Showing posts with label hills and mountains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hills and mountains. Show all posts

Monday, December 17, 2012

bohol country side tour

12 august 2011, bohol
chocolate hills, butterfly sanctuary, manmade forrest, tarsier watching, hanging bridge, loboc river cruise, prony the python, baclayon church, blood compact shrine

the countryside tour is the highlight of tourists' visit in bohol. with this 1 day tour, you will get to experience the entirety of bohol and clearly appreciate what the province has to offer. when someone says "bohol", what comes first to your mind? i bet there are two: chocolate hills, and tarsier. these nature's contributions can only be found in this little island. for the tarsier, i mean within the philippines.

we woke up early, had a quick breakfast, and our van arrived to take us to our very exciting countryside tour.


chocolate hills

i've been waiting to see this god's great masterpiece. as soon as i started seeing a number of hills, i just can't help myself but to stare and admire. i was just seeing these creations in books when i was young. but now they were just right in front of my eyes. how amazing is that? :)

it was not summer season yet when we visited, so the hills are not yet chocolatey-ish. the grasses were still green and abundant. i can't imagine how many the hills are. i wanted to climb up on one of those. 



butterfly sanctuary

i've already seen several butterfly houses. this one in bohol is just like a typical butterfly sanctuary, yet worth it to see.

the sanctuary houses 300 species of butterfly native to the province. they do butterfly breeding to conserve the species and raise their population as well. live pupae are also being sold to butterfly enthusiasts who want to raise their own butterfly farm. framed butterflies are also available.





manmade forest

bohol's man-made forest is a 2-kilometer stretch of mahogany trees in loboc and bilar. i believe these trees were carefully planted, as visible with how the trees have uniformly grown in terms of height and spaces between trees. this is a really good sight to see, as you were in the middle of the forest, passing through a concrete road though.

"The terrain from both side of the road goes up; to I don’t know how high. What you see are only the Mahogany trees that look like thousands of sentinels guarding the road, standing erect. No other vegetation is growing among the Mahogany trees. One only sees the brown trunks stretching forth from the earth and the green canopy above. And that’s what makes them look so attractive!" source



tarsier watching

philippine tarsier, the world's smallest primates and endemic to the country can only be found in bohol. the tarsier sanctuary covers a 134 hectares of land that serves as protected habitat to these little creatures. tarsiers are nocturnal. and did you know that a tarsier's eye is larger that its brain? hmmm.

tarsiers have been an extinct and endangered species. before, people used to catch them and sell, or preserve and stuff them. it is its nature to commit suicide when caught. because, they say it does not want to be touched by human.




hanging bridge

for us who live in the city, crossing a river through a bridge is fun. the hanging bridge is not really an attraction, but a simple enjoyment for the tourists who are not used to it. 

the bridges are made of bamboo and supported by huge metal wires. i read that 10 persons are allowed to cross at a time. but when we were there, more that 10 were crossing at the same time. cool right? :p

at the other side of the bridge, food specialties (peanut kisses, etc), shirts and souvenirs are being sold.




loboc river cruise

see main blog entry. click here

prony the python

named after its captor, sofronio salibay, prony is the largest python in captivity. it was captured october 1996, weighing 5 kilos and was 5 feet long. but prony had grown so fast.  it now weighs about 300 kilos and is already 27 feet long!

what does prony eat? goat and pig... and prony wants it alive. or else he will not eat. cool! haha.

we took a picture with prony inside his cage. scary, but worth a try. :p



tapang o!

baclayon church

formerly known as the church of our lady of the immaculate conception, baclayon church is one of the olderst church in the philippines and one of the best preserved jesuit build churches in the region.

the church was completed in 1727. in it is a dungeon, used to punish natives who do not follow the rules of the roman catholic church.


blood compact shrine

sandugo ("one blood") is a blood compact that was performed in bohol between miguel lopez de legaspi and datu sikatuna. it was the first treaty of friendship between the spaniards and the filipinos.

the shrine is in tagbilaran city.


Friday, June 24, 2011

trekking taal volcano

26 july 2009, talisay, batangas

unlike mayon, taal volcano is a complex one. it is not just a standing conical volcano, but has formed its compound parts because of the changes of its eruptive activities throughout time. it is known to be the smallest active volcano in the world. it is more than 50km south of manila, and being famously viewed from tagaytay city.




the whole taal volcano island lies within the province of batangas. it is being shared by the town of talisay and san nicolas.

the trek
we were at club balai isabel during our company outing, and before checking out at noon, we wanted to trek taal volcano first. so we woke up early and have ourselves prepared.




balai has a trek package so we needed not to find a boat to hire ourselves. if i remember it correctly we paid P3,000 for the group, and we're good to go. we have to pass through taal lake to reach the volcano.

taal lake is a freshwater lake, considered as the third largest lake in the philippines. it is home to the endemic species tawilis (peborit daw ni rizal), to trevally, and to the world's most rare sea snake - hydrophis semperi (ano daw?? ;p). the lake also has a sulfur content.

upon reaching the volcano island, we were greeted by some locals, offering us services to guide us on our way up. but we already have one from balai. they will also offer you for a horse ride, they said it will be very hard to trek up. it will be more convenient if you'll just be riding a horse, for P350. you trek for adventure, so why ride a horse? the trail is very easy to follow. and there were others who also trek and you will all be following the same path. the scent of the surroundings is very uninviting (because of the horses' poops), but you will eventually get used to it. entrance fee is P50, but in our case, it was included in our package.






the main crater of the volcano is actually not in the little cone-shaped mountain which we always see in photographs. it is on the other part of the whole thing. while trekking i was wondering how can we get to that little mountain, we seemed walking to the opposite direction. oh well, hndi pala kasi doon.

and finally, we reach the crater! the climb is all worth it, it was so beautiful. the crater lake is greenish in color - a lake within a lake. there are sulfur smoke in some areas of the lake. a really breathtaking view. perfect photo opportunity.



conquering mount tapyas

06 february 2011, coron, palawan

it was 8 in the morning when we decided to climb mount tapyas. our friend mandy woke up earlier and went there alone. hahaha. so the three of us still wanted to go even the sun is up, because we know we can't miss tapyas.


mountain's cross

we rode a tricycle to reach the entrance of the trail. it is just beside a basketball court where you will see the steps marking the starting point. the trail to its peak consists of more than 700 steps (whew!). we were glad to met a local boy who sells water and gatorade. he told stuff and trivia about coron. he was also our photographer when we reached the summit. :)


way up!
 





we regularly (define regular. haha.) take a rest because it was really tiring. but we even get more excited as the cross becomes bigger and bigger as we  reach the top. on our way up, we also saw the 'sleeping giant' of coron. and yeah, it looks like a sleeping giant! mejo creepy nga e. we wonder how is he related to maria makiling of laguna. ;p



whew, almost there


the sleeping giant


overlooking the port


after a long trek, a huge cross greeted us as we finally reached the peak of mt. tapyas - overlooking the town of coron.



back to coron main blog

the coron signage

05 february 2011, coron, palawan

on our first day, when we reached the town, we saw the coron signage (like the one in hollywood) standing in the mountains. from then, we wanted to get there. :)



nice view
to coron town proper


before our island hopping, we decided to climb uphill and go to that signage. we just walked from the lodge and asked some locals for directions. it is not hard to reach the place, the hill is not that high and steep. perfect for a morning exercise. ;p




back to coron main blog                               next blog: coron island hopping

 
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