Wow, Panglao!

Date of travel: January 2009

Panglao Island, Bohol

After a very fun day exploring the wonders of Bohol, me, my sister Rosamel and my friend Lucky wanted to spend the night and the rest of our time in Panglao Island. The island is just a 30- minute drive from the city proper of Tagbilaran. The island is famous for its world class beaches, island hopping, caving and dolphin watching. After buying some food and snacks in the downtown area, manong driver took us to Panglao. Since we have no reservations for that night, he also helped us in finding our accommodations. Kuya is all around na maaasahan.







He took us in a resort near the high end Dimaluan resort and Bohol Beach Club. A fan room with private bathroom and with double beds costs P800.00 is fair enough. And the beach is just a minute walk from the room. Not bad. So we booked the room and took a short nap first to freshen up before hitting the beach.

            The beach front of the high- end Bohol Beach Club of 

     Panglao Island.

HOY! Bawal magpa- picture at pumasok dito. Di kayo naka check-in - Manong guard. Haha

Before sunset, hinanda na namin ang ang mga beach outfit para rampa na sa Panglao. Haha. Sunset was perfect. Being there was so relaxing. We spent the rest of the afternoon dipping in the beach and frolicking in the white sand. We even went to Bohol Beach Club's area. That time, a lot of foreign tourists were on the resort. Koreans at mostly mga westerners na mga retirable looking o parang retired na talaga. Anong meron? May party? I was not informed. Haha.

The beach infront our resort. Enjoying the sea, sunset and sand.

  
Though bawal daw, we still went to the resort's premises. Hindi naman pansin at alam ng security doon if you are booked with them or not. Gatecrash kung gatecrash. Haha. There you'll notice that the amenities in the resort are high end. So picture lang nang picture. Avail nang avail hanggang di pa sinisita ni manong guard. Hopefully soon, if I have the enough money to spend for a luxurious vacation, ill book a room with them. 

Two thumbs up for Panglao baby!!!!

The beach is beautiful. Panglao has this powdery white sand beach. The water is clear too. Though ang babaw. You'll have to walk with faith pa just to reach an area para umabot lang sa beywang mo ang tubig. Kakaloka naman. For sure you'll never get drowned. Then on the further part ay lumot na. So chaka na. So babad- babad lang kami on the shallow part. Still we had fun.

Knee-deep beach. Hay naku, ang babaw!

By night time we had dinner in a nearby barbeque stall. Food was delicious and not that expensive. They set up some dining table by the shore. Okay naman. Many were there to eat and dine too. We spent like almost P400 for the entire mea that is enough for the three of us. Busog at satisfied of course. Then we went back to Bohol Beach Club's area. Parang may party. Sosyal ng mga foreigner. May buffet. May beach party. May budget. There were also some bands and acoustic singers that serenaded them. So joiners din kami. Haha. After a couple of hours we went back to our room and called it a day. Napuyat ng sobra because of the activities we did the whole day.

Dinner by the beach. Cheap but oh- so yummy.

Gate-crashing at a party. Haha. Its not a party without us!!!

Then morning came, I had the chance to stroll in the beach again. Had instant noodles and bread for breakfast ( nagtitipid eh ). Went for a quick swim and just enjoyed the moment. After the dip, we prepared our things and we are ready to leave for Cebu. While waiting for kuya to fetch us, photo shoot na naman. After which, kuya already arrived and we bid Panglao goodbye. We then went to Tagbilaran Island Mall to have lunch. Gutom na eh, as usual. Before he left, we thanked Kuya for being accommodating and he thanked us too. After we ate, we bought our pasalubongs like the famous peanut kisses and kalamay and took a trike going to back to the port for us to catch our ride back to Cebu. 
                                                                                       

Dimaluan Resort

Goodbye Panglao beach. Till we meet again

Back in the port. Bye Bohol. Off to Cebu again.

 Bohol and Panglao, see you again soon!

Its All in Bohol

Date of travel: January 2009

Bohol is one of the.most visited places in the country. Famous for its Chocolate Hills and cute Tarsiers, many tourists and travelers visit Bohol to experience the laid back province and be close to nature. Hanggang libro at picture ko lang ito nakikita. Gosh I need to see it personally para malaman ko kung chocolate ba talaga ito or not. Haha. Arte noh? That's why when we visited Cebu last 2009, we made sure that the province of Bohol will be included in our itinerary.

Getting to and from Bohol is a piece of cake. There are direct flights to Tagbilaran, the province capital, from most of our domestic airlines. From Mindanao, there are ferries from Camiguin going to Jagna. But the most common route to Bohol is via Cebu. Fast crafts and ferries have daily trips from Cebu to the port of Tagbilaran. On our part, we took the Ocean Jet fast craft from Cebu's pier one. We bought tickets and made reservation the day before our travel kase daw most of the fast crafts are fully booked especially the morning trips. Return ticket costs P900.00 which is acceptable for an air-conditioned and comfortable 1 and a half hour trip. So ayun, 4 am palang we left our pension house and took the taxi to pier one to catch the 6am trip. The boat left mga 630 am and borlogs muna for over an hour para may energy pagdating ng Bohol.

Waiting at Pier One on a 5am

About to depart. Time to grab some zzzzz

Welcome to Bohol

Past 8am and were already in Tagbiliran. In the port pa lang, you'll notice the large number pf tourist arrivals. We got off the ferry and went to the terminal area. NOW WHAT? We were clueless. Ano na? San na tayo sunod? How can we explore Bohol now? Good thing that outside the port in the departure area ay marami ang nag oofer ng guided tours including the transportation na. So no need to worry if you have no contacts since many drivers and guides will offer you tours at a reasonable price. Try to haggle and you could even get cheper offers. Ilabas na ang mga convincing powers! That is when we met kuya ( I forgot his name ) and he offered P1500 for the 3 of us,  for the guided tour for the whole day via his Toyota Avanza. Carry na actually. At least hassle free na and I wanna start the tour and waste no time. We sealed the deal and were good to go. We had our breakfast first in a nearby carinderia since guttomy hilfigher na talaga before we started our trip.

Kuya's Toyota Avanza. Ayos!

So for the entire day, here were the sights that we visited. Of course manong kuya driver was our guide. And our photographer too. Camera man in short.


WHAT TO SEE IN BOHOL?

 Blood compact site- with matching tagay shot/ pose.

 Baclayon Church- parang feel kong mag simba dito every Sunday

 Loboc Museum- a collection of some Bohol made artifacts

 Loboc River cruise- a cruise along Loboc river with buffet lunch at 300 php.YES UNLI RICE!

Tarsier sanctuary- How I wish I can sneak one in my bag. Ssshhh.. 

 Man-made forest- walang kamatayang mga puno at nature pa ren

 Chocolate Hills- which is not so chocolatey at all.

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Butterfly Garden- expect many butterflies of course

We finished the tour by almost 4 in the afternoon. Since we want to spend the night ans the rest of our time in the beach, we told Kuya to take us to Panglao. He asked for an additional P500 including pickup the next day. Okay, fine. We bought first some snacks and necessities before heading to Panglao beach.

Bohol is truly a nature lover's paradise. You'll get to appreciate God's gift of nature to its province. So if you haven't been to Bohol and you've been wishing to visit the province, go ahead and explore. For its all in Bohol.