Exploring Bohol

All I wanted to do today was see the Tarsiers. However, to get transport there just for that was prohibitive. I didn’t want to rent a motorbike. The best remaining option was an all day tour covering a number of other places I hadn’t wanted to visit but am quite happy to. Cost was PHP400 plus entrances, plus a river cruise and lunch as an extra. I opted to prepay all the entrances out of convenience and that earned me a tiny savings.

My pickup came at 0920, a little later than the indicated pickup time range. It took 30 minutes to get to Tagbilaran where there were a couple more pickups before driving another 1h30 drive to the Tarsier Sanctuary. It shouldn’t have taken that long but it did. As expected it was “full house” in the minivan.

The world’s smallest primate is extremely cute. It can fit in the palm of your hand yet leap 5m, rotate its head almost 360 degrees and move its ears in the direction of sound. Wed did a short loop through the sanctuary and saw about four of the creatures and was back in the minivan within 30 minutes. But really, you don’t need much more time than that.

Next stop was Chocolate Hills. To me, this is one of those over-promoted areas. When I was in Cebu many years ago, people took the ferry over just to see this. It was too much of an effort just for a nice viewpoint. But from Bohol as part of this trip, it was worthwhile.

I walked up the 220 steps non-stop to reach the viewpoint and likewise backdown (which surprised me as I sometimes get knee pain coming down).

We had just missed the rain in the last two stops. It was pouring when we got to the Hanging Bamboo Bridge. The driver said it was too slippery and we agreed to flag it. But as soon as we pulled away, the weather cleared so a few people asked for him to turn back. I was halfway across the bridge when it suddenly started pouring. I didn’t think of turning back but continued to the other side where I had to wait a while for the rain to subside before returning.

We made it to our lunch cruise at 1400. We got stuck into the Filipino buffet slightly before casting off on the Loboc River. It was quite a pretty area. Locals had set up two huts for cultural performances on the river bank and we called into one. Kids danced while the adults sang for us. My favourite of course is the famous Filipino dance where the dancers hop in and out of the four bamboo poles that are clashing rhythmically against each other.

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It was about 1530 by the tie we left for the Zipline which required a minimum of five participants in order for the driver to make the stop. I was hoping that we wouldn’t make the stop as I had done this before in Palawan. Even though we didn’t have the quorum but the driver stopped for us anyway. Only one person did the zipline (in a superman position) while a few others did the small cable car across the valley.

Next was the Butterfly Garden and Pythons. This was a two-in one place. The ladies had a bit of fun here with the dead butterflies sandwiched in a glass case; they stood in the distance and photos taken through the case making them look like they had butterfly wings 🙂

The actual Butterfly Garden wasn’t that great compared to the one in Penang. As for the largest cobra in Bohol … yes, it was large indeed but it was also albino and blind. We were all allowed to go into the cage and pose with it. Not so with the un-albino specimen.

Our last stop was a church museum which was closed as we were late. Some people took pictures from the outside and we continued back to Panglao. I got dropped off at 1845. I had done surprisingly well considering I had woken at 0430.I quickly made my way to the dive shop to confirm my dive for tomorrow. Even though I wasn’t hungry from the late lunch, it made sense to grab a bite and retire for the day.