Bohol, Philippines

Our holidays in the Philippines started off a bit rough with our red eye flight to Cebu, Philippines but ended with fabulous upgrade to first class. Since we had to work on Christmas Eve we were left with no chose but to take a red eye flight to Cebu and then wait at the Cebu ferry terminal for several hours till they opened at 5:30am. Unsure as to when the ferry boats would be disembarking for Bohol we patiently/grumpily waited it out till the desks started to open. Upon opening, we were fortunately with everyone’s collaborative effort, able to get on the first ferry boat to Bohol. This wasn’t our ideal ferry boat since it was going to the north part of the island but it was nevertheless a boat that could get us to where we wanted to go. After our peaceful nap on the boat ride over we hopped in a van with a few other fellow travelers and proceeded to drive across the whole island till we finally arrived at Alona Beach where we spent the remaining vacation days relaxing and soaking up the sun.
Aside from the long and exhausting adventure to Bohol, our Christmas Day was nearly perfect. We quickly changed into our swimsuits, grabbed some lunch and then nestled ourselves on the beach where we exchanged our secret stockings and napped. We/ Alison, Gordon, and Colleen spent their Christma night enjoying a Philippine Christmas buffet dinner on the beach and then drinks and music at the Spiked Coconut Bar. I on the other hand, came down with the stomach flew and spent my Christmas night in my room. This wasn’t ideal but luckily it past quickly and the remainder of the trip was perfect.
I spent most of my mornings/afternoons scuba diving which I loved and am so happy I was able to do. I got to see a wide variety of fish and coral; some of my favorites were the sea turtles, a cuttlefish, and nemos protecting their sea enemies. Nemos are very protective of their sea enemies and if you get to close they will swim towards you and try to attack you, very funny when it happens. The rest of the gang staked out their spot on the beach where they relaxed; reading, napping and snorkeling. I would generally join them after my morning of scuba diving.
To break up the week we spent one day exploring Bohol’s famous tourist attractions. We first stopped at a tarsier sanctuary where we saw about four different tarsiers. They are the cutest little nocturnal primates. Tarsiers have really small bodies, big round eyes and a long rat’s tail. Next, we visited the famous Chocolate Hills where we had to hike up some near 200 steps to get a peripheral view of the hills. Boy, were we exhausted from those steps, it was the most exercise we had since arriving on the island. The hills were beautiful and although they were greener then brown, I can imagine they are even more beautiful when the leaves are all changed to their chocolate brown color. We ended our day stopping at the famous Baclayon Catholic Church. I wish I could explain why it is famous but to be honest I am not sure. Nevertheless it was beautiful inside and I’m glad we stopped to visit it.
We ended our vacation welcoming the New Year on the beach. We had a lovely New Years Eve dinner, the food was amazing, and then watched the fireworks on the beach. For our last day we spent it relaxing on the beach, had a lovely Thai dinner and then played our last rounds of spades (we played spades nearly every night, it was great). Up early to catch a ferry boat back to Cebu; we were sad to say good bye but yet delighted when Philippine Airlines told us we were going to be bumped up to first class. Riding first class back to Seoul was the cherry on top of a perfect holiday vacation. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!