The first beach I went to was the private beach owned by the resort I stayed at on my father's home province of Bohol. Situated on Panglao Island, the resort was exactly what I wanted for my first beach resort experience: in the middle of nowhere, off the beaten trail with a pool, salty-free water in the room (which is hard to find on this particular island) and a beach within seconds of my room.
I found this place on Trip Advisor (Panglao Tropical Villas). It is comprised of three cottages for families of at least four people and another two-storey cottage structure for individual travelers. For 2,500 pesos (or the equivalent of about $52 SD), I got exactly what I wanted - plus cable and free WiFi. I didn't take advantage of the WiFi since I didn't have my laptop but did I take advantage of the cable. (i.e. I finally got to see the Amazing Race finale - wootwoot!)
For my first full day in Bohol, one of my dad's sisters took me around the island to catch some of the places I didn't see the last time I was there. One thing that I did again was the Loboc River cruise. Basically the river cruise comprises of two things Filipinos like to do on a regular basis: eat and sing. For the equivalent of about $5 USD, you get a buffet meal of traditional Filipino food while you glide down a jungle river to see the sights to the soundtrack provided my live performers on board.
For our particular cruise, we were treated to a trio - a dad and his two daughters, both under the age of 13 (listen, it was a Saturday and I don't claim to know the child labour laws in the motherland). Despite no formal training, they were ridiculously good. The littlest one even started singing in Korean, you know, to butter up the Korean tourists. Click on this link to hear the song and then picture an 8-year old singing it. So cute! Again it made me wonder - did I miss out on when they were handing out Filipino kids the talent gene??
Nobody by the Wonder Girls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoJl85cUeRI
At any rate, we finished the cruise and proceeded to check out the tarsier primates at a protected sanctuary. Tarsiers are primates that look like they are perpetually tripping on acid - no joke. The last time I was in the Philippines, I saw the primates alongside a river in a caged environment. This time around, we managed to go see them in their natural habitat.
Because they are an endangered species, we had a guide showing us around in the jungle sanctuary to ensure we don't disturb them unnecessarily/steal them. Bernard (our guide) was very knowledgeable and knew exactly where to find them in the fenced in area.
At one point we came even across what seemed to be a large tarsier. Typically they are about the size of the palm of your hand; this one looked like the size of my entire hand. We thought we were very lucky that we were able to see one that large...until Bernard pointed out to us that the large tarsier was actually two tarsiers in heat. Just my luck, our visit coincided with tarsier mating season. Needless to say for the rest of the tour, I had the Bloodhound Gang's appropriate one-hit wonder song in my head on repeat.
The rest of my trip to Bohol was non-eventful (in relative terms). In addition to lounging by the beach on a hammock and swimming whenever possible, my cousin and I hopped on a boat at the crack of dawn on Sunday to go dolphin watching/island hopping. It was pretty fun and a bit of a gong show.
While I did see some dolphins swimming around, the excursion became more of boat watching. There seemed to be more boats looking for dolphins than actual dolphins. I would estimate that there were probably about thirty of them swimming around. After a certain point, I began boat watching, assessing each boat on the level of dolphin stalking skills. Some boats looked pretty equipped - even with sonar - while others looked like a souped-up dingy.
Ok, I've got to hitch a ride to dinner so that's it for now. More to come on how I now have a greater appreciation for Soju now that I tasted sea water in copious amount...bleeh...
xoxo
Candace
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