{"id":8603,"date":"2025-05-18T17:38:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T17:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/traveltales.ahot.online\/?p=8603"},"modified":"2025-05-25T19:58:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T19:58:35","slug":"sea-cebu-bohol-en","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveltales.ahot.online\/index.php\/2025\/05\/18\/sea-cebu-bohol-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Cebu and Bohol, Philippines"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Our check out time at Astoria was at noon, but we were still allowed to stay there and use their facilities until we took off to the airport. So after breakfast we all went for a swim in the pool. Marko and the kids stayed there longer, but Jaana left earlier for a visit to the local high school. Teacher is a teacher even on a holiday.<\/p>

The visit ended up being 1,5h long, because the local head of the district and his secretary wanted to discuss very thoroughly about the similarities and differences between the Finnish and Philippine\u2019s school system.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The local secondary school was located by the sea, right next to the hotel.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The regional manager (left) and his secretary wanted to have their picture taken with a foreigner. In the background, teachers had their training session.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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It was surprising to see that our systems are basically the same. In the Philippines the classes are bigger (35 pupils or more), there\u2019s no free (or any kind of) school lunch, and the school starts at least at this school already at seven am. They also study mainly in English starting from the 4th grade. That\u2019s why many local kids are very keen to talk to the tourists in English too.<\/p>

In the Philippines the biggest challenges are the lack of resources (not always enough money to provide the books for all of the children) and the poverty. Many poor families won\u2019t send their children to school even though going to school is compulsory. They need the kids to go begging or selling all sorts of knick knacks to put food on the table. Also many indigenous people in the rural areas live so far from the schools that they won\u2019t send their kids to the school. Schools are being built in the villages in the mountains and forests to reach out to these families too.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Schoolwork at Cebu Airport<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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About ten minutes before landing, the youngest traveler fell asleep. (Masks are still mandatory in all public transportation in the Philippines.)<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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When it was time to go to the airport, our transport took off right on time. That\u2019s because we had booked the van from the resort to take us there. Also the flight was on time and arrived to Cebu 20 minutes before scheduled time. We even got a taxi right away, so we all were in bed by midnight. Great success!<\/p>

In Cebu City we didn\u2019t do much for two reasons: 1) There\u2019s nothing to do in Cebu City itself 2) We all got some sort of a tummy bug. Thank goodness we had two hotel rooms, so we had two toilets too!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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There are no substitutes available here, so teaching duties are carried out from bed in case of illness.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The children's minor stomach problems did not prevent pool activities.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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In spite of the heat, during the first day in Cebu Marko downloaded Google offline maps and went for a walk in the city. Even though he walked for over two hours, he didn\u2019t see much apart from a couple of big shopping malls. Meanwhile Jaana and the kids dipped into the pool at the rooftop.<\/p>

The next day we took our laundry to the local laundromat next door. It cost only 200php (3\u20ac) for three kilos. Not a bad deal at all! After that we had our lunch at the local fast food restaurant, Jollybee. The food was good and extremely cheap. It cost only 10\u20ac for the meals for all four of us. After lunch we took a taxi to go to the pier to book ferry tickets back to Manila. The ride was also very cheap, only 120php (2\u20ac). With that amount the taxi drivers in Finland won\u2019t move a muscle.<\/p>

At the 2go ticket office we found out that we had to pay the tickets in cash. Fortunately we had all our remaining cash with us, so we managed to pay the tickets, 9600php (about 150\u20ac). This overnight boat should be relatively big with a capacity of 800 passengers, but still there were only a few cabin options left. Maybe we should have booked the tickets earlier. We had to book one cabin for two people and two single cabins. The main thing was that we got the tickets, because we didn\u2019t want to fly back to Manila, even though it would have probably been cheaper to do so. (One way flight on AirAsia costs 15\u20ac\/person.)<\/p>

Since we were at the docks anyway, we decided to go and buy the ferry tickets to go to Bohol the next day. But that was a cash only type of a place too. Not a big surprise! Almost everything here is paid in cash. Since we had used almost all our cash to buy the previous tickets, we tried to get cash from three different ATMs, but none of them worked with a foreign bank card. Since we didn\u2019t want to wonder around searching an ATM that would accept a foreign card too, we just took a taxi back to the hotel and booked the tickets online.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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We first went here to exchange our online reservations for paper tickets. No luck.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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No luck at the next ticket booth either.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Finally, we were told that the electronic document was acceptable, and we made our way inside the terminal.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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We took this ferry to the island of Bohol.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Ready for boarding.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The largest pieces of luggage were loaded onto the rear deck of the ferry. In rougher seas, the ones on top probably end up as fish food.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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While waiting for the queue to move, we enjoyed some local music.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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It was a bit cramped.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The ferry ride to Bohol took only two hours. The ferry took off only 30min late and the ride was very smooth. We had to check in the two biggest backpacks, but the rest we could take with us to our seats. It would have been better though if we had checked in the kids\u2019 backpacks also, because the seats were somewhat cramped.<\/p>

From the Tagbilaran ferry terminal we took a minivan to our hotel, Villa Formosa. The area where the hotel was located was relatively poor, but the place itself was very cosy. The only downside was the music and bad singing we could hear from some restaurant bit further away. Marko went to check the source of the noise later in the evening, and found some locals partying on a small sports field.<\/p>

We decided to have our dinner here at the hotel. The Italian food they were serving was delicious. Also the fruit selection we had as a dessert was really tasty. The reason for the Italian menu was the Italian owner who runs this place with his Taiwanese wife. They seem to be a very nice couple.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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