Curious Cat Goes to: BOHOL! (Part 2 of 3)

To recap the Curious Cat's countryside tour in Bohol...

We've been to the Blood Compact monument, the Baclayon Church, and to the Rio Verde Floating Restaurant. Read more about it here.

In continuation of the day, we will be visiting the Butterfly Museum, the Man-Made Forest and Chocolate Hills. We will also be seeing the teeny tiny tarsier as well as crossing the Hanging Bridge!

Ready? Set. Go! (I feel like Dora the Explorer at this point. LOL.)

Butterfly Musem

We took off for the Butterfly Museum right after the floating restaurant cruise. Each group that comes in the museum is assigned a guide who will be explaining the various stages in a butterfly's life cycle. I know, I know, we all learned about it in science class (and who didn't read Hope For the Flowers anyway, right?) but this is so much cooler because of the live examples. You get to touch the samples too. Hehe.

We were shown various types of preserved butterflies, differing in size and shape. I found out that one type of butterfly lives only for about  3 days and its sole purpose is to reproduce, after which it immediately dies. Oooh, so turns out I might not want to be a butterfly after all (contrary to what the popular children's song claims).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="491"] Check out my friend's pretty butterfly wings![/caption]

Adjacent to the museum is a garden where the butterflies live. I've always thought that touching the beautiful winged creatures would make you blind. It was just apparently a myth. We let the butterfly rest on our hand one by one. You would think that it would feel weird but it actually doesn't feel anything at all. :)

A bonus from this visit is their souvenir photo. Instead of getting the standard souvenir shot, they will make you stand in front of a frame with different preserved butterflies then they will take your picture in front of the butterflies so that the optical illusion of you getting wings is created. Voila, instant wings for you!

Man-Made Forest

So I guess I talked a lot about the Butterfly Museum, right? :P Next on our itinerary was Bohol's very own man-made mahogany forest lying along the borders of Bilar and Loboc. It truly is a good photo destination and is a testament to the great power of human hands to create (and not to destroy).

By the way, we enjoyed having our jump shot taken in the middle of the winding road. Once in a while when we hear the sound of an approaching truck, we would run to the roadside and run back to the middle once the coast was clear. Hehe!

Tarsier Sanctuary

It was drizzling when we came to the sanctuary so the tarsiers were all sort of hiding. Heehee! Add to the fact that they are now considered endangered so management has become stricter now. They used to allow tourists to have the tarsiers on their palms but we are now no longer allowed to come into physical contact with them. Awww. :( Good thing we were able to spot a few of the nocturnal creatures and snap a few photos. Since they naturally sleep in the day and are very sensitive creatures by nature, we had to be quiet while walking along the sanctuary.

There are a few pasalubong shopping spots outside the sanctuary but our guide advised us to go shop instead at the other end of the Hanging Bridge where prices were lowest.

Chocolate Hills

Wow, finally I've been able to see Chocolate Hills live! Haha. I used to see it only in Nayong Pilipino or in textbooks but now it's right in front of my eyes.

It got its name from its brown color during summertime when the warm temperature would dry up the greens. Since we came during the start of the rainy season, the hills were already green. Greenhills na daw, said our tour guide. Hehehe. That guide of ours has a good sense of humor. :)

Hanging Bridge

Next destination is the Bamboo Hanging Bridge crossing the Sipatan River. Okay, so I thought it would be a piece of cake but honestly, I got scared when I was about to cross the bridge. Haha!

The bridge is actually quite secure with heavy-duty cables lining it. Some of the bamboo slats need replacing, though. And the mud from the rain has made the bridge slippery at that time. My biggest motivation to cross it is that it's finally shopping time at the other end of the bridge where prices of pasalubong are at factory prices. The shopaholic in me got excited at that, of course, haha.

Prices are indeed lowest at the other end of the bridge. The stalls are not very many but that's alright since they sell almost the same goods anyway. I just found it intimidating that the sellers can be very aggressive in getting you to buy. Perhaps this is just something personal but I don't really comfortable with hardselling. The stalls sell mostly keychains, shirts, peanut kisses (a local delicacy with several varieties, other local delicacies, shirts, and bags.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="491"] (top R) All smiles as we're about to cross the hanging bridge. Guess who was secretly a scaredy cat :P
(bottom L) Oh shopping, such a strong motivation. LOL.[/caption]

The last stop of the day is the Bohol Bee Farm which merits a separate post for its pure awesomeness. I completely fell in love with the place. <3

I hope that you are now considering visiting Bohol sometime. Until the last installment of the Curious Cat's Bohol countryside tour!