Bohol Tarsier

After almost an hour of reminiscing Bohol’s history, it was time to meet Bohol’s popular attraction, the Tarsiers. Our van suddenly parked on one side street and our driver told us that we were already in the Bohol Tarsier spot. Being a tourist, I didn’t imagined that this would just be the spot for these Bohol Tarsiers, I was then imagining that we would be meeting these Tarsiers in a somewhat forest like and would need to do some trekking to get to the place.

We went inside, passed through a few stalls that sell Tarsier souvenirs like key chains, purses, mini-dolls, packed peanut kisses and a lot more. There were bunch of trees in one part of the area where we saw these Tarsiers clinging on the branches. They were so small with big eyes and long tail. They look cute but personally I was a bit scared to go near it… hehe. Taking pictures is okay but without flash and they are not allowed to be touched. Which now I know why, because my friend tried touching one Tarsier’s back and it quickly jumped and I was a bit shocked that I think added to my uneasiness with these Tarsiers. Haha.

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Loboc River in Bohol

Around 11.30am, we were already on our way to our next stop, the Loboc River Cruise to have our first meal and lunch in Bohol. As we arrived there were booths where you can check out menus and decide which floating restaurant to dine in. Kuya Roy, our tour driver, suggested us to eat in RiverWatch floating restaurant; buffet price is 300php per head and this is the standard rate for all.

As we got in the floating restaurant, buffet table was ready and people started to get food. Below is a shot of the buffet table located in the middle part of the boat. Few minutes later, the cruise started and we were enjoying our meal at the same time the scenic view of Loboc River.

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The Chocolate Hills of Bohol

When I wrote about the Chocolate Hills landing in the Forbes list of most astonishing landscapes, I was so eager to book a trip to Bohol. One day, while I was in Cebu, we spontaneously decided to spend a night in Bohol. We travelled via ferry at noontime, hoping to see the hills by 4PM. From the Tagbilaran port, we hired a van for P2,000 to take us around Bohol in the little time we had left.

The Chocolate Hills were our priority so we drove there instantly. It was also the furthest of the well known attractions in Bohol. We passed by the Baclayon Church, the Loboc River and the Tarsier sanctuary. We didn't stop though, and decided to just try our luck on our way back. We did stop to take a snapshot of the picturesque man-made forest.

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BOHOL (City of Friendship)

The main island is surrounded by about 73 smaller islands, the largest of which are Panglao Island facing Tagbilaran City in the southwest and Lapinig Island in the northeast, but the famous one is the Panglao Island where you can find easy-access establishment along the shore while communing the nature on its fine white sand beaches and it is generally associated with Alona Beach - a congested strip of resorts and dive centres on the far west side. While Alona doesn't necessarily afford much sunbathing privacy, it's a logical choice for those who demand tropical drinks at beachside bars after diving.

If you are fond on Aquamarine thing you can also try to visit Balicasag Island - the best diving site of Bohol. Dolphin watching is one of the activities that you can also try, i suggest you wake-up in the morning as early as possible and catch a boat that will bring you there, groups of dolphin can be seen near in the Island of Balicasag.

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The Ferry To Bohol

I never thought getting into Bohol would be this easy. Sure, I've heard from most Cebuanos that it's just two hours away by boat. Some of my other friends say you can even do just a day trip to Bohol and be back in Cebu by night time.

Bohol has been an elusive destination for me. I've been meaning to go for so long. Unfortunately, all my planned trips to Bohol get messed up. So, one day, while in Cebu, we decided to be spontaneous and head for Bohol, just to spend one night. Our trip started by going to the Supercat terminal in Cebu (near SM City).

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Tourist Hot Spots: Bohol Island, Philippines

The history of Bohol goes back way before the colonial period. With remnants as proof, it is believed that the first Boholanos had a culture of their own. Historians hold that the earliest inhabitants of the island were descendants of Pintados (the tattooed ones) who similarly lived in the Visayan area.

A few years after the arrival of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi in Jagna, this municipality, along with other towns, became centers for the Jesuit missionaries. Since 1595, Bohol has been a home to the Jesuits from then up until the time they left the Philippines in 1768.

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Baclayon Church of Bohol

After an hour of sightseeing and shooting at the historical Blood Compact Site, Trigger Happy along with the homies go straight directly to their 2nd stop, the Baclayon Church and Museum. This Diocese of Tagbilaran was just a few meters away from our first stop, and it’s very accessible coz it’s also along the highway just like the Blood Compact Site.

This church is considered as one of the oldest here in the Philippines. It is also declared as a National Historical Landmark in 1994 by the Government of the Philippines.

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Bohol Blood Compact Site

As the Flight of the Icarus reaches and touches the grounds of Bohol, Trigger Happy and the homies from the west were heading to their first stop, the historic Bohol Blood Compact Site. The site is located in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, and it’s very accessible coz it’s along the highway.

The Bohol Blood Compact, also known as “Sandugo” simply tells a historic event in the Philippines done by the Spaniards and the Filipinos, headed by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi of Spain and Rajah Sikatuna of Philippines. For further details about this one, just go back to your history class and review it again! I’ve titled this shot Guardians of Asgaard by Melodic Death Metal band Amon Amarth.

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Bohol by Putograb (Tarsier)

No Bohol trip is complete without having one's picture taken beside the wide-eyed tarsier (the world's smallest primate. Unfortunately for these creatures, some visitors are not satisfied with just taking their pictures. Strictly speaking though, even the supposedly harmless act of taking their photos is stressful for these poor creatures. Tarsiers are supposed to be nocturnal animals. Say you work at night and sleep by day, would you want to be disturbed just to have your photo taken? Poor creatures.

The so-called man-made forest started as a tree-planting project initiated by students in a nearby school somewhere in the thicket. Eventually, the project became an annual event until the students were able to repopulate the area with trees.

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Bohol: Tourist paradise in Central Visayas

The oval-shaped island province of Bohol has been named as a world-class destination in Central Visayas because of its pristine beaches, majestic sunset, hidden caves, ancient structures, magnificent mountains, friendly people and “Chocolate Hills.”

The province lies southeast of Cebu and southwest of Leyte. The island, characterized by hilly and rolling terrain, has around 167 mountains, 73 islets.

Bohol has slowly but steadily been able to develop the needed infrastructure for its tourism industry. The infrastructures include hotels, resorts, roads, and upgrading of airports and other ports.

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Horrible Flash Flood at Mag-Aso Falls, Bohol Philippines

These flash flood photos were taken by someone who visited Mag-Aso Falls at the island of Bohol, Philippines on June 30, 2009. It was a "near-death experience" for them.

This is the waterfall. They had just gotten there. It had been raining, but stopped.

The falls are about 25 feet tall. The water collects in a pool. It’s not deep, and it's a beautiful and idea place for enjoying water. Take note that there’s a bamboo raft.

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Snapshots and Flip-flops: Cebu Pacific Holds Online Travel Journal Photo Contest

We did the touristy works in Bohol, one of the Philippines’ destinations of the moment, an island province at the heart of the archipelago with nice beaches, diving sites, a clean river to cruise on, old churches, intriguing fauna, landmarks that are worth your while, well-appointed resorts and an overall rustic feel much touted and romanticized by stressed out city dwellers.

A burst of rain welcomed us when we arrived the first day of July, the start of the run of Cebu Pacific’s Wandering Juan, a Web site in which its customers can create their own travel photo blogs. The best ones will win trips. The rules are: They must be creative and they must incorporate the tsinelas or flip-flops in the photos.

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Boholanos join campaign to draft Aquino

The effort to put up Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III as a presidential contender in 2010 continued to gain ground here with Boholanos now joining the signature campaign to convince him to do so.

The signature campaign is being spearheaded by members of various non-government organizations in Bohol.

“Noynoy is the only symbol of reform among the potential candidates in next year’s elections,” said engineer Vicente Loquellano, convener of the Nonoy for President campaign here.

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Bohol Trip: An Interview with a Traveling Doctor

One of the top tourist destinations in the Philippines is Bohol. The island is a traveler’s paradise. Alona Beach has a number of different resorts and hotels to choose from.

“Considering I’m a little bit choosy, I thought the place was kind of cozy. Though I would not compare it to the expensive hotels around the area, It was a delightful experience that for a fair, economical price, Isis (Bungalows) was not a disappointment,” says Alvin Mercado, a physician whose practice is in San Pablo, Laguna.

With the land tour covering the historical “Blood Compact Monument,” Baclayon Church, Loboc River, Man-made forest, and the Chocolate Hills. You just can’t stop yourself from taking pictures!

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Bohol by Putograb (Loboc Church)

The Loboc Church of San Pedro is the second oldest Church in this part of the Philippines. It was supposedly built in 1602 but much of the original was reduced to ashes (the present structure is purportedly a reconstruction made in 1638).

Loboc River runs just behind the famous church. The Loboc River cruise, of course, is popular for its floating restaurants (the cruise takes about an hour or so). The food, frankly speaking, is not that impressive but the view is great. Plus, there are song and dance performances, courtesy of the locals.

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Oh Bohol

When I started first grade, I have heard of Bohol already. I knew that there were a lot of special things this place had to offer, and it wasn’t until after many, many years (about 18 years?) that I was able to visit and enjoy Bohol.

We arrived early morning, around 7am, and was greeted by Kuya Ranil. There was a funny story behind that, which I won’t share any more. Anyway, he asked how our flight was and started driving. Our first stop was the site of the historical Blood Compact.

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Leaving Bohol

The rest of the world may have a recession, but Bohol seems to be booming. There are many tourists here, and several years ago I wondered if ecotourism would really be successful here. Well, it has been.

The island is beautiful with the Chocolate Hills, the tarsier, the Luboc River, caves, waterfalls, and the white sand beaches. The Calope family is great fun, and the area where they live is beautiful. I stay with Clar and her husband Jun Jun. Jun Jun is a seaman, and this is the first time I have met him. He has been all over the world, and although he gets to be home for only a short time each year, he seems to be an old friend. Every running with all of Sterling's nieces and nephews. They call me Lolo Zeus, and we take turns racing up a hill along with several of the dogs that live nearby. By the end of thirty minutes I am soaking wet with the humidity (called Egang here).

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Whitewashing

I’ve always been fascinated by the way our minds work to cope with the vastness of the world, the uncountable places and landforms we move through as travelers over the course of our lives. A place, it seems, can exist in our consciousness in one of three forms. First, as a mere name, a place on a map, a dimensionless data point. Leaf through a guidebook, or browse the web, and thousands of these pop up. If the name is in a foreign language, it can prove stubbornly hard to remember at this stage. And why should the mind remember it? What good does it do?

Then, as itineraries start to take shape, places start to fall into place in relation to one another. Relation of distance (“Loboc is only 30km from Tagliabara”) and in term of desirability (“Bohol has decent weather this time of year”). The sea of names starts to fall into a hierarchy, sketched in pencil on the inside of a Lonely Planet cover, or perhaps posted to a Google Doc spreadsheet. One starts to be able to recall the names of such places. More information gets attached to the hierarchy (“the ferry to Cebu leaves at 2pm”, “the woman on the phone sounded alright, the rate was reasonable”) as a plan unfolds.

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Power crowd launches tourism center in Bohol

WOMAN OF substance and stature, la simpatica Bea Susana Zobel “Junior” and her constant companion, brilliant businessman Joel Uichico, invited the media and some pals to Bohol for a weekend of extreme sports, fantastic culture tours and the ribbon-snipping of the first Municipal Tourism Center in Baclayon, no less.

Bea has been the patroness and strong force of Baclayon’s tourism growth. She tags Ino Manalo, former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila as “the culprit who got me involved with Bohol.” It all started, dahlings, when he invited her over to help save the leaking roof of the old Our Lady of the Assumption Shrine and some ancestral houses from being knocked down.

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My Trip to Bohol Island

My favorite trip is coming.Saturday morning, my friends and I assembled in the Celi’s lobby at 8:30 A.M. We waited for the bus that will take us to the pier. Everyone was expecting this trip.After two hours on the boat voyage, we arrived in Bohol Island smoothly. Even though it was raining, we still felt happy and excited.

The driver took us to the Loboc River First, but there were too many people during lunch time.We decided to change the schedule temporarily. Then we came to a special place, and watched the most famous animal “Tarsier’’ there.Tarsiers are a kind of monkey with very big eyes.They are really very small and cute. They are not hyper,and never move almost. I think maybe they are not really lazy. They are hardly workingfor their jobs. So they are always still and just move their necks to face many cameras everyday.They always open their big and bright eyes to be professional models. Anyway the tarsiers catch my attention successfully. I really love them.

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Bohol by KL

A 2-hour ferry ride from the island of Cebu, southbound you will be greeted by the crisp air that embraces the laid back and simple island province of Bohol. Popularly known as the place of the famous Chocolate Hills, Bohol boasts it's treasure of a well-preserved tourist spots as well as vibrant historical places.

When we came here last June, it was rainy season. The Chocolate Hills only turns brown during summer because the grasses on the hills dries up that leaves the soil barren. When rain comes, grasses grow and bloom into a bed of greens. I appreciated green color actually as it was so pleasing and a refreshing sight. I enjoyed the food here as well. The must-see places here are:

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Bohol Nice Place to visit

Have you ever been to Bohol?

The number one tourist's destination in the entire Philippines because of its natural resources and history is Bohol.

I was with my family, having a tour of Bohol. When we left for Bohol, we hired a van for our tour. It was a semi-round tour yet nevertheless, we experienced more than the whole Bohol tour instead.

We had our morning snacks at Bool, where FRIENDSHIP between two nations, Spain and Bohol was made. Then, we stopped at BACLAYON to be in the oldest church built by the Jesuits.

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BOHOL: Highlights of May 2009 Bohol Tour

This is my third visit to Bohol. I have been going there for three consecutive years now since year 2007, and obviously, I never grew tired of visiting Bohol over and over and over again. There is something enthralling in an island so small yet so rich with history, culture, natural and man-made wonders, not to mention the heartwarming Boholanos.

My first visit to Bohol was a mere day tour at the countryside. I was in Cebu for business and having the weekend off, we crossed to Bohol to go around the island. On my second visit, my friends and I stayed at Panglao Island for two days and we were able to snorkel at Balicasag Island. My third visit was just May of this year and this was my longest stay by far, being four days. Here are some highlights of the first day of our Bohol Tour.

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My Trip to Bohol Island

My favorite trip is coming. Saturday morning, my friends and I assembled in the Celi’s lobby at 8:30 A.M. We waited for the bus that will take us to the pier. Everyone was expecting this trip. After two hours on the boat voyage, we arrived in Bohol Island smoothly. Even though it was raining, we still felt happy and excited.

The driver took us to the Loboc River First, but there were too many people during lunch time. We decided to change the schedule temporarily. Then we came to a special place, and watched the most famous animal ``Tarsier’’ there. Tarsiers are a kind of monkey with very big eyes. They are really very small and cute. They are not hyper,and never move almost. I think maybe they are not really lazy. They are hardly workingfor their jobs. So they are always still and just move their necks to face many cameras everyday.They always open their big and bright eyes to be professional models. Anyway the tarsiers catch my attention successfully. I really love them.

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Bohol by Serenity

After years of dreaming to see this place, my dream finally came true when a fairy god mother granted my wish lol. My friend and i who's a first timer visiting my beloved country planned to include this in our grand trip and we never regret it. We bought ticket online at philippine airlines with their econolight promo. Although we surely knows we'll be seated at the rear part of the aircraft, we able to save money from that anyway so it' doesn't matter at all. It's on the first week of july and it's been starting raining already so i'm pretty much worried but at that time, the weather finally cooperates and i'm so thankful.

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