CieLJ Travel: Bohol Itinerary

We are sharing our Bohol itinerary from our recent summer weekend. It's a bit sad that a lot of the churches were destroyed by the recent earthquake, and even the platform at the chocolate hills is now just a third of how it used to be. 

Part of the chocolate hills platform

Loboc church split in half

Despite this though, it's still a very beautiful place to visit. 

I booked our tours through Travel Buddy, the good thing about Bohol is that the tour and rent rates are almost the same across the different agencies and groups. So it will all just boil down to quality and credibility. You don't need to be too stressed with the haggling.   

CieLJ Eats: Hayahay Pizza, Alona Beach

Just like in our other trips, we were curious about the home grown restaurants along Alona Beach. I've read about Hayahay's restaurant, apparently they were made famous by their pizzas so we decided to try it on our third day in Panglao. We ate at around 4pm and we were the only one seated at the beachfront. I noticed that most of the choices had seafood in it, I'm not convinced that my pizza should have seafood so I asked the server what is their best seller and she suggested "Carne." A Hayahay pizza topped with tomato, mozzarella, ham, salami and chicken, priced at Php270 for medium and Php380 for large. We ordered the large sized pizza and waited anxiously. 

We then got our first piece of not so good news, you have to buy your drinks, there's no free service/house water here. We just really wanted to try the pizza and then hop again to a different restaurant but since we don't want to choke, we ordered a small bottle of Coke each, priced at Php 30. They also don't sell 1.5 liter soft drinks unlike other restaurants along Alona.

CieLJ Eats: Jasz Bar and Restaurant, Bohol

It was our first night in Alona Beach, the last "meal" that we had was a very thin and tasteless ham and cheese sandwich from a kiosk at the airport 3 hours ago. Sobrang gutom na, waiting for food to be grilled isn't exactly appealing, but we were willing to try. 

We picked Jasz because of the clean display, the prices were clearly shown with the food so we were assured that we will not be surprised by a sky high bill. This is right next to Hayahay which also has a restaurant.  

We ordered, liempo, grilled squid and skewered chorizo. The viands were reasonably priced, but just like with any other restaurant along Alona, the rice and the drinks will be on a more expensive side. They do offer a 1.5 Coke for 100 pesos, so that helps cut the dining cost a bit. 

The grilled liempo and squid were cooked well, service was fast enough. There was a good sized crowd but they still managed to attend to us when we asked for ice or to clarify our order. 

Jasz Bar and Restaurant will be a good choice for those who would like to try freshly cooked seafood along Alona Beach. The waiters are nice, food was tasty, and given the location the price can be considered reasonable. 

CieLJ Weekend: The Lost Horizon Resort

I've wanted to take LJ to Bohol before, but what pushed me more was the recent earthquake that damaged a lot of the old churches. The original plan was December, but since the province was still trying to recover then, I delayed the trip and waited for a promo. I chanced upon a good deal with Philippine Airlines and booked the trip right away, sakto for summer! *big grin*

This was supposed to be a no nonsense trip. Not really a backpacker type of vacation, but I've decided that our choices will be practical. I've narrowed my hotel search to at least include the following:

1. Price should not be more than Php 3,000 per night, even better if lower than Php 2,500. 

2. Beachfront location, alam nyo naman si LJ anak dagat

3. Breakfast is already included in the rate. Less stress on deciding where to eat. 

4. Lastly, with Wi-Fi, hehe! Yeah, we are high maintenance, like that. 

Some nice to have in my list that helped me decide to sway in favor of another

1. Trip Advisor reviews

2. Balcony? :) 
3. Can be booked through Agoda

We walked in to Lost Horizon, and it wasn't love at first sight. It's not the usual type of hotel that we are used to, and as mentioned in other reviews, there's a little bit of age in it. It did slowly grew on us. One  advantage of an older hotel is the room size, unlike the modern box rooms, the deluxe room that we got has a lot of floor space, even the bathroom is not cramped. The king size bed was very comfortable and it even had a duvet, not your usual resort style beddings that just gives you a flat sheet for a blanket. There are safes inside the room. We never really use hotel safes, but for Lost Horizon, I felt that we need to. There were no unfortunate incident that happened, but the door knobs were a bit difficult to lock. 

CieLJ Weekend: Taal Vista

Taal Vista located along the Tagaytay ridge, is such an iconic hotel. It’s definitely one of the most popular places to stay in Tagaytay. I’ve always wanted to try to book a room here but since its rates are at a premium, it’s not something that you can pick at a whim. 

We had a couple of good reasons to stay overnight in Tagaytay last February, and I was thinking this is perfect timing to book a room in Taal Vista.