Dream Native Resort, Bohol

April 19, 2012 by 3 Comments

This was the resort hotel we stayed at in Bohol for 1 night.  My brother booked it for all of us.  It was very price-y in my standards (around P7,000 per night), but since our travel coincided with the peak season, I didn’t mind that at first.

We were served welcome drinks of artificially-flavored juices.   The owner was Italian I think, judging from his books displayed at the reception area:

They have pools inside, a big plus for all of us who love swimming pools!

I had, of course, high expectations for our room.   With such steep room rate, I imagined our room to be big: big walking area (especially since we have a baby with us), big beds and a big bathroom.

I was shocked to find this – for P7,000:

It’s neat, alright, but too “simple” and there’s not much space!   We had an extra bed brought in for Liam’s yaya and with our things and other stuff, we were left with only about 1/3 space to move around.    We thought we have the whole cottage to ourselves when we only have half of it!

I asked my brother if he really reserved for 2 beds in a room and he said he knew he reserved for 2 bedrooms.

Anyway, so we got small space, small beds and small bathroom (not worthy of pictures).   What the hell did we pay for here?  The art towels?

To compensate for the sub-standard room, we maximized the use of the resort’s amenities like the pools and the gym.   We immediately took a dip at their pools (and jacuzzi) after our dinner there (food were so-so and again expensive).

Juvvy, my sis-in-law, decided to step out earlier than the rest of us to put Liam, my nephew, to sleep.   A few minutes later she was with us again because the heater (a regular heater, mind) at the shower wouldn’t work (no hot water was coming out of it).   The minutes spent waiting for the resort’s maintenance guy turned out to be long minutes until he finally came and it took him a really long time to figure everything there at the shower.   At this time, my nephew was now wide-awake and he definitely cannot sleep with all the bangings going on in the bathroom.

I stayed at the pool area the whole time the guy from the resort was trying to fix things.  Then I saw the resort owner’s wife walking near our path, and she didn’t even checked on us! I know it’s impossible that she was not briefed about the problem we’re having with their room’s shower, nor was it possible not to see my brother and AJ talking with the maintenance guy when for the nth time he was walking out of the cottage door to get or check something.

In the end, they took off the heater and we were without hot water for our baths.

We’re so glad when morning finally came and, should I still be surprised, our P7,000 room rate does not include breakfast!  We ordered breakfast for Liam and AJ only, and the rest of us took coffee – nothing else.

To say that we were disappointed was an understatement.    For the price we paid, we deserve much, much more.  Little complementary items like breakfast, soap-and-shampoo in the bathroom and extra pillows would have been very much appreciated.

I won’t recommend this resort at all for budget travelers and families (especially with babies and tots).   The resort’s ambiance, service and amenities are perfect for honeymooners, though, and foreigners who are only after relaxation in Bohol.

Dream Native Resort is located at Dauis, Panglao, Bohol.

 

Filed Under: Travels Tagged With: ,

Exploring Bohol

April 16, 2012 by 2 Comments

We spent only 1 full day and 1 full night in Bohol (not including the travel time to and from Cebu), but still we were able see most of what the island province has to offer.   The secret to doing that is to manage your time properly and to plan your itineraries well.   The latter is very important because most tourist destinations in Bohol are located at different towns so try to maximize your trip by listing down what you really want to see and the activities that you plan to do there.

Below are some of the tourist attractions that we were able to visit:

Tarsiers’ Sanctuary at Corella, Bohol:

The breathtaking Chocolate Hills in Carmen, Bohol.   Our shots were limited at “eye level” angle because we were being charged P200.00 per head (bloody expensive!) for access to the observation deck (which could have given us a 360-degrees view of the whole 1,200+ hills), and we’ll even need to climb up a very long stairway to get to the top.    Anyway, I still love how our pictures turned out.

A beach resort in Panglao, Bohol.  This town has the best beaches ever.

Our Lady of Assumption Shrine in Dauis, Bohol was the only church that we were able to visit.  The well-preserved fresco artworks in the church’s ceiling were really impressive.  All of of these are still in their original form.

The Dauis Church is known for the fresh water that comes from a well which miraculously appeared at the foot of the altar many years ago.   The water is said to have healing powers.   Visitors and patrons of the Church alike can get bottle/s of this “holy water” and need only give a donation to the Church in exchange.

Nova Shell Museum.  Our last stop in Bohol on Day 2 of our trip.   It was a very interesting museum, with a very expansive catalogue of real shells on display.

Of the thousand shell species that I saw, this one was my favorite.  I love the dotted design on the shell – very symmetrical looking.

We also visited the blood compact (“sandugo”) site in Tagbilaran City, Bohol but there were too many tourists around who were, to my horrors, taking inappropriate poses with the statue below (clean photo courtesy of bohol-philippines.com):

Like any other monument, this one must be kept secure and off-limit to tourists.   The tourists (mostly Filipinos) we saw were stepping into the platform itself and were even hugging the statues as part of their photo-ops. Really ghastly!  Calling the local tourism unit at Tagbilaran City!  Please don’t allow visitors to desecrate this monument with mindless (even vulgar) picture poses of themselves with the statues.

Next, I will take you around the resort where we stayed in.   I am actually saving this post for last, because I want to show you first the best parts of our trip hehe.

Meantime, I am off to sleep (work day tomorrow).   I hope you enjoyed this one  =)

 

Filed Under: Travels Tagged With: , , , ,

Bohol Bee Farm

April 13, 2012 by 4 Comments

I’ve read a lot of good feedback about the organic food at Bohol Bee Farm, and nothing much about the “bee farm” itself hehe!    But that’s okey, I don’t think I’ll enjoy the farm tour too because by the time we got there it’s past lunch and we’re hungry so all we could think of was food!

Without much ado, let me show you what we had and my usual satisfaction rating (with 5 being the highest, and 1 the lowest):

Squash Bread – 5/5 .  This was served with pesto and mango dips (not in picture).   The bread was freshly baked with lots of squash seeds!

Pesto Pasta – 2/5.   I actually liked the “mild” pesto flavor of this one and that it’s not too oily but the penne noodles were obviously undercooked, and some are really hard to bite into.

Vegetarian Pizza – 3/5.    This is very Pinoy with okra, patola, sitaw and kangkong as vegetable toppings.   It’s good and I think those who loves okra (that does not include me hehe) will love this “novel” pizza.

Seafood Pizza – 4/5.  Almost perfect but I didn’t like the fish that they put in here.   It was salty and just didn’t blend well with the rest of the seafood toppings (shrimps and squid slices).

Seafood Pasta – 5/5.   Perfect, flavorful, with al dente pasta and comes in generous serving.     Will gladly have this again.

After having our lunch we went around the place for a little sightseeing.

I very much wanted  to buy some of these woven baskets and mats but the shops were closed that day:

There were production greenhouses too but some are in open areas like this one:

Which reminds me, my iced tea was infused with tarragon leaves extract.  It was surprisingly good.  It has a mint-like, refreshing flavor.

Bohol Bee Farm is actually a bed and breakfast hotel, and guests can have free use of the pool inside (which also serves as the breakfast area).

We also checked out their souvenir shop, which is stocked with mostly food products.  These flavored tea bags looked interesting but I found them a bit expensive at P160 per dozen(?) and not a box of tea bags:

There were little corners like one around the bee farm – perfect for reading books or simply to rest and relax:

We were supposed to try the equally famous ice cream there but AJ and I were still feeling full from our lunch (even after walking around) and so we skipped it.  Juvvy, my sis-in-law, got herself one and I think she liked it.  It was gone by the time we left hehe!

We’d love to go back here for an overnight stay at one of their villas or suites.  I actually wished we were booked here instead of the one that my brother was able to get (more on that later).  The food are all interesting too (and affordable, really!), and since it’s not everyday that we get to eat organic (and therefore 100% healthy) food, we went back here the following day for our lunch! (how’s that for a record)

That second feast deserves another post.   We enjoyed our food better the following day (maybe because we knew what to order this time haha!).   And although we chose not to try the flavors of a true Boholano cuisine, the foods at Bohol Bee Farm are more than enough to make our trip memorable. =)

Bohol Bee Farm is located at Dao, Dauis, Panglao Island, Bohol.

http://www.boholbeefarm-panglao.com

 

Filed Under: Food, Travels Tagged With: , , , , ,

Goodnight Cebu, Hello Bohol

April 12, 2012 by 4 Comments

AJ and I chose to have night flight out from Manila to Cebu last Thursday because of the long lenten break and we wanted to avoid the traffic and long line at the airport.    But we not so sure of our plan ourselves, so we still left our home 2 hours before the scheduled 9 pm flight and got at the airport in less than 30 minutes.

There was no traffic or line at all.  The NAIA Terminal 2 looked almost deserted with very few people waiting for their flight.

We traveled light.

I always bring a book with me every time I travel.  For this trip, I brought with me Elin Hilderbrand’s Barefoot, which was so good I was able to finish it in 3 days!    A perfect summer read.

Thankfully, our 9:00 p.m. PAL flight was not delayed and we arrived at my brother’s place in Cebu at around 11 in the evening.   We hit the sack right away.

We woke up early on Friday to get ready for our ferry trip to Bohol.   My darling little nephew, Liam, greeted us in his cute bike:

For our ferry ride to Bohol, my brother booked us seats at Ocean Jet.  It was a peak season for travelers, and the seats he was able to get for all of us were those in the business class section already (the cheaper seats have sold out).   But am still glad he got us the most expensive seats, because the comfort we experienced in this 2-hour ride was so worth it.

Even Liam enjoyed it.

The only downside was that they do not serve food.  They sell chips and instant noodles – that’s all.   No coffee, even.  And while I appreciated the movie they played on-board, it was so boring (and corny haha) so now you know why I was able to finish my book.

Thankfully, the water was so calm that day (and my cellphone too) that AJ and I were able to catch some sleep and re-charge for a busy afternoon that we will have in Bohol.

We arrived at our destination a little after 11:30 a.m.  – time for lunch!

Next stop:  Bohol Bee Farm

 

 

Filed Under: Travels Tagged With: , , , , ,

10 Things I miss about Cebu/Bohol

April 10, 2012 by 4 Comments

Happy Easter, everyone!   I hope you all had a nice and meaningful lenten break last week.

AJ and I got back from Cebu yesterday and it’s only now that we are feeling the exhaustion from all the traveling that we did while in Cebu and Bohol.    So I took a day off from work today to rest and recharge for longer office hours that I will be having starting this week – what with our office anniversary coming up and the preparations we have to make for that.

It’s a good thing AJ and I took this vacation already because I think the next one that we will take will be in December.  It was our first time too to travel with my brother’s family and now we know what it’s like to travel with a kid hehe!   Challenging, but double the fun!   AJ and I were able to play “parents” to Liam too, but Liam finds AJ to be more “kids friendly” so he always chooses to go with him than me hehe.

Now, after only a day of being back in Manila, I am already missing the company of my brother’s family, the places we’ve been to and of course, the food we had.   So before I write in detail our stories and experiences there, allow me to reminisce about the things we are now missing about these places:

1.  Brian’s Ribs at Casa Verde in Cebu (AJ feasted in this on his birthday!)

2.   The powdery white sands and clear blue waters at a resort in Panglao, Bohol:

3.   The 100% organic food at Bohol Bee Farm (I wish I took home a loaf of this squash bread with their winning mango / pesto dips):

4.   Chocolate Hills, also in Bohol.    We’re kinda expecting them to be brown at this time of the year (the green grass they are covered with turns to brown during the dry season, hence the name).

5.   Of course, we could not have missed the tarsiers in Bohol.    The actually look cute when sleeping.

6.   The Taoist Temple in Cebu (lots of picture-perfect temples inside).

7.   The Magellan’s Cross which is still is one of the more popular tourist spots in Cebu.   Visitors in Cebu, first time or not, almost always pass by this when they pray at the Basilica of Sto. Nino, the oldest church in the Philippines.

8.   The Lapu-Lapu Shrine at Mactan, Cebu reminds us time and again of the courageous act of Datu Lapu-Lapu who defeated Ferdinand Magellan in the Battle of Mactan in 1521.

9.  Lovely beach spot at Shangri-La Mactan.

10.   Last, but not the least, I am missing our bonding time with Liam, my nephew, who, at one-and-half year old, is very smart and could easily “copy” what you do.  For the first time too, he called me “Nang” (short for “Ninang” or godmother), which made this trip all the more memorable.

Pardon my weird happy look there.  My nephew finally “allowed” me to carry him,  without any form of bribery performed hehe!

I hope you enjoyed this post.  More stories about Cebu and Bohol to follow!

 

Filed Under: Travels Tagged With: , , ,