Baklay ta bay!

Let's hike mate! :D


Part IV - Bohol series

After an almost-all-night of being glued to the tube, still woke up to an early start. 'Twas an okay-night's sleep but still a bit expensive for 700 bucks. Anyways, after a very light brekky of biscuits and milk, we set off for the first leg. Another tricycle ride..and a bus ride from the same one, coincidentally, from Dao terminal to Carmen for a mere eight pesos (if I remember it right).. passed through Barangay Bool and the Sandugo Monument and got dropped off at Baclayon Church.

The oldest catholic stone church in the Philippines, the church was constructed during the Spanish era some 300 or more years ago. It is one of the best preserved in the region and is actually formally known as the Church of the Immaculate Conception. It was completed in 1727 and has a dungeon where catholic violators, usually the natives, are housed. Presently, it has a small museum on the side where picture-taking is very much prohibited. Artifacts to see are mostly religious in nature such as very old statues of saints, antique candle holders and similar church paraphernalia, and even gold-embroidered church garbs.

There's a port just a very short walk from the church. The church itself is situated along the highway with the sea on the other side. Such a picturesque location. Then there's a municipal hall as well as a small tourist center where bookings for watersports in I-don't-know-in-what-area in Bohol are available. We walked the entire 'walkway' and it was low tide. The water was very clean and clear. A far cry from what I'm used to when walking along Manila Bay. lol The sea-floor can be clearly seen from where we were standing. I was honestly tempted to jump in! But I didn't. :D

After walking back to the bus stop, we then hailed a jeepney, since it took the bus too long to pass us by, to take us farther down the road to the second leg, to try out the Loboc River tour. The ride was pretty relaxing as we enjoyed the cool wind and the nice by-the-sea scenery. Conducive to napping. 

Hershey's kiSses

Part III - Bohol series

The Chocolate hills are, if not the E.T.'s very shy relatives - the tarsiers, the most famous must-sees of Bohol. Legend has it that these over-a-thousand unique and uniformly formed land formations were made by giants throwing sand and stone at each other. Covered with grass most time of the year, these only turn chocolatey-brown under the baking heat of the summer sun.  When I last set foot - literally, on two of these kisses (you can't relate if you're not into Hershey's kisses), I din't consider myself lucky back then. But I do now. As I don't think they still allow climbing up any of these hills.

traveltreats.wordpress.com

The 60-70 pesos bus ride from the city to Carmen was about 2-3 hours. We made the mistake of grabbing the front seats where there's very little leg room so we had to live through pins and needles and a sore butt before getting off. The scenery's, at least, worth every minute of the ride specially when you're cruising through the man-made forest of Bilar along the way. Very very cool. This was a prep for the 10-minute winding walk up  the Chocolate Hills complex. which was then followed by the 214-step climb to the viewing deck. Great exercise! Wish had a really good camera with me. Again.

bright EyEs

www.greywhale.com

Part II - Bohol series

We arrived at the bus terminal near the mall via trike for 10 bucks each. Took the front-most seats aboard the old bus with wooden windows. Can't believe they're still being used! They're the very same ones we took a decade ago. lol Anyway, the very kind driver dropped us off at the fork where a habal-habal took us to the tarsier sanctuary. We struck a deal with Manong for him to wait for us and take us straight back to the terminal for just a hundred bucks each! Cool.

The Tarsier Sanctuary is located in Corella, less than half an hour away from Tagbilaran city. We opted to visit the place rather than see the tarsiers from various tourist spots like the ones at the Loboc river. You'll find these very small "monkeys," but technically primates, in a habitat closest to their natural one. Tarsiers are nocturnal animals and they shouldn't be handled by humans that much (bet they detest it much much!). So visiting them at the sanctuary was our way of supporting proper treatment of these cute creatures. 'Cause most of their kin in commercial viewing areas were said to commit suicide by banging their heads on the sides of their cages.

BoHoL-anon!

Part I - Bohol series.

I last set foot in Bohol ages ago. I was with my mom, my sister, my aunt, my Uyang - which means grandma in the Boholano dialect, and my cousin. We were there in May when every Bol-anon goes home or visits for the fiestas! We stayed in the basement of the ferry since 'twas our only option then. If we opted not to take that option, we'd be heading back home and not come to Bohol anymore. But hey, that isn't what I'm supposed to be writing about.