Vote for Chocolate Hills

Posted by: Jerry Sisican

Bohol's world famous natural heritage, the Chocolate Hills, has been nominated to the New 7 Wonders of Nature campaign. This campaign is organised by the non-profit New7Wonders Foundation after the resounding success of its New 7 Wonders of the World campaign.

As a native Bol-anon I have been to Chocolate Hills many times. In fact, I still have pictures on my first visit as a pre-schooler. My recent visit was last year when me and my family went home for a holiday. It never failed to amaze me just looking at those thousands of hills stretched as far as your eyes can see. I once went to nearby Sagbayan where some of the Hills are also located. On a ride to an interior barangay in a habal-habal, I passed by some miniature Chocolate Hills! Well, it looks like it and with a little imagination it can be made into a miniature tourist attraction.

More @ Bohol On My Mind

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Bohol Plaza Resort

Posted by: Ness

After a twenty-minute ride from the pier up to the mountains in Panglao Island, we arrived at the Bohol Plaza Resort, which to my surprise was a one storey affair.Or so I thought. What seemed to be the first and only floor of the resort was actually the fifth floor of a building built unto the side of a mountain.And in fact, the entire resort was not just one building but actually several buildings and cottages scattered throughout the mountainside.

More @ At Random Ness

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Bohol Wildlife: Tarsiers & Pythons

Posted by: Dex

The tarsier is the indisputable star of Bohol's wildlife. The first time you see a live tarsier, it will certainly win you over with its sheer cuteness. Barely the size of a small kitten, the furry tarsier clings on twigs and branches, stoically gazing at the world with their huge eyes. They are actually nocturnal so that explains their somewhat lethargic behavior during daytime.

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Bohol by Mylene

Posted by: Mylene

With our flight, resort and tour reservations complete, all we had to do was wait in vain for our trip.

Two hours before our flight, we were already at the airport. We reached Tagbilaran via Cebu Pacific at around 7 AM where we wer met by our country side tour guide, Kuya Rolly. (Btw, we booked for Spencer but the day before, he called us saying that he had an emergency meeting in Cebu and could not accommodate us. Fortunately though, he was the one who looked for other guides for all our tours.

More @ Brain Waves

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The Legendary Punta Cruz Watchtower

According to Rene Javellana, “Bohol relies on small forts and fortified churches for its defense.” The watchtower in Punta Cruz in the town of Maribojoc stands on a site where it overlooks the south sea of Bohol. Built in 1796, the tower served as a look out for invading Muslims.

The fort was dedicated to Saint Vicent Ferrer. The site was said marks the area where the first missionaries set foot to begin the evangelization of Bohol.

More @ Traveler on Foot

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Baclayon, Bohol

Posted by: Isabelle

I've been wanting to see Bohol for as long as I can remember. Even before I was born, our house had always been run by Boholanos and continues to be up to this day. Everytime they'd come home from a short vacation, they would bring back stories about their excursions to the Chocolate Hills and the native Tarsiers, about how serene and stunning it is in their part of the country, and how I should visit the place they're from, seeing that I do quite a bit of traveling. So when an invite from Nena, a sort of long lost friend, popped up on my screen, I eagerly considered the possibility.

More @ TravBuddy

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Prony and MariMar of Bohol

Posted by: hoz49

Our last stop before returning to the Tagbilaran docks was to see the largest python in captivity. Prony the python lives in a concrete and steel cage in the middle of the jungle. A long and rocky, winding road leads to her enclosure.

The family that keeps Prony has a small business selling Bohol souvenirs, exhibiting the snake and other small animals and birds indigenous to the area. Besides Prony we also saw what looked like crows, myna birds, some lizards, a couple of smaller snakes, a beautiful white headed hawk (might have been an eagle), and several flying lemurs, which were hanging upside down in their cage.

More @ Paddle with Hoz

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Bohol 2007

Posted by: GlennKil

I went directly to Cebu from Canada last May 2007 to meet May, who was in Cebu for a business trip. In that weekend, we decided to take a day trip to Bohol (rode the ferry from Cebu to Bohol and back). We were just there for a few hours and rented a tourist taxi cab. We visited a few tourist attractions including the Chocolate Hills and the beautiful Baclayon Church.

More @ The Art of Photography

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Ancestral Homes of Bohol

Posted by: Isabelle

Our trip to Bohol was not the of the usual Panglao-hanging, River-cruising variety. And though we made sure we got to see the Chocolate Hills and the adorable Yoda-looking tarsiers, most of the short 48 hours we were there were spent checking out old churches (next album) and ancestral homes.

There are approximately 67 ancestral homes in the historic town of Baclayon alone, dating back to the Spanish period up to the 20th century. In 2002, a province-wide road-widening project threatened to demolish many of these magnificent homes which stand along the national highway. Thanks to BAHANDI (the Baclayon Ancestral Homes Association), a self-help neighborhood organization, these houses that form part of Bohol's (and our nation's) cultural heritage were preserved.

More @ Teenage Kicks

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Boholanos Turn To Prayers

While protest marchers in an Interfaith Prayers Rally filled Manila streets last Friday evening, Boholanos also displayed their own Prayer Power that same day.

They jammed the Our Lady of Assumption Church in Dauis town for the last day of the Bohol visit of the miraculous relics of St. Therese of the Holy Child Jesus and the Holy Face. For three days, Boholano pilgrims walked to the Church to pray for intercession of St. Therese.

That same day (Friday) a multi-sectoral group called Boholanos for Truth, Accountability and Reform signed a manifesto at the Saya's Resturant and identified March 7 as a Prayer Rally Day at the Plaza Rizal while other "Mass for Truths" will be celebrated in selected towns.

The twin events are proof positive that Boholanos, with innate religiosity, will call on the heavens for devotion and solicitation.

More @ TheBoholChronicle

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Yummy Chocolate Hills

Posted by: Elvert

It could have been a forgotten album. Until today when a friend sent me a PM here in multiply asking what happened to the last album in my Bohol trip. "O nga noh!", I said. So here it is. My trip to the Chocolate Hills was fun and memorable because my Bohol trip is one of those unexpected blessings last year. I never knew that I will be touring around despite of my lack of a day job. Thanks for the request from the charming and hard-working BIARSP staff because without them I wouldn't have been to Bohol. Siempre puro ako ang nasa album na ito dahil special solo trip ako sa buong Bohol.

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Bol-anon

Posted by: Benjie Otagan

When I was boy growing up in Lianga in the late 1960's and early 1970's, shopping for new slippers, sandals and a motley of other personal accessories, household items and knickknacks meant a visit to one of two drab, dilapidated-looking buildings located right in the center of town and just across the town church and municipal park. One structure which was just along the shoreline housed the public market, a couple of "carinderia-style" restaurants and a store or two selling fishing supplies and agricultural supplies.

The other building right in front of the church was our usual destination, a collection of adjoining stores all selling dry goods and general merchandise, all owned and operated by Lianga residents originally from the island of Bohol in the Visayas or were of Boholano descent. Fiercely entrepreneurial, they so dominated the dry goods retail market in Lianga that the whole building housing the store spaces they rented from the municipal government was commonly referred to as the "bol-anon" in their honor.

More @ A Lianga Diary

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Bohol Part 3: Bohol Beach Club

Posted by: Aissa

Bohol Beach Club is on Alona Beach, which by all accounts is the nicest beach in Panglao. That means it’s one of the more expensive resorts, but you don’t have to stay at a pricey beach-front resort to have a great beach experience. BBC and a number of other resorts allow day trips. At BBC, the 350 peso entrance fee is consumable and gives you full use of the facilities. Olman’s is about fifteen minutes away from BBC (well, fifteen minutes with Dante behind the wheel) and there are many other less expensive resorts nearby.

We spent the entire morning on beach, reading and listening to podcasts and just soaking up the sun. At around 11:00 the bottomless pit known as my boyfriend (edit: Ry objects and would have it known that he is NOT a bottomless pit) was getting hungry, so we had an early lunch at one of the poolside restaurants. There was a buffet that was tempting, but gluttony did not get the better of us this time. We settled for the ala carte menu and while I can’t remember exactly what we ordered, I remember being satisfied with my meal. Nothing to rave about, but it was good, the portions were generous and it was mostly covered by the consumable entrance fee.

More @ Wanderous

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Travel Time: Revisiting Bohol’s Famous

Posted By: Edik Dolotina

My friend Judy from the Department of Tourism asked me to join her cousins from Pampanga on a tour around Bohol’s famous landmarks.

It was a good opportunity for me to see what is now happening in the tourism industry of Bohol from the time I left the island. Well- I’m a returnee actually. I come and go in and out of Bohol but never had a tour for so long.We avail of the van provided by Lugod Transport Services (telephones 038-4112244; 4112682; 5018907; 09209273025), a DOT-accredited transport service. The son of the owner Jaypee (09173040135) became our driver for the day.

More @ The World According to Melchizedik

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