I worked on my birthday at the Cable Convention 2005 in Cebu, enduring three meetings with new channels wanting to enter the Philippine market. Worse, nobody in Cebu greeted me save for one of the Account Managers in my department and the sweet ladies of HBO Asia.
I did have the grandest party because HBO, as usual, held its party on the first night of the convention.
Wearing a red shirt, I danced the whole night without a care in the world!
March 27, 2005
orinocO FloW
Contributing to the OFW Guardian, an advocacy weekly tabloid circulated in Europe, the Americas, Middle East and Asia, has its perks. I spent the eve of Palm Sunday at the Cebu Beach Club on Mactan Island, Cebu; then moved to Bohol Beach Club on Panglao Island, Bohol until Holy Wednesday - for free!
I will be writing several advertorials for the Tambuli Beach Resorts, which also include Tambuli Beach Club East and West Wings in Cebu and Blue Sky Sea Resort in Bohol.
The tambuli, or the conch, is an interesting shell. One can often be found washed ashore after the mollusk that lived in it has expired. Until then, the shell provides hard protection to an otherwise spineless animal. Its sometimes-elongated extensions give it even a predatory mask that frightens away other sea creatures threatening its resident.
But as a tambuli, it assumes a different identity. Its conchoidal shape of expanding helix makes it easily adored for ornament. When you place it close to your ear, you can hear the waves that splash from the ocean it came from. More interestingly, the tambuli is used as a horn, beckoning the attention of those who hear it.
Staying at either Tambuli Beach Club East Wing or West Wing or at the Cebu Beach Club gives guests access to all three resorts.
I found the East Wing very institutional; a standard class-AA resort reminiscent of how Puerto Azul used to be. Anos Fonacier, one of the pillars of Philippine tourism, built the East Wing 26 years ago and the resort grew from then.
The West Wing is definitely for the romantic. Japanese bridges interlink three swimming pools, and an outdoor Jacuzzi in a gazebo of plants is raised at the right at middle.
Cebu Beach Club appeals very well to families with its long shady pools and large room accommodations, each with its own veranda facing the sprawling gardens. My sisters will appreciate that palm trees to block the sun surround the two lagoon-shaped swimming pools embedded with flat stones.
The tennis court and firing range were a disappointment but why bother with those when the beach, with its natural sand bed of beige corals ground smoothly by the waves, is 1.5 kilometers long!
There were lots of aqua sports but my “Zen” biases make me shy away from noisy, motorized activities.
I wanted to try an intro dive session but didn’t want to spend (I guess not everything can be free). Instead, the resort let me try the Seawalker, the only underwater adventure of its kind in the Philippines. Donning a 36 kilogram bubble head gear (it gets light submerged) attached to a surface air pump, I strolled around the 20-foot deep seabed and, armed with a fish feeder, was swarmed by maybe hundreds of fish. Safely across the railing, I saw the deep ridge that is said to go down even 300 meters!
On Palm Sunday, I took the jet ferry – a two-hour ride to Tagbilaran City. Bohol is not as cosmopolitan as Cebu but being the tenth largest island-group in the Philippines, it is both provincial as it is progressive. Like Mactan is to Cebu, Panglao is a sub-island of Bohol.
At Bohol Beach Club, I learned the resort was awarded in 2004 as Bohol’s Most Environment-Friendly Resort. It also received a Healthy Award for its cleanliness and safety.
Bohol Beach Club has two lovely swimming pools but the powder-fine white sand, naturally, is the main attraction. I would rise at 6 o’clock to lay on any one of the hammocks strung between coconut trees and watch the small boats and their reflection on the water, still calm that early in the morning.
Jetskis and wave runners are not allowed 200 meters from the beach, because the area is considered a fish sanctuary, but you may go snorkeling and kayaking – my kind of stuff. I took a ride on the glass-bottom boat and watched the seabed and found an abundance of bright blue starfish at the time.
Due to limited resources again, I passed on whale- and dolphin-watching at Panglao and farther islands Balicasag and Pamilacan, which are also favorite dive spots.
A stay at Bohol will not be complete without a tour of the countryside. I took one, which started with a visit to the blood compact site, where Rajah Sikatuna and Spaniard Miguel Lopez de Legaspi declared alliance on my birthdate, March 16, 1565. (Magellan’s Philippine landing was the same date in 1521.)
Other highlights of my tour include a visit to local industries of bolo making for men and nipa weaving for women, the oldest church in Bohol – the Baclayon Church built in 1596, and the Mahogany trees at the Bilar man-made forest planted in 1958.
I managed to do only half of Bohol but I couldn’t miss going to Carmen to view the awesome Chocolate Hills that were once corals under the see. I also saw the pristine Loboc River where Boholano Cesar Montano filmed his award-winning Panaghoy sa Sugba. Along Loboc is a DENR-approved viewing station of Philippine Tarsiers, the world’s smallest mammals. While they are nocturnal creatures, these captive Tarsiers have gotten used to visitors that they are awake in the day.
Catch the Tambuli Resorts advertorials as they appear starting April 8 on OFW Guardian available in the Philippines and abroad.
Meanwhile, I’m saving up to return to Bohol Beach Club with Pia. The conch beckons!
I will be writing several advertorials for the Tambuli Beach Resorts, which also include Tambuli Beach Club East and West Wings in Cebu and Blue Sky Sea Resort in Bohol.
The tambuli, or the conch, is an interesting shell. One can often be found washed ashore after the mollusk that lived in it has expired. Until then, the shell provides hard protection to an otherwise spineless animal. Its sometimes-elongated extensions give it even a predatory mask that frightens away other sea creatures threatening its resident.
But as a tambuli, it assumes a different identity. Its conchoidal shape of expanding helix makes it easily adored for ornament. When you place it close to your ear, you can hear the waves that splash from the ocean it came from. More interestingly, the tambuli is used as a horn, beckoning the attention of those who hear it.
Staying at either Tambuli Beach Club East Wing or West Wing or at the Cebu Beach Club gives guests access to all three resorts.
I found the East Wing very institutional; a standard class-AA resort reminiscent of how Puerto Azul used to be. Anos Fonacier, one of the pillars of Philippine tourism, built the East Wing 26 years ago and the resort grew from then.
The West Wing is definitely for the romantic. Japanese bridges interlink three swimming pools, and an outdoor Jacuzzi in a gazebo of plants is raised at the right at middle.
Cebu Beach Club appeals very well to families with its long shady pools and large room accommodations, each with its own veranda facing the sprawling gardens. My sisters will appreciate that palm trees to block the sun surround the two lagoon-shaped swimming pools embedded with flat stones.
The tennis court and firing range were a disappointment but why bother with those when the beach, with its natural sand bed of beige corals ground smoothly by the waves, is 1.5 kilometers long!
There were lots of aqua sports but my “Zen” biases make me shy away from noisy, motorized activities.
I wanted to try an intro dive session but didn’t want to spend (I guess not everything can be free). Instead, the resort let me try the Seawalker, the only underwater adventure of its kind in the Philippines. Donning a 36 kilogram bubble head gear (it gets light submerged) attached to a surface air pump, I strolled around the 20-foot deep seabed and, armed with a fish feeder, was swarmed by maybe hundreds of fish. Safely across the railing, I saw the deep ridge that is said to go down even 300 meters!
On Palm Sunday, I took the jet ferry – a two-hour ride to Tagbilaran City. Bohol is not as cosmopolitan as Cebu but being the tenth largest island-group in the Philippines, it is both provincial as it is progressive. Like Mactan is to Cebu, Panglao is a sub-island of Bohol.
At Bohol Beach Club, I learned the resort was awarded in 2004 as Bohol’s Most Environment-Friendly Resort. It also received a Healthy Award for its cleanliness and safety.
Bohol Beach Club has two lovely swimming pools but the powder-fine white sand, naturally, is the main attraction. I would rise at 6 o’clock to lay on any one of the hammocks strung between coconut trees and watch the small boats and their reflection on the water, still calm that early in the morning.
Jetskis and wave runners are not allowed 200 meters from the beach, because the area is considered a fish sanctuary, but you may go snorkeling and kayaking – my kind of stuff. I took a ride on the glass-bottom boat and watched the seabed and found an abundance of bright blue starfish at the time.
Due to limited resources again, I passed on whale- and dolphin-watching at Panglao and farther islands Balicasag and Pamilacan, which are also favorite dive spots.
A stay at Bohol will not be complete without a tour of the countryside. I took one, which started with a visit to the blood compact site, where Rajah Sikatuna and Spaniard Miguel Lopez de Legaspi declared alliance on my birthdate, March 16, 1565. (Magellan’s Philippine landing was the same date in 1521.)
Other highlights of my tour include a visit to local industries of bolo making for men and nipa weaving for women, the oldest church in Bohol – the Baclayon Church built in 1596, and the Mahogany trees at the Bilar man-made forest planted in 1958.
I managed to do only half of Bohol but I couldn’t miss going to Carmen to view the awesome Chocolate Hills that were once corals under the see. I also saw the pristine Loboc River where Boholano Cesar Montano filmed his award-winning Panaghoy sa Sugba. Along Loboc is a DENR-approved viewing station of Philippine Tarsiers, the world’s smallest mammals. While they are nocturnal creatures, these captive Tarsiers have gotten used to visitors that they are awake in the day.
Catch the Tambuli Resorts advertorials as they appear starting April 8 on OFW Guardian available in the Philippines and abroad.
Meanwhile, I’m saving up to return to Bohol Beach Club with Pia. The conch beckons!
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