Reliable Contact Persons and Tourist Spots Around (Panglao, Alona, Tagbilaran, Balicasag Island) Bohol

For Boats and Tour Guides WITHIN Balicasag Island,
contact Elmer or Rey at 63.921.630.3325

For A Reliable and Safe Bohol Tourist Guide,
contact Mang Roger at 63.920.405.4883

Read on for some of the Tourist Spots you should not miss in Bohol!! Ü

- ATV (All Terrain Vehicle). This could be found at the base of Chocolate Hills. Ask Mr. Roger, or your driver, to bring you there. Locals know that place because tourists makes sure they go drop by there because it is the best way to appreciate the beauty of Chocolate Hills. It's usually P750/hr but try to haggle most especially when you are a group (we were 6 people that time, we were able to haggle for P600/hr).

- Chocolate Hills. A Bohol Tour would be incomplete without visiting this majestic place and getting a background pic of this wonderful view. When we were there last Feb 2009, the hills were still green because it was rainy then. I bet this summer they have already turned brown in color for the leaves have went dry because of the scorching heat of the sun!

- Baclayon Church. This is more than a century old church. If you're fond of sort of creepy but historical old churches, then this site is for you. =) There are some areas, though, that you're not allowed to take pictures. But you will see a lot of statues of saints and Catholic idols displayed that are centuries old too!

- Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary. Awww! One of the most memorable place to go to in Bohol! These tiny little creatures that lay motionless when placed on your head or arm. They display this kind of tranquility that you would rarely see from anyone most especially when living at a fast paced society. These mammals are nocturnals that are awake at night and lie sleeping in the morning. Please do not use flash when capturing their pictures 'cos they get surprised, traumatized, and freaked out! Capiche?

- Prony the Python. Not to miss! Most especially its gay handler, Prona! Hahaha. By the way, this python could eat a whole live pig, I suppose it could eat a whole human being too. But because it was sleeping when we got there, we were able to take a pic and hold its cold-blooded flesh too.

- Loboc River Cruise. Well, Yang Tze River is longer and better, of course, but you still shouldn't miss eating, listening to great guys serenading you while eating lunch or dinner, while cruising this clean smelling, fresh looking river. And oh! At night, it just couldn't get any better! The lights, the ambience of romance... Some men could actually propose here, I must say. Just make sure you won't drop the ring on the river! =)

- Man Made Forest. These are thin Mahogany trees planted neatly close from each other. They were supposed to be thick trees, but because of the distance of one seed from the other, instead of the trees growing horizontally, they grew vertically with its unusual height!

- Dolphin Watching. A must. These are another majestic view that no one should ever miss. You should be there at about 5 to 5:30AM. If you would leave the beach at 6AM, you wouldn't see a lot.

- Snorkeling at Balicasag Island. One of the things I would not forget my entire life. The 1000 meter drop, the clown fishes, the feeding of fishes with unsalted bread, the sort of wavy waters, the scary sea urchins, the colourful sea bed with all the many different species swimming and living in it, the scorching heat of the sun, the tiny boat the 6 of us riding, the friendly fishermen / tourist guides, and of course... the tan lines. Hee hee.

- Virgin Island. The white pure sand, the 2.5km sand bar, the wonderful scenery, the salty smell of the sea, and the nice cheap pearls that could be bought about P500 to P1,000 a set!

Best Cheap Transient Hotels and Pensions Houses in Panglao, Bohol

OMG! Such a wonderful place! =)

Let me guide you to the Best Hotels and Bed and Breakfasts in Bohol.

Here are some of the recommended Cheap Hotels and Pension Houses in Bohol that I myself had gone to (and maybe will return to sometime soon!): =)

Paragayo Resort = http://www.panglaoisland.net/paragayoresort/
Situated along the main road of Panglao island, Paragayo Resort boasts their affordable, clean, and hygienic rooms. It may not be a beach front hotel but it's only about 3 minutes leisurely walk going to the Alona beach. Powder Keg is just a few meters from the resort, which specializes in authentic Italian Pizza.

Room = Clean! 5 Stars
Toilet and Bath = Very Clean Also! 5 Stars
Aircon = Working and Cold! 4 Stars (there's just this buzzing tone at night. Not sure if everyone would appreciate it)
Water = Sort of Salty! 3 Stars (hey, you're near the beach! what would you expect?! =p )
Sheets = You will have to request for it to be changed before they do. 3 Stars
Customer Service = Great! 4 1/2 Stars (the ladies there were very friendly. Although I suppose they could still improve their English? But they are good enough, understandable Ü)


Isis Bungalows = http://www.isisbungalows.com/en/index.html
Just right in the beach front, Isis Bungalows boasts of its bungalows (or rooms) that are painted in clean white combined with its crystal blue curtains. Not to mention that they serve delicious and chili curry and great cocktail drinks as well! (like Sex on the Beach, Tequila Sunrise, Shirley Temple, Mindoro Sling, etc.)

Room = Affordable Luxury. 5 Stars!
Toilet and Bath = 5 girls can fit in lying down! Always Clean! 5 Stars!
Aircon = Still has this humming sound at night. 4 Stars.
Water = Less salty. 4 Stars!
Customer Service = Great! 4 1/2! =) (there were just some gaps, but they're nice!)


For A Reliable and Safe Bohol Tourist Guide,
contact Mang (Mister) Roger at 63.920.405.4883
- He knows the whole of Bohol and Panglao Island
- He knows how to speak English
- He has a couple of vehicles like vans, cars, and boats. You can request for any of those depending on your requirement
- He could give you discounted tour rates

Widdles, Tweedles, and Meedles 05/04/09

Last Saturday, Y and I went to the doctor to get him checked-up and all that. I had come into a conclusion that we should be at the doctor's clinic two hours before it opens so that we could be the first few patients on the line. We were fifth among the 15 patients last Saturday and I was so elated to know that we'll finish early.

While we were waiting for the doctor to arrive, I managed to take note of the questions that swifted my thoughts in passing. We were already in the clinic and Y was playing with an eyeglassed-kid, so there was nothing for me to worry. 'Sides, he's already in the stage that I don't really need to always be after him cos he can manage most of the time.

He's growing up so fast. On a pace I myself couldn't keep up.

I was able to write about 2 pages of questions and verifications and follow-up queries for the doctor. Experience has taught me that Y's doctor, Dra. Pamela Caedo, is very spontaneous. She does her sessions in a flash. Like about 5-7 minutes and she's done! Thus, me writing all my queries so as not to waste my time thinking, recalling my questions nor her time as well.

Here's what I have found out (some of which I have already put into actions):
- By the age of 3, Y needs to get his eyes checked up (he's almost 3 so I'm going to get his eyes check-up by next week)
- He could join swimming classes (Will enroll him at Bert Lozada Swimming School by May!! =) --- or June) -- visit www.bertlozadaswimschool.com; They are offering this 10 sessions/30-minute per session course for only P4,000.00! I'm working out my sched on May so that I could bring Y to the office and after work, we could go to his swimming lessons at Somerset Salcedo Makati. Aye! Ü
- He needs to get boosters for his shots
- He's been advised to take Cherifer as his vitamins (Done!)
- It's OK for him to fly to Palawan
- It's advisable for him to go to school rather than staying at home and watching TV
- He needs to be de-wormed once a year, whether or not there is a symptom (Done!)

After we went to the doctor, B met us at the Festival Mall. We ate at Super Bowl and enjoyed their offer of P159.00 for a whole feast of dimsum and dumplings, which composed of siomai, siopao, shrimp dumplings (these were yum!), and fried vegetable lumpia. We also ordered Lechon Macau and a platter-full of Yang Chow rice. They were all YUM! ~~~ And of course, this time, we didn't miss ordering Super Bowl's Taho... It's a Filipino favorite (and maybe Chinese too, not sure tho), made of soft tofu gushed with brown sugary syrup topped with tiny tapioca balls. It's like all Filipinos have went through buying, touching, tasting, and enjoying Taho when they were young! The most enjoyable part of that Taho session was when we were scooping out the jiggling soft, white tofu out of the stainless steel container, then placing it on our little ceramic dessert bowls, then putting about 3 spoonfuls of those sweet, sugary syrup and finally topping it with those glass-like tapioca balls.

Ah! That was a moment to remember.

Willy-Nillies 30/03/09

You know the expression "one jujube at a time"? It's got a whole new meaning to me now. You see, it's been a while since I've been regularly attending church service. Not that I am a goody-two-shoes church girl or anything. It's just that there were other things that I was prioritizing then that I forgot that I also needed to feed my spiritual self too. So, there I go, for more than a month now, that I am (as much as I could) attending church for the sake of doing so.

When I started attending church again for the first time this year, all the faces I have seen were new. I haven't recognized any old-timer or something. Like as if all of them has went on with their lives alongside with them leaving the church as well. I felt peculiar, moreso, alienated. But what could I do? I told myself that I only have about 1 1/2 to 2 hours of time to spend every Sunday and I was just there for the preaching so what the heck, right? So there I went, Sunday after Sunday. It was a more-than-willing decision for me to go to that church, sit at the very last row, stretch my neck so that I could see the Pastor, and just feel like a ghostly visitor. Up until now, I actually don't know why am I keeping myself sort of distant to everyone else. Like Sunday for me is my anti-social day. No people. No greetings. No anything.

And it felt like I was one with myself (well, sorta). Like the whole time I was alone and was paying attention to the preacher, I was also observing the people that were around me and how they act, react, and all that. Sunday for me, though I'm alone, was a fun experience.

There would be also some times that I bring Yosh along. He's really a jolly, bouncing kid and has that unwavering energy that keeps up with any kid his age or even older than him. The joy that he has is very contagious. That sorts of haunts me (in a good way). And his smile is pasted my head until I don't know when. Kids do have a charming way of keeping their parent's heart without over-reacting nor demanding. And yes, seeing him at church is a very refreshing way to start my week. Even if I had to bring him along with me, feed him, keep up with his energy, and entertain him ---- whenever I spend time with him, I feel like I won a million bucks... everytime! Haha. I sometimes wish those feelings would readily turn out as real money too! Hehe.

Anyhow, I used to think that Yosh is a late speaker, and indeed he was. It was only about a month ago that he knew how to express himself in about two to three words (at most). Like, "Penge Pee-Po" (May I ask for a change?), or "Mommy Poo Poo", or "Tita Asan?" (Where's Auntie). However, it's amazing that he has this heart in him that really wants to communicate. That which wants to connect and be understood. He doesn't do a lot of blabbering anymore. He could name Sponge Bob, Batman, and Spiderman with his baby-ish enunciation 'cos he couldn't pronounce the names very well yet. It's more like my housemates and I just need a little getting used to the words he is speaking and we could talk to him already.

Awww... I'm going to reminisce these days that Y is still a baby... A toddler... A little boy. =)

A Writer I Am Not --- Just Yet

For the past few weeks, I have been trying to write essays and all that. For something... It was not easy, really. I have realised that I settled to expressing myself in simple words and plain statements. The love for words and the love for expressing myself with total surrender had come to a halt without my knowledge. I have written a 750-word essay for about three days (with intervals of long hours in between). Which is frustrating. Playing with words, using them in different situations, discovering a new meaning and use to it, whilst intentionally impressing other people was a part of myself before. I was trying to learn. I was, at the very least, trying. And that self was long gone without me realising it. Too much buried in work I suppose and maybe I just settled for something more convenient, which is auto-thinking. Automatically unthinking. Guess this started when I thought I do so well with my work that I have lesser and lesser grammatical errors on the sentences I type over and over again, and all I had to do was to type without giving too much regard. The sentences I need to send out to our customers need not be too articulate nor expressive anyway.

It was lethal.

Even the small taps of my fingers on my keyboard sometimes distracts me of my foregoing thought about a topic or a sentence that I was about to write. But it's impossible for me to type without a sound, as it is the same to everyone, isn't it? Nevertheless, I was given two options. To proceed or not to proceed with this another painful learning point of my life. To learn or to settle. To grow or to be stunted. In any case, we both know what I would choose.

After I have dealt with myself and my personal concerns of why human act like human, I am now on another phase of my life where this time... It's me re-evaluating how far I have come when it comes to my knowledge of expressing myself.

It not gonna be an easy journey, and most probably just like the others, this will be a lifetime process.


I wrote this post in about an hour.


Another blow of frustration.


Why don't I start pulling up my MS Word again?

I CHOOSE TO BE BETTER (A Story Worth Sharing)

I'd like to share this to all of you. We sometimes need someone or something to remind us that life could be lived easier that we thought...

We just need to make the right choices.



READ THIS , LET IT REALLY SINK IN - THEN CHOOSE ..

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, 'If I were any better, I would be twins!'

He was a natural motivator.

If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, 'I don't get it!

You can't be a positive person all of the time How do you do it?'

He replied, 'Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood

I choose to be in a good mood.'

Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.

Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

'Yeah, right, it's not that easy,' I protested.

'Yes, it is,' he said. 'Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood.

You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life.'

I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident.

When I asked him how he was, he replied, 'If I were any better, I'd be twins..Wanna see my scars?'

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

'The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,' he replied. 'Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live.'

'Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness? ' I asked

He continued, '..the paramedics were great.

They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action.'

'What did you do?' I asked.

'Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,' said John. 'She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity''

Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything .

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.' Matthew 6:34.

After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.


You have two choices now:

01. Delete this

02. Forward it to the people you care about.

You know the choice I made.

Prepare for Earth Hour (March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm)

For Quite Some Time I Have Been Doing These Earth-Saving Things Without My Knowledge:

- Not using the electricity too much. Not too much light at night. No lampshades, no turned on lights while sleeping.
- Not having a washing machine, microwave oven, air-con
- Not buying a car and choosing to either carpool or take public transport
- Not throwing garbage just any where
- Not destroying the beaches by leaving my rubbish garbages there. Bringing with me whatever I had brought with me
- Choosing energy efficient appliances and light bulbs
- Keeping my toilet napkin and tissue-free
- Giving unwanted clothes to charities
- Using some of these unwanted clothes as rags or wearing these clothes at home to an extent that it's almost rag-like (hehe)
- Using water used for shower as a toilet flush
- Re-using my pair of pants (seriously!)
- Re-using papers, avoiding unnecessary printing, using both sides of the paper when printing
- Preferring paper cups over plastic cups


On 28 March 2009, just like what I did last year. For an hour, I have turned off all my electricity and savored the time that I was contributing to a world-wide cause. 15 days from now, I shall wholeheartedly do the same.

Yes, I am an activist for a world-wide cause. A part of World Wide Fund organisation that hoping to save lives of species that contributes to the balance of our ecosystem, and eventually, hoping to save the lives of millions of people that live with it as well.

There would be about 80 years that Y left on this earth and I would like to leave him a world that is still wonderfully and magnificently live-able.

Asbestos Related Treatment

A diagnosis and treatment of mesothelioma is always difficult, whether it is pleural mesothelioma or another variety. Because this is such an aggressive and stubborn form of cancer, patients and their families may have a difficult time addressing the issue of treatment, but because options for mesothelioma patients are steadily increasing, the discussion of treatment is quite important, even if all hope seems lost.

Each mesothelioma case is considered individually and there is no right or wrong treatment for the disease. What's best for you or your loved one will depend on a number of factors. Diagnostic tools such as x-rays, MRIs, CT scans, and biopsies will be used to determine these factors and these tests will assist the doctor and/or oncologist in determining the best treatment for the patient in question.

Surgery can be performed on mesothelioma patients for one of two reasons: in an attempt to cure the disease or for palliative reasons in order to keep the patient more comfortable and improve the quality of life. Unfortunately, because mesothelioma is almost always diagnosed in its late stages, curative surgery is not usually an option.

Following the backlash of asbestos-related exposures and illnesses, many people were wondering how scientific research was going to proceed. The response has been encouraging, with cancer specialists and other doctors working each day towards a cure for malignant mesothelioma. While a way to completely eliminate the cancer from the body does not presently exist, there are several successful mesothelioma treatment programs as well as clinical trials that are working towards developing a way to eliminate this unfortunate form of cancer.