Saturday, April 30, 2011

Bohol Part 2

Bohol’s Man Made Forest is basically a two-kilometer rainforest with mahogany trees as the main features. Years before, the very site of the Man Made Forest is populated by different plant species, most of them are wild, until the Boholanos decided it is time that they take control of the forest. The Man Made Forest is notable for its very orderly structure. The trees are uniformed in height and in many other ways including the leaves’ design.

The real joy of exploring the Man Made Forest is going all the way up the winding road, which is very identical to a chicken’s intestine. As you drive up, all that you can see behind is the luscious greens that are uniformed in height and are spread out as if they are guarding something down.
The Man Made Forest can be reached by land, about a few minutes ride from Tagbilaran City to close in on the 20-kilometer distance. It is found along the margins of ‘Tina-I sa Manok’ road, a winding pathway from Loboc to Bilar.
The Loboc River is one of the major tourist destination in Bohol. The winding river plays host to cruises on board of small bancas or floating restaurants. Visitors are treated to a vista of lush tropical vegetation such as nipa palms, coconut trees, banana groves, and bushes.
Baclayon Church
This is a both a historic and religious tourist site. The church’s foundation was laid in 1595 making it one of the oldest relics of the Philippines’ early history. The church is no longer in use and remains only as a shadow of its former glory.
The biggest python in Bohol. The python named Prony is Albur’s star and has known to the people as “Live Anaconda of Bohol.” Just a few hundred meters is a Python sanctum which is 5 years old in existence with a length of approximately 23 feet and an estimated weight of about 300 kg. The biggest python in captivity ever known. Named after its captor, Prony, it loves to eat during feeding time. The winding barangay road leading to the sanctuary and the majestic sights along the course keeps one feel the prime of nature.

Bohol

Bohol is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. It’s capital is Tagibilaran City.  Bohol is a popular tourist desitination with its beaches and resorts.

Group picture
The Chocolate Hills, numerous mounds of limestone formation, is the most popular attraction.
Tarsiers are haplorrhine primates of the tarsius, a genus in the family of Tarsiidae, which is itself the lone extant family within the infraorder trasiiformes. Although the group was once more widespread, all the species living today are found in the islands of Southeast Asia.
The Blood Compact or Sandugo, was a ritual here 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.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Kwebang Lampas, Pagbilao Quezon

It was Holy Monday when Apleh, Julius, Erlman, Junjun, Wilbert and I decided to spend a day at the beach here in our province of Quezon in Southern Luzon, beaches are not the most visited picnic sites. However, for us who searched the beauties of our town, a fine-sand and a privately-kept beach in the quite part of Pagbilao town proved to be a perfect pick not only because of it’s white sand, but also of it’s Kwebang Lampas, a cave near the shoreline that may have been formed by waters flowing through it.


The beach is simply beautiful. It has a fine white sand and crystal-clear waters that change with alternating shades of emerald and azure. It’s seabed is devoid of rocks, seaweed and rough coral which is my kind of beach for swimming. Some coral formations however, can be seen by swimming furter from the shore. The shoreline is clean and well-maintained. There are a lot of shady areas as well where you can just lay a blanket if you don’t want to rent a cottage.