Bohol Country-Side Tour (Day Tour)

Popularly known for its white sand beaches and resorts; Bohol has been considered to be one of the most attractive tourist destination in the country.

Together with my friends we spent a whole day touring Bohol's top tourists' destinations. We contacted Kuya Dodong, our tour guide, as suggested by one our colleague. He arranged a country-side tour for us including van transfers. entrance fees, and lunch for only P1,100.00 per head (group of 9). It wasn't bad at all since our itinerary includes:

• Blood Compact Shrine,
• Baclayon Church Ruins,
• Python Snake (Prony),
• Loboc River Cruise and Luncheon,
• Tarsier Watch,
• Man-Made Forest,
• Ship House,
• Butterfly Sanctuary, and
• Chocolate Hills.

We were picked-up by our driver at Plaza Marcela at exactly 8:00 in the morning. Our first stop is the Blood Compact Shrine located in Bo-ol, Tagbilaran City. It is a landmark built to commemorate the first international treaty of friendship between the Spaniards and the Filipinos.

(A souvenir photo at the shrine)

At the back of the shrine is a stunning view of the Bohol sea. There's nothing much to see around the area aside from the sea and some vendors selling souvenirs. So after some photo ops, we were off to our next destination.

Not that far from Bo-ol is the municipality of Baclayon where La Purisima Concepcion de la Virgen Maria Parish Church (The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary Parish Church) or Baclayon Church is located. Unfortunately it was greatly affected by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Bohol last 2013 causing it to fall down. Currentlym, it is being restored back to its original form.

(Church's Altar)

Since the church's convent remains standing, it was then transformed into a museum. It now holds the church's artifacts (from priest's cassocks/soutanes, oldest bible, paintings, to different statuettes of saints).

(Church's Convent)

After saying a little prayer and lightning a candle, we visited the very famous python snake in captivity named "Prony". They have preserved the snake's skin and bones since it died last 2013.

Aside from Prony's remains, there are other attractions and animals which you could find in there mini zoo.

We had an early lunch at Loboc River Cruise and enjoyed a buffet which includes several seafood cuisines. It wasn't a large selection and food tasted 7/10. Though we arrived early, the food seems it has been served an hour before we arrived. But it's find with me as long as I don't starve. Haha.

Aside from the cool air and the sound of the water as we sail along the river, what entertained me the most is the presentation of Loboc River's choir and dancers while we're having our lunch.

After enjoying our lunch, we headed to Corella, Bohol to get a glimpse of Bohol'd very famous Tarsier. Because it's so little (not larger than an adult man's hand) we need to zoom in our cameras just to take pictures of it. Since we're on a day tour, most of the tarsiers in the captivity are asleep as they're nocturnal animals. There are only less than 10 tarsiers in the sanctuary. They are so instinct that if no actions is taken, they might not survive and the future generations will only see them in pictures.

It was a good 10-15 minutes stay at the Tarsier Sanctuary. We decided to go straight ahead to Chocolate Hills located in Carmen, Bohol. We pass through the Man-Made Forest but decided not to make a stop-over since its starting to get dark and a heavy rain might be on its way.

It was a long staircase walk to be able to reach the Chocolate Hills view deck but still it's under construction since it was also affected by the 2013 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Bohol.

Had our photo-ops at the road going to the view deck... it's what we call the buwis-buhay shot (death-defying shot) as we need to run back to the side of the road right after a shot since cars are [assing through the road --- for the sake of IG worthy shots. Haha!

We got a little wet because as expected, it rained. We ran back tp our shuttle and directly decided to finish our itinerary for the day.

Good thing it stop raining so we were able to make a stop-over at the Man-Made Forest. All along I thought it was a natural forest but I was wrong. Trees are standing long and and proud beside the road and sunlight passes through its leaves and branches. If it wasn't because of my friends and few tourists at the area, the road looks creepy and seems to be a forest that came out from a horror movie.

We have some buwis-buhay shots at the Man-Made Forest cause everything in Bohol is just jump-shot worthy.

That was the last place we had a full stop because we were so tired from our Cebu Canyoning but we were able to pass through the Ship House and Butterfly Sanctuary.

Our tour officially ended around 5:00 PM but our van had some tire issues and we were behind an hour and half from our itinerary. We waited that long until we were transferred to a new van so we requested the driver to take us instead to the nearest and cheapest Souvenir/Pasalubong Shop before he'll drop us at Panglao.

On our way to Panglao, we ask the driver to make a stop-over in a local wet and dry market so we could buy some fresh foods to cook for our dinner. It was not that of a big selection but we were able to buy some fresh squid for adobo and ihaw.

We did enjoy exploring Bohol and its country-side. It was not my first time here and I can say that for some years, the beauty of Bohol had improved despite the calamities that hit the area. It has always been one of the beautiful islands in the country and is worth to be explored.

We were able to rent a two-storey house in Panglao at a cheap price where we stayed for the night to relax for our next adventure; to explore the beautiful beaches of Panglao.

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Kuya Dodond's Contact Details:

boholgrandscenerytours@gmail.com

0999-598-5138

0916-639-6347