it was several months in planning, and when it finally happened, it was all that i expected and more.


thursday morning me, karen, ye and kat headed to bohol for our planned 4-days-3-nights vacation. i wasn't able to sleep well the night before so i was in a less than cheerful mood as we rode to the airport. my mood began to clear up slowly as we travelled by plane to cebu (it was my first plane ride ever), then took a ferry from there to tagbilaran. a few more minutes and we pulled up to the driveway leading up to charlotte's, the place we would be staying in. it was a simple resthouse, with white paint and a large 2-panel door at the front. from the inside you can see the beach, white as polvoron, and the water which was blue as the sky. we quickly put away our baggage and headed out to officially start our bohol escapade.

day 1: "mooooonnn riiiveeerrrr..."


we headed off to loboc river to eat. apparently, there was a floating restaurant there offering a buffet lunch while you tour the long stretch of water. the food was nothing out of the ordinary, but the sights were something to behold. we sang along to the resident performer whose repertoire consisted of classic love songs (although he let loose with a fairly decent version of parokya ni edgar's "mr. suave" near the end.)

after gorging ourselves on fried chicken legs and barbecues, we headed to the overlooking cliff near the famed chocolate hills. to get there, you had to climb a steep set of stairs which left me huffing and puffing halfway up. the view was nothing short of spectacular. ignorant bloke that i am, it was only then that i found out that the hills numbered close to a thousand!

we headed to our final stop for the day, the haven of the smallest mammals on the world, the tarsiers. i swear, dem critters will weird you out with those big, round eyes of theirs. they'd stare at you for long minutes, and you'd finally look away, fearing that they had put some kind of curse on yer sorry ass.

it was fairly dark when we got back to the resort, and we decided to have dinner after resting a bit. the beach was littered with dozens of bars, kinda like boracay but the big difference was they din't play loud music. everything was relaxed which suited the four of us just fine. we picked a slice of liempo, some hotdogs and chorizos in one of the ihawan places there. stuffed and content, we dragged our tired selves back to the resort to sleep. we had an early morning tomorrow.

day 2: "SHARK!!! SHAAAAR-- oh no wait.. it's a fucking DOLPHIN."


we woke up around 6am. we were supposed to go island hopping, dolphin-seeing along the away. we changed into our swimwear, put on our sunblock and headed for the small motorized boat parked along the shore in front of our resort. as we headed out to sea, we saw other boats going the same way as we were (apparently, there's just one route locals take when touring guests. besides, dolphins are said to appear only on mornings.) karen was excited because they were her favorite. i think it's safe to say that she shot a good two dozen photos with her cam LOL.

we reached balicasag island after 30 minutes or so. it was a diving island, and the place was beautiful. we ate breakfast in one of the resorts there, after which kat and karen went snorkeling while ye and i lazily lounged on the beach. after an hour or so, we headed to the so-called virgin island. i cannot put into words how magnificent the place is. we walked along the shore, and saw the "walkway" from the island that stretched out to the next one. from afar, it would seem one was walking on water. our local tour guide told us the island made an appearance in one of the latest calendars from tanduay, specifically the ones featuring katrina halili.

once we got back to our resort, we headed out to eat lunch. we ate at some place called trudi's. the menu included a dessert called "trudi's delight", which consisted of vanilla ice cream wrapped in pancakes, then coated with chocolate syrup. yummy? yeah it was. that evening, we found a bar which sold the cheapest beer in the place (200 bucks for 6 bottles of light, as opposed to the single bottles ranging from 45-50 pesos in other bars.) suffice to say, we went home a little more light-headed than usual. or at least where i was concerned. and i only had 4 bottles!

day 3: "sunblock my ASS!"


we switched resorts (trudi's place, the one with the yummy dessert had vacant rooms), we slept and we ate. that's about it. we weren't able to go out that night because karen wasn't feeling well. we all got sunburned pretty bad (we suspect from the virgin island trip.) and she seemed to have a slight fever because of it. =(

day 4: "9 ball in the left corner pocket!"


kat did some last-minute bathing, after which we stayed at the billiard hall in front of our resort. kat told me she wanted to experience playing by the beach, something she hasn't done before. after eating lunch, we took our last baths and packed our stuff.


my heart felt a little heavy as we left the resort a little after 1pm. it felt like i was in a different place and i din't wanna leave just yet. i looked out of the car window as we rode to tagbilaran port. i wanted to remember every nuance, every detail, every color. i blinked, and we were in the ferry boat, riding the sea. i blinked some more and found myself at the airport. we ate, bought some pasalubong and after a slight delay, boarded the plane for manila. my mind was blank. i was still walking in the white sand, watching the sun go down, with karen at my side.

a few minutes later, i was jolted out of my reverie as the plane's landing gears made contact with the runway.

and just like that, i was back in the real world.