Bohol Family Trip | The Countryside Tour

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.

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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:

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Photo Wanders | 3 of Bohol's Famous Tourist Drawers

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

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. 

(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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Batangas | Marian Orchard & Hermitage of Our Mother

The Sacred Heart Tower

Our road trip to Marian Orchard/Hermitage of Our Mother was supposed to be my pre-Holy Week post but because of some weekend getaways (and laziness afterwards), I wasn't able to do so. Anyway, I wasn't aware of these sites before, not until I saw/read Manong Unyol's post. I got curious so when I went home (I am a Batangueña, by the way) one weekend, I decided to go on a side trip and check out these places.

Though adjacently situated, Marian Orchard and Hermitage of our Mother are two different religious sites located in Barangay Malabanan in Balete, Batangas. The first one a sort of legacy the owner built and shared to the public while the latter, a retreat site/prayer house (also open to the public) owned by a priest who is based in Laguna. Both sites are conducive to prayer and meditation as well as some soul and self-searching; a place to go to during holy week, though most probably, it would be crowded during that season.

Marian Orchard is a Catholic-themed park built on a 5-hectare land surrounded with trees and plants of various kinds. It features a prayer garden, a chapel, an observation tower, fountains and shrines of various saints. Near the prayer garden, it also has this small native hut where one could just sit and relax and breathe clean fresh air. The towering pine trees and flowering (flower photos here) plants all around it add to the serenity of this place. If you're a nature lover and loves to have a quiet and peaceful time away from the city, this may be a place for you to go.

Here are some of the photos I took as I go around this park.

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FoodTrip | Cebu's Lechon and Late Lunch at Dimsum Break Cebu City

Mushroom Siomai

We had our late breakfast at Dumaluan Beach Resort so we didn't bother to have our lunch at the port (Bohol). However, because it was already late,  (was already 2PM when we reached Cebu), we were all starving by the time we reached our hotel in Cebu City. So after checking in and leaving our things at the hotel, we immediately went out to look for something to eat. We were so hungry then we settled on the nearest fast food joint just across our hotel, the Dimsum Break. I know this was our first time in Cebu but having had nothing after breakfast and considering it's a bit late, we just want to satisfy our hunger the fastest way possible first, authentic Cebu dishes later. :P

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