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| Look at those chocolatey hills! |
Yes'sir, as the saying goes...it's more fun in the Philippines.
Last month Thailand had their New Years celebration, called Songkran. The festivities usually go on for about 4 days. The country more or less shuts down and switches into full-on party mode. My kindergarten had about a week off for the holiday. The Philippines is only a 3 1/2 flight from Bangkok. I've celebrated Songkran in Thailand before so I was looking for new adventures. The Philippines was the perfect option.
My journey started in January when I received a series of pictures of the Natural Wonders of the World. One of these pictures was the Chocolate Hills of Bohol, Visayas, Philippines, which is what you see me standing in front of in the picture above.
Within a week I was searching for flights to Cebu, the second largest city of the Philippines, surrounded by beautiful scenery and some of the world's best islands.
While this trip was a "vacation", I gave myself hardly any time for relaxation. I wanted to see and do as much as humanly possible in the relatively short amount of time I had.
I took a red-eye from Bangkok and arrived in Cebu at around 8am on a Friday. I didn't book any sightseeing tours prior to my arrival because I knew I could probably get the best deals if I booked when I got there. And that's exactly what happened.
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| Catching a cab outside the Cebu airport. |
After dropping my bag off, I headed for a few travel agencies around the downtown area. Now, one of the first things you'll notice about traveling in the Philippines is just how well everyone speaks English! At least compared to Thailand or, really, any other Asian country (excluding Singapore). It actually threw me off for the first day or so. Everyone's so friendly and extroverted.
I ran across a travel agency called Grand Hope Travel. Again, I had NONE of my trip planned, just a rough outline of things I wanted to see and do. The ladies at the travel agency were so, so friendly. They told me the exact places I should go and how I should get there. And within about 2 hours I had my entire trip planned, paid for and booked. Boom! That's how you do it!
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| The wonderful ladies at Grand Hope! |
I certainly can't detail this trip blow by blow in just one post, so I'm going to give you the first 2 days which were, without a doubt, action packed.
Friday
Just after booking my travel plans the morning I arrived, I found a guesthouse that also rented out motorcycles. I rented one and headed out to see some of the city sights. If you ever travel to Cebu and you have the guts to ride around on a motorcycle/scooter, there is truly no need to take one of their city tours. What a waste of money! The tour companies will charge you around 4,000 PHP for a 3-4 hour tour. Renting a motorcycle to do it yourself costs 500 PHP A DAY!
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| Cebu Guesthouse: Great atmosphere and clean rooms. |
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| Magellan's Cross. |
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| A monument near Fort San Pedro |
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| Fort San Pedro, almost 450 years old! |
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| A very, very old prison cell. |
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| From inside the fort's walls. |
The weather during the entire trip was flawless, hardly a cloud in the sky. I sincerely could not have asked for anything better.
My next stop was called Top of Cebu, the highest point of the hill overlooking the city and outlying islands. I arrived a little late in the afternoon, but was still able to capture some breathtaking views.
On my way down the hill, I stumbled upon an Italian restaurant overlooking the city. It was still relatively early in the evening so the place was a little empty. I got to talking with the manager, an Italian who'd been living in the Philippines for over 20 years, running various hotels and restaurants through the years while supporting a family of 8 kids! Whoa momma! Or should I say whoa poppa!
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| Ciao bello!!!!! |
I was completely pooped by the end of that day. I returned the motorcycle and crashed into bed. If Friday was fast, Saturday would be high-octane!
Saturday
I boarded the ferry early the next morning for Bohol.
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| Oh yeah, first class baby! |
There are many popular sights to see on the island of Bohol. And again, you can book a day trip there between 5,000-6,000 PHP or you can rent a motorcycle for 500 PHP a day and have the time of your frickin life with all the freedom you could ever want. Man, I really recommend renting a motorcycle wherever you go in the Philippines if there's any driving involved. Can't stress it enough.
The ferry arrived at 12pm. The last ferry returning to Cebu left at 6pm. That gave me just about 6 hours to see and do as much as humanly possible. Here's how it went down:
- Saw Blood Compact site
- Toured 2 historical Catholic churches
- Ate on the Loboc River Boat cruise
- Zipplined over the Loboc river
- Saw the tarsiers
- Visited the Chocolate Hills
- Returned the motorcycle
Whaaaaaa?! In 6 hours?!!!
Not a second was spared, literally. I didn't even take the river boat cruise. "What? It's 2-hours long? I don't have that time. I'll just eat on the boat and jump off, okay?" Haha. And they let me. What a great time saver!
I drove a total of 140 kilometers that day on the motorcycle. And let me tell you, that last 30k stretch to get back to the ferry in time was a little reckless. I had some of the locals turning heads as they witnessed a pasty white blur whiz by them in panic. But missing that ferry would have meant missing my flight the next morning to Boracay island...and that just wasn't gonna happen.
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| The blood compact site. |
(By the way, these blog posts would be far too long if I were to explain the history and meaning behind everything I saw on this whole trip. I've spared you these details this time around.)
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| The beautiful sea surrounding Bohol. |
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| Inside one of the historical churches. |
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| The lovely Loboc River. |
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| Doing some crazy ziplining over the Loboc River! |
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| The tarsier, the smallest primate in the world! |
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| Adorable little guys! |
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| Finally...the Chocolate Hills. The whole trip was worth it! |
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| Some friends made along the way :) |
Well, I'm going to leave it at that for now. I'm saving the wonderful trip to Boracay Island for Part II. I hope you've enjoyed. Thanks for reading! I'll leave you with a little video I made of a blind man playing a very beautiful piece of music inside Fort San Pedro (and yes, I did make a donation).
