Ok, back to my topic, our cebu and bohol vacation....
We left Boracay july 4, our flight to cebu was canceled and the next flight was flying from Kalibo airport (the nearby town about 2 hours drive). We are not really in a hurry so we agreed to fly from there. For consolation for all the trouble the airline gave us travel voucher equivalent to one plane ticket for both of us, YAY free airfare!! Kalibo by that time was just recently devastated by a typhoon so there are lots broken road, knocked down trees and street covered with mud. The trip was an interesting one but we were late but the plane waited for us.
We arrived in Cebu safely but our baggage was lost and we spend a bit of time talking to people. Then we went to the condotel we are staying. We decided to stay in serviced aparment so that it would be cheaper and we could save from eating out. Our unit was nice, it has a small kitchen, nice furnitures and good internet connection. Also the location of the condo is very accessible from all the cool places in Cebu.
This is the front of the building we are staying
This is our room. Josh is working here.
The small kitchen.
Mr. Mantis
our constant visitor...
(i broke this vase and we pay P300 when all along the price tag on the bottom of the vase only says P79)Here'a a brief background of the city of Cebu... cebu is the oldest city in the Philippines, in cebu there's Mactan Island, it is the isalnd that Ferdinand Magellan discovered while he is circumnavigating the world, but in a unfaithful event this is also where he was killed by a chieftain name Lapu-Lapu, our first national hero. Now a days cebu is one of the largest and most developed cities in the philippines, second to manila. I liked cebu because traffic is not that bad, taxi drivers are honest and the cost of living there is very cheap. Though most people there will only talk to you in their own dialect, so for us to understand we need to speak English or little in tagalog.
Unfortunately we didn't really toured cebu. Josh was working daytime and I toured Cebu once already. There is nothing much to see in the city proper, just historical sites which is main attraction are statues. Our activities are mainly trying out nice restaurant, we liked especially Kura Thai. It is so thai that we feel like we are in Thailand when we dined there.
Then we were able to have a chance to meet one of my friend from Naga that is now based there. She was married to a pastor in Cebu and they are not doing ministry in one of the nearby town in cebu. It was nice hanging out with her again, she has a 1 1/2 old baby that is so restless.
There are many beaches as well in cebu. We went to a resort named Costabella. It is a nice resort with swimmingpool and beachfront. The swimming pool is decent, it has a slide that josh loved but i never tried. I'm never a fan of extreme activities, yes i consider pool slide extreme!... it's really scary for me. The beachfront is not that nice, it doesn't look natural because of all the breakwaters they put and it's quite filthy. But we still enjoyed our short trip there. My apology for not putting picture here. We totally forgot about our camera when going around.
Then we did a day trip to bohol. Bohol a province near cebu, its a 2-hours ferry ride from cebu.
Here's funny story before i go on. I was booking a ferry ticket by the phone:
Joy: Yes, i would like to book two tickets going to Bohol Please...
Operator: May I know whose calling?
Joy: This is Joy Crank
Operator: ah, ms joy frank.
Joy: No, Joy Crank (saying it slowly)
Operator: [after trying hard to decipher and still mumble a wrong surname] ma'am can you spell that for me.
Joy: it's J-O-Y C-R-A-N-K
Operator: Ah, Joy Crank. Ma'am who's the other passenger?
Joy: I'm travelling with my husband, Joshua.
Operator: your husband ma'am. What's his name?
Joy: Joshua.
Operator: Ma'am, may I know his surname.
Joy: Crank. [yeah. what else?]
Operator: can you spell it for me...
Joy: [trying to be patient for lack of common sense]
We got the ticket the next day. And when we looked at the ticket, Josh ticket says: Mr. Joshua Vrank. So the whole day I've been calling him Mr. Vrank.
Ok, back to our trip to Bohol. We were able to find a good tour guide. We are lucky because there are only the two of us that the tour guide has so we were able to have a good command of our time (we don't need to wait or be hurried by others).
We left Cebu very early so we can catch the earliest trip to bohol. We wanted to be there early so we can have more time there.
This is the kind of ferryboat we ride to but a little bigger. When i first ride a boat like this i was really scared. Well it was a school retreat that is going to be held in cebu, during that day a strong storm just pass by so it was a little wavy. When we are in the middle of our trip the wave suddenly became bigger and our boat is being splashed with waves in every direction and the there will be sudden rocking and swaying movement... it was really scary. I was sitting with my co-teacher and he has been used to travel by sea yet he was so scared already. To calm myself a bit i just sit still and humming one of my favorite Sunday school song "with Christ in my vessle"...
Our first stop is the chocolate hills. Bohol has aroun 1200 plus hills that are clustered in one area. Americans named it chocolate hill because it look like hershey's kisses, well when it summer time the grass dried and the hill turns brown.
We are on the top of one hill.
There are over 300 steps going up. I don't like going down, because the steps are so steep.
Then we passed by a man made forest. I think decades ago this forest was already denuded from all the irresponsible logging activities so the people there planted new trees.
Then bohol is well known for its native Tarsier. I think it's only in bohol that this little creature can be found. It is considered the smallest primate in the world. This two tarsier in the picture are full grown adult already.
Joshy feeding a tarsier with a cricket.
On our way to lunch we stopped by a hanging bridge. It's made up of a bamboo, well not all but the stuff we are stepping at are bamboo and it looked like very old already so i didn't cross it. I can't stand being in a high place and the bridge is swinging because of all the people on it.
Josh on the other hand liked it. Look no hands!
This is Loboc river, they said that normally the water is clean and clear. But when we visited it just been raining so hard so the water is diluted with mud.
We had a lunch in one of the many floating restaurant. An acoustic singer serenade us as we cruise the river. The food is not that good but a relaxing cruise was nice.
The raft of the restaurant was just being pushed by a small motored boat.
Then ate the end of the cruise a group of ukulele players gave us an energetic song and dance number.
The kids are dancing.
A little further from our last stop are series of small waterfalls.
After lunch we visited a small zoo, which its main attraction is the longest and largest phython in captivity here in the Philippines. A local caught it 7 years ago and take cared of it so it grew this big. I forgot the exact figure but it's really huge!!!
Then we also stopped by an old church. The Baclayon Church
There was wedding going to be held that afternoon so aisle is decatated with flowers. The wedding color was bright pink and yellow. So looking at the wedding party looks so bright at high noon, or i think even at night.
The old convent.
Then we had a short stop at the shrine of Miguel Lopez de Legaszpi (a spanish explorer) and Datu Sikatuna (a chieftain in bohol). They said that they have their blood compact here for a good friendship between Filipinos and Spanish. Well that blood compact didn't go that well because for 300 years Philippines was oppressed by some cruel spanish leaders. But one good thing that Spanish has brought to the Philippines was Christianity, well most Filipinos are Roman Catholics and some traditions are still here but at least it made the country very open to evangelization. 
We finished our tour at around 2:00 pm and our boat leaves at 6:00 PM so we decided to just go to a mall and watched a movie. So our tour guide dropped us to a new mall near the Pier. The tour was really fun and very cheap! When i made an arrangement with the tour agency what i understood was it will be P2200 per head. So when Im about to pay the tour guide he said that we need to pay P2200. I was surprised and even confirmed it by asking "2200 for the two of us? " It was really a good deal because in our hotel the same tour will cost 4000 per head. We were so happy that we gave the tour guide a big tip!
So that ends our Trip to Bohol.
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