Saturday, March 08, 2008

bohol trip - day 1, part 1 of 3

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....

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21 meow:

itot54joni said...

kelan kaya ako makakapunta jan?baguio di ko p din napupuntahan.nga pala gusto mo non continue reading code s entry mo para nakacut mo yun entry mo?

Anonymous said...

Wonderful vacation photos! Thanks for sharing them with us. Didn't realize Bohol has so much to offer to visitors.

Anonymous said...

Wow sana makarating din kami sa Bohol. Sabi ko sa hubby ko, next year pag umuwi sya, punta kami sa iba't-ibang lugar sa pilipinas, sya kasi marami nang napuntahang bansa pero never pa syang nakarating sa ibang place dito sa atin. Mall at bahay lang kasi kami. Ako nga, never pa akong nakasakay ng eroplano, hahah!

Sidney said...

It looks like this little tarsier likes you !

Wow! You saw a lot in one day !

Well I hope there will be space left in one of the hotels/resorts when I go there... I never book in advance since I never know where and for how long I will stay in a place.

Anonymous said...

I'd love to visit Bohol; mainly b/c of the Chocolate Hills and I want to see the tarsiers! They are so cute, diba?

:D

orange said...

Very sulit trip huh? I've been in Bohol but regret that I was unable to experience the floating restaurant in Loboc River and come near the Chocolate Hills like you did. Guess i need to visit it again.

Lena said...

wowwwww

kainggit. sana makarating din ako jan...hopefully this year sa tulong ni ka pepe heheheh

pusa said...

@itot - wag this holy week ka pumunta for sure dami tao dun! cge gusto ko nyan sinasabi mo na code, pasend naman sa akin, thanks =)

@bertn - yeah, pag-uwe mo d2 sa pinas make sure you visit Bohol, you wont regret it =)

@amor - hay naku ang ganda sa bohol promise! mae sure punta kayo mag-asawa, ako rin i want to explore muna un pinas bago ako lumabas, mas maraming magandang places sa pinas eh

@sidney - i guess you're right, the tarsiers liked me hehehe

ohhh i luv your attitude wish i could do the same when traveling =)

@kyels - they are soooooo cute

@orange - korek sobrang sulit talaga! =)

@malen - for sure mare malapit na ikaw =)

Anonymous said...

my dear pusa,

bakit naman dinisplay mo ang picture ko? LOL! anlaki ng mata ko divanetch? hahahahaha!

hamisyu dear. *muah!*

Anonymous said...

hi pusa! wow nice photos! you really enjoy the trip.. it shows nmn tlga.. :)

Anonymous said...

wow Bohol! very nice pics. :-) hay, bigla ko tuloy namiss ang bohol at ang panglao :-)

rei said...

hello po..npadaan lng...nice po ang bohol no...nkrelate po ako kc yung mga napuntahan nyo npuntahan din nmin ng mga friends ko at 3 lng din po kmi ngpunta dun..hirap kumuha ng group pic..hehehe..sayang lng at hndi nmin npunthan yung panglao kulang kc s oras..God bless po..

Ely said...

hala, na-istress daw mga tarsier bec they're supposed to be sleeping day time pero ginugulo ng mga tourists. i wish buhay pa mga tarsier pag nakarating ako sa Bohol in the future. hehehe

Anonymous said...

grrrr!!!! hahaha!! I will return ako sa BOHOL at gagayahin ko ginawa nyo! HAHAHA

Nina said...

Ang Ganda. Gusto ko na umuwi...

Anonymous said...

we're planning to go to BOHOL nxt week.can i ask for the number of your tour guide? tnx! nad maybe you could give us tips also...

Webster Twelb said...

ang gala mo naman. Lucky you've been there...pupunta din ako jan..

ganda lahat ng pic..choose which pic matches the category or ung description ng contest. ^_^

Noel Cabacungan said...

may pictures ba dito? wala akong makita, bulag ang browser ko :P

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I was wondering if you could give me the contact number of "TATA"

thank you very much!

pusa said...

contact numbers of ms. tata

0917-3060608 (globe)
0922-8200755 (sun)

tata rabe's email address is tatarabe@yahoo.com

jijo said...

Hi. My friends and I are going to Bohol next summer, and I stumbled upon your site. Can you give me tips on how to go about in Bohol? We're also staying at BBC. Was it nice? I saw your blog on Cebu, too. Very nice. I'm from Cebu city originally, so all I gotta say is two thumbs up to you guys! I will be trying the skywalk thing they got over there.

Thanks much!!

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