by Bol-Anon

No doubt it was the highlight of our vacation in Bohol. Last December 30, we trooped from the mountains of Sudlon, Alicia, Bohol, where my wife hails, to the enchanting white sands of Candabong, Anda, a nearby town, for a cool Rizal Day splash.

The beach was public. We paid absolutely nothing to get in. The sand was creamy white and not artificial, unlike those in other private resorts in the province. At the farthest end of the semi-oval stretch of white sand is a small rock/island shaped like a soldier’s helmet. Along the shore were lines of boats and huts lying idly, as if time has stopped in that corner of the world.

When we arrived (at around 9am) there was nobody there. We had the whole place to ourselves. When my 5-year old son saw the place, he smiled all the way up to his ears. Then he plunged and spent the whole day on the water. A few other groups arrived later, but there was still plenty of space run around. In fact, there was plenty of space to do our barbecue and some cooking.

Our biggest expense that day was the transportation going there. All other expenses were minimal. The rent for the hut was only P150. The rent for the floats (inflated tire interiors) ranged only from P20 to P50 for unlimited use. Incidentally, we were told that you can take a pump boat ride, from one point to another, for only P150

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From Pinoy Tour Philippines
Clouds, by nature, yellow in the evening light. Over at the Amarela resort in Bohol, it isn’t only the clouds that glimmer with that soft golden hue. Both the Bohol seascape and landscape do, turning the idyllic island of Bohol into a Sapphire City where the sun is always at its brightest.

Set on the stunning coastline of the Panglao Beach in Bohol, the Amarela Resort shares the seas and the sands of one of the celebrated marine sanctuaries in the Philippines: The Handumon Seahorse Sanctuary of Bohol. For each sundown, the Panglao Beach in Bohol turns into a whole new world that teems with luminous seahorses swimming in the dark waters.
Seahorses have thrived in the waters of Bohol just as the world-renowned tarsiers have found sanctuaries in the forests of Bohol. It is hard to think of Bohol without them. It is incomplete to experience Bohol without them. And there is no better place in Bohol to experience what the island offers than the resort in Bohol of the Amarela.
 
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from HongKong Harm 

I had an awesome weekend! On Friday at 6pm, I flew to Manila, arrived at the airport and anxiously sorted through a sea of faces, trying to find Jane, the “girl in the red shirt”. I finally found her, not long after I had started imagining how I might spend a weekend in Manila on my own. We were joined up by the rest of our group: three South Africans, one Hong Konger, two American Hong Kongers, Jane, and myself.

We stayed the night in Manila. Though I was only there for a very short time, Manila didn’t give off a good vibe. I heard quite a few sirens through the night. We were greeted by a guard dog and a security check at the hotel entrance. I wasn’t sad to leave early the next morning for our destination- Bohol.

We arrived in Bohol, a tropical, coconut-tree spotted island just south of Cebu, which you may be familiar with. Bohol is known for its chocolate hills, the smallest primates on earth (tarsiers), white sand beaches and the fattest python in captivity. We actually saw all but the first during our day there.

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