1. Boracay has its beautiful beaches. Bohol has its beautiful beaches, Baclayon Church, man made forests, the Loboc River lunch cruise, the Chocolate Hills and the tarsier.
2. Less people in Bohol As in.
3. Bohol offers dolphin watching!!!!
4. Food is cheaper in Bohol.
5. No telecom banners greeting you when you reach the shores of Bohol. No loud blaring music either. One restaurant even played the entire album of the Gipsy Kings, much to my delight. (Spellcheck please? I'm not sure why the net spells it as g-i-p-s-y)
The only downside to Bohol is that we weren't able to see the sunrise and the sunset because of its geographical location.
I felt like I wasn't in the Philippines anymore when Janice, our tour guide, told us that one of Bohol's previous governors instructed the people to create a forest with Philippine mahogany trees. Aba!! A local official who cares! The people soon noticed that no animals lived in the forest because of the mahogany tree's bitter fruit, so the governor instructed the people to plant other kinds of trees. Aba! A local official who really cares about the environment!! That government official must have been rarer than the tarsier.
Walking on the floors of the museum of the Baclayon Church was almost like being transported back into time. I could almost see the Spanish friars in their brown tunics walking in the hallways. The wooden floors were still the original molave floors the Spanish friars used to walk on back in the 16th century. The walls, made entirely of crushed corals and cemented with a million egg whites, were the original 16th century walls. Throw in the ancient looking songbooks, priest's vestments, armoires, and piano organs, and you have yourself a very, very eerie Church.
The Loboc River lunch cruise was an entirely new experience for me. I have never had lunch on a floating anything before. I loved the fact that the river was blue green in color. We even caught some children swinging on the ropes tied to the branches of the trees along the river, before splashing into the water. Seeing the children reminded me of our Pasig River, of what a great tourist attraction it would have made if only us Manilenos were able to keep it clean. The Pasig River cruise would have featured a view of the Palace, which would've added to its tourist-ey lure. But the river stinks and nobody cares. So no chance of that happening in the near future.
The tarsiers were ... tarsiers. I love animals, but for some reason, the tarsiers failed to elicit an excited "eeeeh!" from me. Maybe it's because they reminded me of rats, with their long tails. But I'm glad that they are no longer considered endangered.
Aaaah... the beach. Bohol's beaches are a relaxing, calming experience, with the sounds of waves crashing against the shores to keep us company. But while we were in Bohol's beaches, I made an important discovery -- I am
so not a beach person. I am terrified of anything that moves in the water with me, which includes, twigs, seaweeds and creatures hiding under the sand. While snorkeling, I worried to no end about sharks and sea snakes, in waters that were less than five feet deep. When our snorkeling guide, whom we call Manong (because he did not give us his name) suggested that we feed the schools of fish with bread while we were snorkeling, I was again worried that the fish might bite my fingers, which would leave the scent of blood in the waters, which would attract the sharks. Yesh, that's how an unbeachy person I am. The one thing I did look forward to was the dolphin watching. I nearly cried when we saw the dolphins, with their fins (?!?!) gliding in and out of the water gracefully. Too bad it was almost 7 am when we saw them. According to Manong, dolphins come out to play with humans around 5:30 a.m, when the sun isn't so high in the sky yet.
But, even though I am not a beach person, I thoroughly enjoyed the Bohol experience. It was a refreshing change from the fast paced city life that we are all so used to. For three blissful days, there were no emails to answer, no papers to sign, and no business to discuss. It was just the clear blue waters, the powdery white sand, the bright sun, the candle lit dinner at night, the delicious inihaw na tuna belly, the waves crashing against the shore.... It was just paradise. :)
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