Philippines Pt. 2- Bohol Day trip

 After a fairly hurried morning trying to get to the pier on time to catch the ferry to Bohol Island, we finally got to relax! This ferry was pretty decent and it was a two hour-long trip to get to the Island of Chocolate Hills and Tarsiers!

 Once we got to Bohol, Uncle Ma-Eng- our personal hired driver for the day picked us up at the pier. This is not a picture of the vehicle he drove us in all day. This is a "jeepny" that is basically larger than a taxi and smaller than a bus. It is all open air and you enter the jeepny from the back I believe.

 Another jeepny loaded to the max. "Hold on!"

 After about a 40 minute drive through winding roads we arrived at the tarsier sanctuary. "Hold on!"

 These little guys are kind of cute and kind of strange looking. But very small and peaceful.

 Annika trying to get a closer look at the tarsier. "But that's Mommy with the camera!"

 There were lots of concrete steps to walk up and down to get around this sanctuary of tarsiers. There were several tarsiers that we saw throughout our time there. I'd say at least a dozen. And there were dozens of people taking pictures with the tarsiers, of the tarsiers, and around the tarsiers.

 Someone even took a picture of us in the same vicinity of the tarsiers.

 This was on the way from the tarsiers to the Chocolate Hills. This is a man-made forest of mahogany trees. It really reminded us of Canada. There's lots of mahogany forests in Canada. All over the place. Just kidding - but the look and feel of the forrest reminded us of Canada.

 See what I mean?

 And here's a field of rice. Also, just like Canada.

 Some rice drying on the side of the road. A cow sidestepping the rice.

 Here's that cow I was talking about.

 Ahhh - the famous Chocolate Hills!

 We had to hike up one of the hills to take in the scenery.

 Did I mention it was kind of sunny out? A really beautiful day. It looked like it was maybe going to rain earlier in the day, but the rain held off for the day.

 The view from the other side of the hill. There in the corner of the picture is the restaurant we had great lunch at.

 I forgot to mention - the reason they are called "Chocolate Hills" is because in the summer they are brown. So they look like chocolate. We were there when they were a healthy green.

"I can't believe they're not made of chocolate!"

 "I can."

A little place etched into the side of the hill for the Catholic pilgrims.

 The Janzens feeling pretty fed up after having our lunch at the restaurant. Our nice driver took this picture.

 It was quite the hurried drive back to the pier to catch our ferry. We managed to board the ferry within minutes of it taking off. A little too close for comfort for us, but our driver seemed to be really confident that he'd get us there on time. Even though he kept suggesting more touristy things for us to see on our drive back to the pier!

"We love you Pacific Ocean blue
Yeah we love you Pacific Ocean Blue
Oh we love you Pacific Ocean Blue
Oh we love you Pacific Ocean Blue
It's no wonder the Pacific Ocean is blue." - Dennis Wilson of "The Beach Boys"

Philippines Pt. 1- Plantation Bay, Cebu

 We spent the first three nights of our trip to Philippines at an amazing resort in Cebu called Plantation Bay. A friend was kind enough to offer her husband's corporate discount for our booking, which was an offer we couldn't refuse! We really loved the resort- the staff were so friendly (and tipping is not allowed there, unlike other resorts, so they didn't even have ulterior motives- they just were nice!), and it seemed like every detail had been thought of to make it a fun and relaxing stay. 

 The girls loved the huge jacuzzi tub in our hotel room. I think the bathroom was probably bigger than their bedroom is here in HK, so we enjoyed the extra space!

 We had a "poolside room", which meant we had a little patio leading out to this pool, which was shared with the other rooms in a little cluster. The water wasn't deep, and our girls are thankfully old enough that it didn't feel dangerous. They loved swimming in it and playing around it, and it felt like we had the place to ourselves. 

 Walking to breakfast on the first morning. 

 The resort had several "jeepneys" that you could hop on if you wanted to go from one part to another. 

 The whole place was practically one big pool. There were lagoons and waterslides and even though it was all man(human)-made it was still really nice. You wouldn't think so if you read the reviews on Trip Advisor though. Why do people complain so much?! 

 The beach was really small, but the sand was soft. I've seen pictures and have been told of amazing beaches in the Philippines, but I think you have to island-hop to get to them, and with young kids, traveling directly to Cebu was the simplest for us. We just were surprised that the beaches were so small, and in the case of the next place we stayed, basically non-existant. 

We were told that they were filming a Filipino movie on the beach. 

This girl loves the water! Never gets old!

  

 In addition to the Jeepney's there were also horse-drawn carriages to take you where you wanted to go (or to give you a ride just for fun!). Like seriously, how can you complain about a place like this?!

 After going down the waterslide countless times and swimming in the ocean, Annika still wanted to keep on swimming and playing in the water. 

 The view of our room and patio. 

 There was even a Chinese New Year parade complete with drums and dragons! 

 We didn't even need to battle the crowds of Hong Kong to see this...

Annika on the waterslide that she loved so much.

One final glance from the lobby as we checked out of beautiful Plantation Bay!