touring bohol by public transportation

Most people that I know of went around Bohol with package tours. These tours which go to a lot of places include a private vehicle, a driver, maybe a tour guide and some food. But because it was just my friend Kirstie and I, availing of a package tour would be quite expensive. Add to that the fact that we didn’t have any concrete plans when we started the trip. It would have been nice to join a shared tour which would allow us to just show up in the afternoon and go the next morning, but we couldn’t find any organizer who offered that kind of thing. (Dear Reader, if you are aware of anything like that, please let me know.)

And so we went with our only option, that is to stay in Tagbilaran and not do anything… just kidding. We took the bus, made a few mistakes, and had fun with our little adventure.

Chocolate Hills

The famous viewpoint is located just outside the town of Carmen. And there are a lot of buses that ply this route from Tagbilaran. We reached the bus terminal at 6 in the morning and our tricycle driver dropped us behind the lone minibus at the stand. The conductor confirmed that it is going to Carmen. We boarded the bus and were quite pleased that it left after just a few minutes.

It was a sluggish drive. Because it was a school day, a lot of students were going in and out of the bus. The trip from Tagbilaran to Carmen is supposed to take just 2 hours. More than an hour later, I could still see the coast to the west and realized we were taking a different route. A longer route. A much longer one. It had been more than two hours when the bus finally stopped and all the passengers alighted, except for the two us. We were in a different town. Had we bothered looking at the signboard, we would have seen that the bus is going via Tubigon which I knew was way away from Carmen. And we could have walked a few hundred steps to the nearby Bachelor Express bus terminal in Tagbilaran which has a lot of direct trips.

It took us almost four hours to reach Carmen. But one of the two good things about it was that we were able to get a glimpse of the hills in Sagbayan. (The other one was the McDonalds breakfast in Tubigon.) Some people say that the views from Sagbayan Peak rival that of Carmen. And from a moving vehicle, we were quite amazed with what we saw. Had we not known about those ludicrous monuments in the viewpoint, we would have gone to the hills. But instead of enjoying the view, we would be spending our time bashing and laughing at those stuff. So it was a pass.

Coming from Tubigon, the bus does not pass by the junction to the Carmen viewpoint. We had to rent a tricycle from the town center for a hundred pesos to take us there. We could have just taken another bus and walk up or take a habal-habal from the junction. But the bus might not leave sooner. And I’m not really a fan of habal-habal when it has to climb a steep road.

The scenery was indeed stunning and it more than made up for the four-hour journey. But the viewpoint was still in ruins (remember the 2013 earthquake?), and the marker explaining the geological history of the hills was left lying aside. There didn’t seem to be any reconstruction, only a warning sign telling visitors not to go beyond a certain point.

Before leaving, we treated ourselves with a frozen drink called Chocobao, which is mango-flavored milk. From its name, I’m assuming it is carabao’s milk but wondering where the chocolate is. The drink is heavenly (yes I am saying you must have some of it if you go to Bohol) I could drink it all day. I wished I had bought a lot more.

We walked on our way down. It wasn’t that far. Just bring an umbrella if you don’t like the sun.

Tarsier Conservation in Loboc

It didn’t take long before a bus going to Tagbilaran passed by. It was supposed to drop us by the entrance to the Tarsier Conservation but the conductor must have forgotten, even if we reminded him a few times. Thankfully, we were already smart about watching out for signs.

A fee of 60 pesos is collected from every visitor. They only allow a certain number of people inside at a time so if there are a lot of visitors, you would have to wait for your turn. There wasn’t that much when we were there so we only waited a few minutes.

There aren't that many tarsiers in the sanctuary and only five could be seen that day. Most of them are in hiding. A lot more could be found in a sanctuary in the town of Corella which we didn’t go to because it was a little more complicated to get there.

Tarsiers are nocturnal animals. They are very delicate and disturbing them would stress them out. Hence perimeter lines are tied on trees, enough to keep people from getting too close to them. People, but not their cameras. It was irking to see people poking their smartphones on tarsier’s faces, thanks to their monopods. There were a number of staff members in the area but it seemed like their only job was to tell you that there is a tarsier on that tree (which isn’t exactly necessary because the place is too small they’re just a few steps away) and it’s up to you to do whatever you want.

One incredible thing about the tarsier is that it can turn its head 180°. Perhaps to show this trait, one of the workers shook a nearby tree with a branch adjacent to the tree where a tarsier was. Or maybe because the tarsier clinging to it was facing away and people wanted to take a picture of its face. Whichever it is, the tarsier turned its head and it was quite fascinating and eerie at the same time. But it still didn’t seem right. So much for raising awareness.

But they’re improving, albeit slow. When Kirstie was there six years ago, she told me they were even allowed to touch the tarsier! With the rate of improvement they’re going, maybe they’d be able to convey awareness to people properly just when the tarsiers are close to getting extinct. (I certainly hope they don’t get extinct, not in the near future. Because we’re all going to get extinct.)

So if you’re planning to visit the tarsier conservation, make sure to act suitably. Be quiet. Do not disturb them. Keep your (and your camera’s) distance. You’re not getting that photo published anyway. There are already a lot of close-up photos of tarsiers. If you want one, there is Google. And your friends would rather see them for real. Just admire the tarsiers from a distance.

Loboc River Cruise

With the pier where the cruise takes off just at the center of Loboc, it was easy to reach by bus from the conservation. We could have walked from where the bus dropped us but it was too hot and we were already famished. A guy with a motorcycle offered to take us there but his ride was small so we looked for one more. The lady at a nearby store decided to take one of us. We paid only 10 pesos each.

The lady insisted that she help us get tickets so we could get into a boat fast. We paid the standard 500 peso fee and not a couple of minutes of waiting our number was called. Maybe she did help us get in front of the queue. Or maybe it was easy to squeeze in two people into a boat that’s ready to leave. Whichever, we were glad we could eat sooner than we expected.

I don’t know about the others but our boat seemed crammed with all the tables and chairs surrounding a centerpiece where the unlimited food was served. The food wasn’t remarkable but it didn’t stop me from refilling my plate twice. While eating and cruising, we were entertained with songs and maybe dances but I couldn’t be sure because I was there to just eat and take in the serene beauty of the river.

Our boat made a stop in front of a platform where older people performed traditional dances and sang Bohol-anon songs. We were seated with a local tour guide and she told us that during the weekend, schoolkids do the performance for the visitors and the money they earn help their schooling.

Another kind-of attraction during the cruise were kids (and some adults) swinging on a rope and splashing into the river. They did that every time a boat passed by. A zip line also crosses the river and once in a while, a whirring sound and a person zipping past could be seen and heard.

The cruise ends at a tiny waterfall, goes back to the pier and lets people off at the same place.

Baclayon Church

Upon the suggestion of the same lady, we took a multi-cab to get to Baclayon. The thing about multi-cabs is that it would wait until there are enough passengers. But since Baclayon was our last destination, we weren’t in a hurry.

The same as the Loboc Church (which was just across the street from where we get off the bus in Loboc) and all the other churches we saw on the way to and from Carmen, Baclayon was also heavily destroyed by the earthquake two years ago. And it is still in the process of being rebuilt. The adjacent museum was open, though we didn’t get in.

Remember those markers you see in every church you visit where its short history is engraved? I remember them being filled with the year they were first built, years they were destroyed either by an earthquake or fire, and when the current stature of the church was constructed. 2013 would surely be marked on the markers of those churches.

Another multi-cab took us back to Tagbilaran. We could have stopped by the Blood Compact Shrine, which was also just along the highway, but we opted out feeling already tired.

That’s the downside of commuting. It’s less comfortable and you’ll be more tired at the end of the day. But it’s more challenging (which adds to the fun) and a lot cheaper than package tours when done right. It wasn’t my friend’s way of travelling but I never heard her complain. In fact, she was proud of herself for what we did.

Some may say that our destinations were limited by the bus route. And we’d only been to very few compared to the number of places we could visit in a day if we took a tour. Maybe. But those were the only places where we really wanted to go to, and it was enough.

So if you want to go to Bohol and thinking of doing it on your own, go ahead. It’s fun, if you have patience and humor, and it’s rewarding.