Paanod sa Suba...Loboc River, Bohol

( bohol-philippines.com )

Let the current take you away? :D

Part V - Bohol series

The first thing you see upon arriving in Loboc is the church. And the unfinished bridge which was said to be "only" completed at the expense of the church's ruin (hope I phrased that right). Good thing it was only 'said so.' It awkwardly stands across the river serving no real purpose than to obviously state the misuse of public funds. 

Anyway, the Church of San Pedro is old but not as old as Baclayon church of course, and is a worthy visit as it boasts an admirably painted ceiling, a collection of old treasures and artifacts, was made of old stones though no longer original as it burned down several years ago, and of course, trophies and prizes won by the famous Loboc Children's Choir. I personally haven't experienced their awesomeness yet but if and/or when you get lucky, as they say, you might catch the music when the choir's serving during the mass or on special occasions. 

The church stands adjacent to the river where the floating restaurants are waiting for us. Just right across. We scheduled everything such that we'd arrive just in time for lunch. Still, we arrived an hour early, I think. The very first ones! The jeepney guys were so kind to drop us off right exactly at the 'departure area.' One of the ladies manning (or is it wo-manning?) the registration stalls was with the ride with us so naturally we were ushered to her stall. So we paid for the ticket & other fees for around 400 bucks and waited at the air-conditioned Tourist Lounge..a great escape from the heat! We also got to update our facebook and twitter stats for free via the provided consoles! Really nice. Every departure area should be required to be like this one. Haha.. 

bohol-philippines.com

Finally..boarding time. We, as usual, were the first ones to board our huge bangka. Even before we sailed away, the mouthwatering buffet of Filipino food was already open to the now-hungry passengers. And again, we found out too late that each floating restaurant serves a different food specialty as well as music. We din't even really choose! We just bought tickets from the first kiosk. Well. It was good anyway. But we would've loved the coconut drinks in the coconut shells! 

boholextremetours.com

first round

Green was much of what we saw during the cruise. A now-you-see-it-now-you-don't road and buses here and there. Interesting nipa huts and some sort of camping ground or resort called Nuts Huts. And tourists coming and going from that place! Will definitely check it out next time. lol Anyway, I was also waiting for kids climbing up coconut trees and jumping off into the river. Unfortunately for me, they weren't out playing that day. :( But we made stops at floating rafts where dancers from some non-government units play music and dance for tourists. We, as I was playing tourist, gave donations in return. Though you're never obliged to. :) The tour was very relaxing, in fact I was gonna suggest that the management hang hammocks so we can take a nap if we want to. lol The restaurant finally made a u-turn to head back to the dock of origin when we reached Busay falls.

photos.camperspoint.com

All in all, the tour wasn't what I expected. Maybe because I grew up seeing similar river views. Nevertheless, it was quite nice and relaxing. A good thing to do to unwind. And enjoy good food.