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Exploring Philippines on Bohol and Siquijor

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Bohol and Siquijor
13 years ago, June 4th 2010 No: 1 Msg: #112436  
N Posts: 6
Philippines are almost ideal destination for every tourist.
A wide choice of islands with from luxury to bargain, quite affordable resorts and accomodation options makes this country a perfect vacation place for travellers with different requirements and interests.
Let me tell you about my vacation in Philippines in March 2010.
We spent 1 week on Bohol and 1 week on Siquijor. After landing in Cebu, Philippines, we hired a taxi to get to a pier for fast ferry. There are several ferry companies servicing destination to Bohol and Siquijor from Cebu port. Way to Bohol by fast ferry lasted about 3-4 hours. Please note, it's very cold on the ferry due to air conditioning. Philippians like to be freezed.

Bohol
The best vacation place on Bohol is Panglau, it's a small part of this big island which is rather good developed for tourism, but it's still not spoiled by massive tourism, so the prices there are quite affordable. Compared with such mass tourist destinations like Goa or Thai, it's almost a wild zone. But there's nothing to fear at all. Indeed, people in Philippines are very friendly, sincere and unselfish. There are almost no crimes or criminals, it's safe to have walking even deeply at night.
In Panglau, Boholf, where we rented a house with 5 bedrooms only for 180 USD per week, the most touristic place is Alona beach. There are several resorts on it and best bars and restaurants, serving fresh seafood and fish every night. All of them are WiFi enabled, so you won't have any problems with Internet connection. On that beach you may also rent a boat for a sea trip, snorkling and dolphin watching. You may hire a certified masseuse to have a good massage right on the beach. But I would not recommend to stay in a resort on Alona beach. We rented a cute house 5 minutes with a bike from Alona beach. Alona is not good for swimming, as there are a lot of boats laid up there. So we used to loaf on other beaches, mostly wild.
There are a lot of such places there. And had our dinner at Alona. If you are seeking for clubbing or nightlife, Bohol is not the place where you could get this. After midnight all bars and restaurants close on Alona beach. But it's a real pleasure to have a bike ride through nearby villages before sleeping. All Philippians are out of there homes (homes are actually mostly huts), sitting at their traditional eateries, whatching TV (only few Philippians have TV, as you may imagine, so they come to eateries with TV to watch and talk) or right on the steps of huts, smiling and waving their hands to you when passing them by with a bike. You are always welcomed there, and it's a really amazing feeling to be welcomed sincerely.
BTW, Philippians are very beatiful people, women and men.

What to see on Bohol

I won't narrate in details on main touristic highlights to see and experience on Bohol, you may check this on numerous web sites. Just list the must items: Chocolate Hills, Tarsiers, dolphin watching, Tagbilaran, the capital city of Bohol and some other things you may be interested in.
The most reasonable way to see all things on Bohol - to hire a taxi with a good driver for a day, it costed us 2800 pesos (60 USD) for a wholde day.

And we were six. We found him through a referral at fast ferry ticket office in Alona. Just come in and ask one of the girls there for a good driver.

So, our time on Bohol was really amazing.
We also rented bikes from two American guys (only they have automatic bikes, their office is not far from Alona). Driving with a bike is the best way to move there.

Siquijor
Another island we had visited during our vacation.

To be continued.
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13 years ago, June 15th 2010 No: 2 Msg: #113270  
Hi,i am going to be on panglao june 21-27 by oceanjet fastcraft, i was wondering did you go to the market in tagbilaran? iF so how far was it from the pier? also how were the mosqitos at night there? thanks for any info u have, mike Reply to this

13 years ago, June 15th 2010 No: 3 Msg: #113287  
N Posts: 6
Hi Mike,

It's not far from the pier, but you should take a taxibike. There are a lot of them, and would cost you no more than 100 pesos. But please tell me, what are you going to do on that market? I'm not sure, you mean the market I was at. The one I visited has only fish for sale. But it's an interesting exotic place to see anyway. If you want to buy some ordinary consumer products, you should visit the mall in Tagbilaran.

I don't remember, I had troubles with mosqitos. Maybe, it depends on season. But maybe, I'm not so sensitive to suffer from mosqitos. Reply to this

13 years ago, June 15th 2010 No: 4 Msg: #113293  
well the market days i am told are thursday and tuesday, but i plan to get fruit and crabs to take to the resort, they have a certain kind of crab threre i dont remeber what the name is I have never heard of them, but they are real good i hear from many different people. thanks for the info , Mike Reply to this

13 years ago, June 22nd 2010 No: 5 Msg: #113759  
N Posts: 6
Ok, I see. So we are talking about the same market. Yes, it's not far from the pier.
But if you are going to Panglau, you may always choose and order fresh crabs to be cooked at Alona beach. There are several very good restaurants where you can have a great choice of seafood at night to be served. Reply to this

13 years ago, June 22nd 2010 No: 6 Msg: #113807  
We are in panglao at this very moment we went into alona beach yesterday to look around and eat. What restaurants are you recommending? We will surely try them, the weather here is so nice now as it is the start of the rainy season yet its not raining just cool. We are going to tour the chocolate hills and surrounding areas today I will post some pix tonight when we return. Thanks for the info on the restaurants. Mike Reply to this

13 years ago, June 28th 2010 No: 7 Msg: #114241  
N Posts: 6
Try piramide and nearby restaurants, they are all good. Also at Alona Kew resort there's a good restaurant.
Have great Holidays! Reply to this

13 years ago, June 29th 2010 No: 8 Msg: #114377  
I have been to the Philippines before. It was in Cebu. I believe it is near Bohol. It was really a great experience. Different culture and wonderful people. Reply to this

13 years ago, November 17th 2010 No: 9 Msg: #123180  
Hi guys!

I've been to bohol last week with my family and super enjoy kami. We also did web surfing first and we found <snip>. I think twice first if i should trust them(you know hindi ko pa sila kilala) but i did the right thing on trusting them. When we arrive in bohol they we're so accommodating, very friend at affordable pa tsaka services nila is very comfortable(DOT accredited kasi) and safe kami ng family ko. I love to comeback to bohol and i am highly recommend the tour operator that we had. i hope you'll will also enjoy your tour in bohol like we did. God bless you all!

Al
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13 years ago, January 11th 2011 No: 10 Msg: #126385  
Bohol is really great for tourists. You get to witness its magnificent Chocolate Hills and the cutest tarsiers.

<snip>
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12 years ago, June 11th 2011 No: 11 Msg: #138151  
I can travel for free while getting paid, i love to travel a lot...
[Edited: 2011 Jun 11 03:54 - worlddreamer:201376 ]
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12 years ago, August 19th 2011 No: 12 Msg: #142066  
I would like to suggest to visit this site if you're having a problem on your travel to that specific place. This site is all about the information of the place. You can browse where the restaurants, hotels and attractions are. Here's the link, www.pinasinfo.com. Hope this would help.. God bless.. 😊 Reply to this

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