I had dinner Sunday night with Art again. This time we ate at a nearby Japanese Ramen Noodle House. Art told me his friend Andy has reserved a whole area at a local sports bar for the big SuperBowl game. Of course, here it would start at 7:30 AM, Monday morning. Naturally, I agreed to join the group. So on Monday morning I was up early at the bar watching the game. Most of the people in our (Andy's) area seemed to be young Amercian embassy employees but I really didn't meet any of them. The only folks I met were those sitting nearby me. They were two American expats, one working for a telecummication company here and the other was a retiree running a charity. Of course the SuperBowl game itself was a bore, still I had my first real breakfast in the Philippines. Note, while I and some of the others had breakfast, most of the rest were just drinking!
Monday afternoon, I spent looking around the local malls and taking it easy. Then Tuesday morning I took my flight to Cebu. This was a AirAsia Zest flight and it went like clockwork. I arrived in a Cebu City in the early afternoon. Upon checking in my hotel, Hotel Pier Cuetro, I realize it wasn't quite
what I had envisioned. I chose it due to the great reviews and its location near the ferries. Somewhat disappointed, I decided to get some exercise and walk about the town before dinner. I used the map their Tourist Office gave me. Another mistake - as I ended up in some really terrible areas. I couldn't figure out where the good areas were from their lousy map. It didn't dawn on me until it started to get dark that I should have been using my Lonely Planet Map and guide that I had in my backpack. Once I reviewed the guidebook out I realize that Cebu City itself had no listed hotels or restaurants. They were all in separate little areas I would call suburbs. Any way, at this point, I flagged down a taxi and had him drive me to one of the nicer restaurants listed in the guide. There, I enjoyed a nice dinner of green mango salad and tuna belly.
what I had envisioned. I chose it due to the great reviews and its location near the ferries. Somewhat disappointed, I decided to get some exercise and walk about the town before dinner. I used the map their Tourist Office gave me. Another mistake - as I ended up in some really terrible areas. I couldn't figure out where the good areas were from their lousy map. It didn't dawn on me until it started to get dark that I should have been using my Lonely Planet Map and guide that I had in my backpack. Once I reviewed the guidebook out I realize that Cebu City itself had no listed hotels or restaurants. They were all in separate little areas I would call suburbs. Any way, at this point, I flagged down a taxi and had him drive me to one of the nicer restaurants listed in the guide. There, I enjoyed a nice dinner of green mango salad and tuna belly.
Tuesday night at the hotel wasn't great either as my A/C froze up during the night. Although I only had one more night in a Cebu City, I decided I had to move. So I made a reservation at another highly recommended hotel but this time in the nice area. But since Wednesday was the day I set for my all day trip to the island of a Bohol, I just packed my suitcase and left it at my present hotel for my return in the evening. Then I took my daypack and walked to the nearby ferry (at least the hotel was good for that). I got lucky at the ferry office as I was able to sign up for their all day tour. Previously, they told me they had to have a minimum of two for them to do the tour. As an alternative, I could get one of the touts in Bohols who will take me round about the island. But I knew that was very chancy as most of those tout people aren't very good. Any way, I didn't 't have to do that as four other tourists had signed up for the day tour the previous day. So after the two hour fast ferry ride to Bohol, I met up with my fellow tour group (two couples in their 50s from Bejing). The tour guide, Grace, and the driver, Jack Jack, then loaded all of us up in a A/C Toyota van and we left about 10:50 AM.
Grace, who was a great guide, told us about the recent devastation on the island of a Bohol. On October 15, 2013' they had a 7.2 earthquake that lasted about 30 minutes. It did major damage to buildings, bridges and the roads. There were then quite a few aftershocks. During that period is when Typhoon Yolanda occurred. The typhoon was headed directly towards Bohol when it unexpected verged away. Although the typhoon didn't do major damage to Bohol it still caused major problems as Bohol's electricity comes from the nearby island that it did hit. With no electricity, Bohol had no water either as the water here is moved by electricity. There was then a month before the electricity was restored, that was really hard living for the folks here. Even today, the earthquake damage hasn't been fully accessed. Many church buildings can't be used and temporary tents are set up for services. Many damaged structures are waiting to be demolished.
The first tour stop was a Tarsier reserve. What is a Tarsier you ask? Well, it is the world's smallest primate - the adult is about the size of a human hand. There is not many of these creatures about even in the two countries which have them - Philippines & Malaysia. The Tarsier are very territorial and thus we didn't see many in our short guided tour around part of the reserve. To add to that, since it rained the day before, Tarsier don't want to get near the damp ground, so they get up high in the trees. So even the four Tarsiers we saw were at a distance. The Tarsier eat insects and they only move about at night to reserve energy. Dusting the day, they just sleep. I have included here both the distance photos I took as well as commercial photos -the last one shows one holding its baby in its mouth. BTW, the number one predator for Tarsiers are domestic house cats!
After the Tarsiers, we stopped for lunch at a floating boat restaurant. They had a buffet that was definitely so so. For musical entertainment, we had a local musician who played the guitar and sung primarily 70s country music hits. Although a bit strange combination, he was actually pretty good! What I thought was surprising is that this restaurant had quite a number (at least 6) of these same type of boat restaurants - all very busy on a Thursday afternoon with local patrons. Pictures of the musician and of Grace eating and listening.
Across from the restaurant boat dock was the second oldest church in the Philippines which the tour used to stop at. But you can see from my pic the major damage there now. Next up on the tour agenda was the Chocolate Hills. These odd shaped hills were formed while underwater in prehistoric times. The hotel near the stairs to observation tower (pic) was so damaged by the earthquake that it is now scheduled for demolition.
The final stop before the ferry was at the statute memorializing the first blood agreement between an early Spanish explorer and an early local chief. From there, we said goodbye to Grace and took the two hour ferry back to Cebu City. It was 7:45 PM when I arrived back on land. Then I took the three block walk back to the hotel to retrieve my luggage. I then got a taxi to the new hotel, Main Hotel. The taxi driver had a bit if a problem finding it but he did. Upon my arrival, I was pleasantly surprised. It was nicer than I expected. It was only a couple of dollars more than the other place! Go figure.
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