Edong, Elanor, James, Michelle and I visited Tagaytay yesterday. It was just a brief sojourn: We had lunch at Leslie’s (crowded and they serve water very grudgingly), coffee at Bag of Beans (barako is strong!), and went zip-lining (awesome :P) at Tagaytay Ridge Zipline and Cable Car inside Picnic Grove.
What To Do (And See) In Bohol
There are quite a few things you can do in Bohol. Some of these are:
- Beach, beach, beach
- Blood Compact Monument
- Baclayon Church – The oldest stone church in the Philippines
- Tarsiers – Cute little critters. The reason why I ended up in Bohol :P
- Loboc Children’s Choir
- Loboc/Loay River Cruise – Cruise along the river while eating buffet lunch. Along the way you will see kids diving into the river as well as kids singing and dancing along the shore.
- Man-made Forest
- Chocolate Hills – Need I say more?
- Giant Python (and Marimar)
- Hanging Bridge (and The Buko King)
- Butterfly Farm
- Bohol Bee Farm
- Hinagdanan Caves
- Firefly Tour
- Dolphin Watching at Pamilacan Island
- Diving/Snorkeling at Balicasag Island
If you haven’t availed of packaged tours, you can contact Jessie Gumapac at +63928-307-9791. He does the countryside tour which covers most of the above. He can also arrange for a Pamilacan dolphin watching and Balicasag snorkeling tour.
Amarela Resort (Or Where To Stay In Bohol)
Amarela is one of those boutique hotels that have mushroomed all over Bohol. It started off as a vacation home with a few rooms and has since become a hotel with a wing housing a lot more rooms. But because it started off as a vacation home, it has that homey feel to it. The staff is friendly, the restaurant serves good (in terms of quality and quantity) food, a cozy infinity pool (that unfortunately doesn’t appear to merge into the ocean), and facilities for beach activities (volleyball court, beach chairs, kayaks/bancas, snorkeling gear, etc). And if you really can’t leave work behind and just focus on your vacation, they have a business center with WiFi access.
There’s just one problem, the beach is not all that good. But then again, I’ve never been very impressed with the few Bohol beaches that I’ve been to. If you really want the beach maybe you can try the new Eskaya or time-tested Bohol Beach Club. Or for a lower budget you can try Alona Kew or Dumaluan Beach Resort. The last two are rated rather poorly in reviews but they should be fine if you’re not planning on staying in your room most of the time anyway.
Amarela is not cheap. But it’s rated quite highly in reviews. I myself would rate it higher if not for the rates (and the beach). But that’s just me.
Rating: 4/5
2008 July 20 Crystal Beach Resort, San Narciso, Zambales
After several attempts at marshalling people for weekend surfing, Michelle and I finally decided to just push through with or without the others :P And right after Jem and Grace’s wedding, push through we did. As usual, we went to Crystal Beach, rented boards, and enlisted Bobot to assist us. We surfed for only about an hour and the waves were rather inconsistent. Still, it was lots of fun especially since we weren’t able to surf the last time we visited Crystal Beach.
If there’s a will, there’s a way.
2008 June 7 to 8 Crystal Beach Resort, San Narciso, Zambales
Finally, the long-awaited return to Crystal Beach for more surfing.
We took the newly opened Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX). I’ll have to say that it beats NLEX hands down. It has NLEX’s nice asphalt surface PLUS Star Tollway’s low traffic. It seemed to be a very good place to open up your throttle and see what your driving machine is capable of. And open the throttle I did. Hell, everyone did. Khae, who was driving a gen 8 H car, was going at 160kph and I was doing the same (to keep up, y’know). Most everyone else were just a little bit slower and two bikers even went by at around 180kph. I noticed that the car was still moving along smoothly, no shakiness as when I tried 160kph at Star Tollway. Nice surface indeed.
At the resort, we had ready our board shorts, rash guards, and sunblock. There was only one problem: the surf was FLAT! For the two days! With surfing out of the question, it became just your regular beach outing of swimming, chilling, and kayaking.
It was my first time kayaking but I think I was able to get the hang of it. Michelle and I paddled beyond the far end of Crystal Beach to check out a big cluster of pine. We beached the kayaks then ran across the very hot sand to the pines. We stayed for a bit under the shade of the pines to rest. We then walked and ran back to the kayaks and paddled back to Crystal Beach. It was a total of only about a kilometer but our arms and backs were aching already! Seems to be good upper body work out.