Bohol #2: Island Tour

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Too many snoozes on the alarm clock meant that we had to miss out on breakfast. Our bodies were still recovering from our long overnight journey and lack of sleep. The power had gone off during the night meaning that the fan had gone off during the night. It was pretty warm when got up, but not unbearable. The water had run out during the night too, so I had to run over to the restaurant and grab an extra bucket full. Doing a bucket wash, definitely made showering a lot quicker. Our driver was ready and waiting for us at 8 am. We headed off. We drove around Panglao Island first, the driver did a quick stop at Alona Beach, and we decided that we would come back there later in the day.

Since the Chocolate Hills were the furthest away, we headed there first, this would also mean that, hopefully, we would beat the majority of the tour groups that would also be visiting. The drive was a long one, about two hours. I was happy watching the world go by from the window. It's so nice to look out and see somewhere completely different from your normal day to day view. It felt like forever since I'd had a holiday near the beach and to be surrounded by so much greenery. I think I also took a little snooze during the journey. We arrived at the Chocolate Hills and paid the entrance fee and drove up the hill. We then headed up quite a long flight of stairs to reach the viewing platform.

The Chocolate Hills are all these mysterious large browny green hills that are located in the middle of Bohol island. There are roughly between 1,200 and 1,800 hills, and most are between 30 and 50 metres in height. It is not known how the hills were formed. One local legend is that long ago two giants fought for days and days, throwing stones and earth at each other, until they became exhausted, when they became friends again. Another folklore is that a young giant, named Arogo, fell in love with a mortal woman. When the woman died (as us mortals do) the giant wept and wept, and his huge teardrops changed into the chocolate hills as they hit the land. In reality, geologists have differeing views on how they were formed. One theory is that they are weathered formations of marine limestone lying on top of an impenetrable clay base. The possible truth sounds so boring in comparison. The viewing platform had also suffered some damage from the 2013 earthquake. The information boards were lying broken in a cordoned off area, and some parts of the viewing area were cordoned off, too. It was quite busy up there, but we managed to get to all the spots to take pictures of the hills. They look pretty cool, you need to be up high to see them properly, but it would be nice of you could walk around them, which isn't allowed. It was quite cloudy the day we were up there, I bet it would look even better if it was a sunny day.

Our driver asked us if we wanted to stop at the Butterfly farm and of course we said yes. We paid the entrance fee, which wasn't too much, maybe about 60 pesos. We were given a guided tour around the butterfly far. The actual farm itself is quite big, but we were only allowed in a small section of it, I presume to protect the butterflies and let them live and reproduce in peace. There is also accommodation there, if you wanted to stay. Our guide was funny and informative. He showed us some caterpillars, I even managed to hold one and not freak out, I normally hate any kind of living insect, but I was surprisingly cool with these. They had some dead butterflies that were preserved in cages, some were really funky, with their wings having different patterns on the opposite sides of their body. We also saw some pupae, which were these amazing colours. Everything is definitely brighter and more colourful in the tropics! We also got to have our photos taken with a butterfly in our hair, it was really tame, and pretend we had butterfly wings on our backs. There is a cafe and gift shop, where we finally had some breakfast, an iced coffee and some muffins. Their muffins were delicious!

We drove for a little while to reach the Tarsier Monkeys. We were excited to see them, as they looked so cute on the pictures we had seen of them. We paid our entrance fees, and along with our tickets we were given a postcard of a monkey. Tarsier Monkeys have several different species, and these Tarsiers are Philippine Tarsier, they are one of the smallest primates on earth. We wandered from the entrance to where the Tarsiers are. There were quite a few rules to read before entering. You had to be quiet, not to disturb the Tarsiers and don't be shoving your camera in their faces, i.e. keep your distance. We didn't see any on the first part of our walk through the forest, but we came to spot, where there were a few spread out in different trees. There were quite a lot of staff about, which was nice as they protected the Tarsiers from people getting too close, and also pointed them out to us tourists, as some of them were quite difficult to spot, and I would have definitely walked past a few oblivious. In one spot, there was a member of staff, who would take your camera and snap some pictures for you from a closer angle. The Tarsiers are so cute, in a weird kind of way, they have these huge eyes and look like little aliens. All the Tarsiers that we saw were snuggled up in the trees, napping. I really wanted to give one a cuddle, and take it home! There were a few shops in the car park for the Tarsier Centre and we ended up buying some t-shirts and also enjoyed some coconut water, straight from the coconut.

We drove back towards the Loboc River, we had passed it earlier when we had headed to the Chocolate Hills. The water is the most beautiful turquoise blue. This place was heaving! Our guide got us a ticket, which had our number on it. There were two different tickets regular and VIP, we had the VIP ones. Unfortunately, they weren't that great, as we still had to wait ages to get on a boat. Luckily, there is free wi-fi provided, so we made use of that, after having no internet since we arrived. Our numbers were called and we went up to pay for the cruise. It was quite expensive, I can't remember whether it was 600 or 800 pesos per person, and it did include lunch. The people running the operation must be making a killing. There were a few boats, all full, plying the river. We got on the boat and were shown to our table. The food was buffet style, with it all set out in the middle of the boat. The queue was quite big, as everyone wanted feeding, so we waited til it had gone down a bit. The food was alright, nothing special, although I did enjoy the battered fish, and went for seconds of that. We cruised down the river, it was so beautiful and peaceful. The water looked gorgeous, and the forest surrounding it so lush and green. We stopped part way down the river and there was a jetty, which housed a Loboc Choir. There was a mixture of women and children, singing, dancing and playing ukuleles. It was interesting to watch, the kids were great dancers, they were inviting people to get off the boat, and have a dance with them. I declined, as I am a terrible dancer, and would only embarrass myself. We then headed further down the river, to what seem like the end point (the source?) and turned around. When we returned to the port, we could see the church on the opposite side of the river. It had been really badly damaged by the earthquake and it looked like it had been sliced in half.

Our last stop was Baclayon Catholic Church. The church was first built by the Spaniards in 1595, and the current building that stand on the site, where built in 1724. The church was declared a National Cultural Treasure in 1995, as it is considered to be the best preserved church in the region. The church was a victim of the 2013 earthquake, that caused a lot of damage to the island. We wandered around the outside of the church, the damage done by the earthquake evident. We wandered into the church and paid the entrance fee to go to the museum. We wandered around the church. It's ages since, I've been to a church, especially, such an old, large one. There was a poster telling people what was appropriate and inappropriate attire to wear when visiting the church, even what kinds of wedding dresses were suitable. The church had a feeling of faded grandeur to it. The murals were beautiful. We wandered around the gardens and then headed up to the museum, which was filled with different religious artifacts, and even the old church records. The views from the windows of the upper floor were beautiful, too.

We arrived at Alona Beach and our driver dropped us near the beach. It was a five minute walk down to the beach, there were loads of little shops and stalls lining the street. It was so busy, full of tourists and a complete contrast to Doljo Beach, where we were staying. We took a walk along the beach, stopping to buy some fruit from a woman selling some. There were so many touts about, offering boat tours and massages. We found a spot on the sand and flopped down to admire the view. You can see why it's so busy, the beach is beautiful. We ate the fruit and watched as the sunset. The sky was absolutely gorgeous, all pinks and purples. I wish I was lucky enough to be able to see the sun set every night. As it got darker and as we got hungrier, we walked along the beach looking at all the restaurants and what was on offer. We walked all the way to the other end of the beach and then back again. We picked an outside restaurant, where the tables were all located on the beach. The restaurant had a stall set up that was filled with different kinds of fish, seafood, and some meat options too. I have never seen fish in such an array of beautiful colours. There was this turquoise blue fish, it was gorgeous, far too pretty to eat.

We ordered up a feast at the restaurant. We got a couple of meat and vegetable kebabs, 400 grams of shrimp, we were gonna get two hundred, but it didn't look like much, a couple of corn on the cobs, rice, and beers. We wanted baked potatoes, but the guy in front of us bought the last of them. We sat at our table on the beach and waited for our food to be cooked. It was all so good, we enjoyed everything, such a good meal. It was a bit more expensive than what we would normally pay, but totally worth it. You've gotta splash out once in a while. The only bad thing about sitting on the beach was all the kids that kept pestering all the tables, they'd rock up and start singing, wanting some money. And some people were actually giving them money, argh! Stop perpetuating the problem people! We took a little walk around the town, there isn't too much there, so we got a tricycle to take us back to Doljo Beach. We sat outside our guesthouse's bar/restaurant and had a few beers, chatting to some people there. We made a fabulous discovery apple flavoured San Miguel! Why isn't this available all over the world!

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