Bohol Escapade

March 19, 2012

A week after my solo flight to Bohol, I came back with my dormmates, Ate Cha and Ate Aileen:

We left Cebu pier around 6AM and arrived at Port of Tagbilaran around 8:30AM (30 minutes behind the usual arrival time) where we where greeted by Kuya Ondoy, our driver and licensed tour guide. We knew he was our "sundo" since he was holding a coupon bond with "Charry Mina & Co." written on it. We were super happy to see that the car we'll be using is a newly bought Hyundai car... weeeeh!!! We couldn't resist taking pictures of our Bohol service... haha...

Our driver/tour guide: Kuya Ondoy with our service

And our tour officially started... Kuya Ondoy explained our itinerary and told us that we'll have to start with the farthest tourist spots such as the Tarsier and Hills... On our way there, we passed by the Baclayon Church, Butterfly Sanctuary and Ship House...

Tarsier Conservation Area - this was the first area we visited. At the entrance, we were oriented by one of the staffs that we have to keep quiet while inside the conservation area so as not to wake the sleeping tarsiers. Camera flashes should also be turned-off so as not to startle the little fellas. Before we entered the area, we had our pictures taken with Kuya Ondoy... hehe... Upon entering the area, we were greeted by the signs "No Flash while Taking Pictures" and "Silence Please" which were everywhere as a reminder to tourists... there were guides wearing white at every spot where there is a tarsier so it's easy for us to know where to go... we were so excited to see tarsiers... the first tarsier we saw was a bit sleepy... haha... but since it's our first time to see tarsiers, we tooks lots of pictures with it... they do look like a rat, only cuter... haha... after around 6 tarsiers, we decided to get our of the area since they all look the same and we just had our official picture taken and we were excited to see the outcome... Outside the area, we had our pictues taken with our face as a substitute for the tarsier's face.. haha... then we asked a couple to take our picture in the "Tarsier Conservation Area" sign... Afterwhich, we took the printed copy of our picture in the sourvenir area... When we looked and asked around,  I noticed that the prices of the souvenirs are a bit higher than those in Hinagdanan Cave then we remembered that Kuya Ondoy said that he will bring us to the Hanging Bridge where the sourvenirs are cheaper...

Our first tarsier encounter

Man-made Forest - On the way to Chocolate Hills, we stopped over at the made-made forest... As explained by Kuya Ondoy, the man-made forest was termed as such since those Mahogany trees were planted by boy scouts of early times... There is an area from this long stretch of trees where it is best to take pictures... Ofcourse, Kuya Ondoy knows this and volunteered to take our pictures there... We had fun taking pictures here since we took pictures from the road and had to get out of the way whenever cars passed by... I love our jump shot here...

The man made forest

Chocolate Hills - on the way to the hills, we passed by some other hills that were not considered as part of the Chocolate Hills... Kuya Ondoy explained that there were 1200+ hills that had no trees on them and were part of  the official Chocolate Hills... if the hills with trees would be included, the number would go up to around 1700+... before reaching the viewing deck, Kuya Ondoy explained that we had to climb a 200+ steps to see the famed Chocolate Hills at its best... we were dropped off at the bottom of the steps were tourist are dropped off and we had to take our service's plate number since there is no parking space in the area... all cars have this common parking space which is far from the vewing deck... when we'reare done, we could just inform the police in the dropped off area to call the service... and the climbing begins... it's a good thing there are viewing decks before reaching the top of the hill where we can rest for a few minutes before continuing with the climb... upon reaching the top, we were greeted with a large bell with a wishing well beneath it... the best view is behind the bell where some photographers offer  to take pictures of tourist... i liked there idea where your picture will be taken as if your flying a broom stick over the hills... ofcourse, i did not miss this chance for my jump shot...

A glimpse of the world renowed Chocolate Hills

Ship house - this is a new attraction in Bohol... I first learned of this when  it was featured in Rated-K... anyways, since this is new, this was not part of the itinerary that is usually offered to tourists... it was kind enough of Kuya Ondoy to allow us to see this place... A Php20.00 fee is collected upon entering the house... We were handed some captain's hat which I wore for the whole tour... haha... then a "Captain" guide greeted us and offered to tour us around the house... We were lucky to have him as our guide since he was so enegetic... We would go "Ma'am dito kayo picturan ko kayo sa labas... Ma'am dito dito picture kayo dito... Ma'am.........." haha... I think he took around 80 pictures of us... haha... For the house, it was a nice idea... It was like having a tour around a real ship... Our guide said that a ship captain had his house built like a ship and thus, theShip House which opened to the public on 2011... The ship house had a dining area, a Captain's Cabin, lots of crew cabin and ofcourse, the ship's deck which gives outsiders the idea that the house is a ship house...

Love ladies at the Shiphaus

Butterfly Sanctuary - Well, as the name implies, there were lots of butterflies and the likes... what we enjoyed here is the part where the guide would take our picture behind displays of butterflies and makes us look like we had wings! oh, we learned from the guide that just like humans, butterflies also have gays... when we asked how to know when a butterfly is gay, they said we just need to look at the butterfly's wings and check if they are of the same size... gay butterflies' wings are not even...

Butterfly displays

Hanging Bridges - the bamboo-made bridges lead to the souvenir shops that sells cheaper items as compared to those in the Tarsier and Chocolate Hills area... one bridge is used to cross to the other side and the other is used to get back to the road... while buying for some souvenirs, the rain started pouring and Kuya Ondoy had to bring us his umbrella and remind us that we need to hurry up for lunch at the Loboc River... it was so hard to cross the bridge since it was slippery... it was so nice to finally cross that bridge and get in the car... Lunch time!!!


Loboc River Cruise - On the way to where the floating restaurants were, it rained even harder... it's was a good thing we were already in the car... when we got to where the cruise begins, we were asked to wait for the boat that was assigned to us... we were also asked to fill-out a sort of registration form where we wrote our name, age and place of origin... a few minutes later, a lady from the group in front of us approached me and asked me a few questions regarding my family since when they saw my family name and place of origin, they immediately thought of my dad... I eventually met my aunt Jenelyn who was living in Michigan and only went to Bohol for a vacation... wow... what a small world... of all the places that I'll meet my aunt (Papa's cousin and brother's god-mother), it had to be in Loboc, Bohol... haha... We took some pictures together for me to have something to show to my parents... haha... Afterwhich, our boat came and we were asked to seat on the tables assigned to us as stated in the tickets that Kuya Ondoy handed us... Since it was past 1PM, everyone was hungry and went to where the food was... The buffet consists of pancit, some veggies, shrimps, crabs, barbeque, fried chicken, grilled lapu-lapu, some kakanin and lots of fruits... the drink is limited to one bottle of soda per person... while eating, we were seranaded by a band who took a break for us to watch a group on people on a bamboo flatform perform the Kuradang Dance... the ladies were wearing pink shirts and were playing their mini-guitar while the guys who wore black shirts, stayed at the back of the ladies and also played guitars... guests can sit in the middle of the group and borrow a mini-guitar and have their pictures taken with the group... for the much energetic guests, they can join the dance being performed... after the performance, we dropped our tip in the tip box and went back to the floating restaurant... the cruise had a u-turn upon reaching the Busay falls that are just a few meters high...

Our floating restaurant

Python - a cage houses the longest and biggest python in captivity, Prony. The lady who welcomed us said that the python was caught in the semetary near-by but was not as big as it is today... Outside the compound where the Python can be found, some vendors are selling calamay... Kuya Ondoy said this is one of the best calamay's sold in Bohol... and for a price of Php 100.00 for 3 large pieces, that is a bargain... Across the compound, guests can have a peek of the Pamilacan Island where dolphin and whale watching is a famous activity...

Prony the python

Blood Compact - This famous monument symbolizes the friendship established between Miguel Lopez de Legaspi and Sikatuna, the then local chieftain... We just took pictures with the monument and a few pictures overseeing the Pamilacan Island... From the monument, tourists can see how beautiful the island is particularly its white sand...

Baclayon Church - This is one of the oldest churches in Bohol and can be found in Cesar Montano's home town, Baclayon... At the side of the church, just adjacent to the parking lot, Kuya Ondoy insisted that he take our picture... After which, he was so excited to show us the picture and kept asking us "did you see the face?" and we were like "what face?"... When we saw the picture he took, we were so amazed to see a bearded man's face in the wall... Kuya Ondoy said that the image in the wall is St. Pio... It was discovered when a tourist took pictures of the wall, they noticed the image and a devotee identified that the said image is St. Pio... We then headed inside the church... Since we were wearing shorts, we were given a cloth for covering before entering the church... inside the church, we prayed for a few minutes then went out to light some candles before going to our last stop...

The image of St. Pio

Hinagdanan Cave - Our last spot for today...  This is not part of the usual Bohol Countryside Tour.... But since Kuya Ondoy is really nice, he agreed that we'll drop by the cave... Since I was here the week before, I already knew what to see... However, this experience was better since I had Ate Cha and Ate Aileen with me and our tour guide was really nice and funny... After taking pictures, Kuya Ondoy drove us back to the pier where we waited for our ferry back to Cebu... While on our way, Kuya Ondoy counted the spots we've seen and hoped that we enjoyed our tour... All we can say was "We love Bohol!" and we'll be back for the dolphin and whale encounters and other activities that Bohol has to offer...

Another glimpse of Hinagdanan cave

Back in Cebu:

We boarded the ferry around 5:30PM and arrived in Cebu pier at around 8:30PM... from the pier, we rode a taxi back to our place were we left our things... We then headed to the IT Park and had dinner at Casa Verde... Their specialty, Brian's Ribs, is superb! After a great dinner, we went back to our place and called it a day...