Bohol

My driver dropped me off at the end of a dirt road and assured me that only motorbikes could traverse it. So I strapped on my pack and started to walk the 800 meters to my destination. 

Accomadation included free step fit class every morning!

I made it to Nuts Huts a place I was recommended and with a nice central location on Bohol and in the middle of the jungle. A real laid back place with bamboo huts and lots of mosquitos..

The place was right next to the Loboc river and with steep mountains on each side. Floating restaurants and boats would come sailing past playing music and wawing. 

If you have sharp eyes you can spot a wire going across the gorge, which will be important later.. 

As the rest of Bohol, this place was clearly marked by the earthquake last year. 

But that didn't stop it from being a really nice place with great food and a real backpacker atmosphere. When I arrived I met Robert a 53 year old Australian who had been backpacking for 33 years... And I learned that I was in fact not a backpacker but a so called flashpacker, someone who spends more money in 3 months on traveling than he would do in 14 months.. You got to respect the seniority and the experience but even Robert admitted that he was a dinosaur these days..

But that didn't stop us from spending some time together visiting the main attractions of Bohol interior. 

Next morning it was up early to go visit the so called chocolate hills. An area of limestone sea bed, where the water has eroded away the softer stone creating a range of nicely rounded hills, that in the fall will turn brown as the vegetation withers. At this time of the year they are more like the lime hills as everything was quite green and fresh. Jumped on a local bus there, which is always funny as people will talk to you and wants to hear about your experiences in the Philipines. In addition they are always helpfull in making sure you get off at the right stop. 

The whole thing is not really that spectacular, but as long as you keep your expectations in check it is a nice experience. On the way back we jumped of at an eco action park close to the nuts huts, which featured a 500 m zip line across the gorge! 

After this thrill ride it was time to kick back on the Nuts Huts porch, sip some mangoshake and pet the house cat Ice

  

Had a dinner conversation with a spanish guy who just quit his banking job in Hong Kong because he found they didn't know how to live their life there. A good talk and I got some hiking tips for Australia. The food at Nuts Huts was particularly good, serving you freshly baked steaming hot buns with butter for breakfast and delicious variants of pancakes for dessert

 

Home made pancakes, rhum raisins and icecream..Mmmm

On my way back to Tagbilaran and the ferry to Cebu island I stopped by the other major attraction of Bohol, the Tarsiers. 

Tiny little fragile primates that commit suicide in captivity because of stress and handling by humans. In the santuary I visited they live in the wild and every morning the keepers have to go out and spot their daytime resting places so the tourists can have a discrete photograph. 

The living embodiment of the expression "Too cute to live!"

Right now the plan for the remaining time here in the Philipines revolves around diving with Tresher sharks and manta rays on Malapascua island and then going all the way up north of Manila to see the rice terrases there before I fly to Melbourne on April 24th. But as with all plans..