I only imagined how it looked like through the post cards and pictures on the net: I, sitting on the white powdery sand under the shade of the palm trees, gazing at the endless horizon of crystal clear blue water right before me. The gentle sea breeze soothes my skin, blowing all my worries away. The sound of the gentle waves adds a relaxing tune to my usual Jack Johnson's songs, setting my emotion to a calm state. These are the things i never failed to experience whenever im on a coast. Don't you just love this kind of feeling, too?
Finally, after 5 years, i got the chance to see the beauty of Bohol, not with a post card nor pictures on the net, but with my own two eyes!
Supposedly, I had to go to Cebu alone to submit my papers to the University's agent for assessment but fortunately then my Aunt gave my cousin, Pipai, money as a graduation gift. She went with me to experience travelling alone(well, technically travelling outside our province without her parents).
On April 2, we took the 1AM bus trip to Cebu via Don Salvador. We even met our neighbor, Tata who has long been gone working in Cebu. He's such a nice person to talk to. Catching up with him was really fun because he shared stories about his work, his life in Cebu, his trips, his pets and gave us some tips as well as directions on how to go to Mactan, our place to be!
| SEE! WE'RE STILL FRESH AND BEAUTIFUL, HIHIHI! |
We arrived at the North Bus Terminal around 9AM. We went to Pipai's relatives in Mactan (haha! to cut expenses for food and overnight stays in hotels. I was just lucky because Pipai came along with me. If not, id be crying over an over priced meal and costly pension house to spend the night in, wroar! :D ) We reached Tita Eden's home after an hour of jeepney rides. Their place is wonderful. Why? They live alongside the white beaches resort in Mactan and it is not only a dot that you see on a map. I learned that it is a tourist destination! Tourists are everywhere and tour buses are pack full of either Korean and Japanese. It reminds me of Boracay Island.
After having Lunch, we went to Keppel building to submit and have my documents verified with its original ones. The facilitator told me to just wait for an email from the University's agent who will assess my dcuments. Well, it was so quick we had time to get ourselves lost in Ayala Mall.
In the night, we decided to go to Bohol instead of going around Cebu. Its going to cost us just the same, so we might as well spend it somewhere we haven't gone yet.
The idea of going there struck me thousands of volts of excitement I barely get to sleep. We slept at around 2am and i woke up at 4am exactly! We prepared for an early travel to pier1 but we were too sleepy to do so. We found ourselves riding tito edwin's tricycle going to Lapu-lapu pier at 6:30am.
When we got there, i said to myself, adventure starts here!
(Travel expenses accounting...on monitor! ) :)
We paid 14php ferry fare to pier1 and 1.00 php terminal fee and we were welcome aboard.
Sairry was with us too! (Sairry is my korean bestfriend, Jerry's gift to me. And im really sorry, i lost one of her cute legs:'《)
| look at how beautiful the city of cebu early as 7am in the morning. |
We arrived at pier1 and someone in the pier asked to get our ticket for us. Just a reminder, never give your money. He can get it for you. Pay later. Well, if you want to get it yourself, just go outside. Beside the bakery panadero (or something), you should find the ticket booth for Tubigon. We missed the 7am trip but the next one is just 45mins later. The ship is Star Craft and we paid 200php for the ticket plus additional 15php tip for the guy (well, it wasnt bad that we paid him 30php cause he listed )There's a 10php terminal fee.
We arrived at Tubigon port around 10am and the sun was out so hot. Though the heat of the sun is painful and the place is unfamiliar, it didnt bother me at all. The people speak bisaya so im a little bit confident that i can go travel around the city just by asking using my hard learnt bisaya (it works for me all the time)
| my pretty cousin, pipai :) |
| cool seamen! game na game man magpose, hahaha! |
We took a pedicab (a pedalled cab) to the market because it's quite a walk from the wharf. This is our pedicab driver. We asked him if he knew someone who owns habal-habal (a single motorcycle used as public transport in various towns here in the philippines); who can give us a tour for a cheaper price.
Luckily, he introduced us to manong Tito Palma who was really nice for a tour guide. The trip was all for 1000 php from Tubigon to Tagbilaran, including the trip tothe famous spots of Bohol. He even helped us looked for a place where we can sleep in Tagbiliran as well as gave us information as to what jeepney/bus to take going back to Tubigon (because it is faster and a lot cheapear to take the fast craft in Tubigon than board the roro in Tagbiliran). Roro in Tagbilaran is 400php taking more than 3hours travel on water.
| starting the trip with the central trail. |
First stop: Viewing Deck
Entrance fee is 30 php. Just reminding you guys who would like to ride the habal-habal, please wear something with long sleeves and wide rimmed hat or bonnet or whatever to protect you from the sun. it would be wise bringing enough water with you, too!
Second stop: Chocolate Hills in Carmen, Bohol
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| i just love riding habal-habal. it makes me feel free! |
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| this is so high that i caught my breath too many times before i reached the top! |
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| what's your wish pips??? :D |
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| dont you just love the view up here? |
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| pipai was too scared to go to this area so i asked a lil boy to take my picture. it could have been cute only if my bangs didnt get in my face! :D |
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| i dont like my bangs now, they just dont stay in one place!!! |
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| sairry has gone to see the chocolate hills too! :) |
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| im glad to have the chocolate hills under my feet.. |
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| we could find any resto so when i saw this we stopped over for a yum yummy lunch! |
Third stop: Meeting the oldest tarsier in the Philippines, Lolo Jose
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| this serves as their ticket when you go visit and see tarsiers in Loboc |
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| say hi to lolo jose, the oldest tarsier living! he was really cute i wanna feel his fur with my lips!!! hmmmmnnnnnnnn! |
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| meet moimoi! |
Fourth Stop: Hanging Bridge in Sevilla
i used to be scared of hanging bridges but now that im older, it seems that ive overcome that fear. it reminds me of my childhood when we visit my grandma's brother in Ilog, Negros Occidental. there was an old bamboo bridge there that was i think thrice as long as this one. i was forbidden to go near it and i wondere until now if i'd be able to cross the other side..well, it's only a matter of thoughts now..
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| manong tito palma said that this river is so deep and the current is strong. all i can say is that, this river is a very long one! not far from here is the famous floating restaurant, 600 php for a meal. |
Fifth Stop: Man-made Forest
in this man-made forest, you will appreciate nature itself. you can hear the birds cooing. the cool moist air is refreshing, i can even smell the leaves! thank you so much to the people who made this forest!
in this man-made forest, you will appreciate nature itself. you can hear the birds cooing. the cool moist air is refreshing, i can even smell the leaves! thank you so much to the people who made this forest!
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| this is my favorite spot! |
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| if you are lucky enough, you get to meet people selling souvenirs. i should have bought from them if i had known that these stuffs are more expensive in other destination. i bought my souvenir tshirt for 145php in the mall while they only offered me a 100php shirt with such cute tarsier designs! |
Sixth Stop: Abandoned Church
Seventh Stop: Mini Zoo with BIG BAD BOAS~~~~~
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| mustering my courage to hold it is a true effort! |
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| there were three of them in this zoo. the others are coiling but i bet they were longer and bigger than this Norio snake! |
Eighth Stop: Blood Compact
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| manong tito palma in red shirt with the other habal-habal drivers. |
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| remember this guy because he was really nice! |
FINALLY!
After the long motorbike ride under the sun, we couldnt wait to cool our burnt skin under the shower.
After the long motorbike ride under the sun, we couldnt wait to cool our burnt skin under the shower.
We thought, looking for the inn that we supposedly be checking in was easy but it was a complete hardship so we ended up in the nearest hotel from the cathedral in Tagbilaran. With the help of our guide, Manong Tito Palma, we logged ourselves in Nisa Traveller's Hotel.
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| im all red, later ill be all black! hahaha! |
Nisa Traveller's Hotel
In the heart of the city, we sleep like babies! The hotel was nice and the rooms are really cheap. We got a room for two, aircon, with complimentary breakfast, has wifi access (there's also a free computer in the dining area), only that the CR is commonly used by the tenants (in all fairness, it was clean during our entire stay) for only 750 php.
What's nice about the place was that everything that you may need is just a walk away from it. The malls were on the other corner of the street, restaurants as well as fruit stands. the jeepney and bus terminals were close in distance so if you are the kind of person who enjoys strolling, you will surely enjoy watching the busy downtown area of Tagbilaran City, the main city of Bohol.
The itenerary for the next day was to go around panglao island, total beach hopping...the one i was so looking forward the most :)
After eating breakfast, we took a tricycle to Panglao jeepney Terminal. We boarded the jeepney plying to Dumalaon and after more than 15 minutes of jumpy ride, we went off to the intersection going to Dumalaon Beach. We rode habal-habal (10 php/pax) going to the beach, but you can absolutely walk it from there. it wasn't that far. There was an entrance fee of 25php each.
Originally, we planned of going to Alona Beach, too, only that we were satisfied with Dumaluan already. Aside from that, we couldn't bear the pain of our burnt skin any longer so we decided to visit the Hinagdan Cave instead..
Dumalaon Beach: what a paradise!
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| if it wasnt too hot that day, i would have shown some skin, waaaaaaaaaaaah | ! :) |
From Dumaluan Beach, we took another habal-habal ride to Hinagdan cave. it was quite far, it was almost half an hour ride. Again, let's be mindful of sun protecting garments :)
the ride cost us 150 php. although we feel it was a bit over-priced, we didnt complain at all because the place was a bit remote and we bet, the driver wouldn't be able to get any passenger back to Dumaluan..also, that's to help promote job for the locals, as well as, for letting us rode while i was dripping wet!
i didnt change to my dry clothes anymore because i know that i was going to swim there anyways. im a tourist and im not ashamed of roaming around with my wet shirt and shorts on. i was thinking that it was really hot and the wind could just dry me easily during the trip there.haha!
Hinagdan Cave
It was a cave discovered by farmers by accident when they were rowing their fields more than 60 years ago. Not far from here, is a beach. it was said that there was an opening that goes to ocean. i heard the tour guide said that one tourist a long time ago swam to a deep area of the pool inside was still swimming up untill now. his body was never recovered. i dont know if he was just kidding or what but it was creepy enough to caution me not to swim far from the shallow part or be away with the other tourists. creeeeeeeepiez!
The entrance fee is for 15php or 50 php. i forgot already. There were photographers outside that you can pay for 500php (i think or was it 300? im really sorry. it seems that i have forgotten the fee details here :<)
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| pipai got a scare from mob of bats inhabiting in this cave. they look gross on the ceiling of the cave. i had imagined them going berserk and attack us all at once! #crazythoughts that! haha! |
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| the opening on top is the hole the farmer's made when they accidentally hoed a stone out on their field. that also serves as an entrance to those who cant pay their way in to the cave, hahahah! |
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| the dark area is way too deep already! |
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| cant be blamed! we are from a cute family! |
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| i saw a fish! can u see it? :) |
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| i saw a crablet too! |
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| We conquer Hinagdan Cave in 2013 (~o^) |
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| THIS IS A PICTURE FROM THE NET. IT'S WONDERFUL, RIGHT? |
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| IT LOOKS JUST LIKE THIS IN MY MEMORY:) |
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| can you imagine? that shop stands just above the cave! |
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| by the way, they had a sale on souvenir shirts here! it was for 75-99 php only! |
NO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION?!
After enjoying the cold swim inside the cave, what we didnt expect was that there was no public means of transportation from there. so what we did, we enjoyed the loooooooong walk to the main road. Pipai was so pitiful because she was like going to have a heat stroke, but we didnt have any choice. there was nothing for us to ride on. we really had to be on our feet and do giant steps as much as we could.
while walking, we couldnt help but notice these creepy figures along the road.
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| me and my dear belonging! :) |
TWIST OF FATE:
From the main road, we waited forever for a jeepney to come along but it seemed that we were joked at. if it wasn't over loaded with passengers, there was only a skinny space to bunk ourselves, which was REALLY IMPOSIBLE because we are big girls, LITERALLY! :)
We were losing hope and was thinking hyperactively how we could ever get ourselves back to the city with the kind of state the jeepneys had, when a private car stopped in fron of us. The lady on the passenger's seat told us that we could get on with them with a minimum fare only (15 php). It was so lucky of us to came across that car. it was wonderful traveling in an airconditioned vehicle at a cheaper expense. They call it just-our-luck, i call it im-born-lucky-matter-of-fact! hahaha! (just kidding!)
------------J-U-S-T-----------
--------------M-Y--------------
--------R-A-M-B-L-I-N-G--------
PPPPPUUUUULLLLLLLEEEEAAAASE!
i was sitting inside the bus when the man in his mid 50's started talking to me. he was talking to me non-stop about how frustrated he was with his wife's family who was looking down on their family, and that his son has a good job in japan as an engineer and was now looking for a girlfriend (a what?!)....pleaaaaaaaase!i wanted to tell him that i wasn't interested with everything he was rambling about but courtesy called me to just keep quite and nod at times. i was stretching my patience with him but when he repeated the same story the third time, i went yawning and pretended to fell asleep. it was really crazy!!!
BEWARE!
am the kind of person who gets up on the right side of the bed. im a cool person who dont lose herself out of something easily but that day, i was really pissed.
after 30 mins from Tagbilaran, we reached the pier of Tubigon.
we then took a 20php pedicab to the warf and hurriedly went to the counter where there were people lining up for something. i thought they were getting tickets. when it was my turn, i found out that they dont sell tickets there, instead it was sold outside the port. that was the most absurd thing ive ever heard for the longest time..so absurd that blood went rushing up in my head i wanted to just say something awful! how come they sell tickets outside the port itself?!
im not angry just for what happened to me but also for those who made the same assumption as mine. dont they value time and money and other people's effort? what if i only had enough money with me that i didnt have extra bucks to pay a ride to their ticket booth? what if im in a hurry catching that ship?
God! im not against people making a living out of pedicabs. in fact i salute them, but in expense of others? that's just not acceptable at all!!!
out of choice, i went there to get our tickets. the pedicab driver just did my day!
he said that, it's alright because im from negros occidental and that i am rich, the reason why i was just going on vacation.(people from negros occidental are known to be hacienderos who own hectares of sugarcane plantation that's why neighboring provinces has a thought that people from there are well off) if you were in m shoes, wouldnt you be irritated as i was?
WTF! that was very stupid! i am not rich and and i work for the money i spend when i travel. that was so insensitive of him to tell me that. if we from negros are known to be from old rich people who picks gold from the ground, i dont want to tarnish my good impression of Bohol because of that pedicab driver and that of the poor management of the their port to think that boholanons are just good at scamming their passengers. i know that that is not just fair because ive met people from bohol and they were not as narrow minded as him, in fact, they were incredible and nice people.
Lesson 101: ask where the freaking ticket booth next time!
TO SUM UP EVERYTHING?
I HAD SO MUCH FUN AND I ENJOYED THE TRIP EVEN THOUGH I HAD TO SUFFER SUNBURN AND DARK SKIN WHEN ALL THIS ARE DONE.KUDOS!!!!
To those who are interested in going to Bohol and wants to have a habal-habal adventure, here is manong Tito Palma's number: 09128394410.
next destination on my list...HIGANTES ISLAND!!!
