Posts archived in Home & Family
A standard landscape snapshot of the Chocolate Hills in Carmen, Bohol, taken from the viewdeck where all the other thousands of tourists take their snapshots
Our second day in Bohol was spent going around the usual tourist spots in the province. With just a day, we could only cover so much.
Our first destination was the world-famous Chocolate Hills, a two hour drive from Panglao Island. It started to drizzle while we were on the way to Carmen, Bohol where many of the hills are located. The hills, numbering more than a thousand, are actually spread over two other municipalities in the center of the island province. Named Chocolate Hills because of their Kisses-like shape and their brown color during the summer, they were apparently formed through thousands of years of tidal and land movements.
Thankfully, the skies cleared up a bit just as we arrived at the hill with the tourist view deck, just in time for a few snapshots. There were hundreds of local and foreign tourists, too. The hike up the hill can be very tiring. There is a zig-zag concrete ramp up the hill for those who can’t take hiking up a hundred or more steps straight up.
Along the highway from Tagbilaran to the Chocolate Hills in Carmen, Bohol, a few hectares of tall mahogany trees make for a beautiful and serene route. Located in the town of Bilar, the trees were artificially planted as part of an environmental project in the 60's of then-President Carlos Garcia, himself a son of Bohol
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Alona Beach, Panglao, Bohol
Almost a month ago, my family spent a weekend in Bohol. We availed of the usual tour package, a two night stay at a Panglao island resort and a day tour around the usual tourist spots in the island-province. I’ve never been to Bohol till then, but because much has been written about it as as one of the country’s emerging top tourist destinations, I’ve heard enough about it to be familiar with what to do in the island in a span of three days. Admittedly too short to immerse oneself, in any destination for that matter, but isn’t that what tourism is about, to sample destinations, just the good and the beautiful at face value?
Alona Beach, Panglao, Bohol
It was the week when my mother and my younger brother celebrated their birthdays, and a short trip to Bohol was what my mother thought would be an apt way to celebrate the occasions. We stayed at Flushing Meadows Resort at Dauis, in Panglao Island. It’s relatively isolated from the other resorts clustered and located in the major stretches of white sand beaches in the island, though the resort has its cove with its own small stretch of fine white sand (which only appears during low tide, though).
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The historic Pangasinan provincial capitol in Lingayen, beautifully lit at night
A visit to the
Hundred Islands can be complemented by a visit to the provincial capital,
Lingayen, a historic town east of Alaminos.
January 28, 2010. The provincial capitol complex in Lingayen boasts of newly renovated historical buildings that date back to almost a hundred years and saw important moments in the history of province and the country. The provincial government can provide tours of the capitol complex to interested tourists.
Behind the capitol complex, one can spend the day in one of the longest and widest stretches of beaches in the country.
A view of the Hundred Islands in Alaminos City, Pangasinan, taken from the top of Governor's Island
January 29, 2010. It is rare to find a Filipino, young or old, who is not familiar with the Hundred Islands. Along with the Mayon Volcano and the Banaue Rice Terraces, the renowned group of islands in Alaminos, Pangasinan has always been a standard mention in textbooks as one of the best natural wonders of the Philippines. The group of islands has thus etched itself an almost permanent part in the consciousness of many Filipinos from childhood.
Corals and stones can be seen from the crystal clear water that surround the Hundred Islands
Despite its relative fame, however, the city government of Alaminos admits that the islands do not attract the number of visitors nor the investments they deserve, compared to other beach destinations in the country. I, myself, have never been to Hundred Islands before Lakbay Norte’s stop at Alaminos. And what a shame, indeed. The islands are unique gems incomparable to the Philippines’s other beach destinations.
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The controversial coal-fired power plant sits along a bay with half a dozen marine sanctuaries and coral reserves
. From Pangasinan, we drove southwards along the South China Sea into Zambales. Before proceeding to our next stop, Subic, we stopped over the town of Masinloc.
Masinloc may sound familiar to some of us, as the town plays host to a giant coal-fired power plant that was subject of a controversy a few years back, as the government was trying to privatize the facility and sold it to a dubious company.
Ironically, the town also hosts half a dozen coral reef sanctuaries and marine reserves along its coast, very near the power plant. I don’t know how they co-exist with each other, but when I asked an officer from the marine sanctuary office, he said the existence of the power plant has not affected the marine sanctuary.
Because of the town’s marine sanctuaries, Masinloc is also considered as having some of the few dive sites in Central Luzon. We were supposed to hop on a boat to one of the off-shore islands and visit one of the marine reserves and observe the giant clams sanctuary, but due to lack of time, we were just presented with a short video presentation of what the town has to offer in terms of eco-tourism.
Also in Masinloc is the San Andres Church built in the 1600′s and is considered one of the country’s few national cultural treasures. The baroque church features a white facade, made up most probably of coral stones. I’m not really into churches, so I don’t know how else to describe San Andres.
law student, film school graduate, student leader, youth activist, Kabataan Partylist legislative officer