Third and last leg of my trip to the Philippines: Bohol.
You know, seeing the picture above you're thinking: "still sea and pristine beaches, what a bore!", But Bohol is not only this!
First, get to Bohol is very simple, just take a ship from Cebu and in no time you arrive at your destination ... we leave for the moment the fact that I instead arrived from Boracay (read my post on Boracay) so I had have a good day trips :)
From Cebu we disembark in the city of Tagbilaran, where we spend the night just because we did not think of doing in time to catch the bus to the true destination of the trip, Loboc.
Tagbilaran is a city in style Puerto Princessa Palawan: busy, sporchina, chaotic and polluted, then definitely avoidable.
Finally, after spending the night in Tagbilaran we take a bus to Loboc ... or maybe it was a jeepney, I do not remember: p
Anyway, we get to Loboc and immediately ask where you will find our resort, the Stefanie Grace Paradise Inn.
We discover that it is beyond the river and there is a high bridge to overcome ... a great undertaking with our valigioni, considering that then the resort was not that close, so we do accompanied by two guys in motion that for pennies lead us to the destination.
The scene is very picturesque, 1 bike, 2 people, 2 trips: Before I go to the guy who drives and the suitcase in the middle of the two of us, then it is the turn of my partner with his valigiona.
With a little 'stunts on a road a little' muddy arrive at their destination and finally we can enjoy our beautiful resort with rooms overlooking the river :)
The resort is very nice and the hotel with her boyfriend do all treated us like true kings.
Maybe because it was low season, but we were the only guests at the resort and we were pampered like never happened to me in the various trips made so far.
Already I had talked about the hospitality received well in the Lagogan resort, but really here has broken all records!
Loboc is a place hinterland of Bohol and from there it is very convenient to rent a bike to tour the island ... and that's exactly what we did :)
I had since I was about fifteen years since I drove a scooter, in the days when it was one thing to neighborhood kids make bullies on two wheels ... and even at the time, I had only tried borrowing it from someone .. . Quinde imagine the scene of me that I ride a bike (or scooter?) with behind a person: snap departures and every time we stopped there was the risk of falling to the ground :)
Fortunately that point of Bohol, the one that goes to the hinterland, was little traffic and we were able to go home safely despite even the storm that caught us by surprise.
In this exciting motorcycle ride we saw: Chocolate Hills, Butterfly garden, Man-made forest, Tarsier Conservation Area.
Worthy of note are the Chocolate Hills, the hills in the dry season I assume the chocolate brown color (hence the nickname Chocolate Hills), really quaint, so much so that one of the most popular destinations in the Philippines.
And then how can I not mention the Tarsier?
Cute little animals like monkeys, are a breed in danger of extinction.
The tarsier is a very sensitive and delicate primate. And 'possible to visit the tarsier in special protected environments where you have to be silent to avoid trouble them.
Loboc, being in an area where nature has not yet been overcome by man, may not be ideal for those who hate insects, and consider before choosing this location as a base goal of your trip to Bohol.
From Loboc then we went by car, accompanied by our hotelier of confidence for a truly ridiculous figure, in or near Panglao.
Our lodging in Panglao was the Reggae Guesthouse, a small resort a bit 'alternative just a few minutes walk from the famous white sand beach of the area.
The resort was very nice and cheap, but had the disadvantage of being placed in a viuzzola earthy that the first rain became a mud lake, and in those cases to be able to return to the room you had to walk through the side holding on to a nice razor wire .
If we came back in the evening, it was necessary to do this nice acrobatics taking a torch as well, since the road was completely dark :)
The beach near the area was nice (I think his name was white beach), but all in all too crowded for my taste.
Or rather, it was a little crowded, but given the attractive shopping promenade, I imagined the mess that could be there in high season and so I rejected the bud.
A short drive from where we were, there was instead a beautiful white sandy beach of which the name escapes me now.
A long beach of fine white sand, full of palm trees, with a few luxury resorts virtually deserted in August.
I even used the wifi free through this beach paradise.
The only flaw is that it was paying the entrance, a 20 cent type stuff seems to me, a ridiculous figure for those going on vacation, but actually a hassle for those who live there and wants to go forever.
What about Panglao? Its beaches are a real treat for the eyes!
The ideal place to relax ... as long as you do not riempano too high season.
Below I leave you a playlist of videos made in Bohol and the Philippines:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCBrso9WwkFYxBnAJ1EOt4JEQj9uvsmDY
My experience in the Philippines unfortunately ends here (at least for now).
It 'was a really nice vacation, where I alternated relaxation of paradisiacal semi-deserted beaches to adventurous bike rides, canoeing, cycling ... using all kinds of means to achieve the fantastic places immersed in nature.
But the vacation of away in August 2014 was not all!
From Bohol we then returned to Cebu and we have them flew to Hong Kong.
I leave the link with pictures taken in Bohol, which was perhaps the island more varied that I visited in my journey in the Philippines.