Cebu Journal - Bohol (pg. 7)
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September 2005 trip: Bohol Trip
Sunday, September 18, 2005: I am spending most of today recovering from my trip to Bohol, Philippines yesterday. I had to be up by 4:30 AM to shower and get ready to leave by 5:15. I was picked up at the hotel by my good friend Triffon and taken to the Cebu Pier. The boat was to leave at 6:20 AM for the two hour trip to Bohol.
This was my first early morning in Cebu and I was amazed as we drove through all of the small neighborhoods to get to the pier that people were up and about everywhere. It was as if it were 8 AM rather than 5:30 AM. In fact, when we got to Cebu Pier there was activity everywhere.
These are scenes of people eating and socializing at the Cebu Pier. This was taken at 6 AM. The chicken looked good.
The Pier was packed with people hawking their wares--cigarettes, snacks, chickens, pigs, etc. It was plenty noisy with cars and buses everywhere and people jostling about with luggage trying to get to the boats. The area to load was nothing exciting. It was a run down old building, but was utilitarian. I waited there with some of the people I work with at Lexmark here in Cebu, as they were to accompany me on the trip. I took business class, which was about 500 pesos more than the others paid for regular. I am glad I did so because the seats were more comfortable. Actually, they were recycled airline business class seats. But, for this long trip it was nice to be in an air conditioned room and comfortable seating. Froilan Magdadoro from Lexmark rode with me as I should be accompanied for safety purposes. We rode on the Ocean Jet fast ferry which was a fairly modern and comfortable boat.
I am with Cai' from Lexmark on the left. Boarding the boat and seating on right. I am in the back left corner.
The boat ride was actually quite smooth and not what I would have imagined to be a "fast ferry" or an "Ocean Jet." But, it was a nice ride and we were given a small meal of pork cutlets, rice and noodles to tide us over for breakfast. We arrived in the Port of Tagbilaran on the island of Bohol around 8:15 AM. A look at the two maps below can be used as guides for the locale of places on this trip.
As a point of reference, we arrived in Tagbilaran, in the southwest corner of the island. We drove through town and straight to the Chocolate Hills (see map on Right), which was to be our furthest stop on the island. On the way back we saw the rice terraces, the Man Made Forest, had lunch on the Floating Restaurant, saw some Tarsiers, saw the Loboc Church, the Baclayon Church, the Blood Compact Monument and also went to the Punta Cruz Watch Tower, among other places. We also made a quick stop in Alburquerque, which I will mention later on.
Tagbilaran is a thriving little town of about 78,000 with a large port and lots of boats around. It is the capital city of the island of Bohol and is actually hidden from the open sea by the small island of Panglao as can be seen in the map above.
Scenes around the Port of Tagbilaran--main entry port to the Island of Bohol
As soon as we got out of the terminal area we were barraged by offers of taxi, bus and van rides to tour the city. I certainly got the sense that the main industry on this island is tourism. In fact, there were three busloads of Koreans and a number of other foreign faces there at the port. Fortunately for us, Froilan's wife is from Bohol and so we had one of her relatives as our driver for the day...and this is what he does for a living.
The drive to the Chocolate Hills area from Tagbilaran is about 50 km. However, it took us about one and a half hours to get there. Since I was a geography major in college and have an interest in geologic sites, I was excited about this trip. Actually, I found it more interesting than I had expected. First of all, the drive takes us initially along the coast and by coconut groves and banana tree groves. As we climbed we then got into a riverine area along the Loboc River. There the scenery changed a bit. After that we climbed higher and went through a mahogany forest, which looked out of place. This is called the Man Made Forest. From there we were in higher ground among the rice terraces. I'll discuss those more below. We finally made it to the Chocolate Hills and I enjoyed some spectacular views.
Apparently there are 1268 hills from what I could find. These hills range in altitude from 30 meters (90 feet) to about 120 meters (360 feet). Bohol Island was formed by volcanic up thrusts and many geologists believe that the hills were formed from large limestone coral reefs that were up thrust by the volcanic activity. Then, over the centuries erosion has worn them away to the rounded form they have. I am reminded of the Badlands of South Dakota when I see these hills. They most certainly are a natural wonder in my mind. In order to get a good view of the surrounding area we arrived at the government run facility high up on one of the hills. From there we had to walk up stairs...more than 150 of them...to get the best views. I have added more than the usual amount of photos of these because the site really was awesome. There are even more in my Bohol Slideshow. There are alot of pictures so the slideshow may take a few minutes to load.
The long set of stairs to the left. Froilan and I stand near the top of the stairs with the expansive view of the hills below.
The view from every side offers a different glimpse of this geologic phenomena. I also liked the rice field in the valley.
After our visit, we had to look at the souvenirs. When I was last here I wanted a coconut fibre hat but couldn't ind one that fit. This time I did. Also, one of the things you can do after the long walk up the stairs is come back down and get a professional massage. I didn't do it, but I thought it was a fun thing.... (by the way, while I was up here at the top of Bohol, my son Solomon was playing a football game in Lexington. My friend David Underwood from the boosters was sending me instant messages with score updates. That is why I was wearing my Lafayette Football shirt...cheering on the team from afar!!! See my Lafayette Football website for more info)
After all of the fun and thrill of the Chocolate Hills, we made our way back down and took the same road back to see some of the other sites we passed along the way coming up. We drove back down through the rice fields and saw people harvesting. This was the first time I have really been reminded of Japan since I have been to the Philippines. Other than the tropical trees, the sites were very similar...terraced rice patties, people drying the rice on the road side, etc.
The rice fields were either terraced (L) or on flat lands (R). People would be out drying the rice after harvesting (R).
We soon made our way towards the Loboc River area to see some of the sights there. Our first stop was at the "hanging bridge", a suspension bridge made of bamboo that crosses over the river. I ventured out part way, but decided that I did not want to be the reason for them having to build a new bridge....
The hanging bridge is located in the town of Loboc. According to Filipino historian Fr. Horacio de la Costa, Loboc was founded by Fr. Juan de Torres who succeeded in persuading the local population to settle their barangays (villages) in this site in 1602. This makes Loboc one of the oldest towns on the island of Bohol.
While at the bridge there was one of those unusual oddities that we got to witness. There is a guy there that peels a coconut with his teeth. He really rips into it. Why isn't he on one of those Ripley's Believe It Or Not shows?
I wished I could have video taped this guy. He did this in about 30 seconds. I had to have a grilled banana after that.
From the bridge we headed down river just a bit more for our lunch stop. We would be boarding a large covered catamaran and float down the river while eating a traditional Filipino lunch. This was actually quite a nice adventure and the food was good as well.
The boat on the left was not ours, but is typical of what we were on. The Lexmark friends are getting their food. We had a nice plate of rice, deep fried squid, skewered pork, some noodles, s piece of chicken and some egg rolls. Yum Yum!!
Along the river we saw some homes, many coconut trees and other boats. It was a pleasant float down the river. Following are some photos I took. Many more are in my Bohol Slide Show. Perhaps the most interesting site was of little boys climbing the coconut trees and then swinging off into the river. It really looked like loads of fun.
We actually saw kids diving like this in three or four places along the river during our lunch.
Some typical scenes along the river. There are always naked boys bathing.... (see pg. 2)
After a pleasant lunch, we were then off to see one of the other main attractions of this island--the Tarsier. Many Filipinos call the Tarsier the world's smallest monkey. Actually, that is incorrect. This is not a monkey at all. Though it is considered one of the smallest known primates, no larger than a adult men's hand, it is not a monkey. In truth, its classification is somewhat problematic. Some scientists consider tarsiers to be a taxonomic suborder among the primates. Because they are closely related to lemurs, lorises and bushbabies, others classify them with the prosimians to which these animals belong. Monkeys and apes belong to the suborder of anthropoids. Mostly active at night, a tarsier lives on a diet of insects. Folk traditions sometimes say that tarsiers eat charcoal, but actually they retrieve insects from (sometimes burned) wood. A detailed description of these cute little animals is here.
These little guys are cute and appear very fragile. You can see how small they are compared to my hand on the right.
Not too far from where we saw the tarsiers, we made a stop at the Baclayon Church (The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception). This is considered the oldest Jesuit church in the Philippines, having been established in 1595. It was first established by the Spanish friars Fr. Juan de Torres and Fr. Gabriel Sanchez. History has it that there were some 200 forced laborers who constructed the church from coral stones which were taken from the sea. Using bamboo they to lift and place the stones, they stacked them and then supposedly used egg whites to cement them together. The building as seen from the front was completed in 1727, though there have been additions during the centuries. There is apparently a dungeon underneath the church that was used to punish the natives that violated the rules of the church. This underground dungeon was also used by parishioners in the 1940s as a refuge when the Japanese attacked the Philippines.
The Baclayon Church is the oldest church in the Philippines. The sign above says 1595 as the date of foundation. The inside of the building is still dark and musty. It is still used today for masses and weddings.
After the church visit we continued back to Tagbilaran with a stop by the Blood Compact monument and a final stop at the Punta Cruz Watchtower in Maribojoc. The Blood Compact site commemorates the Blood Compact between Miguel Lopez de Legazpi of Spain and Rajah Sikatuna of Bohol. Here the two men drank from a common cup and included in the drink were drops of blood taken from each other's arm. This act symbolized peace and friendship. This took place on March 16, 1565. Legend has it that Legazpi deliberately avoided Cebu because of what happened to Magellan and Lapu-Lapu there. He ended up going to Bohol and made efforts to befriend the Boholanos.
From there we went to Punta Cruz. The view from the top of the Watchtower provides sight of numerous islands including Cebu. The Spaniards built this in 1796 as a look-out for pirates and others. I was interested in seeing the watchtower, but by this time of the day, nearly 4:00, I was exhausted from the trip. So, I just have the following two photos.
Blood Compact Monument on the left. Punta Cruz Watchtower in the other two shots.
This trip offered a few other sights and some interesting people pictures. I will note those below. We finally caught the return boat back to Cebu. I slept all the way, got back at about 8:15 PM and went back to the hotel and crashed. It was a fun, exhilarating day. I am still recovering at 6 PM on Sunday!!
The David's on the left is actually in Cebu. I went there to eat the other day. But, because of this bakery in Tagbilaran, I had to put the two together. For those that don't know, my wife's name is Julianne and I call her Juli for short.
Of course, what would a trip be without a McDonald's. But, unlike the US, there are no hamburgers advertised. Savory beef on rice and Chicken are common fare at Mickey D's along with the usual burgers. Rice usually wins out over fries.
The tricycles in Taglibaran are different than those in Cebu. These all have windshields.
A couple of signs: At the boat terminal it said to "Fall in Line". I wondered who would catch me if I fell.... I had to stop in Alburquerque. I lived in Albuquerque, NM for nearly 9 years, so this was fun to see here in Bohol.
Some people pictures