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Published: October 4th 2008
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Would you look at that water!
Aren't you just dying to jump in? Panglao Island, Bohol, The Phillipines
This will be a very quick one as Im short on time and also trying to figure out if we can get a bus to where we want to go tomorrow. Sounds simple but it's not!
We flew into Cebu in the evening to avoid Manila, and only stayed the one night. Which was just as well as the hotel we found ourselves in was in the bogeyest part of Cebu. We asked the receptionist if it was safe to go out for a wander, and she said yes, just dont take any valuables and proceeded to tell us of other Westerners who "lost" P30,000. We stayed in and watched telly! The next day we caught the boat to Bohol, the next island over and made our way by tricycle to Alona Beach on Panglao Island at the bottom of Bohol.
Tricycles are these tiny metal boxes welded together from bits of various other cars that fit around a motorbike and transport people and goods all over the Philippines. Sounds precarious, and it probably is. But they are a great cheap way to get around. They are brightly colour and emblasoned with all
sorts of religious slogals - "Jesus Loves You!", "Forgive One Another"!, "Forgive me", "Lord, Bless This Trip" (which guarantees you safety by the way) and various other messages about The Lord, Jesus and Keeping Your Distance. The Jeepneys and buses are the same, if not more spectacular. They drive so fast though, I havent been able to get one on camera yet!
Our friendly tric driver Henry drove us around until we found a bungalow we were happy with. But be warned, The Philippines is not as cheap as the guidebooks tell you. We are forking out the max we have ever paid on the trip so far so for the lowest standard e.g. for P800 ($18 or so) we managed to get a bungalow with a bathroom and cold shower and fan (some were charging P800 for shared bathroom - eh, no thanks - and that's the minimum rate) versus $20 in Hanoi for Double Room with AC, Fan, TV, Fridge, free internet and breakfast! Anyway, you cant take it with you...
We chilled out in Alona Beachfor for a week, lying on the beach and going scuba diving. Alona beach itself was lovely, which sand and
fringed with palmtrees, but not very deep, so really only one end of the beach was good for lying out, but the hawkers offering sunglassed, dolphin watching trips and massages took no for an answer first time around, which made a really nice change!
The best thing about Alona is the diving - it is truely spectacular. Its such a shame I dont have an underwater case for my camera, as honestly it was like floating through a Nat Geo documentary. Ive never seen so much coral and such a huge variety of coral. The have apparently stopped with the dynamite fishing and the reefs are making a good recovery. We saw morays, a huge solitary Napoleon bumphead, a great Baracuda (the dangerous type), groupers, triggers, nudibrach to beat the band, all sorts of boxfish and pufferfish (my favourite) including one that was much bigger than a rugby ball, a shoal of jackfish (think baitball scene in The Blue Planet), and countless other tropical fish, starfish, jellys, crabs and teeny weeny shrimp. The dives were mostly off Balacasag Island which is famous for its black coral forests. My favourite site (dived it twice) was The Sanctuary which is this
incredible wall dive which a lovely current that just sweeps you gently along. Oh man, I wish I could stay down there all the time.
We also took a day trip around the main sites in Bohol Island - the most famous of which is The Chocolate Hills. Now I know they are green in the photos, but in the dry season they turn brown and apparelty look like Hershey's Kisses. They are the weirdest dollops of hills as far as the eye can see, over 1000 of them. Very pretty. On the way back we stopped to visit one of the earliers steps on the way to humankind, the Tarsier, a tiny little primate (prosimian actually) very similar to the Bushbabies of Africa. This little furry thing is little bigger than a tennis ball, with huge eyes that make it look terrified and extremely cute! We also stopped off to visit the largest python in captivity and my god, is she massive. It was incredible. We were in the cage with her (and her owner/handler who was helping the snake shed her skin) and we were able to pet her. This one was just that little too big
and heavy to wrap around my neck though. She was due a feed which is usually a pig or two goats, and I didnt want to risk her getting me and a pig confused. Not that difficult. On the way back to town we decline Henry's offer to go and see a 61 year old, 3 foot tall man. That would have been just a bit too freaky. Bohol is a gorgeous island and Im sure you would be able to spend far more time there, but we were headed to Palawan, on the Western Edge of The Philippines - a bit more off the beaten tracks, and after only 24 hours, is proving itself far more beautiful! More on that to follow next time...
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Vince
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Bohol
They actually should sell super-sized Hershey's Kisses as souvenirs...hmmm, there's an idea! And Palawan? Hope you guys make your way to El Nido. Enjoyed reading your blog.