thefilipinotraveler

Hi ramondelapaz

We were really lucky to have left Manila yday

We only stayed in Cebu for a night (last night in Mactan Island)and did the Historical tour of Cebu this morning and since it is also a public holiday today, nut much traffic and found the sights to be not really super crowded.

thefilipinotraveler

Some more pictures from our Manila tour:


KKK monument, with Andres Bonifacio founder of the organization which started an independence movement against Spain.


Inside the Manila Cathedral. It is very common for Filipinos to go to church every Sunday so most of the churches we visited were crowded, aside from the fact that it was also Christmas day.


One of the most famous Filipino dishes, lechon, a whole roasted pig cooked over charcoal. It's very common to have it on bdays, weddings, graduations and since it's expensive to buy the whole pig, one can also buy per kilo


Tangled Part 2 from Ongpin Street, China Town. The part 1 was on my previous trip report to Kathmandu, Nepal if I'm not mistaken


Inside the Binondo Church

thefilipinotraveler

Day 4: December 26


In Mactan, we stayed at the beautiful Costabella Beach Resort


After having breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and started our tour. Cebu is famous for its guitars so we visited one of the most famous guitar shops in Mactan.






Mactan shrine


Heritage of Cebu Monument

thefilipinotraveler

Yap Sandiego Ancestral House, now a museum, this is one of the oldest houses in the Philippines and probably one of the oldest Chinese homes outside China.


Dining room


Basilica del Santo Nino de Cebu


Basilica del Santo Nino de Cebu


This Santo Nino was a gift by Ferdinand Magellan to Rajah Humabon when he landed in Cebu in 1521.

thefilipinotraveler

Magellan's Cross, Cebu


Fort San Pedro, a triangular bastion fort built by the Spanish in the 17th century.


Nowadays, this is popular for wedding venues and other celebrations.


Time to leave Cebu, the oldest city in the Philippines and take the speedboat to Tagbilaran. It takes about 2 hours, otherwise it takes 4 hours with normal ferry.

thefilipinotraveler

Kids christmas caroling inside the Terminal


Oceanjet 188


Tourist class


View from our room at Bohol Beach Club
We arrived in Tagbilaran Pier at 4pm and was in the hotel before 5pm.

thefilipinotraveler

More pictures from Cebu yesterday:


Good morning Cebu! Taken from Costabella Beach Resort by one of the travelers in our group who woke up early to see the beautiful sunrise


Sunrise, Cebu


The fighting Senator, Manny Pacquiao


Tuktuk

thefilipinotraveler

Flooded streets after lastnight's heavy rain








This is dangerous but I've actually done it once when I was in college since I was going to be late for school


Jeepneys and tricycles

thefilipinotraveler

Day 5. December 27: Exploring Bohol


Blood Compact Shrine


The famous Chocolate Hills of Bohol

They are actually brown during summer, thus the name chocolate hills. But during rainy season, the grasses are green which I personally like more since they are soothing to the eyes Trees do not grow here because it is believed that the area was under water many years ago and marine limestones are on top of the clay base. There are more than 1700 of these hills


Chocolate Hilss in Bohol


Manmade Forest. In the 1960's, the government decided to make a stop to floodings due to illegal logging, etc. and started a project where they planted Mahogany Trees from Mexico which have surprisingly adopted to their new environment!

thefilipinotraveler

After visiting the Chocolate Hills in Carmen, we then headed to the see the Tarsiers in one of the conservation centers in Bohol. The tarsier is the smallest primate in the world and can be found mainly in Bohol and other islands in Visayas although they can also be found in Malaysia and Indonesia. It is like 4 animals in one because they have big ears like the bats, the eyes are same as the owls, the feet are like frogs feet and tail like that of a rat.


They are nocturnal meaning they sleep during day time.


The tail is similar to a rats tail.


The frog like feet
We also saw some who were not sleeping ...


Their eyes are fixed into their skull so they cant turn their eye sockets but they can rotate their head 180 degrees

thefilipinotraveler

Tarsier



We also visited the butterfly garden which is perfect if you love butterflies


Visit to the Butterfly Garden

thefilipinotraveler

Then it was time for the Loboc River Cruise with lunch. This is actually very popular among tourists as it just so amazing being able to see the beautiful landscape as you enjoy your lunch with live band




Loboc River


Two boys paddling ...


The driver of the boat is at the back so he can't see anything. He has to rely on his assistant who is one of the crew on the boat.

The boat trip takes about an hour and on your way back, you make a stop and see these talented kids performing. We were lucky because they have their Christmas vacation from school otherwise, only the adults would be performing here normally.




Loboc is famous for its singers. In 2013, they won the grand prize in an international singing competition held in Spain (kids category)


The Tinikling dance which is the national dance. They use bamboo poles and you really have to be precise with the steps or you'll lose your feet

thefilipinotraveler

The Tinikling dance

After the Loboc River Cruise, our last stop was the Baclayon Church. It's bell tower was completely destroyed in the 2013 earthquake.


Baclayon church


Baclayon church


Baclayon church under renovation.

Last time I was here was 3 years ago together with our Swedish group, a few months after the earthquake.

thefilipinotraveler

Video during our visit to the Chocolate Hills in Bohol

thefilipinotraveler

When you visit Bohol, make sure you take one of their popular Loboc River Cruise. This is part one with the band singing.

We also saw these two kids paddling their boat

And the performance of these school children was just awesome as they danced the Tinikling