Samar is the Isaan of the Philippines]. She is 5’ 3”, slim and beautifully proportioned. Her stomach is perfectly flat, but she is well-endowed in the breast department. Her face has high cheekbones, a well-shaped nose, and lips that are kissably-full. Her eyes are dark with flecks of golden brown. In short, she is a stunner – as beautiful as the best that Thailand can offer, but without the attitude.

She was sweet and friendly, and quick to make body contact, though not in a pushy way. As we talked, I found out that she had only been working here for a month – just my cup of tea – what another Stickman contributor called ‘nooky-rooky’! But a thought struck me:

“Are you a cherry girl?” I asked.

“Yes,” she replied.

My heart sank. I decided to finish my drink quickly and move on – but she was interesting to talk to. Her conversation was an appealing mixture of flirtatious and intelligent. She told me that she finished high school and wanted to do HRM at university – but of course, couldn’t afford it. I’ve met a lot of girls with this story, but never one who plans to save money from the bar and actually make it happen. We talked for a while longer, then a crazy idea possessed me – why don’t I barfine her? I’d had a fair few San Mig Lights by that time, and could hardly stand up, let alone get it up, so a cherry girl for a stroke and a cuddle seemed like a good idea. When she told me that she was a trained masseuse, that clinched it and I decided to go for it.

She wanted to go barhopping, so I took her to Club Atlantis, which is the biggest gogo bar in AC, so big in fact, that the girls seem miles away (should’ve brought my opera glasses!) However, it is a good bar to visit with a girl in tow as different groups perform different dance routines in different costumes. The only problem was that the music was so loud that we couldn’t continue our conversation. Next, I decided to go back to Love and Music. [Also closed.] She was impressed with the dresses (as I thought she would be), and I was impressed with a cute little number among the bikini girls whom I had failed to spot earlier. That’s the problem with taking a girl bar-hopping – there’s always the chance that you will see one you like better – greener grass! Well, in AC there’s always another night, so I made a mental note of her number (57), and turned my attention back to Jenelyn. 

Jenelyn told me that there are 11 cherry girls in her bar out of a total of about 100. She explained that the compulsory municipal ID card, which all girls have to wear, identifies cherry girls, and that her virginity is checked weekly along with her STD check. She also warned me that some cherry girls are either deliberate scammers or just unstable personalities, and they sometimes falsely accuse men of ‘raping’ them in order to extort money. Some cherry girls are keen to sell their cherry as soon as possible so they can get their hands on the huge (to them) bounty, and can get down to making serious money from barfines and tips. She didn’t want to do that, even though it meant she earned much less. Most guys don’t want to barfine cherry girls – I was only the second barfine she had had. Her plan was to save herself for that ‘special guy’. She knew it was possible, because her friend was a cherry when she met her American boyfriend, and now she was living with him in America. I hadn’t the heart to say that that was a one in a million chance, as it was obviously the dream that was keeping her going. And who’s to say she won’t achieve it? On the looks scale she was a perfect 10, and she also had intelligence and an engaging personality. What’s more, I’m sure she would make a good, loyal wife. I couldn’t help thinking of all the guys writing to Stickman with their sob stories about manipulative Thai hookers, and how much better off they would be with a girl like Jenelyn! But that’s fate! It’s so rare for the right people to bump into each other at the right time.

It was then one o’clock, and I give Jenelyn the option of going home, or coming to bed with me with a promise of no sex. I almost hoped she would decide to go home so that I could pop back to Love and Music for No. 57, but she said she trusted me and would like to stay, and that it would make a pleasant change from sleeping on the floor in a sweltering, cramped room with four other girls.  

She took a shower and came out with the towel wrapped tightly around her. I pulled it off, and found that she was even more beautiful naked than I imagined. Her skin was paler than the typical “kayumanggi” (light brown) of the typical Filipina (Spanish blood, perhaps). Her nipples, surprisingly, were pinkish, and her pubes unshaved [I prefer women as God made them!] Her every curve was just right, neither too lean, nor too plump. The word ‘nubile’ comes to mind – the perfect ripeness of the young female, before it becomes over-ripe and starts to sag. It was a delight just to look at her. However, I was as good as my word, and though I caressed her gently, I made no attempt to have sex with her. She responded by giving me a surprisingly good massage, after which we talked for a while until I fell asleep.”

In all my many encounters with cherry girls, I have never had the slightest inclination to have sex with one – and it’s not because I am too much of a “cheap Charlie” to pay the asking price, but rather because it would be a painful experience for the girl, both physically and emotionally (considering the high value placed on virginity in that strict Catholic culture). On the other hand, I can see the appeal of finding a beautiful, untouched girl, rescuing her from this dark place, and perhaps even marrying her (hey, I’d collect them, if polygamy were allowed!)

Two weeks ago, I visited Angeles for the first time in nine years, and found that the cherry girl phenomenon (like much else in the entertainment area) is in decline. In the first bar I went to (Apple) the mamasan told me that there were no cherry girls, though they had one last year who was bought after only two weeks and taken to Oz to get married.

Later on, I found myself in Champagne again. I got chatting to the mamasan, and she told me that they had three cherry girls, but they weren’t on stage at that moment. The going rate these days is 100,000 PHP (c. £1,500/2,000 USD). That’s a useful sum to a poor Filipina. With that she could start a small business, perhaps what they call a sari-sari store (a small general store). On the other hand, her prospects of marrying a Filipino would be almost zero, as they prefer to marry virgins (though a successful business might help to redress the balance).

The way things are going, I reckon that the cherry girl phenomenon will be over in a few years time – so if you’re in the market for an unspoiled sweetie, and you have the money, and are prepared to treat her right (preferably by marrying her) this might be your last chance!

***

Bangkok Byron is slightly famous (if that is not an oxymoron) for his poetry about hot encounters with hot girls in hot countries. Since he is a mediocre poet, he likes to plagiarise the great masters to help him express his ideas – no, to be fair to himself, he does not plagiarise, because he reveals his sources. Many of the words and ideas in this poem were stolen from Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats.

It was the word “unravished” in Keats’ Ode that got me started. My initial intention was to write a humorous parody, but the poem turned serious on me as I started to reflect on the unpleasanter aspects of the situation. However, I do not see the girls simply as victims. It’s a two-sided thing, and many of the men have their own problems. There is also a positive side in that a minority of girls do indeed find their knight in shining armour in the bars (which was Jenelyn’s dream). Finally, the message in Keats’ original somehow re-asserted itself in my last stanza when I compared the static bliss of the lovers on the Grecian Urn to the joy of watching the girls on the stage – at that point, it’s all possibilities and no disappointments. The minute you get involved, the rollercoaster begins, leaving you “high-sorrowful and cloyed” – just watching the girls is the beauty and truth, and that sums up exactly how I felt about Jenelyn. I did go a bit further than the poem by barfining her, but I didn’t get involved with her. However, I did get enormous pleasure from being with her for a short while and seeing an almost spiritual ‘truth’ in her beauty.

ODE ON A CHERRY GIRL

To Jenelyn

Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time…

– JOHN KEATS

Thou still unravished girl of Angeles,
Thou foster-child of Church and Poverty,
The beauty of your shape outshines with ease
Keats’ Grecian Urn – or any pottery!
But what strange creatures in the bars you find:
Not handsome Pinoys, but balding and fat
Old men. How can you bear to be barfined
And give your cherry to a man like that?

Heard melodies are sweet, but not techno
Or rap – you like Tagalog songs the best.
As for the whoremongers – they scarcely know
About your country, just about the West.
They have no concept what a precious pearl
A virgin is in your strict Catholic culture,
They pay the price and then deflower the girl;
Devour her like a predatory vulture.

Ah, sorry, sorry girls! that can’t escape
This life, nor ever bid the bars adieu,
Waiting for something that’s akin to rape –
Unless a knight in armour rescues you.
Yes, that’s what you are hoping for – for love!
Far better than when mere sex is enjoyed:
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed!

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
Sex tourists – but don’t be too hard on them.
For they have suffered too; have paid the price
Of failed relationships with western women.
Some are here to party and forget,
But some are here in hope that they can turn
Their lives around – hoping that they can get
A girl like you with whom they can return.

O sexy shape!  Fair attitude! Keats’ rhyme
Is right! – just to admire you is the best!
Just to enjoy this one moment in time!
For if I barfined you – you know the rest –
We’d share the joys of passion, then they’d pall.
And that’s the message you (and Keats’ Urn) show:
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty” – that is all
We know in Angeles – that’s why we go.

BANGKOK BYRON

The author of this article can be contacted at : rumblejungle2019@gmail.com