Our second day in Bohol didn’t start out as planned. The Countryside Tour the day before was a little too tiring as we dropped by almost every possible tourist spots the province have to offer. Our Day 1 had been packed and we finally reached Bagobo Beach Resort at around 8pm. We were too exhausted and starved that we immediately [...]

If you’ve always wanted to travel but you’re always short on cash, you might want to consider traveling in a big group! Traveling in big groups has its disadvantages, of course. Imagine the following: the time spent waiting for the group to be complete the constant asking where a certain person is the taking of group pictures every part of [...]

Visiting a new and exotic locale is always greatly enhanced when the traveler captures plenty of memories with his or her camera. When it comes time to print out the pictures, some results turn out better than others. The keys to good quality travel picture printing involve some planning as well as selecting a good portable printer such as one [...]

The Baclayon Church, formally known as the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Baclayon, is one of the oldest churches in the country. It is usually the second stop in the Bohol Countryside Tour. (The first stop from the airport is usually the Sandugo Monument.) We initially wanted to follow the usual itinerary and visit this immediately [...]

We stayed for over an hour at the Chocolate Hills and drank as much buko juice as we could. At this point, the whole countryside tour had gotten tiring as much as it was exciting. Sitting in the van for hours was more exhausting than we expected. Haha. Our next stop was the Simply Butterflies Conservation Center which houses a [...]

Shaky, slippery and scary. These were the first words that entered my head while I was crossing the Tigbao Hanging Bridge. Its railings made of steel and flooring of bamboo, this bridge isn’t really the most calming or the safest bridge in the world. But it was fun. Suspended some 25 meters above the Loboc River, the Tigbao Hanging Bridge [...]

A very long time ago when giants ruled the earth, two giants had a great fight that they started hurling rocks and sand at each other violently. After the battle, the two got so exhausted and eventually became friends that they forgot to clean up the mess they made. This was how the Chocolate Hills were formed. According to legend, [...]

Right after our “big gutom” was quenched by our big buffet lunch, we hopped back into our service van. As soon as we were comfortable, our driver announced that we would be heading towards Carmen, Bohol to see the Chocolate Hills, which made everyone cheer up. (Mind you, the buffet lunch was a lot sleep-inducing, there’s a really good chance [...]

After visiting Prony the Python and the cute tarsiers, the Poor Traveler’s group decided that it was time for lunch as we all felt a little hungry already. We waited a good 20 minutes for our turn to ride the raft. But it was alright; it gave enough time for us to shop around. There were several souvenir shops around [...]

From big to small. From reptile to primate. From monstrous to the cutest. Bohol is home to not just the world’s biggest snake in captivity but also the world’s smallest primate — the tarsier! And man are they cute! The province of Bohol is most commonly known for two attractions — the Chocolate Hills and the tarsier. I remember, both [...]

The Poor Traveler is usually scared if reptiles. Very scared of reptiles. Terrified, in fact. I remember our trip to Lucban, Quezon for the Pahiyas Festival, there was a house where a big yellow snake was on display and they encouraged tourists to have a photo-op with the snake on the shoulder. My friends had a very difficult time wasting [...]

Even before boarding the plane, the Poor Traveler and his friends were already excited to explore Bohol. When we landed at Tagbilaran Airport, we were pleased that the driver from Bagobo Beach Resort was already there to pick us up. Straight from Tagbilaran Airport, our first stop was the Sandugo Site. For my non-Pinoy readers, “sandugo” literally means “one blood.” [...]

The Poor Traveler had always wanted to go to Bohol as this extremely popular tourist destination is one of the top 3 provinces I’d die to visit. That’s why there was really no word to describe my excitement when I was planning this trip. Planning was easy. Initially, we wanted to check in at Bohol Beach Club but I realized [...]

When the Poor Traveler was planning this trip to Ilocos, I did not have much expectations. Sure I had heard about Ilocandia and all the raves about it before on TV but in all honesty, it did not really appeal to me. I just wanted to see the Bangui Windmills, Pagudpud and Vigan. That was all I wanted. But I [...]

The Poor Traveler and his friends only had one destination in our itinerary for the third day of our Ilocos Tour — Vigan! We actually had spent some time in this beautiful city on our first day but we had very limited time to see much of it. Because we had to be back in Manila by 7pm, we only [...]