Bohol Vacation 2008

I am back home but need time to get re-acquainted with my own bed and everything else. Here’s a very delayed Post number One for our Bohol Getaway (written in bursts throughout the trip and last updated on Tuesday morning!)…

Yebah Yebah Panglao Island! Insert fits of laughter here. 🙂

I have been meaning to blog since a few hours of touchdown in lovely Bohol, but vacationing got in the way. I am still determined to post though, otherwise I’d forget the things I wanted to say, or I’ll be forced to condense everything in one long boring post.

It’s Day 3 and we’re already checked in to a De Luxe room at Dumaluan Beach Resort. It’s nothing fancy really, but it is next door to the more popular Bohol Beach Club. It’s in a price range that we’re willing to spend for. The guests before us just checked out though so they’re still cleaning out our bathroom. We were surprised that, even during non-peak season, and on a weekday, the resort has a lot of guests. We’re out here looking out at the beach, having a beer and hoping that Internet access will be restored sometime soon. As in real soon. 🙂

It’s not a very sunny day, but we’re hoping for at least weather like yesterday’s. You can hear the surf crashing on the shore but there’s no one swimming in the beach right in front of Dumaluan. In an hour or two, or maybe in the afternoon, we’ll take a dip and brave the waves ourselves. They have a lovely pool here too, always a plus in my book.

We haven’t taken any pictures of our new room, nor of the beach, we haven’t warmed up I guess. We plan on taking a walk up and down the beach first, and then start snapping away then.

Here’s the first installment of the story of our Bohol Vacay 2008…

Sunday, September 7

We’ve been shacked up in a place with Wi-Fi Internet access but we didn’t take advantage of it, like we thought we would. Maybe it’s the fact that access is limited to the lobby area of the B&B, or that we’ve been sleeping as soon as the sun sets. Nevertheless, I didn’t shake and shiver from being away from the Internet for an extended period. Haha.

Even on the first day we were here, Sunday, and all we’ve really seen was the airport, our hotel room, and Island City Mall, I felt like we already had a lot of fun.

We’re like that you see, Alfred and I, we can find fun in most things. 🙂

Be sure to read more after the jump!



As soon as Mom and Dad dropped us off at NAIA T3, there was a sense of adventure. T3 has only been operational in the past month and so it’s my first time there, ‘course I had to ask around. Alfred’s a bit shy when it comes to things like that, he’s too afraid to say anything stupid. Haha.

I’ve been kidding Alfred about picture moments in the airport and I insisted on snapping a couple. Here’s one of him while we were on queue to check in and one of me, er my Envirosax, which we had decided just then to use for the laptop. We initially planned for me to just lug the laptop around snug in it’s sleeve but it was a bit tiring to hold it that way while waiting in line.

I didn’t get to take a photo of us while waiting to board the flight because there wasn’t any chance really. We sat down and had some breakfast, and then all of a sudden boarding was called. And there I was thinking it was still too early! I did manage to take a snap of the plane:

Soon as we were on board (no window seats for us, darn!), Alfred kept himself busy with all sorts of things. I could tell he didn’t know whether to be excited or nervous of his first take off

In true Cebu Pacific tradition, there was an on-board game. This time, they would read lines from a movie and the winner would be the first one to correctly identify what movie that was from. Of course we had to join in, this is what we won for identifying “With great power comes great responsibility”:

We had one another bag tag on our flight home. This time for the famous Forrest Gump line.

Cebu Pacific also sells souvenir items on board, including this cute tote, for only 50 pesos. Of course I got one. It would be a good bag for the goodies we’ll be bringing home. Plus it’s another reusable tote I can carry around. (And we did use it for the shirts we bought for pasalubong!)

It was a smooth flight and the kids on board didn’t make much fuss. Alfred showed me a neat trick to let the pain in my ears go away – a diving trick to equalize pressure. I don’t know why I never thought of doing that before. Instant relief!

After settling in at the hotel and having an early lunch, we decided to shop for some essentials at the nearby Island City Mall. I had also been wanting to have a haircut and thought this would be a good time.

ICM is a three-level mall, with the Supermarket and Food Court at the ground level. The Department Store area is just like what you’d expect in an SM, though the brands may be different. There are a lot of cellphone shops too.

We were done with our mall business in just a couple of hours and didn’t know what else to do since we weren’t yet hungry. We headed back to the hotel with intentions to go out again – but it didn’t happen. We just watched TV and then slept. We’ve been catching up on sleep!

Just this morning (Tuesday morning, that is), after wasting another night (on sleep, so it wasn’t really wasted), we cursed hi-speed Internet for keeping us from our beds back home when we should be sleeping after a day’s work. I guess it was a blessing that though we had Alfred’s trusty laptop here with us, Internet access is limited. If we actually were able to connect inside our room, I betcha we’d have fought already – over computer time!

We are totally happy with the decision to stay at Dao Diamond Bed & Breakfast in Tagbilaran City. It was an easy decision for me because I didn’t want to spend too much on this trip. Aside from being very reasonably priced, spending your money on Dao means you’re also helping a local NGO for the deaf.

The hotel actually employs the deaf, and we all know how hard it is in this country to find gainful employment for the differently abled members of the populace. So you don’t even have to look beyond the hotel to see the good they’re doing. The service isn’t bad either, and the staff always welcome with you with a smile. The food isn’t anything special but it is very near ICM so you can eat there, or look for fancier restaurants/hotels for your dining pleasure if you want.

So for those who want to reach out but don’t know how to; also for people who are not comfortable with outright donation, or those who have no time for volunteer work. Travel to Bohol and check in at Dao Diamond. At least you’re not shelling out anything extra and you’re sure your money will go to something worthwhile. I’ll be posting pictures of Dao Diamond in the next several days.

Check out their website for more information: http://www.daodiamond.com/

I’ll be catching up on mail and some other stuff. I’ll be back to regular blog hopping tomorrow though. And you can bet there’ll be more Bohol posts with more interesting pictures! 🙂 Thanks for your time!