Bohol - Cebu Ad-ben-tyur

2 months ago, we booked a flight going to Tagbilaran Bohol on a zero fare promo and now it was just a memory to be remembered…

 Last August 28, 2008, we together with jeff and shiza went  on the trip to bohol even without vhel and pao to the new terminal of the Cebu Pacific in Andrews Airbase or more popularly known as T3 Terminal. Before the trip, I was a little bit hungry or should I say always hungry… that’s why I immediately went to the Jollibee stall inside T3 Terminal and bought some Double Yum with TLC for a price higher than the original price in Jollibee… Hmm quite high but I guess since I’m hungry, I have no other choice. The T3 Terminal is somewhat near the Centennial Terminal of Philippine Airlines. It is a lot more OK than and more spacious.

 We boarded the plane at 1110 in the morning and we departed Manila as soon as all the passenger were on the plane. On board with us is Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who was also on his way to Bohol during that time. Hmmm, at least he’s really “makamasa” because he’s boarding a plane most “tipiders” would ride. We all know that Cebu Pacific offers a cheaper fare than PAL. The flight was Ok and no turbulents were felt during the whole trip. Whaaah!!! At least we landed safely.

 At last! we’re at the Tagbilaran Airport. The Tagbilaran Airport is not that big compared to the other airports There’s only one conveyor where bags are placed. But who needs a bigger airport if you can save a lot with just a smaller one? However, I hope the airports will improve more. Getting out of the airport, we went outside to check on some vehicles which offers a cheaper rate. We were approached by John Araneta. He offered us a 500 peso ride (actually we haggled the price from 600 to 500) just to look for a hotel. We then agreed… Our first stop is Dumaluaan Beach Resort… I have read a lot of this resort while doing a research on where to stay in Bohol. Actually, the place is nice also and is really just beside Bohol Beach Club. It offered us a Junior Suite with 2 single beds for 2,150 plus 350 for the extra person… not bad.. However, just to utilize the 500 peso trip, we moved to the other resorts nearby the area. Our second stop, the Alona Beach Resort, hmmm the price is high however, the place is way better than Dumaluan Beach Resort. The Family Room’s view is really nice. Most of the diver’s going to Bohol are staying here also. Thinking of the price, and how we can save while enjoying this vacation, we went back to Dumaluan Beach Resort 1 and checked-in. Tired and hungry, we went to the restaurant immediately and ordered lunch….

We ordered Chopseuy, Chili Chicken and Beef Steak… From the three viands, I would say that Chopseuy was the most “sulit” one. The price of the food here in Dumaluan Beach Resort 1 is quite expensive. Our lunch cost is 1101 Philippine Peso. Whew. Since we’re that hungry, we just have it charged to our room…Waaah “Ang mahal”.

After eating a “Maharlika” lunch, we walked along the white sands of Bohol. We took some pictures for remembrance as we pass by Bohol Beach Club. The BBC was really nice, great facilities however, great and high price also. Php 350 were collected to any individual/outsiders who are not checked-in there. Part of the 350 is consumable and the other part of it is the entrance fee for you to be able to use their facilities. But since Dumaluan has its own swimming pool, we didn’t wasted that 350 for the BBC’s facilities. Instead we just passed and swam on the beach side of BBC. Beaches are free of charge remember that.  We also found star fishes on the white sands while walking.

At night, we wen’t to this place called Dumaluan Beach Resort 2. Yes there are two of them. This is just on the left side of the DBR1. We ate our dinner there for only 500++ and the food was quite better than the DBR1. They also have a grocery store there in DBR2, but be careful of the sales lady, she’s not that approachable. She’s always have that poker face even if I’m making her smile. Sungit sya.. Pero since they have the lowest price than DBR2 we still stayed there to have dinner. We had adobong pusit and inihaw na liempo as our main dishes for that evening… We also had some mango shakes and a 1.5 Liter Sprite to quench our thirsts. Solved for the night.

Of course, the night wouldn’t end without getting high… High as in getting drunk. We bought Gilbey’s and combined it with Sprite and served it together with some chips. We all slept at 1am… And as usual, I slept on the floor…

 The next day, we had breakfast. Too bad, this Dumaluan Beach Resort 1 doesn’t offer any food for Muslims. They only serve  ham or hotdogs. Hay too bad for me… Being a half muslim and half catholic, I felt that Muslims here doesn’t have a space. Even though I’m not practicing the Muslim religion, I felt bad because they don’t offer any other food like corned beef. Actually, the day before we checked-in, one of the receptionist told me that they have 3 choices for breakfasts … they have corned beef, ham and hotdog. But what a LIE! you really don’t have a choice. They will just inform you what is available… However, nobody is perfect, there is always a room for improvement. I just have to let things pass by for now so that we’ll have a good time in Bohol. Rating their service from 1-10 where 10 is the highest….4 is their grade. Hotel is good and I could rate this at 6…. Of course, like what they always say, if you’ll pay cheap, expect something cheap… Waiter’s there are not that quite approachable also… I think they only have 2 nice waiters there. The others are so very good. As in, if you look in their faces, parang ayaw mo ng umorder, parang napipilitan. Grrrh. Sana magtraining silang mag-smile kahit ayaw nila ang customer. They are just nice lang ata sa mga foreign guests. Sana sa lahat naman ng tao… We’ll again nobody’s perfect. hahahaha but anyways cguro ganyan talaga pag mura ang bayad. hehehehe You don’t get everything. Stay na lang sa room, at least ok ang room nila. My advise don’t order foods or drinks in DBR2, just check-in their hotel there. Eat elsewhere. Andyan naman ang Bohol Bee Farm.

 Whew. Lets go on. We were picked up at 10am by John Araneta and went to the Bohol Bee Farm. This was our first stop sa tour namin. The place was nice. Rate for this is 8 out of 10. You’ll have to pay 20 pesos per head for the tour in Bee Farm.It’s worth it naman. I heard na they also served good food. Second stop was Hinagdanan cave. The caretaker/tour guide there is really good in camera. I think his name is Mang Norman. He’s a good tour guide and you’ll definitely learn something new from him especially with camera techniques in caves. We paid 15 pesos here as an entrance fee. Prices of pasalubongs here a lot more cheaper. So better buy those souvenir items here.

Third stop, grocery at Tagbilaran. Whew tama na ang mahal na paninda…. bili na ng maraming food. heshehehe

Fourth stop, airport again to pick-up Chris and Jonix.

Loboc River is our next stop. It was around  3:00 when we got there. And normally, the cruise operates only from 10 in the morning til 1 in the afternoon. Bad timing… But since we’re there already, we just asked the operator if we could still have lunch there… and after a good conversation… we’ve managed to have a private cruise for only 3000 pesos with a buffet.  So that would me 600 per person since we were only 5. We also asked if our driver could join us for free and they were that so nice they agreed. Too bad Loboc Children’s Choir were not there.

to be continued… (masakit na leeg ko….sunburn)