Philippines Foray, Pt. 22

My Last Week in the Islands: Buoyant in Bohol with my mom

For more than two months, my mom and I had been planning to meet in the Philippines and then exit the country together. She arrived the weekend after Easter and spent the full week with me—Sunday night Saturday night. Together we took the midnight flight out of Manila going to Seoul, South Korea, the next Saturday. I had a full week of adventure planned for us since I wanted her to have the most complete Filipino experience as one could have in a week. (Flying halfway around the world for one week is not really advisable, but when that’s the only time you can squeeze into your schedule, you have to make the most out of every moment.)

On Monday, we took a puddle hopper from Manila to Tagbilaran, the capital of the island of Bohol. We almost missed the flight, which was strange because once we took our seats the plane remained on the tarmac for another hour. Talk about “hurry up to wait!” Upon our arrival at the airport, we found a car to take us to our hotel. I ruled out taking a small tricycle because we had too much luggage. Our driver was really nice, so we decided to arrange our snorkeling and dolphin watching tour with him. Bohol is very interesting in the way it manages its tourism industry. Each driver has a sheet that explains the different places of significance; then one can read the prices that are normally associated with those tours. (The prices change depending on the hotel or agency with which the driver works, but the actual packages are about the same in design.) I have never seen such a large scheme for conformity of island tourism. I suppose it is effective because the tourists know exactly what they can expect and how much to pay.

On the way to our hotel—Alumbung—on the small island of Panglao, we stopped at the Hinangdan Caves, which is the home of hundreds of swallows and was discovered in the 1600’s by the locals. It was a great little detour. We instantly liked our hotel, which was off the beaten path and situated in a typical Filipino village. Even though we had to take motorbikes to the beach and to other places on the island, I liked that we were living among the locals. I got to know the baker of the small bakery close to our hotel from whom we ordered pandesal, a soft white bun that she made in the morning, and from whom we arranged our motorbike transportation. Living among the locals gives you an advantage in that you get the best prices for things and you really learn the culture of the place you are visiting.

We hired two motorbikes hable-hable style—riding on the back on someone else’s motorbike for a fee—to take us to the Bohol Bee Farm, which was well known for it’s eco-friendly practices and gourmet food. I was duly impressed by the enterprise. I would love to create something like this farm in the U.S. because it really embodied the things that I value in humans and in nature: simplicity and quality. The farm is located at the end of a dirt road and is comprised of a bungalow-style hotel rooms, a restaurant, a souvenir shop and take-away food items à la Harry and David, a homemade ice cream stand, small farm, and a beautiful ocean view complete with lounge chairs and picnic tables. The food was spectacularly fresh and well priced for American standards but kind of pricey on the Filipino side. Everything was well worth the cost encompassing not only the scrumptious victuals but also the unencumbered view of the crystalline sea. My mom ordered three small crabs, which seemed impossible to eat until one of our waitresses kindly removed all the edible parts. Now that’s service!

After our enjoyable afternoon, we went back to the hotel for an evening massage. Our accommodations included a special hut designed for welcoming guest and masseur in a peaceful setting. It was a fabulous way to begin the night. For dinner, we walked to Alona Beach guided only by my headlamp. The whole time people were calling after us and greeting us, which we loosely acknowledged, not feeling particularly inclined to make conversation with local men at night. Mostly, though, Filipinos are just curious and their hollers and comments are benign. Once we found the beach, we kicked off our shoes and started to stroll until we discovered a restaurant selling fresh fish by the piece. You select the fish you want, which is on ice and is priced according to its size and how much it would take to grill it, plus you receive a side of rice or a potato. You cannot get fish much fresher! It was so fun to see the fish before you get it on your plate because you really know what you are ordering and you can select just the right size for the evening. Accompanied by a cold beer or a tropical shake, it was a perfect way to end the evening.

Dolphin Watching and Snorkeling

To continue the robust tour of the island, we decided to take the much acclaimed dolphin-watching and snorkeling tour, which is not only advertised by all tourist companies on Bohol but is also touted around by all the locals with whom we came in contact. We were picked up at 5:30 am so we would be sure to see the dolphins, which feed in the morning but do not like to be too disturbed. Those who are unable to get to the boat early in the morning rarely see the amount of dolphins we saw. I think that we saw more than a hundred. I am not sure if we kept seeing the same ones, but we saw big packs of dolphins four or five times. They were like lightening, darting this way and that way. A few times, one or two dolphins even approached the boat and jumped. Of course, we were never ready and were always taken by surprise. We could not help oohing and ahhing and screeching with pleasure whenever we saw them jump and do tricks. It was truly amazing to know that God has created such majestic creatures, full of grace and strength. If I had to choose an animal to be, I would choose dolphin. They are so sleek and beautiful and the whole ocean is their playground. Nothing is beyond their grasp. What a thrilling way to start out the day!
After about 30 minutes of watching the dolphins, our guide said that sometimes his guests like to put their mask-covered heads in the water to see the dolphins swimming. We looked at one another, but did nothing for a couple of minutes until our guide said, “Okay?” Again we lanced perplexed looks at one another and assented. We jumped into the deep ocean with our masks and I tried to see the dolphins, but they were too far away. Our guide told us to hold onto the bamboo balancers while they tried to go catch the dolphins for us to see. I had to hold on with both my arms and legs and just kept laughing, wondering why we were holding onto these things. My mom told them to stop, so she could get back in the boat since we were obviously not going to see the dolphins. I decided to stay on the bamboo things because I told myself I was never going to have another opportunity to do something so bizarre. It was like wake boarding! I had such an unexpectedly fun time riding the bamboo for 15 minutes or so.

Our next destination was Balicasag, which is known for its beautiful coral reef that is excellent for snorkeling. We were obligated to hire a guide so he could take his small paddleboat into the protected marine sanctuary. It turned out that he was a big help, grabbing sea cucumbers and blue starfish for us to hold. The sea cucumbers were unreal, all mushy and fast gripping with suction cups they have on their bellies. We swam or floated around for two hours, exploring the vast coral reef. (The salt content was so high that we didn’t even have to worry about keeping ourselves afloat. The only time we were obligated to swim was to propel ourselves to the next section. I took full advantage of this and swam almost the whole sanctuary.) The most amazing part was seeing a huge sea turtle. I followed him around as he swam about 20 feet under me, and I even saw him surface three times before descending again to the depths. I have never seen a giant sea turtle like that! If one doubts the creativity of God, all that person needs to do is look beneath the ocean surface to gaze at the unbelievable diversity of the ocean’s profundity.

Bohol Beach Club

Our morning tour only lasted until 11 am, so we had the rest of the day to enjoy the beach and the sporadic sunshine, which was to our advantage since it kept us from getting horribly burnt. We decided to go to a place called the Bohol Beach Club, which owns an exclusive portion of the beach and has lovely facilities. You pay an entrance fee, of which about 2/3 is consumable. We settled in to a couple of beach lounges, ordered a beer and a tropical shake—my drink of choice on the island—and enjoyed the afternoon. The beach was spectacular, so clear and cerulean. I fell asleep in one of their hammocks and got burnt in the process as the sun peeped through the palm tree under which I was swinging. I am always amazed at the power of the sun to find some exposed skin and to burn it with a vengeance. We had dinner in one of their restaurants, which had a lovely view of the ocean. Throughout the week, we enjoyed eating the local food, mostly bread, fish, and halo-halo—another one of my favorites that my mom liked as well but maybe not as much as me! Before our drivers picked us up, we took a sunset walk along the one-kilometer beach front, reminiscing about the gorgeous day we had shared.

E.A.T. Danao (Ecological, Educational and Extreme Adventure Tour at Danao)

Our third day, we took the morning a little more leisurely. I woke up early and bought us fresh bakery from the local baker, who was one of the sweetest women we met on the island. She not only made delicious bread products but she also helped us to get our hable-hable drivers when we needed them. During our three days on Panglao we really managed to create a little network of trustworthy folk who helped us quite a bit to enjoy our stay. We had a new driver for our adventure tour, which ended up taking 12 hours from start to finish. We began in Tagbilaran, where we quickly visited the local museum that informed us of the basic history of the island and the local specialties. I discovered that Boholans also love ube or ubi in their language, which is a purple yam. They make it into a dessert called Halayang Ube, which is combination of purple yam, butter, sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk. I was thrilled to see this fact since ube is one of my favorite Filipino delicacies. Our guide knew right where to go: a little alleyway that led to a white house. We walked through the alleyway, asking the few people we saw where we could buy ube and finally someone understood and pointed us to the house. Timidly, we opened the door and discovered that this family had a full fridge of Halayang Ube and bushels full of the actual ubi root. It was quite the business and made very tantalizing products. I was happy to be a patron!

As a brief stopover, we made a small detour to the Mag-aso Falls, which were quite cool and had been made into a local spot for swimming and relaxing in the shade. I wanted to explore the forested pools that led from the falls, so we started to walk, my mom following me, and she slipped and dropped her camera into the water. Unfortunately, even that short immersion in the water broke the camera. It was a goner. That was a little damper on the day, but at least it was hers and not mine. (She has a little more disposable income than me. Like my mom always says, “Experience is the best teacher, but she’s expensive.” So, the lesson is when you are unsure of your physical faculties don’t take a camera with you when you are exploring watery paradises.)
I had no idea that it would take so long to get to Danao. It was only 75 km from Tagbilaran, which means about an hour and a half tops in my book. In Filipino, however, those kilometers equal three hours because provincial roads, even a tourist destination, are less than desirable. Once we arrived at the park, I was unsure of what we would find. At first, we were disappointment bound because the activities that we really wanted to do required four or more people. We had no idea. Like most Americans, we expected to get what we had been shown, but the tour operators would not budge. Thankfully, there was a fabulous young French couple that agreed to do the activity that most interested us: root climbing!

From the welcome desk, we took a short jeep ride to a path that led to the river where we planned to go kayaking. The tour operator said that the kayaking would last between 45 minutes and an hour. We took a little practice round then went on our way. About 10 minutes later, the Frenchies had stopped and were waiting for us. I thought to myself that maybe there was a fork in the river and they needed the guide to tell them where to go. But, the reason they had stopped was due to the end in the river. We could not go on. All of us looked around with puzzled faces and laughed at our “extreme” kayaking adventure. (They used the word “extreme” for everything, connecting all the activities back to the title of this park.) We all agreed to take another tour of the river to extend our time a little. What a laugh!

Upon arriving at the dead end for the second time, we disembarked and headed for the root climb, which far exceeded my expectations. We found that in Bohol some of the things we experienced were totally and wonderfully unexpected while other things completely underwhelmed us. The roots were naturally formed, flowing from the base of a hundred year old tree and hanging onto the side of the cliff. The roots were fastened tightly to the rock and were sturdier than concrete stairs. I was amazed that God had created a tree that could grow roots strong enough for people to scale. That’s what was so impressive about the park. They had really taken their natural surroundings and fashioned a unique adventure experience for any seeker.
Our final activity was called the Suislide or zip line in normal speech. I had never ridden on a zip line before so I was quite excited. Not only would we be suspended in the air for 45 seconds as if we were flying, but the view of the bottom was truly something to behold. The Suislide went from one end of the ravine to the other, so as we were calmly coasting across, we had the most magnificent vantage point of the river and vegetation below. It was incredible. Then to make matters even better, we got to do it again! The way the Suislide was arranged necessitated a roundtrip since we flew to one end of the ravine and needed to make our way back to the other. As an end to the day, it was incredible!

The only negative thing about the whole day was the drive back and that categorically is always the anti-climax of an exciting journey. I was glad that we were able to curtail the disappointment with a small detour to one of the most famous sights in
Bohol: the Chocolate Hills. The reason why these are so famous is that these basically symmetrical mounds are seemingly plopped down in a conglomeration no one can quite understand. There are hundreds of these hills scattered about the island, but the most famous sight is where there are maybe 100 all grouped together for the eye to see. Our driver said that sunset was one of the best time to see the hills, so we took advantage of our itinerary and arrived just in time to appreciate the heavenly glow of the sunset. Apparently, the hills are made of coral and seem to have formed as the waters receded from the surface of the island. I love that no one can figure their formation and the reason why they appear as they do. It bows my knee in awe to the true Creator who knows all and has seen all. We humans may know a lot, but we will never know the mind of God and why he created the world as he did. It makes me smile every time I hear of the failings of man because when we are weak that is when he is truly strong.

Arriving back at Alumbung, we had enough time to get dressed and get two hable-hable motorbikes to take us to the beach, so we could order freshly grilled fish and enjoy our final evening on the beach. It was a perfect way to end our three days on Panglao, which had been fully experienced and appreciated.

Inland: Nuts Huts and the Loboc River

Since I am not much of a beach person and prefer to be around forests and mountains, I wanted to have a little change of scenery on the trip. Before arriving in Bohol, I had discovered that the island has an abundance of both types of scenery, which was a blessing to hear. Our final two days on Bohol, we moved inland to a place called Nuts Huts, which is really glorified camping. I loved it the moment we pulled up to the pier in our small motorboat. From Panglao, our driver stopped at some famous sights they advertise to all the tourists: Dauis Church, where they built the sanctuary around a well that has purported healing powers, Baclayon Church, the oldest church in the Philippines that was built in the 1700’s, the Blood Compact, which is simply a statue commemorating a compact made between the Spanish and the natives that had been sealed by the shedding and drinking of blood, and the Tarsier Sanctuary, home of the smallest primate in the world. We made good use of our time in seeing these less-than-fantastic tourist destinations—compared to the other things we had experienced—as a means to getting to our next place of accommodation.

The best was the Tarsier Sanctuary because the little tarsiers are really something to behold. I have never seen something so odd yet so cute in my life. They are only about the size of my fist, and they like to sleep in the day and are active at night. Our guide took us to a special wildlife sanctuary that houses ten tarsiers and showed us three little tarsiers that were all holding onto either branches or bushes for dear life. Only when we disturbed them did they open they luminescent eyes and turn their heads the full 180 degrees, which compensates for the lack of natural eye movement most other creatures possess.
From the smallest primates in the world, we drove to the Sarimanok Boat Company where we picked up a boat to take us to our hotel! How awesome is that to take boat to your hotel! I felt like an official floating up to a very important peace meeting with some natives. Literal huts greeted us along with some goats and some lounging employees. No one seemed too eager to help us or too surprised that we had just floated up to their place of work. As I walked down the nearest carved path, a very friendly face met me, explaining where I could find some help and get checked in. I trudged up the 110 stairs to the restaurant/reception area and checked us into the VIPA (very important person—A room…I never asked what the “A” stood for), which were consequently more expensive than the normal rooms but unconvincingly better. We had been warned that the VIPA rooms were no better than the normal rooms, but my mom was convinced that the extra five bucks were worth it.
Before leaving our boatman, I asked him to return to give us a “riverboat cruise” of the Loboc River. Even though the name sounds quite lovely, the actual cruise was not worth the pesos we paid. Oh, well, we did have a nice swim in the river and immersed ourselves in some very powerful waterfalls. I could not believe how strong the waterfall currents were. I tried my best to swim against the grain, but I fagged out before I could even move a meter. I was glad that I tried considering in my mind’s eye, I was completely confident that I could overcome the power and swim to the nook in the waterfall. Little did I know that I would actually be swept away. It was a good lesson for me: one must be cautious until wholly confident in one’s ability to overcome.

Bat Caves, Hanging Bridge, and a ranch view of Loboc

My mom is not much of a hiker, but I love to hike, and she was sweet enough to comply with my desires to challenge my physical body with an uphill climb. Across from Nuts Huts was a delightful hike to three bat caves, which I had never seen before. The employees were so cute at Nuts Huts. They said that we couldn’t start until we had our breakfast and that they would have the breakfast ready for us when we arrived at 8 am. (Nuts Huts is cheap to stay at, but it is kind of necessary that you buy their food, which is also reasonably cheap but makes the stay a little more expensive. I didn’t mind since both my mom and I are always interested in buying a good meal, and this place really knocked my socks off in terms of food quality.)
We were blessed to make the hike with a young French couple. They are younger than me and were only in the Philippines for five days. So sweet! I love meeting people who are so genial and willing to talk but not boast, unlike another guy we had met previously and who kind of put a damper on our evening. We took a small paddleboat across the river then headed up the small mountain. It was fun to walk by all the locals going about their morning business: washing clothes, cooking and walking to their respective jobs. Before we even made it a quarter of the way, we were all drenched in sweat per the heat of the tropics. Thank the Lord my mom and I had our sweat rags to mop our faces.

After resting in a beautiful nipa hut at the top of the mountain, our guide, whose family monopolizes the mountain land, led us to the caves, which were quite hidden from the untrained eye. There are few things more exciting than finding that there is something where previously there was nothing. The cave was actually three-in-one. The first was the entrance and quite expansive, then the second was about 50 meters deep and displayed a small collection of bats that had made it their home. Better than the other two was the third cave, which went 600 meters deep and was full of small crags and spaces through which we had to slither. I even had to leave my backpack at the entry in order to pass through the small tunnels. I have never seen so many bats, hanging upside down with their little beedy eyes aglow. With the disruption of our presence, they did not remain long hanging from their spots of choice. I was almost hit by several bats, which was not pleasurable by any means. I know they are harmless, but the idea of a bat hitting me kind of freaked me out. I was thankful that not one managed to actually hit me. I suppose that is their excellent sonar capability.

Exiting the caves, we walked back down the hill and off to the town of Loboc, after which the river was named. Mango shakes were awaiting our parched and dusty bodies. We parted company and my mom and I took a hable-hable driver to the bamboo hanging bridge, which is a tourist attraction and quite pretty in its rustic bamboo design. I am amazed at how much can be made out of bamboo. We walked out and back and took some pictures, admiring the beauty of the river beneath and the forest around us, and we returned to our hotel via a small rocky path. It was nice to relax in the trees of the restaurant, which is as tall as the coconut trees that surround the facilities. It was very much a Swiss Family Robinson feel and created such a lovely ambience for eating a meal.

Our final activity on the island was a horseback ride. We were running out of pesos and did not think to ask if Nuts Huts exchanged money, which they did and which saved us the next day when it was very necessary that we had enough pesos for transportation. We could not stop joking about the fact that we had money but not the proper currency. It got so bad that we started to count conscientiously and seriously mere cents, but in pesos that money made a difference. So, we decided to use our precious pesos to go to a local ranch that was advertised at Nuts Huts as being a good way of transportation to the hotel. Even though our horses were a little problematic and did not listen the way I had hoped, I finally got my little miniature stallion to canter and to catch up to the group. The vistas we saw were well worth the ride, especially in junction with the beauty of the afternoon sun. It was incredible and sure enough we rode right to the door of the hotel on the way back. What an exquisite end to an exquisite trip!

Packing and Manila with friends

My mom wanted to see all the things I planned to pack in the backpack for three months, so I did a complete repack, which was necessary for organizational purposes. It is amazing what you can fit in a hiking backpack. I am sure that I will be well supplied for the three months. We had breakfast and checked out, discovering that we could exchange our money, which permitted us to both ride in the taxi boat to our land driver that took us to a local market and to the airport. Back in Manila, one of the brothers of the director of the Bible school picked us up, and we got stuck in traffic from the campaigning that is going on all over Manila. We arrived safely and with an adequate amount of time for finishing the packing that needed to be done. My mom’s two bags were exactly the max weight of 23 kilos! It was a miracle that nothing was overweight. Before leaving, we treated our hosts to their favorite Vietnamese restaurant, eating a wonderful meal in wonderful company in the balmy heat of a Manila evening.