Mustachioventures: May 2016

Bohol Local Hot Cold Spots: Canawa Cold Spring and Badiang Spring

Dolphin Watching and Island Hopping (Balicasag Island and Virgin Island) (you're here!)

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Panglao Island's Dumaluan Beach

The moment I stepped on Dumaluan Beach's soft white shore and saw its clear blue waters, I immediately wanted to come back. Maybe the perfect weather added to its allure. Maybe—surely—the absence of crowds dispelled my not so fantastic impression of Panglao, particularly and mainly because of Alona Beach, the only beach I ignorantly knew of in the handful of times I have been to Panglao. So, I thank my friend for taking me to this postcard pretty part of Panglao Island.

Dumaluan Beach

I haven't left, but I already miss it. For my future and yours, I did not let the searing sun bother me as I happily let my feet sink in the sand and walked along the stretch of beach to take note of the resorts found along it:

South Palms Resort Panglao (038) 502 8288 / 0917 716 7609
Bohol Beach Club (038) 502 9222 / 0927 452 7054 / 0999 992 1880 / 0923 250 7828
Dumaluan Beach Resort I (see below)
Dumaluan Beach Resort II (038) 502 9092 / 0917 883 4888
Villa Umi Panglao Resort 0932 445 2916 / villaumipanglao@yahoo.com
Bolod Beach Resort (038) 502 4046 / 0920 603 9927 / 0915 682 3187
Dubay Panglao Beachfront Resort 0917 841 3637
Panglao Grande Resort (038) 502 9433 / 0906 496 7266 / 0908 958 6872 / panglaogranderesort@gmail.com

Fan Room at Dumaluan Beach Resort I

Dumaluan Beach Resort I price list

Villa Umi

Bolod Beach Resort

Dubay Panglao Beachfront Resort

Panglao Grande Resort

If you have high standards, choose either South Palms Resort Panglao or Bohol Beach Club, the high-end resorts on Dumaluan Beach. There's a new one on the block: Villa Umi Panglao Resort. Villa Umi is not as expensive as South Palms or Bohol Beach Club, but is still on the expensive side, with rooms from Php 6500 to Php 8500. If your standards are not that high but you are not as cheap as I, then you have four choices: Dumaluan Beach Resort II, Dubay Panglao Beachfront Resort, Bolod Beach Resort, and Panglao Grande Resort. Cheapos like myself, looking to spend less than Php 500 a night per person for a two-person room, can go for Dumaluan Beach Resort I. Their 850-peso fan room was all right by me. As long as I have a bed to sleep on and a bathroom, I am good. It was the beach itself, that all these resorts shared, that mattered to me.

I will be back Dumaluan Beach!

Bohol Bound

Dolphin Watching and Island Hopping (Balicasag Island and Virgin Island)

Panglao Island's Dumaluan Beach (you're here!)

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Abatan River Firefly Watching Tour

A River Life Smoke Guy pranced around us carrying burning coconut husks, readying us as sacrifice to the river crocs. Just kidding. It was to ward away the evil...mosquitoes, before we get fed to the crocs.

After getting smoked, our assigned River Life Guide made us wear lifevests before giving a lightning quick lesson on how to use a paddle. A few strokes of the paddle through the air then we were ready.

We gingerly got on our tandem kayaks lest we get fed to the crocs unceremoniously. I was the boss that night and let the guide do all the talking and rowing while I lay back and tried to see the moon and the fireflies through the gloom (I have very poor night vision and all the while I wondered how the guide could see through the murk).

I expected to see fireflies everywhere but, the guide explained, fireflies only flock to specific types of trees. So the guide slowly rowed to the firefly–magnet trees dotting the river while he explained about the area and how fireflies are indicators of a healthy and clean environment.

My very poor night vision haha

It was a nice night for lazily floating about while looking at live little Christmas lights fluttering around trees (fireflies were the inspiration for Christmas lights, so my guide said). But then the hour was soon up and we had to go back to the dock. I rolled on the dock in one piece. No scratches, no croc bites, no mosquito bites. Just a little soaked on the butt and a memory of darkness and a thousand flickering lights.

Abatan River Life
National Highway-Junction, Salvador, Cortes, Bohol

Mobile: 0948 017 7625 / 0908 873 8304
Landline: (038) 503 9655
Email: abatanriver@gmail.com

Entrance fee Php 50

Boat Tour

630PM / 730PM / 830 PM

3 to 5 pax: Php 600 per person

6 to 10 pax: Php 500 per person

Kayak Tour

Any time after 630PM

Single kayak Php 350

Tandem kayak Php 500

Guide Php 300

Bohol Bound

Bohol Local Hot Cold Spots: Canawa Cold Spring and Badiang Spring

Abatan River Firefly Watching Tour (you're here!)

Dolphin Watching and Island Hopping (Balicasag Island and Virgin Island)

Monday, May 9, 2016

Tagbilaran Heritage Walk

Our 2.5-hour walking tour started at the Human Nature shop. Nothing significant here. Just that this is also where Dagohoy World Travel, the travel agency that came up with this heritage walking tour, is. We were given a straw hat and a short introduction about Tagbilaran, then off we went donning our straw hats.

Our first stop was outside the gate of Holy Spirit School. Through the grate we gazed at the white building that is said to have been built in 1929 and served as a dormitory. The building looked like a place ghosts would find very comfortable. Too bad we could only look at them through the grate, and them at us through the window.

Holy Spirit School

Next stop was an old house where the owner still resides (though we did not get to meet her). Only about a fourth of the house is still used as a residence, the rest had been converted into commercial/office space.

After the house visit, each of us was given a plastic of coins (amounting to Php 8) with a printout of three sentences in Visayan. I found it quite amusing and concluded right away that this walking tour was designed for foreigners.

For our mini group of four, we had to hail two tricycles. I noticed that tricycles in Tagbilaran are small and can only carry two passengers in the cab and one behind the driver. Another thing I noticed about tricycles in Tagbilaran is that each one had a Bible verse painted on the back of the tricycle. Without it, explained the guide, they would not be granted a permit to operate.

The tricycle driver dropped us off in front of St Joseph Cathedral. I thanked him and sheepishly grinned as I gave him my plastic of coins. We went to the side of the church where we lit a candle of our chosen color (each color has a meaning) and said a silent prayer. (The guide paid for the candles.)

St Joseph Cathedral

We then crossed the street to Rizal Park, disturbed the pigeons, then crossed another street on the other side of the park to snap a photo of the Bohol Provincial Capitol, which was under repair. Then on to the next building, the Bohol National Museum.

Rizal Park

Bohol Provincial Capitol

A visit to the Bohol National Museum is not part of the tour but we told the guide we wanted to go inside. (It was sweltering hot and the air-conditioned interiors of the museum beckoned.) We were ready to pay Php 10 each for the entrance fee, but the guide said she'd pay for it (thank you!). We took our time in the small museum and, with our boiling brains, tried to learn a little bit about Bohol. There were some archaeological finds, a stuffed monkey, a stuffed tarsier, an explanation of how the chocolate hills formed, paintings of local heroes, and a section about ube (purple yam). Of all the things in the museum, what struck me the most was about the beliefs in planting ube. Maybe I was just hungry.

Skulls and paintings inside the National Museum

And just in time, for our next stop was Jojie's Painitang Bol-anon for some local delicacies (yehey! snacks are included in the tour!). We were given a cold bottle of calamansi juice and a plate of dinumugan, cuchinta, biko ube, balanghoy, and nilubid (cassava, ube, chocolate). I've had cuchinta and balanghoy before (and biko, but the regular kind), but the other three were new to me. I liked the biko ube and the nilubid.

Snack time

After the snack break we moved on to the Carlos P Garcia Heritage House (and on the way, we passed some old houses). Carlos P Garcia was the Philippines' 8th President, succeeding Ramon Magsaysay when the latter died in a plane crash. Garcia was born in Talibon, Bohol to parents who were natives of Bangued, Abra. The house in Tagbilaran was built in 1953 and was where Garcia lived after his failed re-election bid.

Old houses

Carlos P Garcia Heritage House

The final stop and the grand finale to this heritage walk was the Casa Rocha, a bahay na bato (stone house) built in 1831. What caught my eye upon entering the house was the domed ceiling of the living room. Other than that, it was the squeaky floor and the heavy wooden door. The wood planks used for flooring tells of how rich the owners were (the wider the plank, the richer the family). The roof was made of tiles. This house would have been a sight to see had it been well maintained.

Casa Rocha

For Php 700 per person was this walk worth it? I thought it was too expensive, the houses visited too few, and the scorching sun too torturous. But that's just me, my thrifty pocket, and my sunburned self.

To book the Tagbilaran Heritage Walk contact Dagohoy World Travel through the following:

ecotours@dagohoyworldtravel.com
0917 896 0486

This article is now available as a mobile app. Go to GPSmyCity to download the app for GPS-assisted travel directions to the attractions featured in this article.

Bohol Bound

Bohol Local Hot Cold Spots: Canawa Cold Spring and Badiang Spring

Tagbilaran Heritage Walk (you're here!)

Dolphin Watching and Island Hopping (Balicasag Island and Virgin Island)

Saturday, May 7, 2016

The Usual Bohol Land Tour

Meeting my officemate's father on the same day that I was to drive off in their car was kind of embarrassing. I expected her father to put me through a driving test before releasing me and their car to the roads of Bohol. But he didn't, and I drove off slowly until I was out of his field of vision. Once out of sight, I floored it. Just kidding. I was a careful driver on unfamiliar territory and we cruised along Bohol's concrete roads at a leisurely speed. From Carmen to Tagbilaran, we made stops at the usual Bohol tourist spots.

Carmen

Chocolate Hills Complex

Entrance Fee Php 50

There are three viewing decks for Chocolate Hills that I know of: Sagbayan Peak in Sagbayan, Chocolate Hills Adventure Park (CHAP) in Carmen, and Chocolate Hills Complex, which is also in Carmen. Since Sagbayan town was out of the way, we went to Chocolate Hills Complex, the classic viewing area.

214 steps up the slope of one chocolate hill offered a view of the thousands of hills...had the viewdeck not been destroyed by the 2013 earthquake. Two years and five months after the quake, the viewdeck was still not fully repaired. The ongoing repair cut our sweeping 360-degree view to maybe 225 degrees. Nonetheless, the hills that dot the landscape as far as the eye could see was still a wonder to behold.

This is the best view I could get at the viewdeck

The view from the parking area

Bilar

Man-made Forest

I have been along this route three times before and every time we drove through this area, it gave me a feeling of peace. But we never stopped to smell the mahogany trees. This time, being the driver, I drove slowly along the 2-kilometer winding road and, spotting a clearing, stepped on the brakes and had everyone spill out of the car for deep breaths and a few snaps.

Loboc

Tarsier Conservation Area

Entrance Fee Php 60

Next up was to say hello to the tiny primates residing in the Tarsier Conservation Area in Loboc. (I wanted to visit The Philippine Tarsier and Wildlife Sanctuary, also known as Tarsier Research and Development Center, in the town of Corella, but my officemate suggested we go to the Tarsier Conservation Area in Loboc as the latter was on the way.)

From the entrance of the Tarsier Conservation Area, we quietly followed the concrete path and steps while opening our eyes as wide as a tarsier's in order to spot these tiny creatures. I opened my eyes as wide as I could, but I still found it difficult to spot these little balls of fur. I just went where there were three or four people gazing at the same point up a tree. As we stared at the tarsier, it stared back at us with its big round eyes.

The tarsier, as small as they are, are not to be underestimated:

Tarsiers require a lot of space. By a lot, I mean one hectare per tarsier.
The tarsier can leap a distance of up to 5 meters.
The tarsier can rotate its head almost 360 degrees.

There are three things to remember when visiting these tiny primates:

Tarsiers hate noise so shut your trap.
Tarsiers don't like being touched so keep your hands to yourself.
Tarsiers hate paparazzi so no flash photography.

All these give them stress and they don't take stress easily. When they can't take it anymore, they will commit suicide.

Sevilla

Hanging Bridge

Entrance Fee Php 20

From Loboc we drove along the highway and made a right to find the hanging bridge in the town of Sevilla. We slowly and bouncily walked across the bridge and, on the other side of the river, found fresh buko peeled by the Buko King himself (peeled with his teeth!), cabcab (cassava crackers, Php 25 per pack), bananacue, and souvenirs being sold.

Baclayon

Baclayon Church and Museum

Museum Entrance Fee Php 60

Before reaching Tagbilaran City, we made a stop at the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, also known as Baclayon Church. Made up of coral stones "glued" together with egg whites, the church was completed in 1727. This centuries-old church, unfortunately, crumbled during the 2013 earthquake. During our visit (February 2016), the church was still undergoing repairs. We didn't go in the museum, but was told it houses religious items.

Tagbilaran

Blood Compact Site

The Sandugo or Blood Compact Site is just along the highway but I missed this spot and had to drive back a hundred or so meters. The Sandugo commemorates the blood compact (a custom at that time to draw a few drops of blood from each party and mix it with wine, and each would drink from the cup) performed by the Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi and the chieftain of Bohol Rajah Sikatuna to seal their friendship. The sculpture depicting this March 16, 1565 event is by the Boholano Napoleon Abueva, a Philippine National Artist.

Bohol Bound

Bohol Local Hot Cold Spots: Canawa Cold Spring and Badiang Spring

The Usual Bohol Land Tour (you're here!)