Ok, sorry about the misleading title, there isn't actually anything MAGICAL - wizards and magicians about Bohol, but it is wonderful and beautiful all the same. After finally escaping the madness of Manilla, Alex and I set off for some relaxation time at Nuts Huts, a superb jungle getaway located on the Loboc River (an almost glowing green river that you actually DO want to swim in). For three days I swam, ate healthy foods, walked up and down a good 200 steps, nourished my thirsts with some good old cheap Filipino beers, finished a couple of books and beat Alex at Trivial Pursuit (ha ha ha ha! she wasn't too happy about that ) We also spent a very slow day out on a rented motorbike - slow because Alex is a candy ass and couldn't handle anything above 40 clicks - and slow cos that's the Filipino way. We visited a cute little Tarsier centre that cares for and breeds cute little Tarsiers (check out the photos and decide for yourseleves if they are cute or not!) and we went to the lumpy old Chocolate Hills. The Choco Hills are a major tourist attraction for Bohol but really, at the end of the day, they are just hills, lots of them... hmmm... i took photos cos i was supposed to, but I wasn't particularly moved by their beauty or lack of! Take a squiz at the pics and decide for yourselves!
After the riverside relaxation we moved ourselves across to simple little beach side huts for some sun, sand, beer, fish sighting and fish eating fun. The island of Panglao, still within the province of Bohol is (like all beaches in the peens), home to ultra - don't dare forget your sunnies - white sand and crystal clear turqoise water. So picture perfect that even the fish are carrying state of the art digital cameras to savour the beauty. The reefs were close enough to swim out with a snorkel and say hi to Nemo and his pals and the dives were cheap enough that I did more than a few. It had been a while since I'd got myself wet below 20m of water and I was just a little bit nervous about the whole thing. In fact for the first 30 minutes of my first 50 minute dive I didn't look at anything except my rapidly decreasing air gauge! But I did manage to see a big school of barracuda, some moray eels, a good handful of wickedly colourful sea slugs and snails and a little baby shark that kept hanging out on my tank. I was having a few bouyancy issues - in that I couldn't keep bloody still - and i was constantly reminded of a quote from the book God of small things : The deep swimming fish covered their mouths with their fins and laughed sideways at the spectacle... the spectacle of course was me and my inability to stay at one depth for more than a few moments!
On my dive trip we met our new besties, a honeymooning couple from the UK, who certainly gave us a run for our money on the How much beer can you drink? front...Rob and Ellie were an absolute craic - stealing tamborines (Ali helped too), taking the piss out those who deserve it most, PDAs with sand in undesirable places and some creative rules for darts - they had us totally entertained for a few nights running. On Saturday night after a carb fueled dinner I experienced a little burp with a hot and chunky suprise, ready to call it a night and suffer with my hangover alone in my bungalow I felt inspiration from Rob and Ellie - the old farts who just kept on drinking! How the hell could I let them out drink me! Order me up a heavy - FAST!
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In my defence, the speedo on our shitty bike did not work (neither did the padding on the seat I might add) so I am sure we were going much faster than Ange reckons and I was very good and only squealed twice!
As for Trivial Bloody pursuits - it's a stupid game anyway.......
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