Bohol – Still in the Philippines!
Alright – this is where we start to develop some type of standard naming convention for the post. I don’t think I will remember where I went. I will look at it some other time. Other more interesting things to do.
It seems like Mikey Bustos is very popular w/ 9 year olds and ~150K other people. Funny thing about this video is that this basically shows all of the major sites of Bohol in ~ 10 min.
Side note – Meg loves this commercial. After viewing this I want to visit all of the islands!!
- Homemade ice cream (made w/ coconut milk and honey) – almost tried all of the favors. I did try the durian ice cream – the gateway drug to eating durian – as Jack says. It does have a creamy taste, the problem is that the after taste is like the smell, which out weights the taste. Lucky for me, Jack ate the rest and Meg ordered the ginger ice cream – which kills the lingering after taste of durian. My favorite is the mango ice cream – the Philippines has the best mangoes!!
- This was an interesting sign on the property – there is something very Stephen King about this:
- Some views from the restaurant
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- Adorable – don’t laugh – I could not figure out how to take a picture without the flash – so I didn’t take any pictures.
- These are downloaded copies from wikipedia and google images. I guess I am not the first person to think that these two look the same. Meg says that the other Philippines Tarsier conservation site has these images overlapped with each other.
Chocolate Hills: The hills are coral limestone deposits – there are 100’s of them. Funny – I didn’t realize we were climbing one of the hills to view the rest of the hills until we were leaving! There are dozens of dragonflies on the hill. I haven’t see so many of them in one place. I tried to take a picture of them, but you can’t see them in any of the pictures.
Butterfly Gardens: Very cute and I guess I am easily amused. The guides takes pictures of you under the firecracker tree – The tree is not named “firecracker” that but it looks like you are under the firecrackers in day time w/o the sound. The guides also take a picture of you w/ butterfly wings so it looks like you can fly – clever! They also had the best smelling homemade oatmeal cookies there. I didn’t taste any – we will have to ask Mirielle how they tasted – next time!!
Mahogany Man Made Forest:
- One thing I found out from the driver is the penalty for cutting down or using any of the wood from this forest is a very steep penalty – I think it is jail – not fines.
- There is not much information about the forest. This blog has nice pictures and general info. It is beautiful place!
Lobok River Cruise: Fun day. Expect to wait ~ 1.5 hrs if you are not with a pre-arranged tour group during lunch time. It is a popular tourist destination. They are very efficient. They normally have 2 or 3 boat docked next to each other and passengers walk btw the boats to get to their tour boat. They open the buffet lines as soon as everyone is on board. A ton of food to choose from. At the turn around point they have children’s choir (older ladies are playing the ukulele’s, the older boys are docking the boats, and the men are singing or sailing the boats). It seems like the entire community is involved in this endeavor.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNikQeqom4g – This video captures the entire experience.
- Children’s choir
- Meg and I tried Tinikling (Philippine’s bambo dance). The ukulele part has 2 notes – I was able to pick it up after a couple of tries, not that I played the notes at the right time or can name the notes – that is a different story.
Bamboo Hanging Bridge: Wow – I didn’t realize that this bridge is 1 of the 13 most spectacular foot bridges.
- http://www.philstar.com/travel-and-tourism/2014/11/03/1387615/bohol-hanging-bridge-among-worlds-most-spectacular
- http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/02/travel/spectacular-footbridges/ – Hey – I have been to the one in Vancouver.
Panglao Watchtower and St. Augustine Church: There is not much information on it. I think the watchtowers were from the Spanish era.
Nova Shell Museum: The owner was a shell collector and named a couple of the shells. This site does a better job providing an overview of the museum and some of the rare shells inside of it. Most of the shells are from the Philippines.
Hinagdanan Cave: My pictures are very dark and you can’t really see the beauty of the cave. Check out the blog link – it has great pictures.
Tricycle – Driver for the day! It is fun to see everyone ride side saddle in the back of the driver. I got to ride side saddle in back of the driver as well in the back. It is fun to see the local sites from the back of a tricycle.
Alona Beach – backpackers paradise! Got the best fresh Buko there! I have been sampling buko everywhere I go! Don’t read the wiki – I didn’t realize how mis-used coconut water is/was – if the wiki is true – who knows.
Dumaluan Beach – very soft white sands. Jack’s birthday was at this beach!! See Meg’s post on Jack’s b-day!!
Balicasag Island: Snorkeling and watch the giant sea turtle (we saw only 1 turtle, but it was huge!!). You have to hire a guide once you get there. Beautiful!!
- This is Balicasag Island shore. The corral reefs are ~ 10-20 feet away from the beach. It is amazing to see a ton of sea life so close to the shore. I didn’t get any underwater pictures – but you can see how clear the water is from the shore.
- Banac – This is our ride! We didn’t see any fiberglass boats!
- Early morning start – someone is tired!
- Virgin Island: People are so industrious. There is this sand island in the middle of nowhere. People set up shop and sell food and drinks. How can you go wrong w/ Buko and fried banana w/ brown sugar? The water is very clear – you can see starfish every couple of feet in the water!
- Long day – These are our banac guides.
Some interesting random pictures:
- This is very Stephen King as well. We were driving to the cave and there are these random statues in the middle of the street.
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- The advertisement is interesting. Shakey’s seem to be everywhere in Bohol.
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- Tricyles for Hire near the airport! See you later Bohol!!
