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 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: Anyoung Haseyo, Korea!

Ah, Korea! Such a popular 'thing' in the Philippines, isn't it? K-pop, Korean drama, the hairstyle, and of course, make-up. However, despite it's popularity, my dear husband and I have never really joined the bandwagon yet, and continued to be... let's say, oblivious to this trend.

We booked the trip to explore the country and I immediately became overwhelmed with the options for the tourist. It was such a blessing that an officemate is headed to Korea too, and she was kind enough to share her itinerary to us. The only concern left was that her trip is for 5 days, while ours was only booked for four days so I had to trim it down.

Airline

We booked our tickets through Cebu Pacific. Just a fair warning that this is a budget airline, and despite the 4 hour flight, there's no food that will be served unless you are willing to pay for the rice meal. We ate some early dinner at the airport and got some chips from the convenience store which we brought on-board. We still had to buy the drinks, but we are ok with the 50 pesos per can. We just really can't bear to pay the 350 pesos for such a small serving of rice and viand.

We entered Korea via Incheon -- which was great, this has been awarded the best airport for some years now.

CieLJ Tips: Getting a Korean Visa

You can get a Korean tourist visa for free. It's good for 59 days, and it's fairly easy to get one …well of course, as long as you complete the requirements.

Here are the requirements that we've prepared and some tips:   

1. Application form - you can download the Visa Application form for Korea here. There are some instructions on the second page, take the time read it. There will be available print outs at the embassy and you can use that, but just to relieve you from the stress of standing and looking for the pen, TIN#, etc, just download it and fill it up in advance. 

Life as a Comedy

We’ve dedicated a couple of weeks to complete the church requirements. Who knew that such paperwork could cause this much anxiety? I was prepared to go through constant worry because of LJ’s documents, but I felt blind sided by the troubles caused by mine. 

Thank God for friends who helped us get through the strain! 

We also celebrated LJ’s birthday week as he inches his way towards the big 3-0, I can’t wait!   

One

Get Cie’s Confirmation Certificate – check! 

Mother of Good Counsel Parish

Rainy morning in Pacita

Altar of the MGC
Daddy's trademark ceiling design =D

Proud daughter of one of the architects =D

Two

Attempt to get a copy of Cie’s Baptismal Certificate – Fail! 

Parish of Our Lady of the Abandoned/ Nuestra Señora delos Desamparados

OLA's Facade

Altar of OLA

Things didn't work out, so we decided to eat our sorrows away. 

Braved through the rains and went to YellowCab Eastwood

We got some good news that evening,

though not related to our papers, but it was something

that was truly an unexpected blessing

Three

Canonical Interview – check!

Mary the Queen Parish

paperwork! paperwork!

despite being nervous, we honestly enjoyed this

Four

Tummy Break - yahoo! 

Krispy Kreme

we felt we deserved a sweet treat... 

LJ partnered it with Pepsi Max for less sugar, LOL

Burgoo’s

we both loved our dinner that evening,

LJ had some pork chops,

I decided to go with the Cream Dory Milanese

it's true that during difficult times, 

the universe will always send something your way that will make you smile, 

make you appreciate the little things that you would otherwise ignore

there was this kid asking for money while we were riding the bus home

instead of the usual brown envelopes, 

she handed this...

we told the kid that it was a nice drawing, 

she offered to leave an envelope with us,

even picked out the nicest one

this is now in our vision board,
a reminder of simple kindness and generosity ",)

Five

Wedding Planning Mode – sows! 

Krispy Kreme

messy table, hard at work?

we stayed so long, we got the free donuts!

Six

Express Dinner – sa wakas! 

Goldilocks

just to make you understand the excitement,

LJ NEVER, EVER wants to eat here.

While I'm the ultimate fan of their dinuguan, 

so there, happiness! ",)

Seven

Movie Date – luv! 

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Best seen with our fave movie snacks, 

Tater's popcorn and Slammer Burgers!

We enjoyed watching this movie, 

even though I've never read the book, 

I'm no history geek, and 

vampire movies scares the heck out of me.

Eight

LJ’s Kumpil Express – check!

thank you to the Ninong and Ninang. ",)

LJ’s Confirmation Certificate for Marriage purposes – Fail! 

Shrine of St Michael and the Archangels

we need to go back to add the annotation, 

we just need LJ's updated baptismal cert... 

haaay... church requirements...

to read more about getting your confirmation 

done in the Shrine of St Michael, click here

my cousin also got confirmed that day, 

they will get married this November, yey!

Nine

LJ’s Birthday Celeb – busog! 

Yakimix 

Ten

LJ’s Birthday Gift(s) – check! Dapat lang! 

with our bears as gift 'bearers' =p

ayaw daw nya laman nito, weh?! =D

guard asked if para sa bata,
tagal ko nakasagot ng...
'umm, pwe...de?'
pinoy henyo lang! =D

Eleven

Subic Bound – byahe tayo!

Olongapo/Subic Freeport

to read about our Byaheng Norte, click here

rest stops always excites me. Food!

Twelve

LJ’s Birthday Dinner – yum!

Fridays, Harbor Point

This almost didn't happen because of the bad weather that evening.

We were soaked to the bone, and the rain just didn't want to give any sign of giving up.

Buti na lang nagsawa, we were able to walk to Harbor Point before it closed.

The mall closes at 9pm, but some of the restaurants are open till 11pm. 

We had some Quesedilla, and Adobo.

Thirteen

Great Hotel Find – super check!

Mango Valley, Subic Freeport

You can read more about the rooms here, and in Trip Advisor

We passed by San Roque chapel inside Freeport.

It will be great for intimate destination weddings.

Fourteen 

Burger Craving – juicy!

Meat Plus Café, Subic Freeport

Meat Plus Burgers
two thick US Beef patties, with fries on the side

mashed potatoes
ordered additional carbs for the long day ahead

Fifteen

PX Goods Window shopping – isa syang grocery, LOL!

Freeport Exchange Duty Free Shop

sugar free juice mix for LJ to try

LJ wanted me to try Icee
hopefully they taste as good as he remembers them. 

Sixteen

LJ’s baptismal certificate – semi-fail!  

St Anthony de Padua

Nanay Lita was very nice and offered to send the docs via courier.

Seventeen

Homeboud – pagod! 

It was a weekend of pure chaos. We laughed, felt sad and cried 

(Well I did, LJ sort of umm, stared? LOL!)

but we eventually felt happy that it happened. 

This experience made us learn to draw strength from each other,

handle difficult situations with patience,

and most importantly, appreciate the simplest gesture of kindness.

It's a small reality check that you may not be the center of the universe for everyone, 

but at least you are the most important person to one. 

An affirmation that for every disappointment that happens, 

there will always be a blessing that follows...

something that can even be better. 

"Things happen for a reason," was our mantra for the week. 

With the help of friends, we think we can handle a tad more of this insanity. 

",)