Thursday, August 30, 2012

Bohol Getaway Part III: Bohol Countryside Tour

Posted by Alei at 8/30/2012
The island hopping and snorkeling was a compressed tour as we have to be back at our hotel by 10 for the countryside tour. We left be 11 am and arrived at Loboc just in time for our lunch. Loboc is famous for its Loboc River Floating Restaurant.





Our next stop was at the Tarsier Conservatory. We trekked along forest and see tarsiers up on the trees. They seem to be sleeping. Tarsiers are nocturnal animals, dormant by day.  They are said to be the smallest primate. It it were not because of the red markers, we would not be notified that a tarsier silently clings to a particular tree.



After resting at the end of the trek, we continued our tour to Chocolate Hills. It was one thing I was looking forward to see. The biggest hill has been made as the viewing deck for the famous hills. Its both exciting and exhilarating on our way up. 


The view is spectacular. It shows how gifted our country is with wonders of nature. 


The hills come in different sizes and shapes. Some are pointed, are round, while others are green or brown. On the way, we even saw hills planted with coconut trees. We thought they belong to the same group but they don't because they are owned privately not for tourism, instead, for agriculture.

On our way, we passed through the Shiphaus. It was a house inspired by a ship as it was owned by a ship captain. Originally, it was supposed to be the residence of their family. But then, their home was flocked by tourists and from then on, he decided to have it converted into a tourist spot.


It has a deck and a fountain that gives accent to the place.


From Carmen, we passed along Loboc-Bilar's 2 kilometer stretch of man made forest. It is densely planted with mahogany trees. Our tourist driver even recalls that when he was still in school, their teachers used to have tree planting as their project and this was the fruit of their effort.


The sun seldom sees the mountain area due to the thick canopy. 


The Butterfly Sanctuary was our next destination. It was interesting to know how moths differed from butterflies.


The "bulo" precaution among butterflies my parents told me when I was a child was wrong and has no scientific explanation according to our tour guide.


Our next stop was the Exotic Zoo where we had a picture taken with a python. Sounds scary and crazy. But , the python was tame. According to our tour guide, he consumes two live chickens a day.  




Oh well, I look pretty scared in here. The python is slowly moving during the shot.

To finally conclude the day, we went to visit the Baclayon Church. 

It is known to be one of the oldest churches in the Philippines. The facade of the church itself testifies its long existence. The original architecture has not been altered, only restored to preserve the historical landmark. 


This said to be Father Pio's image on the wall caused by a miracle.


Another one was this, said to be Mama Mary holding Jesus Christ as a baby.




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This is so me Copyright 2010Think Pink Credits to Gisele Jaquenod Modified by Alei