Today
we decided to go and see some of the sights of Bohol. We hired a car and a
driver to take us around. There wasn’t much information anywhere so I called on
Wikipedia to help me out. I supply the photos and wiki will supply the
explanations.
We
were given lots of options to choose from and we took our picks.
The
weather seemed ok so we wanted to start with the Chocolate Hills. These are
unusual geological formations. There are more than a 1000 of them! They are
cone shaped and covered in green grass that dries during dry season to a
brownish colour, hence the name. Nobody really knows why they are here or how
did they form. They are unique in the whole world.
When
leaving the hills, we drove through a man-made forest. This is a mahogany forest
that is 2km long. The trees are very tall and no other vegetation grows in the
forest apart from them. To be very honest to us it just looked like any other
forest and we couldn’t even see where did it start or end. We didn’t take a
photo. It is one of Bohol’s attractions, though, so I thought I mention it.
Next
up was to see the tarsiers. They got their names for their extremely long
tarsus bones of their feet (whatever they are). These creatures are tiny and
very weird, in every sense of the word. They are very small (10-15cm), kind of
look like E.T. and Yoda mixed together (check out the fingers!!), very cute
with huge eyes that are apparently as big as their brain! They cannot move them
however they can turn their heads in 180 degrees. Their third finger is as long
as their arm! They hunt at night and sleep during the day and that is when we
can have a good look at them. Here they are:
I
was convinced, however, that these animals were not real. They were sleeping
under cover (VERY conveniently) and not moving AT ALL! Paul told me it’s
because they are asleep but they can’t fool me! I think they are just toy
animals that some people stuck up on those trees and everybody pretends that
they are alive. They are just SO TINY! I’m still not convinced that they were
real at all.
Then
we moved on to the hanging bridges. There’s not much to write about them so
look at the pics instead.
Next
came the fun part: zip lining. I’ve never done it before so was excited to try
it. It is called the Sui-Slide Zipline, apparently the highest (200m) and the
longest (480m) in the Philippines. It goes from one mountain to another giving
you an amazing bird’s eye view over the river between.
Then
we went off to do some river kayaking. We got to the river where there was a
boat offering a cruise on the boat with lunch. We said we don’t want lunch, we
want kayaks. After a few minutes discussion we were told that we can be taken
to another place but we will have to walk for a kilometre. We said it’s ok.
Well, it turned out that that kilometre was through a muddy dirt road full of
puddles in the middle of nowhere. When we finally got to the water we were
shocked to find an actual hotel there! How do people learn about the existence
of this place at all? And how do they find it?! Well, the place did have kayaks
however they were only to be used by the guest so unless we stay there we
cannot use them. We started back on our kilometre long dirt road. ‘Adventure!’
as our taxi driver said. We gave up on kayaking.
Lastly
we were taken to one of the Philippines’ oldest church, the Baclayon Church.
I’ll be honest, I’ve never seen a more sadder looking church than this. It
might have looked imposing and awe-inspiring when it was built but by now it just
looks like an old building where huge parts of the walls were green with mould.
The whole place made me very sad. We didn’t take pictures.
When
we finally got home around two we felt very tired so we had a little power nap.
By the time we woke up the sky had opened and was pouring down with rain. We
watched it from our balcony drinking coffee. I hope tomorrow will be better,
our last day in Bohol.
Special thanks for Ray and Rosemary Gregory for giving us the chance to see the unique Chololate Hills.
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