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Breezing through Bohol
The early dawn flight to Tagbilaran left Manila on time, and landed in the Bohol capital after an hour. A tourist van was waiting outside the terminal, as well as the sun! I had planned for a wet holiday. Weather had been bad all week in Manila. The sun over bohol on typhoon season was the first pleasant surprise!
We arrived in Panglao island 20 minutes after leaving the airport. Panglao is connected to Tagbilaran City by bridge. It’s good to arrive there fresh and dry. Anyone who’s traveled to Boracay knows that one cannot reach the island without feeling a little harassed by a 15-minute boat ride from mainland Panay where the airport is.
Unlike Boracay where day and night life, are just within the 7 kilometer white beach, Panglao offers pieces of idyllic, resort life on different sides of the island. We stayed at the Dumaluan Hotel, adjacent to the popular Bohol Beach Club. This side of Panglao has a view of the sunrise (a little disappointing to anyone used to watching Boracay’s breath-taking sunsets). But it had the best beach front with shallow waters safe for swimming and kids.
Dumaluan looks like your typical Boracay Station 1 or 2 resort but at Station 3 prices! Room rates are commensurate to the amenities, and food is cheaper than expected. One may get a full meal for a price that can only buy snack (or shake) in Boracay. My wife and I made a budget based on Boracay rates so Bohol’s cheaper eats were another pleasant surprise!
Our 4-day-3-night package included plane fare, hotel accommodations with daily breakfast, and a free guided tour of 8 of Bohol’s 22 points of interest. A tour guide told me that aside from Bohol there are several other “must sees” in Panglao and C.P. Garcia islands.
Our first stop was Chocolate Hills which I only saw in pictures, postcards, and calendars in all of my 40 years. The local government of Carmen town built an observation deck for a better view of this natural wonder. One must conquer 214 man made steps to get to the deck, but it was all worth it.
The tour also covered two 17th century churches in the towns of Dauis and Baclayon, and the “Sandugo” blood compact site where Bohol Chieftain Datu Sikatuna and Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi pledged allegiance to each other in 1565.
We also took a breezy drive through a man-made forest in Bilar and Loboc towns. This Mahogany jungle tells the success story of reforestation which can be replicated in other parts of the country. We skipped the hanging bamboo bridge in Loboc to give time for souvenir shopping.
I also had a brief encounter with a Tarsier, the endangered Bohol icon! Local government limits human interaction with these nocturnal primates. They are prone to stress, and can be suicidal. Not as much as one flash from a camera of an insensitive tourist can make Tarsiers hold their breath, resulting in death.
The best thing about the tour is free lunch! The Loboc government treats tourists to a sumptuous buffet at a floating restaurant which cruises along the River. The floating restaurant also made a stop by the riverbank where tourists were serenaded by community singers.
Bohol’s tourism strategy is to market the points of interest of different towns and sell them under one tour package. Towns are now reaping the gains because of the businesses and jobs tourism provides.
Bohol was not our first choice for vacation destination this year. My wife and I originally wanted to go to Boracay again (it would have been my 22nd Boracay trip) for some lazy time on the beach. But we decided to shift sights and conquered Bohol instead. It turned out we got more than just another white beach experience.
(Comments or suggestions are welcome. Email: stanley.palisada@gmail.com)