Minsan Lang Sila Bata - Day 2, Holy Monday
April 18, 2006For a complete set of the pics for Day 2, you may visit the Day 2 Gallery.
Ok, to kick things off for the Day 2 entry, let me just say that this has to be my favorite picture I’ve taken EVER:
I was supposed to name the Day 2 entry “Tour of Bohol” since that’s what it was, but I decided to change it because of the set of pics I took of these kids above who so clearly reminded me of that social documentary “Minsan Lang Sila Bata”. I think I saw that documentary around 10 times from grade school up to college, and I also know a good number of people who also know that film.
Ok, eto na kwentuhan nanaman. Let me take you on a tour/history lesson of sorts of Bohol.
We got up at a reasonable time that day - around 8:30am, had breakfast along with those cute cute kittens and their mom. Mama specifically told the caretaker of Villa Anita to prepare filipino breakfast… but we ended up having a continental breakfast: Jam, toast and juice. Okay naman. Masarap pa din.
After that, we got out of Villa Anita and were taken by George (Bohol’s daredevil driver tour-guide) for a tour of the place. After a fairly long drive, our first stop was the Blood Compact Site. This site commemorates the Blood Compact between Miguel Lopez de Legazpi of Spain and Rajah Sikatuna of Bohol. Although there’s clearly an interesting history behind it, the place was basically boring and lackluster. The view behind it was quite beatiful though.
After another fairly long drive, next stop was Baclayon Church. As the description in the entrance reads, the structure has been there since 1727 and it is the oldest coral stone church in the Visayas and Mindanao. It’s also the 2nd oldest church, next to the San Agustin church in Intramuros; and, one of the best-preserved jesuit churches in the Philippines. Hehe… Jesuit. 
After that, we were supposed to have lunch on the floating restaurants on Loboc River, but we made a short stop in the place that featured what Bohol is most famous for: Tarsiers!
Tarsiers are nocturnal creatures. They sleep during the day and are wide awake at night… jjust like owls and bats. Unfortunately for them, humans will visit and view and take pictures of them during daytime, which is why my mom said that they are sadly “harrased”. In other words, halos hindi na sila nakakatulog.
This picture gave me an idea that maybe George Lucas got more from the Philippines that Ewoks speaking in Tagalog… Methinks he based Yoda on the image of a tarsier. Judge for yourself:
As we left our nocturnal friends, it was barely 11 o’clock, so it was still pretty early for lunch. To kill some more time, we walked to another nearby church - Loboc Church: Home of the world-famous Loboc Children’s Choir. We got a lengthy tour of the place, but after Baclayon, I wasn’t all that interested in it anymore. Interesting though… Baclayon church and Loboc church were built by the same people, which is why they look almost identical:
Anyway, we left that place just in time for lunch. But before I tell you about lunch on the floating resto, let me share this picture first:
See that structure that looks like a discontinued bridge on the left side of the road? Do you have any idea what it is? … … … It’s a discontinued bridge :p Hehe. Some years back, plans were set to build a bridge from the other side of Loboc River, to the other side, and then further on. However, when they got to the other side of the river (as seen in the picture above), they got a restraining order to stop because in order to continue, they had to demolish Loboc Church. Needless to say, that wasn’t possible as Loboc Church is a national heritage… … …talk about lack of planning. That was just plain stupid.
Anyway, on to lunch. We had lunch in one of Loboc River’s famous floating restaurants. Nice concept: You get to eat good food, you get a tour of the river, see the sights, and get entertained by local musicians. Trivia: Loboc River is where Cesar Montano shot his film “Panaghoy Sa Suba (Call of the River)”.
This was also the place where I shot that pic way back at the start of this entry. We were going back to the dock, coming from the far end when I saw our boat heading for these kids who were swimming in the river. Only their heads were sticking out and were headed right for them with no sign of slowing down! Since no one else seemed to be worried, I didn’t see a serious cause for alarm. Apparently, the modus operandi of these kids is that they wait for the boats to come their way and then when they’re close enough, they go under the boat and to the side, where they hang on for a free ride! Cool. What I got from it were my favorite pictures from the entire trip
With our stomach full and having had seen nice scenery while filling it, we headed back for land and continued our tour onboard George’s van. Next stop was the site that Bohol is most known for. Yup, what else could it be - The Chocolate Hills. The trip was from Loboc river to the Chocolate Hills was a long one so we were able to have a shot siesta while going there. When we got there, we climbed a long staircase - a rough estimate of around 250 steps - to get to the viewing platform where we had an unobstructed 360 degree view of the hills. The place was cool, a gentle breeze was blowing and the sights were refreshing to the eyes.
What makes the hills so popular? From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_Hills:
What makes them intriguing is their mostly uniform molehill shape and size ranging from 30 to 50 meters high. The hills are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season, giving the hills their name.
(Hehe. Everything you need to know, you can find in Wikipedia… Amazing.)
The next stop was a quickie which we stopped by in-passing. It’s known as the man-made forest. It’s a forest full of Mahogany trees, which were planted there by people. I guess that’s all I can say about it.
Okay, moving on… to the final stop on this tour… The Hanging Bridge.
The Hanging Bridge is a 60-meter or so bridge, consisting of nothing but overlapping pieces of split bamboo suspended and supported only by long ropes, which are hinged on both sides of the river. At first, crossing the bridge could seem scary, but once you’ve gone a few meters forward, you realize that it isn’t Fear Factor material after all. On the other side of the bridge were all these stalls selling locally made items at a discounted price as a prize for actually crossing the bridge. We still didn’t buy anything. Hehe.
Here is my dad and my sister after successfully crossing the bridge (I was the one taking the pictures so I was the first one who crossed to take all their pictures while they were crossing. Pfft.) Of course, we had to cross again to get back to where we came from, but the second time was easy already.
And that, my friends, was the end of the tour. I hope you enjoyed :p
The nights during our stay in Bohol was basically devoted to eating and sleeping and… playing Texas Hold ‘Em Poker! Me and my brother were the only ones who knew how to play so we had to teach the game to my sister and Mau. In a classic case of beginner’s luck. They won the first two tournaments in convincing fashion. Heh.
