Bohol Trip 2007

it was april of 2007 when me and my colleagues at brokenshire college went to bohol for a much-awaited summer escapade!. we are so happy that eventually this plan has pushed through!

1st day:

first stop at loboc river. this was where cesar montano shot "panaghoy sa suba". in here, ferryboats/ floating restaurants serve a feast (eat all you can!) while you are seranaded with acoustics music of the locals. at the same time, you will be refreshed by the panoramic scenery of loboc river down to the waterfalls at the end of the river course. it was a different experience for me to eat in a floating restaurant. cool! the food was okay. :)

as we were waiting for our boat, we visited a nearby church. it was in front of the loboc river. i forgot the patron of the church but it is also known as the loboc church. it is an old church built during the spanish era. i was really amazed with painting at the ceiling dated ~1800's. it feels like you were in another country. on its adjacent, it has a museum where old statues, painting and religious artifatcs were housed. these treasures have spoken how rich was the spanish influence in our culture.

next stop, we visited a tarsier center and have seen a handful of tarsiers on a tree. they were so cute and so small. we have seen a flying lemur too ( in bisaya "kagwang").

then, we went to conquer the chocolate hills. you have to passed through a two-kilometer stretch of densely planted mahogany trees located in the border of loboc and bilar towns also known as simply the "bohol's man made forest". as we reached the place, we needed to climb up the long steps to the observatory deck of bohol chocolate hills. it was like a stairway to heaven. it was really tiring but the view was worth all the hard work.

last stop of the day, the baclayon church. the church interior was majestic and one should never fail to pay homage to this national historical treasure and as a place of worship. it is considered as one of the oldest churches in the philippines which was built of coral stones.

2nd day:

we woke up early in the morning for a dolphin watching adventure. we need to be at panglaon before sunrise. as expected we were there on time and catched the beautiful sunrise at panglao! we ready our gear on and patiently waited for the dolphins to appear. we thought we won't see them at all. after an hour of waiting, i have seen their tails! hehehe.

next stop, we were heading to balicasag island marine sanctuary for an island tour, snorkling, swimming, watch tower viewing and a big lunch! :) scuba diving must be great there! but i was not into scuba diving at that time. i surely missed it.tsk!

then, we head back to panglao. the pristine water and white sand beach of bohol will never let you down. it was truly beautiful!

on that night, most of our collegues went backed to cebu while me, kim and ayhen stayed another night to vist ayhen's relatives. we went back to loboc church and museum for a night visit. it was another evening of rediscovery of the past. :) too bad, there was a partially done bridge erected on loboc river. hopefully the people of loboc will not let this project be completed. otherwise, the loboc church will be brought down.

3rd day:

we heard an early mass at baclayon church. i guess it was palm sunday. after the mass we stopped at the blood compact monument for a picture taking and then we sailed back to cebu.

it was a great bohol experience! 3 days and 2 nights were not enough to explore bohol! ^_^