Earlier in January 2020, I spent a week in Bohol. It was one of my last travels before the lockdowns have started. By then, the virus have just started spreading in China and a few countries but have not reached the Philippines yet. 

Prior to this trip, I have never been to Bohol. I've heard good things about it and I've seen photos, so when a friend asked if I wanted to tag along, I didn't hesitate. I immediately booked my flight from Siargao to Cebu. The flight was at a pretty good price given that the trip was only a few days away. From Cebu, I took the ferry going to Tagbilaran, which is the city capital of Bohol. 

I arrived around in Bohol at 6pm and I was pretty tired after more than five hours of travel, including the waiting time at the airport and the ferry terminal. 

The next day, my friend and I went on the Bohol Countryside Tour that we booked via Klook. The tour included the most popular tourist spots such as the Blood Compact Shrine, Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary, Chocolate Hills, Bilar Man Made Forest, Loboc River, Camaya-an Hanging Bridge, and Baclayon Church, in that order. Here are some of the photos that I took.

Tarsiers are primates known for their huge eyes despite their tiny size. They are nocturnal creatures.
The Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary in Bohol is home to a good number of these animals.

The Chocolate Hills is a geological formation spanning over an area of more than 50 kilometers.
There are over 1200 hills. They are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season,
thus its name.

The Man-Made Forest in Bilar is called as such because all the trees did not naturally grow there - they
were planted. It is a forest of mahogany trees that stretches for two kilometers in the municipality 
of Loboc and Bilar.
Loboc River is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Bohol. It starts from the town of Carmen and has a distance of roughly 1.5 kilometers, flowing into the Mindanao Sea.
We cruised along Loboc River on a boat with buffet lunch. It is part of the tour package. I was not 
able to take photos of the food but they were good. There was entertainment on board with a 
band playing. We also stopped in front of a floating platform where dancers performed a
traditional Filipino dance. 
We made a quick stop at the Camaya-on Hanging Bridge. To be honest, it wasn't that spectacular. 

La Purisima Concepcion de la Virgen Maria Parish Church, commonly known as Baclayon Church, 
was our last stop. It is a Romah Catholic Church established in 1727 and is known as one of the
oldest churches in the Philippines.

Overall, the Bohol Countryside Tour was such a fun and relaxed tour as we didn't have to worry about anything. If you want to explore the popular tourists spots Bohol, I highly recommend booking this country side tour. We simply just paid and showed up. It is a convenient way to explore Bohol especially when you don't have your own transport, plus it saves time from Googling locations and finding your own way. 

That was it for our first day in Bohol. We did the popular touristy stuff first and reserved the more fun and exhausting activities for later that week, so you have to keep posted for that!