Bohol

---

Well it had to happen sooner or later, my first mishap on this trip. The morning I was leaving Siquijor it was low tide so we had to take a very small traditional boat out to the diveboat which was anchored about 70 meters offshore. There was me, another tourist, and a 14 year old boatman, and as we were pulling up to the dive boat somehow we capsized and I went under the water with my daypack on my back which contained my camera, phone, wallet, and a few other things. Thank god that my backpack was already delivered to the dive boat earlier. To their credit the crew of the boat reacted very quickly when I passed my soaked daypack up to them they quickly took the contents out, took the batteries out of my camera and phone, and dried the items as much as they could. Once I was on the boat I checked my watch which was still working and then had a smoke from my sealed pack of cigarettes. I thought I would wait a couple of hours before checking the camera and phone just to give them a chance to dry out. In the meantime I had to wait on the boat while the others went for a dive off Paliton Beach in Siquijor. After they got back on the boat we headed towards Bohol for almost 2 hours before a stop for diving at a small island called Balicasag. It was here I checked my camera and phone and thankfully they both worked. I was pretty happy at this stage. I had a chance to snorkel at Balicasag Island and it was pretty good with great visibility and quite a variety of fish including a couple of large ones. The highlight for me was seeing a large turtle and just following it through the water. It was very bright and clear due to the great visibility and sunshine.

After a couple of hours of snorkeling and relaxing on the small island we headed off to Panglao Island which is attached to Bohol by a bridge. Once on shore I walked about a kilometer and found some nice accommodation just behind Bohol Divers Resort in Alona Beach. It was a bit of a culture shock to me seeing so many tourists, hotels, and restaurants after seeing very few tourists at the other places I have been, including El Nido. Had a nice meal and a walk along the beach that evening and went to bed early. The next morning I checked my watch and camera, both not working, damn. So I thought I would take out the battery, recharge it again and try the following day.

I had organised a trike for the day to show me the sights in the interior of Bohol because I couldn't be bothered riding a motorbike for the 150 km roundtrip. That morning my camera was working again but my watch wasn't. The first stop was a forest in the hills where the trees had been planted many years earlier that the locals call the manmade forest. From there we went to the chocolate hills passing a lot of nice scenery along the way. The chocolate hills are actually green at this time of year but turn a browner colour over the dry season. It was a nice view from the lookout point and also interesting to watch the chinese do stupid poses in front of the camera. On the way back I got the trike driver to stop at a few ricefields so I could take some photos before arriving at the new tarsier visitor centre near the town of Loboc. After paying a small entrance fee I was shown by a guide around a small area of trees where I could view about a dozen of these lovely animals. The first thing that you notice is how small they are, they are about as big as your hand, and they are so so cute. They tell me there are over a hundred in the park and I hope that this conservation centre works and protects them from predators as well as chinese tourists that want to touch and prod them. From here we rode to the Loboc river where I decided I would do a lunch cruise down the river, so I joined about 20 other tourists on a floating restaurant. It was buffet, all you can eat which suited me, and as we ate we had a small band on the boat knocking out a few tunes. It was about a 20 minute cruise until we stopped at a little pier to hear a few locals sing some songs and then we continued to a small set of falls before returning back the same way. After this we made a quick stop at the historical Blood Pact site before heading home to Alona Beach. It was quite relaxing being in a trike for this tour exept for a few rough bumpy patches every now and then. The bad news was that my camera was flashing an error message which I found out later that night meant that I have lost the ability to use the flash. I reset the camera and got rid of the error message but the flash is still not working.

A couple of days later I hired a motorbike for 5 hours and rode back to Loboc to take some photos of the churches along the way as well as some of the jeepneys. I also rode back along the northern part of Panglao Island and had a look at a small cave where you could hop into the water for a swim. That night more bad news when I went to the ATM in Alona beach to withdraw $240. It seemed to accept the transaction but then didn't dispense any money. I checked my account after on the net and found that it had taken the money out, so the next morning I went to the bank and they filed a report and told me I could expect my money back in a month. Great. Also the foil on my electric shaver that night started to fall apart so I threw it in the bin. I guess it will lighten my backpack a little. Thats 3 bits of bad luck. No more hopefully, fingers crossed.

I spent 7 nights at Alona Beach and besides the couple of tours mentioned above all I did was play a little basketball and relax. On thursday morning I caught the jeepney to Tagbiliran, the main city on Bohol where I decided to spend the night before flying out the next morning to Manila. I found the city very uninspiring so I went to the cinema in the afternoon to watch a movie. The movie ticket, large popcorn, and medium drink cost me only $2.80.

Friday morning I caught a short trike ride to the airport, flew to Manila, taxi to bus station, bus to Dau, and then trike to my accommodation in Angeles City. Everything went smoothly and cost very little and surprisingly I was at my hotel 4 hours after I boarded the plane in Tagbiliran. I purposely stayed away form the bar area in an old hotel with a pool where I could just relax. The great thing was they had a free jeepney that took off to the bar area on every hour up to midnight which came in quite handy for me when I wanted to go to the mall or out to dinner. I had a shop in the mall put a new battery in my camera but unfortunately it didn't work so there goes my watch. Also I had a much needed haircut for a whopping $1.20. This is my last night in Philippines, tomorrow I am off to Kuala Lumpur for a couple of days before flying to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

---