4 BOHOL'S PANGLAO ISLAND NATURE RESORT AND SPA

Panglao Island is also considered as one of the main tourist destinations in the Philippines. It can be labelled as Boracay of the South. The Island is in the southwest part of Bohol and eastern side of Cebu. Therefore this is the complete package for your vacation, a place to be – countryside tours and beaches. So visiting Bohol will never complete without seeing the amazing white beach and crystal clear water of Panglao Island.

There are two popular resorts that you want to check out - Alona Beach and Panglao Island Nature Resort and Spa, locals tagged as PINR. But if you are on a tight budget you can also check small resorts opened around the area. 

Last day of our trip in Bohol, beach bumming is on the latter part of our vacation. So we can simply unwind and relax without hassle going here and there. We chose to visit Panglao Island Nature Resort and Spa instead of famous Alona beach. You have choice to check in and stay for overnight or just day tour. There are vans in Tagbilaran City that offers transportation going to Panglao Island. In our case, we decided to rent tricycle instead for P300. Sundo’t hatid na yan tsaka malapit lang din naman, mga 15 -20 minutes ride.

When you go check in, overnight rate is around P8,000 – P9,000 so that’s too expensive. So we had Day tour instead for P500/each, P250 is consumable for food. Just pay for any excess. Ibig sabihin P250 lang ung entrance kaso required na yong P250 for food.

INSIDE PINR

What I like here is the Infinity Pool and the Dream Man-made Islet. Honestly I haven’t plunge yet in an infinity pool and I’m dreaming about the Marina Bay someday. Jeez. But this one is real good. Kaya pagkapasok namin talaga namang WOW lang ang nasambit. This is the place to be, living you dreams into reality. Me ganun?!

As much as I want, I’d like to swim immediately in Infinity Pool and Jacuzzi as it is alluring. But we’d like to check the beach first going to the dream islet. Naalala ko tuloy ang Boracay, ang ganda ng buhangin parang polvoron na masarap kainin. Also, the crystal clear water is damn vibrant. Kitang kita ko ung mga isdang lumalangoy na diko mahuli huli.

So after my selfie shot and posted instantly to my Instagram – Twitter – Facebook account, oh ha! Lahat na yan. We asked the boatman to bring us to the dream islet while the sea as it is high. If it’s low tide, no need for boat, you can traverse all the way to the islet.

It’s too deep as I was tried to dive all the way down but it’s difficult to reach the topsoil, I still need to move my arms and feet so I can reach the ground. Andaming isda, iba’t ibang klase pati na maliliit na alimasag, starfish at halamang dagat na iba't ibang kulay. So we opt to rent equipment for snorkeling for P200.

After unlimited swimming it’s about time to fill some food for our stomach. There’s a lot of menu to choose. Though I don’t like the taste of the water served so we decided to order soda in can. Again you have P250 consumable for food but if you would like to order more, then pay the excess.

 

 

 

CAMBAGAT CAVE

This cave is another thing to visit PINR. It is inside the resort so no need to go outside; it’s like three minutes’ walk from the reception area. You just need to tell them so they can open the lights and lamps setup so you can vividly see the magnificence of the cave. And they request someone para samahan kayo going down there. Honestly I grew up in the province where there are plenty of caves but this is the first time to enter a real cave.

The fresh water is also clear; I can see the white stones underwater that looks like gems with different colors. Though I’m a little afraid to because feels like creepy that anytime something would grab my feet down. Hehe. Pero dahil minsan lang at first time kinaya ko pa rin ang soooobrang lamig ng tubig. Kaya lumubog ako kagad. Sarap ng piling.

I just don’t like the smell inside siguro dahil maraming bats, “mapanghi”. Tsaka medyo may kadiliman na sa bandang dulo but still I have the extreme side of me so I wanna try everything. I hear the chirps of the bats so I know a lot of them hanging on the far side. Using my camera, I pointed it on the ceiling I took a shot with flash and when I check it, yeah it is confirmed that hundreds of them sleeping. Look at that.

So after our cave tour, it’s about time to feel in the infinity pool..perstayyyym. Want to sawa. Whew..poor boy! And look at the face, that’s how I interpret happiness. Grrr. Kilig to the bones. At nang medyo namanhid na yong mga daliri ko sa paa, ung tipong masarap na mangalikot ng ingrown nails. We decided to call in the trike para magpasundo. J Day tour is enough for this but worth to stay longer if you want to ultimate relaxation. 

So this is the last day of our Bohol trip. And hope all folks reading this blog, please do not hesitate to come over or go back to Bohol. There’s a lot of place the stay, a lot of tourist attractions that fulfilled you ultimate vacation. Let’s help them build and restore the tourism industry.

6 BOHOL IS ONE OF THE BEST TOURIST DESTINATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES

This is the second part of my travel in Bohol. I was planning to post this right away after my trip but since I just got in to a new company I need some attention, torn between career and hobby. Additionally my laptop just died so that’s another factor. 

Unfortunately natural disaster just happened that tumbled-down most of the beautiful places I've been to. I don’t think that this a reason why I wasn't able to post this out but I’d like to use the opportunity to encourage those people who love to travel. Let's help them build the rich tourism industry. That way we can help them to stand up and be strong. Bohol is one of the best destinations in the Philippines.

I was searching for google images and most of the pictures displayed pity, disappointment, letdown, etc, and I don’t want to use those pictures. And I found this one, so whoever owned this photo; kindly allow me to use it. I’d like to see the strong spirit, the resilient of Boholanos. Kamang sa yutang natawhan.

So let me take you again and be my guest as we tour around Bohol.

BAMBOO HANGING BRIDGE

En route back to Tagbilaran City, the driver dropped us to a Bamboo Hanging Bridge that is crossing the Sipatan River in the Municipality of Sevilla. Although entrance is already inclusive to the countryside tour, I noticed that the driver paid P20 each. Obviously entrance cost twenty pesos per head. Hanging Bridge is a fun tourist attraction. Based from my research, it is originally constructed using just bamboo and rope, and now the rope has made way to steel cables giving safety and firmness of the bridge.

It’s a twin bridge that are parallel to each other so foot traffic is reduced, while you are ongoing on one bridge and come back on the other. The bridge extents 40 meters with a bamboo trees formed a woven slats on the deck. On the other side, locals will welcome you to watch “The Buko King”; he already joined one of the talent shows in national television where he can strip coconut in like 10 seconds using only his teeth.

LOBOC RIVER CRUISE

While we were excited looking at the beautiful surroundings, you can’t just deny that your tummy needs some fuel to fires up the entire day of trip. So the driver made sure that the next stop is the River Cruise in Loboc River which is one of the must-do’s while visiting Bohol.

While waiting for our schedule, right across the port is the beautiful Loboc Church, and the winding river. The cruise usually starts with a buffet, so it is an eat all you can heavy lunch serving delicious Filipino foods. There’s also a local singer singing from the start till the end up to the beat of the hungry bellies. The boat will turn around when you reach waterfalls. So going back to the port, cruise will stop in a small “balsa” along the river and the locals will provide a cultural show. You can see their faces showing their hospitality and warm welcome. Hoping that today, Boholanos are wearing now a smiles like the children in the picture.

And good to hear that the Loboc river cruise kick starts for tourism revival last October 24^th.

BACLAYON CHURCH

This is just six kilometers away from the capital city of Bohol, Tagbilaran City. Baclayon church is the second oldest stone church in the Philippines, comes after San Agustin Church in Intramuros Manila. The moment we arrived there, it feels like I was back in Manila, in the walled city of Intramuros as it is home of old educational institutions, old churches and houses.

As we alighted the van, the driver pointed his finger towards to the column of the church. He said if I can see the image of Father Pio. I was actually trying to imagine if there is but my naked eye cannot think of any figures the forms a human face or whatever. So he asked me to take my camera and pointed out to the column and boom I quickly spot of Father Pio’s face – with his eyes, nose, cheek bones, and covered with beard. Can you see it?

INSIDE BACLAYON CHURCH

You can enter inside the church through the Parking side. It won’t cost you entering inside the church. The receiving area is striped with statues of saints. Though I am a pure Catholic but I do not recognize some statues. Upon entering the main church you will find a pulpit likewise in San Agustin, in the days before microphone, the pulpit is almost in the middle of the church so the priest is better heard by attending Catholics.

I’m not really familiar with the terminologies on how you described the interior of the church or even in a typical house. All I can say that the interior of the church is somewhat like vintage that is full of artworks just like the book I found in library that talks about Plato. Like the last supper is painted in the ceilings.

Another charm of the Church is the Museum located in the upper level of the entrance. Unfortunately camera is not allowed, that’s why I don’t have any picture. Though I’m kind of disobey or something and honestly I always do that – like no flashing of camera or something like that and then I still do it. However, I didn’t forget that I am in the church so I have to be honest for myself at least during that time. Jeez. So what is inside the museum is all the relics, the stuffs used during the mass, the holy thingy used by Augustinians priests. And what amazed me there is they preserved the clothes ( I don’t know how you call it , the clothes worn by priests during the mass), and it was like 400 something years in preservation. Wow!!! I wasn’t born that time yet. Amazing. And by the way museum has an entrace of P50.

PRONY THE LARGEST PYTHON

This surprised me and I feel saddened. I will never know until I reached this part to blog about Prony, the largest python captivity. I’m gonna miss this big girl. She died on August 14, 2013 for still unknown cause. And that happened the next month after we visited. Hope I did not bring the jinx. God, I wish I’m not.  She weighs about 280 kilos and measuring about 23 feet. Per caretaker, she was fed two hogs weighing 65 kilos and she can finish it for an hour, whew terrible! and that is good for one whole month.

During our visit I did not expect that I can go inside the den since I’m really scared of snakes. But since she was on shedding that time, it is the process of changing the skin. I had the courage to get closer to her and do the photo ops as her energy was failing at that time. I just touched her to check how cold she was, though they ask me to seat or lie down. God knows, no way!!! And still I was like shaking. So the caretaker gave us a little demo that she is friendly. Look at the photo below. Humiga talaga siya kay Prony.

And that ends our eight-hour countryside trip to Bohol. We went home super tired and our plan to go stroll around Bohol in the night to look for food trips wasn’t accomplished because we woke up 11PM and the neighborhood is already sleeping at that time.

So if you stay longer in Bohol there are other tours that you might wanna try.

ISLAND HOPPING - that includes Dolphin and Whale watching, Snorkeling, and Virgin Island Exploration. Also includes of car and pumpboat.

Package per Head: 

P2500 - 1pax

P2000 - 2pax

P1500 - 3pax

P1250 - 4pax

P1200 - 5pax

So again, let us help Bohol rebuild and join them to stand overcome the challenges they are facing. Bohol is still one of the best destination of the Philippines. #BagonBohol #AngBagongBohol

5 THINGS TO DO AT THE BEAUTIFUL PROVINCE OF BOHOL

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Bohol is the heart of the islands. It is the home province of Carlos P. Garcia, the eighth president of the Republic of the Philippines. It is the tenth largest island in the country, famous for its diving locations and characteristically one of the top ten diving sites in the world. Chocolate Hills remained to be the most famous attraction of the province and The Philippine Tarsier is the second smallest primate in the world. Its more fun just an adventure and destination.

Please join me to revisit the exquisiteness of Bohol province. We all know what happened in the province last October, where most of the famous attractions were totally ruined by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. I’m glad that I was able to visit those places last July on my birthday before the disaster happened. Nevertheless, the purpose of this column is not to remember how badly it was but to show the world the real beauty of Bohol. The cheerful Boholanos will absolutely stand again and the places will be restored to original magnificence.

I'm not sure what the situation now is but when we were there, there are travel agencies that offers countryside tour with inclusions. Our hotel (Vista Pension House) also offered an eight-hour countryside tour. Check the itinerary below and prices. Rates are inclusive of Driver's Fee, Gasoline, and all entrance fee with lunch buffet at Loboc River.

Itinerary:                                                                          Package per Head:

1. Blood Compact Shrine                                                 P3195 1pax

2. Baclayon Church and Museum                                   P1945 2pax/head

3. Python Sanctuary                                                         P1530 3pax/head  

4. Tarsiers                                                                           P1320 4pax/head

5. Loboc River Cruise                                                         P1295 5pax/head

6. Hanging Bridge                                                             P1195 6pax/head   

7. Man-made Forest                                                         P1125 7pax/head

8. Butterfly Sanctuary                                                      P1070 8pax/head 

9. Chocolate Hills                                                              P1030 9pax/head

10. Souvenir Shops                                                            P995 10pax/head

So the countryside is ready to make the tour, although there are more places to go but I will be featuring only those places I have been to during my visit. Please follow this link for more tourist attractions – www.boholtourism.com. Join me for the first part of our tour.

BLOOD COMPACT SHRINE
Also known as Sandugo, this is considered as the first treaty of friendship between Spaniards and Filipinos. The blood compact happened between the Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna the chieftain of Bohol. Spain has the longest occupation in the country for 377 years (1521 – 1898). 

The monument is located in Tagbilaran East Rd., Tagbilaran City, Bohol.

BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION CENTER

It is a wide collection of unique and colourful butterflies found in the Philippines. This said to be the first ever rehabilitation program for the butterfly species established in the island and now supported by the Local Government Unit and also one the favourite stopover of the visitors coming to Bohol. We were greeted by the cheerful lady who gave us an extensive lecture about the life cycle of Butterflies.

We all know the cycle of Butterfly way back from our science subject in grade school – it started in a Eggs – Caterpillar – Pupa – Adult Emerging from Chrysalis – Butterfly. Well I must say history repeats itself while the lady gave us a speech about them. I was actually hesitant to touch them because I was once victimized by “higad”. So I have this phobia already. And now I know that only those hairy caterpillars are dangerous.

WORLD FAMOUS CHOCOLATE HILLS

The Chocolate Hills is a famous tourist attraction of Bohol. Not just in the province but also one of the icons of Philippine Tourism. In fact they have been declared the country’s third National Geological Monument and proposed for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage list. There are at least 1,260 hills but there may be as many as 1,776 hills spread over an area of 50 square kilometres.

On our way to the site the driver shared us different story behind tiny mountains spread all over the places. He said there were two giants playing stones and sand balls that lasted for a day. Then the messed they left now turns into mole hills that look like women’s breasts. Urgh! I’m just kidding. They are covered with grass, which, at the end of dry season, turns chocolate brown. So the hills derive from their name because of the color.

MAN-MADE FOREST

The driver told us to proceed first to Chocolate hills while few people arrived. So after our Chocolate Hills as promised, we stopped by on this shadier part of 2-kilometer stretch of towering Mahogany trees with wild bushes and ferns. Inside the man-made forest, you can feel the chilly breeze of tranquility and that attracts the by-passers on their way to the Chocolate hills. So even on the hottest day of temperature, when you set foot into this mind-blowing territory, you instantly feel the change of temperature. No wonder we are encouraged to plant more trees to fight against global warming that is heating up the earth. So it’s kinda dim because the sunlight barely reaches the ground because of thick leaves of the trees.

However, I understand that we are all excited to take a unique shot but we need extra precaution. This is a highway so vehicles are passing by in both directions. And guess what I had the time to do “planking” in the middle of this stretch and that is my first time ever. Scary though because car might hit me while taking pictures.

THE PHILIPPINE TARSIER

The Philippine Tarsier – this is one of the reasons why we visit Bohol. Although considered as the smallest primate in earth but I can say that this is the second smallest after I saw the one in Ocean Park Hongkong. The Tarsier is another icon of the country as being used in postal stamps and official mascot of the Philippines in international sporting meet. Sadly though because there are only I guess 15 tarsiers that are available for public and at that are not allowed to touch. Caretaker said that there are more tarsiers on a separate forest that are not open for public.

The Philippine tarsier is a shy nocturnal. They are asleep during the day and only active to look for food during the night.

And that is the first part of my Bohol countryside tour. Next is the second part, we will just need to take our lunch at the famous Loboc River cruise.