July 5, 2013
Breakfast at Coco Grove Tourist Inn starts at 6am. These were the options: Ham, Longganisa, or Corned Beef -- all served with fried egg, plain rice and coffee. I suggest you order the Longganisa because it came all the way from Lucban. Skip the ham and the corned beef since you could get these in any supermarket.
Our original schedule was 9am. But we requested it to be re-scheduled at 7am. Thankfully, our driver picked us up on time. He was a different driver/tour guide from the previous day and he didn't bother introducing himself. He was more of the silent type.
Our trip for the day was the Countryside Tour: Blood Compact Shrine, Baclayon Church, 'Prony' the Python, Chocolate Hills, Billar Man-made forest, Simply Butterflies Conservation Center, Tarsier Conservatory, Hanging Bridge, Loboc River Cruise with buffet lunch.
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| Blood Compact Shrine |
From Panglao Island, it will take you less than 20 minutes to reach this. From this spot, you could also take a photo of Pamilacan Island.
Baclayon Church
This is one of the oldest churches in the Philippines. Work your imagination a little and you'd see the image of Padre Pio. The church was still closed when we arrived.
This is one of the oldest churches in the Philippines. Work your imagination a little and you'd see the image of Padre Pio. The church was still closed when we arrived.
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| Baclayon Church |
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| Prony the python |
I could only say that Prony is one huGe snake! It was amusing to know that the caretakers use shampoo to bathe Prony. (That's a lot of shampoo!) You could also see several birds here and 3 civet cats.
Billar Man Made Forest
This is a cool, refreshing spot along the highway going to Chocolate Hills. It makes you want to stop over and take a nap under the trees.
Chocolate Hills
You could reach the viewing deck after climbing up a long set of stairs (150+ steps). Actually, even if you don't reach the main viewing deck, you could still see the hills. I was expecting the hills to be more brown in color, but much to my disappointment, it was green. There were 2 legends on how the hills came to be but there's really a scientific explanation with regards to the formation of these hills.
Simply Butterflies Conservation Center
This was my initial thought prior to going inside the conservatory -- "Boring. I've seen butterflies." But believe it or not, I really enjoyed this part of the trip. It was an educational tour, and I got to hold a caterpillar! I felt a bit squirmish about the idea of touching it but hey! this was just a once in a lifetime experience so make the most out of it rather than regret it right? Right!
Another plus for this trip is that there are excellent spots where you could take photos. I also recommend that you try their ice cream -- they're packaged like ice candies but are really ice cream. I got the lychee-flavored one and it tasted creamier than the ice cream I had at Bohol Bee Farm. Make sure to eat it immediately because it melts quickly. I forgot the price but I think it was around 25? 35? It was worth it -- for me (in my opinion).
Tarsier Conservatory
I thought that we would be led inside a greenhouse to see these little creatures closer. I was surprised to see that we would enter a mini-forest and we would see the tarsiers up the trees. I guess they made it that way to prevent tourists from touching these fragile little primates. Tarsiers are nocturnal so most of them were sleeping during our tour. I loved the idea that the entrance tickets to the conservatory could also serve as postcards! :)
Hanging Bridge
You'd be crossing this twice so think long and hard if you'd have the courage to cross the bridge. Honestly, for me, it's nothing to be scared of. It was quite safe. You would only see more souvenir shops at the end of the bridge. You'd be fortunate if "Buko King" decides to perform and have you see his amazing talent of removing a coconut's husk with the use of his teeth.
Loboc River Cruise + lunch buffet
This was the least satisfying part of the trip. We boarded a boat operated by Busai Monark. The food was nothing special. My mom could cook better. What's really irritating here was that, they waited for the boat to be filled up with guests. A group left even before the cruise started and after they left, the boat finally moved. The trip was delayed but we were not in a rush so we waited, and besides, we wouldn't want to waste the money we paid for the cruise. There were several platforms setup along the river so you could watch a sing-dance performance by natives that live within the river's vicinity. Depending on what you chose, you could see a small waterfalls or you could visit a local tribe.
Billar Man Made Forest
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| Billar Man Made Forest |
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| Chocolate Hills halfway up the steps |
You could reach the viewing deck after climbing up a long set of stairs (150+ steps). Actually, even if you don't reach the main viewing deck, you could still see the hills. I was expecting the hills to be more brown in color, but much to my disappointment, it was green. There were 2 legends on how the hills came to be but there's really a scientific explanation with regards to the formation of these hills.
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| Caterpillar! |
This was my initial thought prior to going inside the conservatory -- "Boring. I've seen butterflies." But believe it or not, I really enjoyed this part of the trip. It was an educational tour, and I got to hold a caterpillar! I felt a bit squirmish about the idea of touching it but hey! this was just a once in a lifetime experience so make the most out of it rather than regret it right? Right!
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| I have wings! :) |
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| Sleeping tarsier |
I thought that we would be led inside a greenhouse to see these little creatures closer. I was surprised to see that we would enter a mini-forest and we would see the tarsiers up the trees. I guess they made it that way to prevent tourists from touching these fragile little primates. Tarsiers are nocturnal so most of them were sleeping during our tour. I loved the idea that the entrance tickets to the conservatory could also serve as postcards! :)
Hanging Bridge
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| Hanging bridge |
You'd be crossing this twice so think long and hard if you'd have the courage to cross the bridge. Honestly, for me, it's nothing to be scared of. It was quite safe. You would only see more souvenir shops at the end of the bridge. You'd be fortunate if "Buko King" decides to perform and have you see his amazing talent of removing a coconut's husk with the use of his teeth.
 |
| Platform where you could watch the natives perform |
This was the least satisfying part of the trip. We boarded a boat operated by Busai Monark. The food was nothing special. My mom could cook better. What's really irritating here was that, they waited for the boat to be filled up with guests. A group left even before the cruise started and after they left, the boat finally moved. The trip was delayed but we were not in a rush so we waited, and besides, we wouldn't want to waste the money we paid for the cruise. There were several platforms setup along the river so you could watch a sing-dance performance by natives that live within the river's vicinity. Depending on what you chose, you could see a small waterfalls or you could visit a local tribe.
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| Literally a house. Just knock and ask politely for their product |
Ask around where this is and try their ube products. Their ube pastillas, ube halaya, and ube polvoron were really tasty and made with real ube(no fake extenders like purple-colored sweet potato).
After going back to Baclayon to see it's interiors, we headed back to our inn. We rested until 4:30pm before going to our planned dinner place.
Note: From here on, there'll be no pictures since we decided to leave our things at the inn. We later found out that it was a wrong decision.
Acacia de Bubu
We went here by tricycle for 10php/pax as fare. It was a good thing that a passenger of the tricycle knew the place and instructed the driver where we could be dropped(since it was a one-way street). We thought that the driver was irritated with us, but at least he dropped us there safely. This is located on Burgos street near a big acacia tree - thus the name. It's a big, open-air bbq eatery. There would be several plastic containers where you could choose which ones to grill. Here are some of your choices: traditional pork bbq, liempo, hotdog, visayan longganisa, chicken feet, chicken liver, chicken gizzard, chicken intestines and others. Their bbq sauce was good, I just wished that they cleaned their grill properly and they shouldn't have burnt our hotdogs :( 1 liempo, 2 hotdogs, 3 bbq, 1 longganisa(visayan longganisa tastes different than your typical longganisa), 2 rice, and 2 softdrinks were approximately 200php.
After dinner, my sister and I decided to walk home because it was downhill and most of the public transportation going back where we came from were filled up to the roof-not exaggerating(plus, the fare back would be higher) The distance was approximately 2.5km. When we reached the bridge connecting Tagbilaran and Panglao, we decided to try Alfonso Pizzeria.
Alfonso Pizzeria
They use a brick-oven and firewood to cook the pizza. We ordered the Margherita. We watched how the chef made our pizza and I loved how he generously topped it with mozzarella. There was an incident here(an insect went inside my eye) that ruined my mood, but the whole eating experience was enjoyable. The pizza was freshly made and while watching, you would see that the chef values cleanliness in the kitchen. Their pizza looked healthier than those oily commercialized pizza. Their price was also affordable so if you have the time, visit their place. 6-7pm will be the most ideal time because their pizza could be easily sold out.
Our flight back to Manila was 10am of July 6, 2013. It was a rollercoaster ride and one of the most nauseating flights I've had. So that was it! Our trip to the 10th largest island in the Philippines - Bohol!
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