Bohol

Bohol. Wow, where do I start? Bohol is one of the Spice Islands, located not far from Cebu in the Visayas. When you see the pictures in travel agencies advertising for beach destinations, do you (like me) think they’re all retouched? Well guess what! I’ve just been to this paradise place and what I saw is exactly like those pics: white sand, palm trees, hammocks, straw huts, exotic animals etc etc. … So let’s start from the beginning.

Early morning when we were about to wake up it appeared that tickets for the morning ferry to Bohol were sold out so we had to shorten our stay and left finally at 12. During the trip I finally got some time to read my Lonely Planet and FINALLY decided on the further destinations. Seems that 2 months is less time than I thought – but what could I expect wanting to see the whole SEA:P I decided to skip the beaches of Thailand and jump from Laos straight to Jakarta (or Kuala Lumpur – we’ll see). Anyways, back to Bohol: we got to Tagbilaran around 14.30 - just in time for a tour around the island! Our first stop was the monument to commemorate the “Blood Pact” – the peace pact between a Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, who came to Bohol looking for spices and gold, and the local chief in command. Apparently the Spaniards had a lot of trouble convincing the locals, that they weren’t Portuguese, who left bad memories after a massacre of the locals some time before. So to seal the deal the two guys made a blood pack - how cool is that :P Second stop on the route was the second oldest church in the Philippines – pretty, but I liked more the high school band rehearsing outside... Meeting the Tarsier was our next stop. Those smallest primates with huge eyes are incredibly cute. Since they were kept in captivity for the amusement of tourists I can suspect they were drugged in order not to escape at the sight of a white girl. Poor little creatures… maybe at least they won’t die out so fast if they’re in captivity. Plus, they have a significant input into the local economy; their cartoon image is on all T-shirts, they’re on key chains, pouches and whatever else you can think of. On the way to the Chocolate Hills we drove past a man-made forest, which I still don’t know why it is a tourist attraction, but apparently every tour stopped there to take pictures with the trees. The Chocolate Hills provided spectacular scenery. They are peculiar in shape, more like green blisters than chocolate, but apparently in autumn when they turn brown, they really do look like chocolate). The final stopover was the hanging bridge. Lots of fun seeing how terrified the girls were. Myself, I lost my confidence when I suddenly slipped :P Another attraction of that place was a guy who could open a coconut with his teeth – a performance I was unlucky to miss. On the way to the Beach Resort Hotel, we could see the sunset (well not exactly but we caught a glimpse of it). It was beautiful when the sky was changing colors from rosy pink, through orange to fiery red, just to turn pitch black. The hotel was very pretty at night, but much overpriced for the room quality. The highlight of the evening was a nighttime Jacuzzi – 6 girls photo shooting and splashing each other…lol. Next day, I was too lazy to get up for the sunrise unfortunately. But when I finally did, we went to the beach to try out the sea. I was like a child seeing a beach for the first time in my life. The white sand looked like powdered cement (lol) and the sun was just too bright for my eyes to handle. I watched my steps carefully not to step on a starfish –believe me there were tons of them in different colors and sizes, sea urchins and other unknown to me sea creatures, which I had never dealt with before and had no idea whether they were deadly or only dangerous. See I was brought up with this idea in my mind that sea creatures especially exotic ones are dangerous. They are not. At least starfish are not. And with sea urchins you just need to watch out where you step. I could admire more of the underwater world when we took the glass-bottom boat ride. I loved the indigo blue fish, the underwater cliffs and the super clear water where you can see all the corals, Nemos, more colorful starfishes etc. I felt like jumping off the boat and just playing with them :P Later we went swimming in the pool – I know, a sin in such paradise; then checked out and had a lovely lunch that Included the crab that looked like it was cooked alive – meaning it still had eyes, legs and clamps. Now, I’m back in Kim’s bedroom getting ready for another Pilipino paradise – Boracay, here I come!