The road to the Chocolate Hills follows the coast for a few miles then turns inland, the roads on Bohol are apalling even by Republic of Philippines standards, they are a real bone shaker, most of the roads around Tagbiliran are in a big state of disrepair, however don't let that put you off, the driver has of course the unpleasant job of negotiating them for you, just sit back in your Airconditioned vehicle and relax, the journey to the hills is about 1 and half hours drive. Chocolate Hills, Consisting of 1,268 haycock hills with heights ranging from 40 to 120 meters, the Chocolate Hills is a wonder of nature. Rightly so, the Hills are considered as a Philippine National Geological Monument. During the summer, the dome-shaped, grass-covered limestone hills dry up and turn brown transforming the area into rows and rows of chocolate "kisses". Indeed, a visit to Bohol is incomplete without partaking of the province's Peanut Kisses, crisp and crunchy delicacy made up of eggs and peanuts, in honor of the wondrous Hills. Bohol is home to a number of old churches, One of the earliest Spanish settlements, Bohol is home to the country's oldest stone church, the Baclayon Church. Built by the Jesuits, Baclayon features a rich collection of religious articles from vestments woven in gold thread to Latin librettos printed on sheepskin. The legendary Dauis Church, which is just a few minutes from Tagbilaran, features a fresh water well at the foot of the altar. The waters are said to be blessed with healing powers. Still another religious must-see is the Panglao Church with its marvelous ceiling murals and intricately- carved antique confessionals.


The Baclayon Church The Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Baclayon is considered to be one of the oldest churches in the Philippines. It is one of the best presevered Jesuit build churches in the region, although in the 19th century, the Augustinian Recollects added a modern facade and a number of stone buildings that now surround the church. The first Spanish missionaries or doctrineros in the region, Fr. Juan de Torres and Fr. Gabriel Sanchez, first settled in Baclayon in 1595. Shortly after their arrival, a visita was erected on the spot. Although Baclayon was the first seat of the Spanish Jesuit missionaries, fear of Moro mauraders soon forced them to move their headquarters more inland, to Loboc. Only in 1717, Baclayon became a parish, and construction of a new church commenced. Some 200 native forced laborers constructed the church from coral stones, which they took from the sea, cut into square blocks, and piled on to each other. They used bamboo to move and lift the stones in position, and used the white of a million eggs as to cement them together. The current building was completed in 1727.

This, I think, was my favorite activity in Bohol. What was supposed to be lunch on a boat started at 1pm for us, what with our trip to the chocolate hills, Our guide tells us that this is one of the best times to visit the river as it is in summer when the water is clear and not during the rainy season when it is greenish, the boat ride was enjoyable, the food, sumptuous, and the surroundings, very refreshing. I did some research and found out that the word loboc is said to refer to the act of pounding rice. Story has it that when the Spaniards first arrived, they may have approached some people who happened to be pounding rice and asked what the name of the place was. The people, thinking they were being asked what they were doing, answered: "tig loboc" - meaning, it was their job to pound rice. Since then, the name Loboc, stuck to the place. The entire boat ride takes 45 minutes. It is a relaxing, cool ride, with trees all around and no stinky smell at all. There is a brief stop at Busai where you can just enjoy looking at the waterfalls. Gina and i were so excited, she asked: "Can we swim there?" but as we had no change of clothes, we thought better of it, As for the food, it was very good. I didn't expect it to be very tasty - although Gina certainly thought it was good, I picked at mine, it was mainly Filipino, thinking the boat ride would be more the attraction than the food that is served. Pero masarap - as in lutong bahay sarap. What did we have? well I asked the ladies and they told me this "-clear soup with veggies: patola, pechay, sitaw, and sayote -Inihaw na baboy at manok (grilled/barbecue pork and chicken) -cucumber with tomato salad -buco juice (in the shell pa - with a flower and a half-sliced calamansi covering the straw) -halabos na hipon (steamed shrimps) -the sweetest mangoes, fresh banana, and fried banana.

The people on the boat rendered genuinely friendly, efficient service. Of course, we can never forget the boats going the other way, there were various singing artists on board, one guy sang as if he never sang those songs before and who had the warmest smile on his face all the time. He had a repertoire which included Spanish songs, Visayan songs, Beatles songs, and songs like Top of the World, You are my Sunshine, not to mention: Pamela Wan, Ocho Ocho, and Bulaklak. Towards the end of his performance, I heard later two of his guitar strings actually even broke - but he continued performing ever so graciously.

The photo to the right is The Tarsier ! We Philippines Tarsier Monkey's are probably the smallest primates in the world. Our Latin name is 'Tarsius Syrichta' and we are closely related to the Tree Shrew. Our diet consists of insects in the main which we eat live. Our height is between 90 to 160 mm (3.5 to 6.25 inches). Our weight is between 70 to 165 grams (3-6 ozs). Our big eyes give us very acute night vision which make us good night hunters. Our big ears can move in the direction of any noise and our heads can swivel through 180 degrees which all help us in hunting. We are still found in parts of the Philippines and parts of Indonesia. However we used to be all over the South East Asian Islands. It has been estimated that there are between 5,000 and 10,000 of us left in the world.

Summary: Gina and I had a great time visiting the Province of Bohol, with the van taking us around most of the island, our stop offs at the chocolate hills, the Baclayon Church, The Blood Pact monument, various other religious and cultural sites, and the Loboc river cruise, it was a great day out, we arrived back in Tagbilaran just in time to be dropped at Jollibees for a bite to eat, our driver was even kind enough to wait for us until we had finished, and then kindly dropped us at the Supercat terminal, where we sat in the terminal building just at the time their was a Catholic mass taking place, with a comfortable journey across the Bohol Sea to Cebu, it got us back to our hotel just in time for dinner, I hope you enjoyed this page, Have you taken a look at Hong Kong yet ?

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Have you heard of OPM that is original Filipino music ? enjoy The Songs of Vina Morales