28th Nov 09
We woke up at 6am and check out of Diplomat at 7am leaving 2 of the smaller luggages with them until we return tomorrow night. Breakfast is at the hotel resturant and we ordered Chicken Congee, American breakfast and Light breakfast (i.e. cereal) 
After filling our stomach, we took a cab to Pier 1 for the ferry ride to Bohol. The traffic was kind of conjested and it took us half an hour to reach the pier. Nevertheless, we were still 1 hour early. Tim has helped us bought the tickets from Oceanjet a few days ago before our arrival and that has saved us a lot of time! THANK YOU!! It is a pity that we did not managed to buy the earliest tickets which departs at 6:00am. Hence, we took the 9:30am ride instead. (http://www.oceanjet.net/)
There are many ferries that goes to Bohol. So why did we picked Oceanjet?? Mainly because Oceanjet has the earliest departure time from Cebu. :p
Welcome to Tagbilaran! We are finally HERE after 2 hours of ferry ride. ^_^ After filling our stomach, we took a cab to Pier 1 for the ferry ride to Bohol. The traffic was kind of conjested and it took us half an hour to reach the pier. Nevertheless, we were still 1 hour early. Tim has helped us bought the tickets from Oceanjet a few days ago before our arrival and that has saved us a lot of time! THANK YOU!! It is a pity that we did not managed to buy the earliest tickets which departs at 6:00am. Hence, we took the 9:30am ride instead. (http://www.oceanjet.net/)There are many ferries that goes to Bohol. So why did we picked Oceanjet?? Mainly because Oceanjet has the earliest departure time from Cebu. :p
Hubby collected our luaggage and we met up with our tour guide - Grace at the jetty who will be taking us for our tour in Bohol. (Lutchie has helped me tremendously with liasing with the local guide and helping me make arrangements for the tours here.) We will start with the Countryside tour, followed by Firefly tour and Dolphin Tour for the next day. EXCITING!It was drizzling when we arrived but we got onto a nice van. :) The tours are very personalized and Grace will be taking us solely today.
We arrived at the Blood Compact: a ritual in the Philippines where tribes would cut their wrist and pour their blood into a cup filled with liquid and drink each other's blood as part of the tribal tradition to seal a friendship, a pact or treaty, or to validate an agreement.
Here shows the ritual that was made between the Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna the chieftain of Bohol.
We made some purchases at another souvenior shop further down the road. The kids are enjoying themselves so far.
Along the way, we can see Rice paddy fields and water baffulos.
Our next stop is the Tarsiers Sanctuary where Tarsiers are known as one of the smallest primates not larger than the size of an adult's hand. (probably only 4 to 5 inches).
There are small and cute with very large eyes! Grace told us that Tarsiers are nocturnal creatures, like owls - who sleeps during the day and active in the night. However, as there are many tourists visiting each day, the tarsiers there have become accustom to be awake in the day too. Another point to note is we are not allowed to touch the tarsier as it is said that it will be under such stress that it will grow stiff and eventually stop breathing. Also, it will be cruel to keep the animal as a pet because it is capable of "committing suicide" in captivity. WOW!
Everyone wants to catch a good photo shot of the little tarsiers. :) We also saw bats and a monkey in cages too.
Time for lunch! We are going for a Cruise on the Loboc River. It is one of the MUST SEE places to go if you are in Bohol. The Loboc River Cruise will take tourists on a eat all you can lunch buffet on a floating raft pushed by a motorboat. Unfortunately, we waited very long for our boat to arrive. Denver complained that he was super hungry and tired.
We finally got on to the floating resturant after about 45 mins of waiting. We had drinks in the traditional bottled glass with cap. I bet everyone is very hungry as the food was gone at a very fast rate!
Nice singing and music to keep us entertained on our river cruise ride (~ 1 hour).
It was cooling and relaxing once the boat started to cruise. Resting after our lunch and enjoying the music and view of the Loboc river is great! Grace said the river is brownish colour today due to the rain... usually it will be green instead.
Denver saw some kids swinging from the tree and jumping into the river. He was so amazed and thought that they were like tarzans. :) I guess that is how the kids play and enjoy themselves. Our boat make a return trip upon seeing the mini waterfalls. It stopped by a floating raft where we saw a group of performers playing guitars, dancing and singing songs. The tourists can get down onto the raft to join them in their dance or songs. Donations/Tips are also welcomed.
End of Part 1
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