Loboc River Cruising (Bohol, Philippines)
Bohol is almost synonymous to the world wonder, Chocolate Hills and the powdery white-sand beaches of Panglao island, but if you get to travel to this touristy island, you can’t also miss the Loboc River.
Indeed, Loboc river cruising has also been another great thing to experience in Bohol. In fact, you can also see the small primates called Tarsiers in Loboc.
| Cruising in Loboc River |
| The nocturnal primate, Tarsier |
If you have a booked for a countryside tour in Bohol, you would not definitely miss Loboc River cruising and the tarsiers. Getting there yourself is almost impossible as public transportation in this part of the island may be a little difficult. You can hire a taxi (but take note that there are only a few of them in Bohol). The best way to go there is to have your own transportation or join a countryside tour.
Of course, you have to consider that the cruise itself will take you around 45 minutes to an hour so you will need your ride to wait for you after the cruise.
| This is where the floating restaurants dock: |
Some sights you will see on your cruise: 
You can get into a cruise for only Php300.00 but you have to pay for a 100-peso fee which seemed like a terminal fee or municipal tax something (i did not quite get what it is for), so you’ll have to pay Php400.00 (about $9.00) for the cruise plus you will get a lunch buffet onboard.
Halfway in the cruise, and just right at the time when you are done with your eating, the floating restaurant will dock shortly in rafts like these where the locals will greet and welcome you with local dances accompanied with a rondalla, a native musical ensemble where folks play string instruments like banjo, ukelele and classical guitars.
The Filipino native dance, ‘Tinikling’.
Of course, we are all stuffed when we got out of the cruise. Just enough to feed our bodies with the much-needed energy for our next destination: a steep 120-stair climb at the top of a hill to watch the amazing wonder, the Chocolate Hills.
See more of Bohol here. If you want to experience Bohol’s fine white-sand beaches, check out our Dumaluan beach experience.
XOXO
I’m Loving Bruno Mars!
Oh her eyes, her eyes
Make the stars look like they're not shining
Her hair, her hair
Falls perfectly without her trying
She's so beautiful
And I tell her every day
Yeah I know, I know
When I compliment her
She wont believe me
And its so, its so
Sad to think she don't see what I see
But every time she asks me do I look okay
I say
When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are
Her nails, her nails
I could kiss them all day if she'd let me
Her laugh, her laugh
She hates but I think its so sexy
She's so beautiful
And I tell her every day
Oh you know, you know, you know
Id never ask you to change
If perfect is what you're searching for
Then just stay the same
So don't even bother asking
If you look okay
You know I say
When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are
The way you are
The way you are
Girl you're amazing
Just the way you are
When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are
My Window Never Fails to Amaze Me
Every time the clouds go hovering in the sky, i always find my home office window the best place to be. These white fluffy stuff seem like inviting me to grab my camera and do a photo shoot for them as they move together or make formations.
| the first cloud formation i saw on my window on a hot summer day |
| sometimes it can look like i am in heaven. . . |
| sometimes it seems like i am looking at an entrance to another world. . . |
| at times it can be fluffy or cotton-like , you would want to bury your head on it. |
| and when the sun sets, the mountain nearby just looks like it was on fire! |
I haven’t tried peeking into my window when it is about to rain. I will probably watch out for it next time and see what the clouds up there have for me. enjoy!
Reunions and Native Filipino Foods
It’s been years since we chatted and spent good times with each other, and although sometimes we get to communicate through gadgets and computers, there’s nothing more fun and exciting to just sit there together, get to know updates from each other’s lives and just while away the hours until sundown.
We decided to do the reunion in the touristy island of Bohol where we can also bask on white sand beaches and forget all about our respective work.
After hubby and I had half of the day fetching them from the sea and air ports, we finally had a wacky time altogether inside the car, exchanging what each one brought for one another. My! I did not even bother to get one for them – was probably too busy on all the planning and reservations for the trip.
One of them was looking for rice cakes, so the first stop: a snack bar in the heart of the city that serves native foods.
The sign reads ‘Painitang Bol-anon’ and my! they indeed have loads of native foods, i don’t even know what they are called!
I do not know what’s the name of the last one. I did not even taste it because it looks like cassava and i’m not fond of cassava. Most of these foods are made of glutinous rice and usually cooked with coconut milk and eaten with the native chocolate drink, Sikwate (below) which is made from Theobroma cacao.
One lesson you need to keep in mind if you want to savor the taste of these native Filipino cuisine: limit it to a slice or two as these can be a little greasy and sweet. Beyond that, it can totally shut down your appetite for any other food.
But I guess nobody’s feeling all those grease and fullness as we were all just excited to see and talk to each other again like we used to in the old days.
Caving and Other Things Underground
I haven’t been to much caves, but just recently, I had two great opportunities to visit caves in Cagayan de Oro and in Bohol. I am not quite a fan of dark, swampy underground areas as I have this great fear of snakes, and for sure, my mind would play tricks on me if I can’t even see the ground where I am treading.
Unlike the first cave, the Hinagdanan Cave in Bohol is a much different picture. It has a pretty small opening where you descend vertically into a bigger and wider space underground. With the island being touristy, the locals probably found the need to put a steel staircase on the entrance for ease of entrance.
And the sight underground was way better. Stalactites are everywhere and in the middle of the cave is a 12 to 14-feet dark underground water that looks eerie to me. In several parts of the cave are big holes that cast sunlight into the caves. Our tour guide said it was through these holes that the cave was discovered.Aside from being a great tour guide, he also had great skills on any camera that he is handed to and took great pictures inside the cave. If I would have taken the pictures myself, it would have been all dark around us.
I would surely need to learn cave photography before the next cave adventure that i will be dragged to.
Oh, i almost forgot about the planned trip to the world renowned underground river in December, so i really need to make some crash courses on cave photography ASAP.
