Days 71-73 – Bohol – Panglao Island

Okay… confession time… one of the main reasons I came to the Philippines was for the Filipinas to relax on some nice beaches. Yes, call me lazy but hey, 70 days of travel actually was quite tiring! Therefore I decided against spending much time in Cebu and decided to head on over to Bohol.

I ended up finding the best beach in the whole of the Philippines.  I promise… *

*in the month I spent in the Philippines at least 🙂

So I headed out early to the ferry terminal, and after paying all kinds of weird fees just for walking through the terminal, boarded and enjoyed the ride for about 2 hours.

Pensioners day out?

The entertainment provided was a kung fu film that came on after the  obligatory prayer on the big screen. The only other thing to do once I sat down was to wonder if I should be checking the woman opposite for a pulse who was either dead or doing a good impression of a dead person.

Just another great illustration of my amazing MS Paint skills

Okay so the green on the map shows my route…kind of. The ferry took me from Cebu to Tagbillaran though obviously the ferry didn’t go overland like in my map 😀 .

Most people go to Bohol and visit the Tarsier Monkey’s or Chocolate Hills. And well, yeah..err..I didn’t do that. I guess that’s for when I return?

Instead I got a trike to take me to my hostel on Panglao island which was only about 30 mins drive from the ferry port.

I stayed at a hostel called Bohol Coco Farm which is, as the name suggests, a farm. It’s all natural and eco-friendly with wood being used to make just about everything

It probably gave the nicest free breakfast from any hostel i’ve been to, with lots of vegetables fresh from the farm served up.

On to the important subject of beaches…

This is ‘White Beach’ – a 5-10 min walk from my hostel.

This beach had virtually no-one, apart from a few locals, smooth sand and clear waters. Paradise.

Everything was great about White Beach, apart from one rock that I walked into and broke my middle toe on – ouch. It took about 3 weeks before the pain went away from it.

Most disgusting photo currently on my blog. It only makes the beaches look prettier

The thing with Panglao Island is, most people go to ‘Alona Beach’ which I genuinely don’t understand why if you are looking for a beach.

I took a trike for about 60 pesos (after much haggling) to Alona Beach to see what the fuss was about and spent some of the evening there. It was much more touristy, had some not so great restaurants and so I took a few evening pics on my phone and had a beachside massage.

But honestly, go to White Beach if you want the true shipwrecked feeling. I spent a whole day there alone just relaxing in the water and on the beach and barely saw anyone else.

Whilst i’m doing my ‘best of…’ Philippines edition, here is the best beer in the Philippines…

RED HORSE

Great for breakfast…

Great for dinner…

 

And after 2 and a half days of Panglao Island, I got a trike back to Tagbilaran, caught a ferry and walked in slight pain due to my now broken toe to a small Cebu hotel. After convincing the armed guard that I was in fact a guest and not a British crusader, I got to my room and slept, ready for my flight to Boracay the next day.