Our Fantastic (and yet affordable) Bohol Visit

Me, my wife and my son went to Bohol last January 28 and 31. It was really a new year's treat for us. 

My wife really wanted to go to Bohol. So, as early as June of 2010, she's been on a look out for Air transpo sale and voila, she got 3 promo tickets from Air Philippines Express for January 28-31 flight. We were so busy during the 4th quarter of 2010 so we were really not paying attention with the preparation of our accommodation and possible package tour. It just dawned us about 2 weeks before the flight dates.

So with the dates finally arriving, we couldn't help but just check the net with possible accommodation and hopefully with a good packaged tour. After minutes of searching the net with the word "Cheap Bohol Tour" i finally came across this site (really cool site, very helpful.. thanks to the writer). One of the major, major help that I got from the the site or the page is the following:

Contact Kuya Dodong

Email: boholgrandscenery@yahoo.com
Cell Phone: +63 9292742015 (Smart), +63 9166396347 (Globe)
Home Address: Lower F. Salazar St., Ubujan District, Tagbilaran City, Bohol

I asked my wife to call him and with ease we got everything we need for our vacation.Of course, Id be honest, I've little hesitation since the first step for us to enter into an agreement is for me to make a wire transfer or a deposit to his BPI account. Well, we didn't do that until we finally decided on what services we will get from him. By the way, his services can cover your entire vacation. From Airport to Hotel/Inn transfer vice versa (or wherever you plan to stay or if you plan to get a suggested accommodation from him) and the Package Tours. Well, we decided to just get the tour and also the hotel-airport transfer. We skipped the accommodation since we already decided and confirmed with Dumuluan (2) Resort.  We didn't call Kuya Dodong until we reached Bohol. Since we were there already, he didn't  require us to pay a down payment. He assured us that someone will pick us up the next day - his name is Kuya Dodoc. (hehe.. dodong and dodoc, pretty nice easy to remember names)

For the first day, the airplane arrived at around 11am since we didn't acquire for "Airport-Hotel transfer" I was kinda pissed off with all the drivers/porters that would offer you transpo or a place to stay. Ito ang classic na "hindi ka nila tatantanan". Finally, we took a tricycle to Travelers Inn. We paid Php900 for 1day that is with free breakfast. We took our lunch (my wife went to mcdo) and after, we slept til 4pm. By this time, we decided to go out and stroll in the city and since we have our last minute office task we needed to look for a coffee shop with wifi connection. We went to Tagbilaran City Square and BQMall but with no luck we just asked around and ended up with Bo's Coffee somewhere near a gasoline station and an old church. We stayed there til 8pm coz we still need to finish up with all the emails. But id say, i enjoyed my cup of coffee. At 8pm, we went straight to the BQMall for some grocery coz my wife thinks this will cut some expenses. Anyways, after grocery, we went to Andok's resto at the City Square for dinner and again decided to go for a stroll at the city park.. not bad to end the first day.

 TAGBILIRAN CITY SQUARE

BQMALL

The Second day, we woke up at around 8am. We had our breakfast at Travelers Inn but to my surprise the breakfast is soooo disappointing. They served us with two (2) slices of "tasty" bread, a really small slice of butter,  a (i think) 3/4 of an egg scramble and mouth watering 3-in-1 coffee (hehe).  If you are that person hyped up for the day, really expectant and served with that meal for sure you'll drop a jaw. Anyways, good thing my wife decided to go to the supermarket the night before. At around 9am, we received a message from the Inn's receptionist (FYI, Travelers Inn doesn't have any phone or intercon inside their rooms) that our tourist guide is already waiting for us. So, we packed our things and met Kuya Dodong with the car that will bring us to 8 tourist spots. We opted to just go for a day tour coz we wanted to really just relax the remaining days in Bohol. So off we go..

First Destination.. THE BLOOD COMPACT

Second Destination.. RIO VERDE TARSIER PLACE

3rd Destination.. CHOCOLATE HILLS

4th Destination.. Butteryfly Farm

5th Destination.. MAN MADE FOREST

6th Destination.. HANGING BRIDGE

The Sevilla Souvenir Shop

7th Destination.. THE FLOATING RESTO

 

 

8th Destination... THE BACLAYON CHURCH

They say the pillars formed the face of St. PIO

The additional destination..

THE BOHOL PYTHON

THE POLITICALLY FAMOUS CHURCH AND THE BRIDGE

We were really happy with the tour and thankful to Kuya Dodong for giving us our guide turned photographer Kuya Dodoc. He was really cool. You would not think that he'll take advantage of his clients. In his car is a laminated brochure or info sheet of his services.

Kuya DODOC

FRONT

BACK

We finished our tour at around 4pm with this Kuya Dodoc brought us to Dumuluan Resort and to my surprise the place was more than what i expected. My wife picked a very nice room, it is the beach front room. We paid Php8,000 for 3days and 2nyts with free daily breakfast. We also got a freebie, coz we requested for additional bedding coz my 7months old son loves to crawl and the front desk gave it for free. Really lovely.

The beachfront

Spacious Room with 32" LCD TV

Morning Inside the Room

Our First Breakfast at Dumaluan Resort

The 3rd Day.. The morning with the White Sand.

Additional Info regarding Dumaluan Resort. The Resort actually is divided into 2 (based on what i saw) they say there is Dumaluan 1 which is owned by the senior dumaluans and Dumaluan 2 is owned and operated by the younger Dumaluans (was not able to validate this). And if that would be the case, then, we stayed at Dumaluan 2. From Dumaluan 2, fronting the waters, from the right side is Dumaluan 1 and from the right side of Dumaluan 1 is actually the beautiful, famous and a bit expensive Bohol Beach Club. If Bohol Beach Club is a bit expensive, Id say Dumuluan (2) Resort is affordable. And if, Dumaluan 2 is affordable, id say Dumaluan 1 is cheaper. All of them, have great waters, white sand and fresh air. Just take your pick.

Dumaluan 1

Dumaluan 1

If your from Dumaluan Resort the only way to see Bohol Beach Club for free is walk along the waters. And if you feel like roaming around the resort you will have to pay Php350 which they say is consumable.

Bohol Beach Club - Preparing for Dinner by the Beach

Bohol Beach Club - Another Spot to just relax.

Bohol Beach Club - perfect spot for swimming.

We ended our stroll at Bohol Beach Club by going to the front desk and asking for the rates. Well, id say its really a bit expensive. But to see the view and feel the place and ambiance is totally priceless. We went back to Dumaluan, stroll some more and prepared ourselves for dinner. 

More pics of Dumaluan 

Heres going for dinner..

The Final Day.. We woke up at around 7am to make sure that we'll have a good jump start. We wanted to make sure that we'll have a great breakfast and make sure that our baby would still be able to hit the waters. 

At around 10am we were packing up. Checked out and ready to go. Thanks to Kuya Dodoc we reached the airport safe and on time.

Our Bohol vacation is definitely one of kind. We thanked God for this wonderful experience. And also thanking God for the people who helped us during our trip. Salamat Kuya Dodong, Kuya Dodoc. 

Pretty sure we'll visit Bohol in the not so near future.

 

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