Sharing with you my wonderful vacation at Bohol with my friends (Lisa and Che), a very beautiful island in Central Visayas, Philippines. Bohol is a famous tourist spot not only because of the Chocolate Hills and tarsiers but also because of its beautiful beaches, and not to mention the coral reefs which is very beautiful... no wonder it is a world class dive site too! Bohol is simply amazing, i recommend you book a flight and explore Bohol.
So glad that we booked immediately when Cebu Pacific announced their Piso fare last December, we only paid 3,200 pesos per head for our plane ticket. Only downside is that Cebu Pacific only flies twice a day to Tagbilaran City and our flight was scheduled at 530AM. Being the great procastinator i am, even though this Bohol trip was scheduled months before i only packed my things 6hours before we leave. So i was really having a panic attack since I have been doing overtime the whole week in order to finish a proposal so i was like really a zombie and i wanna scream because of stress! thank god i was able to finish the proposal and i was really de-stressed when the plane landed.
Please be warned that you'll get tired of seeing my face in the photos, i left the photographer me in Manila, so mowdel mowdelan ang drama ko dito. Please bear with my face hahahaha. we had about 1800+ photos during our stay at Bohol (adik sa camera, i know!)
DAY 1, 29 February 2008
Me at Tagbilaran Airport, arrived at 7AM (oh di ba pretty pa rin kahit 5hour sleep lang hehehehe, walang kokontra pwede?).
We availed of our package tour from Tata, thanks to Che for making sure that we have a place to stay at Bohol, imagine almost all resorts are fully booked already! and i'm very impressed and happy the way Tata helped us during our stay at Bohol, so if you're planning to go to Bohol, i highly recommend you contact Tata for reservation. (we only paid 5,500 per head for our accomodation at Bohol Divers Resort for 4days and 3nights and that already include our land tour and sea tour).
After our guide, Arnold, fetched us at the airport we immediately proceed to the Bohol Blood Compact site, our first stop. The Sandugo Festival, also known as Blood Compact Commemoration, is an annual historical event that takes place every year. This festival commemorates the treaty of friendship between Datu Sikatuna, a native chieftain and the Spanish conquistador, Miguel López de Legazpi, representing the king of Spain. To brush up on your history read about it here.
Baclayon Church - one of the Philippines oldest stone churches built in 1571, located in the town of Baclayon, six kilometers from Tagbilaran City.
This ancient massive edifice still retains its century-old architectural design. Both in the external and internal portions of the church are various interesting relics and artifacts dating back to the early 16th century.
Included in our itinerary is a visit to a bolo-making shop at Loay. Quite interesting how they make a single bolo, parang si panday :)
And of course, your visit to Bohol will not be complete if you wont see the cute tarsier, the smallest primate, they really have huge eyes but i was quite afraid of its tails - looks like a rat's tail
Now, i really like this photo, this tarsier smiled for me =)
you're not allowed to touch the tarsiers and using of flash is strictly prohibited, that's why we are contented having our photo taken beside this little creatures
so i was really surprised when another guy entered the sanctuary and put the tarsier in our shoulders and proceed on taking our photos, telling us not to tell anyone that we were able to touch the tarsiers! it's claws/feet are soft, it's just that i wasnt comfortable with the tail.
am not sure what this flower is but it really caught my attention, this flower/plant is found at the entrance of the tarsier area.
after having our tarsier encounter, we proceed to the famous Chocolate Hills, the 214 steps to get a view of the magnificent land formation from the observation hill.
Chocolate Hills , its really a wonder how these hills were formed, the most commonly accept theory is that they are the weathered formations of a kind of marine limestone on top of a impermeable layer of clay.
it really looks like hersheys kisses noh?
us goofin around at the view deck, no we didnt have our photo taken with a broom (we're on a budget hehehe) it's ok we have a tripod so we can still have a group picture
We also passed the Bilar man-made forest, i wish we could plant trees like these here in Manila.
Bamboo Hanging Bridge at the Sipatan River
at the end of the hanging bridge, there's a market/souvenir shop selling native products
i love these hats, no i didn't buy one though
after this stop, we proceed to Loboc River Cruise for our lunch (will do a separate post about it)
kalamay being sold outside "Prony's place" (small bao is 20 pesos, bigger ones are being sold at 3 for 100)
meet prony, the longest and biggest python in captivity (smaller photo on the left is an underwear made out of its shredded skin)
they also have a flying lemur, and other sorts of bird in the area
and meet marimar, (striking a similar pose to the flying lemur eh hehehe). this "lady" offered to do a presentation to the guests and he was like doing a lip sync of charice pempengco's song ... i was more interested in finishing up my ice cream so i left and moved along... then my friends called me up and pointed at her =) jesus i dont know how ever she managed to climb up!
last stop of our land tour is the Hinagdanan Cave. Notice the drawings in the wall? according to the guide there was a foreign movie shot in the area years ago and painted these. you cant actually see these drawings since its kinda dark inside the cave but you'll see them in the pictures
the hinagdanan cave is beautiful! it's water is a mixed of salt water from the sea and its natural spring water, loved to have a dip in its clear water but there's no place to change clothes(and we're like waahhhhh we wanna swim already!!!!)
well anyways, this is our last stop and finally we'll be able to check in the the resort and swim!!!
to be continued....
