Showing posts with label Bohol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bohol. Show all posts

Bohol Family Trip | Dumaluan Beach Resort 2 - Accommodation, Etc.

Dumaluan Beach Resort

As I said in my previous posts, I was able to bring my family to our first ever family trip. Though it wasn't with the whole family, it was still a happy out-of-town trip. It was my mom's first time to travel by plane and by ferry, my nephew too. So I was excited for them, a bit worried though because my mom is hypertensive I was afraid her blood pressure might shoot up during the trip. But thank God it didn't; it was such a happy and hassle-free vacation.

Accommodation

For this Bohol trip, we stayed at Dumaluan Beach Resort 2 (DBR2), one of the beach resorts along the Dauis side of Panglao Island. DBR2 offers several types of accommodation, one of which is deluxe. I would have chosen something of lower value but it was the only accommodation available when I was booking for our Bohol trip. DBR 2 deluxe room is an air-conditioned room with a double-sized bed, cable TV, mini-fridge with mini-bar, private bathroom with bathtub, hot/cold shower and basic toiletries (shampoo and small bath soap, a day's worth), and a small veranda out front. The accommodation comes with a complimentary buffet breakfast for two and is priced at P2,600.00. I had to pay P3,000.00 though, for the extra person charge (additional P400.00 per person, also inclusive of buffet breakfast).

The room is actually spacious enough for two persons but a bit crowded for three especially since we have to place the extra mat on the floor at the bottom of the bed. Because of this, there's no more space to walk around which makes going to and from the bathroom such an effort. But it's okay; anyway, we were there for only a few days. What I find a bit off is that they didn't clean the room on our second day, didn't even provide fresh towels and new set of toiletries. That despite the fact that I placed/displayed the 'please make-up my room' sign on the door. Apparently, they're not checking the rooms so they didn't see the sign. I asked the staff about it the next day and was told I should have alerted them through the front desk. Tsk...useless sign!

our room
bathroom/CR
pathway leading to our room

DBR 2 Breakfast

my breakfast, on our third day...
 poor mom didn't enjoy the food, she's limiting her fatty food intake, just contented herself with steamed rice and egg and lots of coffee, she liked their brewed coffee 
dining tables on the beach front

The Beach and the Sunrise

If you find my view of the resort's accommodation as something not very encouraging, the opposite is my take on the beach. I like their beach here in Dumaluan. It's clean. The off-white sand  is powdery, you can walk on the beach barefoot. Also, the water is clear and very shallow, you don't have to worry about swimming, safe even for children I believe (but still look after them, of course). I enjoyed it particularly during my early morning walk, when the beach is so calm, so peaceful. It made me feel so relaxed. After sometime walking, I just sat there at the shore; watching some other early risers as they too walk around the beach enjoying the sand and watching and admiring the sunrise too. Below are some of my photos of the Dumaluan beach.

clear water and powdery sand beach of Dumaluan
view from the dining area

Dumaluan beach sunrise
just like me, he's fascinated with sunrise, too :P
~ oo00oo ~

That's it for my Bohol-Cebu posts! For those interested in visiting Bohol too, try saving as much as you can for the trip. Touring Bohol is a bit expensive (around 9k per person), basically because the tourist spots are far away from each other and also because there is a limited public transport plying the route to their tourist spots (didn't see any public transport during our tour actually). One really has to acquire tour services from tour operators, unless you're comfortable touring the area using a motorbike which I guess, for the majority is not possible. Anyway, for those who might be interested in reading my other posts about this trip, please check out the following links:

Bohol Trip:
* Loboc River Cruise Experience
* Bohol Countryside Tour
* Dumaluan 1 vs Dumaluan 2 Food Trip
* CamFlicks | Bohol's Tourist Drawers

Cebu City Side Trip:
* Cebu City Food Trip
* Cebu City Walking Tour
* Cebu Business Hotel Accommodation

Thanks for visiting here peeps, happy weekend! 

Photo Wanders | Cebu Strait: Shuttering While Sailing

I am a trying hard photographer. I took photos wherever I am, even when I'm on the road (on cars or PUVs), on ferries or airplanes. Following are photos I took while on-board a ferry/boat. The first five photos were taken on a ferry going to Cebu City, from Tagbilaran City, Bohol while the last two were taken while boating during my early summer getaway in Morong, Bataan.

Snowy Trail
Cebu City Port

pink ferry...cutie! ;)
Tagbilaran City Port
barge...island (man-made?), I don't know, near Cebu City port
For stories on my Bohol-Cebu trip, you may click any of the following links :



~ oo00oo ~

Please bear with these photos for now folks, hopefully next week, I could come up with a new post. Blessed Sunday everyone!

Bohol Family Trip | Loboc River Cruise Experience

Loboc River - Bohol, Philippines
Loboc River - Bohol, Philippines
According to our tour guide, aside from Loboc River Cruise, there is also this less popular Loay River Cruise in Bohol, both of which  traverses the Loboc River, on different ends though. However, it is Loboc River Cruise that is usually part of the Bohol Countryside Tour (excluding the entrance/maintenance fee and buffet cost, of course). The cruise is priced at P450.00 all in, P100.00 for entrance/maintenance and P350.00 for buffet lunch, per person.

Bohol Family Trip | The Countryside Tour

Bohol Chocolate Hills
Bohol Chocolate Hills

I've always dreamed of bringing my parents in an out-of-town trip; for them to experience traveling, for them to see other places which in the distant past was an impossible endeavor. Last March, I was able to make this dream possible. Before the trip, I always check Cebu Pacific website for promo fare. Luckily, I saw one so I immediately booked our flight. As I said, the vacation was supposedly for my parents but my father begged off, it was just me and my mother and my nephew.

During the planning stage of this trip, I texted the numbers I came across in the blogosphere offering Bohol Countryside Package Tour. The numbers belong to Kathy, one of Bohol's tour operators. The tour is priced at P2,000 (entrance fee excluded) which include visiting the following: blood compact shrine, python, tarsier sanctuary, Chocolate Hills, man-made forest, Loboc river cruise, butterfly garden, Baclayon Church, Bohol Bee Farm, Hinagdanan cave, hanging bridge and shiphaus. It was the same price I read from other blogs so I book for it. I also acquired their services for resort transfers, from Tagbilaran port to Dumaluan Beach Resort and vice versa for P1,000.00, P200.00 cheaper than the cost of the same service offered by Dumaluan. One thing I like from this tour operator, she didn't require us to make a deposit as a proof of confirmation (I don't know if it's standard practice with all Bohol tour operators), she just told me to text her the exact date/time of our arrival and they'll be there to fetch us.

Bohol Food Trip | Dumaluan 1 vs Dumaluan 2

This is what made dining in Dumaluan 2 more expensive...har har! :P
Day 1

We were warned beforehand by our tour guide that food price in Dumaluan Beach Resort (Dumaluan 2) is very expensive; "dollar-priced" he said and suggested that we take our dinner in Dumaluan 1, a few meters away from Dumaluan 2. But since we arrived in Dumaluan late in the evening, we opted to stay in our resort and have our dinner in its restaurant. We were all tired for almost a day of traveling, going around and looking for other restaurant is not in our to-do-list at that time. Anyway, for our first night in Bohol, we have the following from Dumaluan 2's restaurant:

Photo Wanders | 3 of Bohol's Famous Tourist Drawers

Bohol Tarsier
Bohol Tarsier
One of the world's smallest primates, Bohol tarsier is a palm-size nocturnal animal with large imploring eyes that are fixed and immovable (their eyeballs, that is), with a head that can rotate up to 180 degrees, a long fur-less tail, and a finger (the third one) as long as its upper arm. This shy nocturnal primate is so cute you couldn't resist holding or touching it. But of course, you shouldn't! Or they'll be stressed their lifespan would become shorter, around 3-6 years compared to the longer and regular lifespan of 25 years. Bohol tarsier and Tarsier Conservation Area in Loboc is one of the major tourist attractions of Bohol.

Panglao Island, Bohol
Panglao Island
Panglao Island, with its white sand beaches and stunning sunset/sunrise view is also one of the major tourist attractions of Bohol. Above-photo was taken in Dumaluan Beach Resort in the Dauis side of the island (Panglao Island is divided into two municipalities, Dauis and Panglao); here, the water is crystal-clear and shallow and the sand is so fine, almost powdery, you can walk on the beach barefoot. 

Chocolate Hills
(Green) Chocolate Hills :P

Another one of the famous tourist attractions of Bohol, Chocolate Hills consist of 1,268 similarly-shaped grass-covered hills 30 - 50 meters high; the grass turns chocolate brown at the latter part of the summer season hence its name Chocolate Hills. But since summer was just starting when we visited Bohol, Chocolate Hills look like this - mounds of greens! :P

~ oo00oo ~

These photos were taken during our family vacation in Bohol early summer of this year. Please bear with these photos for now, I'll try to come up with posts about this family trip soon featuring the resort where we stayed as well as the places we visited including the expenses I had on this trip. Hopefully, I could do it soon. :D Thanks for visiting here peeps!

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