Bohol, Sea of Clouds, Chocolate Hills & Tarsiers

So last night wasn’t as loud as the night before. It was a pub crawl so the fun people all left by 11ish, at which time we were actually still up and in the bar, surprising I know. However I needed a drink after the baggage situation and very lengthy cab rides. It was quite a fun bar to be in and we wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway so stayed up while it was noisy. With a great sleep under our belts, and a delicious breakfast (eggs benedict for me, chocolatey porridge for Meals) we headed out into the chaos that is Cebu city to head over to the port, which is as crazy as you could imagine. However our ferry boarding experience was actually incredibly seamless. We first were very kindly allowed through by another passenger in the queue for tickets as a boat was leaving imminently, then literally walked straight through the departures hall and out to the ferry where we had seats already assigned on the outdoor deck. I’m breezing over the fact that we had to first wind our way through shedloads of honking cabs, then a mass of people milling around the entrance, then a security check, then a ticket check where we got another ticket (don’t know what for) then finally got to the boat. We also just wandered on with our bags when most people seemed to have dropped them off at the back of the boat, but after my experience with Malaysian Airlines I’m loathe to be parted from my luggage. 

The journey itself was fine, not much rocking around, just 2 slightly uncomfortable hours where I just listened to a couple of podcasts and intermittently fell asleep. The view across to Bohol was a very pretty green island, with not much evidence of civilisation. Arriving at the port of Tagbilaran City we were greeted by a much calmer scene than at Cebu, just the classic huddle of taxi drivers waiting to rip off tourists (my cynical view). They don’t use meters here on Bohol as they do in Cebu so who knows what’s a good deal. After a short negotiation, a 20 minute ride, and a stop for petrol, we arrived at the wrong bed and breakfast (it had a similar name to be fair). When we pointed at the sign to our actual hotel which actually said it was 50m away the driver kept saying ‘ah yes, 1km further’. When we were finally dropped off (at Hotel Gabriella, home for the next 4 nights), 50m away, we were greeted by a lovely looking building, very cold air con, decent looking pool and an enormous bed. It’s probably bigger than the entire campervan in New Zealand. 

Very happy to be finally here we relaxed for a bit before striking out on a search for a snack and an atm. We’re based in Tagbilaran City, rather than the traditionally touristy Panglao Beach area as it’s a much closer base for the countryside tours and we’re not particularly fussed about being really close to the beaches/many other tourists. This does however mean there’s not a whole lot around us apart from local shops (which you can’t actually go into, but have to order at a grille from the street and they pass you your item, so you don’t really know what they sell and look slightly intimidating, at least it stops shoplifting), many mechanics/air conditioner repairers and houses. We wandered towards the city and found a great bakery shop, and finally a mall where we replenished our money and got a couple of essentials. 

After we returned to the hotel we were knackered so just had a distinctly average bit to eat and went to bed. The real fun began the next day. We were up at 2:30am for a 3am departure to go on a tour around the Bohol countryside. Our first stop was the sea of clouds up Mt Puntas in Danao. After a 2 hour drive in the dark, where there were a surprising number of people up walking the streets, we arrived and were guided up a relatively steep hill to the peak of Mt Puntas, arriving at about half an hour before the sunrise. The phenomenon is amazing, a literal lake of clouds were below us nestled between ‘mountains’ (hills) bounding the edges, constantly shifting to reveal patches of the ground below. It definitely exceeded my expectations for just how beautiful it was. 

Heading on from here was Sagbayon Peak, another ‘mountain’, this time overlooking the Chocolate Hills, which are 1,776 grass covered hills, so named as they turn brown in the dry season making them look akin to Hershey’s Kisses. The peak itself was a slightly odd arrangement of cartoonish sculptures on the way up, but the viewpoint was pretty great. We were the only tourists there as it was still before 8am, a definite bonus. The actual Chocolate Hills complex, where the vast majority of tourists go, wasn’t on the itinerary, but we asked the guide (whose name was Alfred!) anyway and he was up for taking us there too which was brilliant. Here was a panoramic view across the hills where you can get a real appreciation for the sheer number and scale of them. A view I would definitely recommend to anyone. 

Following this was a Wildlife Park. It’s not a sanctuary as the animals are kept in questionable conditions however it’s part of the tour so, feeling slightly guilty considering my experience in Borneo, we saw an array of animals, from civets to lizards to giant butterflies, and finally the stars of the show; tarsiers. I’ll explain more about them in tomorrow’s post however they’re a primate, about the size of a fist, and have eyes bigger than their brains. Incredibly cute. Incredibly endangered. 

After a few odd posed photos (Alfreds a great photographer...maybe not) we headed on to lunch which was on a river cruise in Loboc. Loboc town is much more touristy, and far smaller than Tagbilaran, shown by the number of westerners on mopeds, and has a beautiful river winding through it. Our buffet lunch was served on a boat which took an hour to head up and back a stretch of river. These boats clearly do good business as there are loads of them (they’re not small either, maximum capacity of 60 odd) and it’s not a large river. But a very pleasant lunch, and definitely needed since we hadn’t had a proper breakfast and had been up since 2:30 so were starving. 

That was the final leg of our tour. A brilliant morning, and a really good way to cover a lot of ground and take a glimpse at most of the highlights the island has to offer. Of course there’s way more to Bohol than just this but with limited time it was a very good way to do the touristy highlights, like the tarsiers, Chocolate Hills and Loboc, with a slightly less beaten trail at the sunrise over the sea of clouds. Arriving back at about 3ish we were absolutely shattered and just relaxed for the afternoon. We got peckish again at 5ish so I looked up the best restaurants in Bohol on tripadvisor and Garada’s in Tagbilaran City came up as number 2. So we headed there for a glorious meal which we couldn’t finish. We were very adventurous and took a jeepney into town (because it pulled up and said it was heading into town and we were very trusting). These are essentially modified small vans, with army style galley seating in the back with no rear door that people seemingly just jump on or off at anywhere and pay an unspecified amount. We later found that these run to and from on the same route, which is painted on the side of each van, and cost 6peso (9p) for the first 5km, making them an incredibly cost effective, if not a little uncomfortable, way to travel if you can work out where they’re going. In all an amazing dinner, and travel there and back came to the equivalent of £15 for the two of us. Amazing.