SEAIR Resumes Flights to El Nido and Taytay in Palawan

Source: Seair newsroom

 

SEAIR announces the resumption of its flights to El Nido and Taytay in Northern Palawan on December 1, 2010. The flights to El Nido will be every Wednesday, Sunday and Monday, while the flights to Taytay, Palawan will be daily.

Wine Depot's The Festival 2010

Wine Depot's The Festival 2010

For more information, check out the Wine Depot website.

Where to Buy Pasalubong in Bohol

Where to Buy Pasalubong and Souvenirs in Bohol

For my non-Filipino readers, pasalubong means gifts you bring home to relatives and friends after a trip. In the Philippines, these token gifts are almost always expected. I did not anymore translate the term into English because I can't think of a single word that will accurately describe this practice. The pasalubong can also be souvenirs for all of us.

When you see blog posts or ask relatives and friends who visited Bohol, they would say that the cheapest place to buy pasalubong is the grocery. But sometimes, it's not convenient to pass by a grocery while on tour so I'll mention where you can buy gifts/pasalubong/souvenirs along the way. Most of those who go to Bohol for the first time, do the countryside tour. So if you are doing the countryside tour, here is a list of places where you can buy these things:

  

Peanut kisses

• the cheapest will be at where you see the Largest Python in captivity.
• you can also find it at the Hanging Bridge and Hinagdanan Cave
• if you're staying in Alona Beach, there's also at Rona's grocery,  and of course, the most expensive will be at the stores along Alona Beach

Souvenir bracelets and key chains with or without the Tarsier motif

• at the Hanging Bridge
•  it's expensive to buy Tarsier themed product at the Tarsier sanctuary

Souvenir T-shirts

• best place to buy is at the Hinagdanan Cave. There are so many t-shirt stores near the entrance of the Hinagdanan cave so there are plenty of choices.
• you can also find T-shirts at the souvenir shop at the Hanging Bridge

Bohol Bee Farm products

• such as pesto spread, chocolate spread, chocolate tablets with honey
• you can buy these products at the Bohol Bee farm
• see more products at Bohol Bee farm website

Hanging Bridge of Bohol

Hanging Bridge of Bohol

What Kids Should Know

• Where it is located: at Sevilla town of Bohol
• Built over what river: the Loboc River 
• Why was it built: to connect 2 barangays. Without the bridge, the locals will have to walk very far to cross to the other side of the river. 
• Made of what materials: It is a suspension bridge with bamboo flooring

11:00 AM -11:05 AM: Traveled from Manmade Forest to the Hanging Bridge

see previous post:

Manmade Forest

Chocolate Hills of Bohol

11:05 AM -11:25 AM: Crossed the river, bought souvenirs, returned to the van

It took us around 20 minutes to pay the entrance fee, cross the river, buy souvenirs at the shops at the other side of the river, and walk back, pause and take pictures in the middle of the river, then return to the van.

 

The entrance of the hanging bridge. 
The management imposes a load limit of 10 persons at a time.

This is the distance of the bridge from the river below. 
You can see a native Boholano washing clothes at the river.

The wooden flooring of the bridge

There are 2 bridges. 
At the other side are souvenir shops.

My tip: If you don't have much time shopping for souvenirs, you can make a stop at the souvenir shops at the other side of the river. You can buy peanut kisses, key chains, native placemats, and bracelets. If you're making a stop at the largest python, it's best to buy peanut kisses there instead of the souvenir shops here because they sell the cheapest peanut kisses, almost at factory price.

It's safe for kids to cross this bridge, as long as they are not initially frightened at the idea. 
The bridge is stable.

We are hanging on top of the Loboc river.

My tip: Ask your guide to cross the other bridge so he can take a picture like this. In our case, it was our guide, Tatsky's idea to take this picture. 

See our next stop: The Loboc River Cruise and Floating Restaurant

Manmade Forest of Bohol

 Manmade Forest of Bohol

As I've mentioned earlier in my previous post on the Chocolate Hills, we started with a 1 1/2 hour trip to the Chocolate Hills and made it our first stop. The reason is to take advantage of the good weather to view the Chocolate Hills because the past few days it rained in the afternoons. 

So we're doing this tour backwards because most tours had the Chocolate Hills as their last stop. Our next stop from the Chocolate Hills is the Manmade Forest.

My tip: If you don't have enough time, or you have small kids or elderly people with you, you don't need to stop at the Manmade Forest. You can just pass through it. It's more important to pace your companions and save their energies for the rest of the day rather than tire them out.

What Kids Should Know

• Where it is located: at the boundary of Bilar and Loboc towns
• What trees are planted: mahogany trees
• Why called man-made: because all the mahogany trees were planted by the Boholanos one by one during the reforestation programs in the 1960s.
• What's unique about this forest: It's the ONLY man-made forest in the Philippines. 
• What's so impressive about this forest: The Boholanos nurtured and watched over this forest to make sure the trees grow healthy and no one cuts any tree. It's easy to watch over one or 2 trees but it shows dedication to the preservation of the environment to watch over a whole forest. This is an indication of how committed the Boholanos are in preserving nature in Bohol.

10:30 AM -10:50AM: Traveled from Chocolate Hills to the Manmade Forest

See the previous post: Chocolate Hills of Bohol

10:50 AM -11:00AM: Manmade Forest

Tatsky watching for cars so he can cue us 
when to run to  the middle of the road for the usual photo

See the next stop: The Hanging Bridge

Chocolate Hills National Geological Monument

Chocolate Hills National Geological Monument

(Below is what was written in the plaque on the viewdeck at the Chocolate Hills Complex, Carmen, Bohol)

1 About two million years ago, most of the island of Bohol was below a shallow sea. Coral reefs, similar to those now found offshore of northern Bohol, thrived and extensively covered the sea floor. During stormy days, fragments of corals and shells derived by waves from the reefs were deposited mostly at the landward side of the reefs. The coral and shell fragments formed relatively thin layers (brown) surrounding the live coral reefs (pink).

2 Slowly, the land rose causing the coral reef formations to emerge out of the sea. The taller arrows shown in the diagram indicate that the southern sections of Bohol island had been uplifted more than the northern sections. 

3 The chocolate hills had been carved out from the relatively thin layers of coral and shell fragments. During the initial stage, the surface may have looked like as shown in the diagram which covers the brown rectangular patch in the previous diagram. Gullies were developed in the low lying areas and lakes occupied the existing depressions.

4 Coral and shell fragments are largely composed of calcium carbonate. A chemical compound which can be dissolved by acidic solution. Rainwater becomes slightly acidic by dissolving some carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Thus, rainwater can dissolve coral and shell fragments. But this happens very slowly. With rainwater acting on the layer of coral and shell fragments for tens to hundred of thousand of years, gullies were deepened and widened to become streams. Lakes were emptied by underground rivers and interconnected conical hills were formed from the original flat surface.


5 When the base of the soluble formation was reached, downcutting ceased and later erosion became dominant. Valleys were widened. The remnant of the layers in the highly dissected areas were dissolved away. And the connections between neighboring hills were also dissolved away. Thus, the chocolate hills that you now behold are products of the patient laboring of rainwater on a thin soluble limestone formation.


6 Based on geological studies conducted by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, there were parts of Bohol that used to be under the sea. These are shows as the blue colored areas in the map. The parts above sea level, which were confined mostly in the north, northeaster and eastern sections, are color-coded green.

The location of the area covered in the first and second block diagrams shown on the left is the rectangle outlined in the map.

7 Declaration

The unique landform known as the "Chocolate Hills" of Bohol was formed ages ago by the uplift of coral deposits and the action of rainwater and erosion.


These hills are scattered throughout the towns of Carmen, Batuan and Sagbayan and consist of 1,268 mounds of the same general shape. 


In recognition of its special characteristics, scientific importance, uniqueness and high scenic value, the national committee on geological sciences declares the chocolate hills of Bohol a National Geological Monument.


19 June 1988


Signed: 


FULGENCIO FACTORAN, JR.
Secretary
Department of Environmental and Natural Resources


RAMON P. BINAMIRA
General Manager
Philippine Tourism Authority

RAYMUNDO S. PUNONGBAYAN
Chairman
National Committee on Geological Sciences


ARTHUR M. SAMANIEGO
Chairman
Sub-Committee on Geological Monuments

Chocolate Hills of Bohol

Chocolate Hills of Bohol

We were picked up by Tatsky, our tour guide, around 8am at Isis Bungalows, Alona Beach, Panglao Island. Since the weather that morning was great, Tatsky suggested that we visit the Chocolate Hills first to take advantage of the weather. In the past few days, it rained in the afternoons. Even though we visited  Bohol in the midst of summer in April, it still rained in the afternoons. The Chocolate Hills cannot be seen from the viewdeck once it rains because of the fog.

Things the Kids Should Know

• Why it is called chocolate hills: during summer, the grass covering the hills turns brown and resembles Hershey's Chocolate Kisses.
• What it is made of: limestones covered with grass  
• No. of chocolate hills: 1268-1776 hills in uniform conical shape
• Height of chocolate hills: mostly 30-50 meters high, but the highest is 120 meters.
• Where the chocolate hills are located: It is spread in 3 towns: Carmen, Batuan and Sagbayan in an area around 50 square kilometers. The highest concentration of chocolate hills is in Carmen town.
• Explanation for the formation of chocolate hills

• Scientific: geologists still have no conclusive scientific explanation. The most popular theory proposed by Philippine geologists (see here) is that Bohol was formerly underwater and that coral deposits forming the chocolate hills used to be coral reefs.

• Myths and Legends: 

• chocolate hills are stones thrown by 2 giants fighting each other.

• chocolate hills are tears of a giant who fell in love with a mortal who died

• chocolate hills are the feces of a giant carabao

• chocolate hills are the feces of a giant who wanted to lose weight to win the affection of a lady mortal so he excreted all that he ate

8AM-930AM: Travel time from Alona Beach, Panglao Island to Carmen, Bohol

There are 2 viewing sites for the Chocolate Hills, one in Carmen and the other in Sagbayan. The one we went to is the original and government owned resort called "Chocolate Hills Complex", located in Carmen. Carmen has the most concentration of chocolate hills so they built the 1st viewing site there.

The Chocolate Hills Complex in Carmen, Bohol is around 55 km from Tagbilaran City. Since we were coming from Panglao Island and not Tagbilaran City, our travel time to the Chocolate Hills Complex is 1 1/2 hours.

As you travel along the highway leading to the Chocolate Hills Complex, this is the sight that surrounds you. Because of the sheer number of chocolate hills, you have the feeling that they are just all around you. Wherever you look, you can spot the chocolate hills.

930AM-1030AM: Chocolate Hills Complex 

The Chocolate Hills Complex is built on top of  2 chocolate hills. So when you go up the Chocolate Hills Complex, you are actually climbing up a chocolate hill. 

This is the Chocolate Hills Complex nestled between 2 chocolate hills and surrounded by thousands of chocolate hills. You go up a cemented road to reach this complex

The Chocolate Hills Complex includes a resort, a restaurant, stores and a 360 degree view deck.

The road on the left is the entrance to the complex. The stairs you see is the one leading to the view deck. The rest stop is the one you see at the foot of the stairs. It's only one of several rest stops on the way to the view deck

There are 2 ways to climb up the 360 degree view deck:

First option: By climbing the stairs with 214 steps

These are the stairs opposite the area where the stores and restaurant are.

There are 214 steps to the observation deck.

Second option: By taking the sloping ramp at the left side of the stairs

My tip: The easier way up is the sloping ramp. Seniors or the elderly should use the slope. It's possible for the elderly to climb to the view deck because they can pace themselves and use the several covered rest stops along the way leading to the view deck. My mom, who's 77 years old, was able to go up the view deck.

This is the view on the right side of the view deck.  You can see the cemented road below that leads to the entrance of the complex.

Upon reaching the view deck:

Plaque declaring the Chocolate Hills as a National Geological Monument. 
It also shows the popular theory for the formation of the Chocolate Hills

To see in detail what was written in the plaque, click here

The view deck

See the next stop: The Manmade Forest