It’s been three weeks since I made the move here to the island of Bohol. The home I live in is not located in town, but rather about a mile or so outside the edge of town. It is in the jungle area known here as the ‘province’ area. I guess province sounds more inviting than “surrounded by trees and cobras“. Aside from two quick rides I got from the neighbors to get some groceries at the mall, I’ve pretty much been stranded out at my little corner of ‘the village’.
The only thing is that the ride I’d be getting wasn’t leaving until around 4pm and since I planned to catch a movie as well as get some dinner.. that meant making the walk home in the dark. Fortunately for me it was a full moon that night. In retrospect a few days later, attempting this with no moon would have pretty much guaranteed I’d have gotten lost until morning. I’d been paying attention to various landmarks and forks in the road. I felt
confident enough that I could find my way back. I did make one wrong turn at one split in the road but quickly back-tracked.
Even though it was about 10pm the weather was about 70*F. Being on an island with very little city means you can see the stars at night very clearly. It’s difficult to really express just how insanely beautiful it is to be out there at night, just surrounded by trees in every direction. In some points, no homes anywhere around. After the first hundred yards there are no more street-lights until you get near some homes where the village starts.
But it was not a very long trek as it turned out. From the mall to the edge of town was only 10 minutes. From that point to my home was another 30 minutes. Walking it at night was very nice. I’d imagine if I walked it in the day I’d need an umbrella for shade and bring along some water. So now that I have a better idea of how far it is to town, and that I can walk it if necessary, it’s now feasible for me to walk to the terminal and catch a jeepney to anywhere on the island, either Tagbilaran or Panglao. Panglao is where all the cool beaches are and lots of the tourist spots are located. But I’m also interested in all of Bohol which I plan to explore one piece at a time.
I shot a little bit of video as I took my walk, hope you enjoy it. 🙂
www.lifebeyondthesea.com
Author: Reekay V.
Since 2012 I’ve been traveling through various islands of the Philippines as a full-time Expat and spent 1999 living in Vietnam.
Share with me my ongoing adventures of life in the Philippines. Hopefully you find my observations helpful in your own adventures.
— Reekay
Henry
Nice video…but dude i gotta ask…A FIREPLACE? lol
Ha!, no need for a fireplace here. The background is actually me standing in the doorway. 🙂
Your a crazy man, you will do okay here in the Philippines lol
I like to think of it as ‘living outside the box’. ha! Almost 9 months now, still loving it!
Hey Henry,
You rule! I just can’t get enough of your posts–you’re really excited and appreciating everything and I give you credit for that. You’ve really got some big cojones too, and I wish you all the best!
Take care, Queenie:)
Queenie:)
Thanks, I’m just happy to be alive and living here each day. I’ll be posting another long entry today, I would have earlier but been more than a day with no internet signal while the ISP does ‘upgrades’. 🙂
Thanks for the re send, Henry. Another interesting tale as they all are. You’re a braver man than I walking around at night amidst the cobras in an area you’re barely familiar with. Got to admire what you have chosen to do at this stage in your life.
To me it just seemed the logical thing to do, an alternative way to get to town and back until I get my own wheels. One of the neighbors today told me, “You should not walk late at night here, that is not good.” I asked her, “Why?”. She couldn’t think of a reason. I asked if there were any witches or lions to worry about. She said there were no lions but didn’t comment on the witches. Hmm.
The island is deep in this preconceived notion of the supernatural. If you just spend some time talking with the village elders about it you will know exactly what i mean. Just for kicks-and-giggles ask them about Siquijor or the province of Capiz in Panay island (:-o)
Yah. Although, true as that is, when you get right down to it about 99% of supernatural traditions and beliefs are basically founded upon ignorance. (lack of knowledge) There are still plenty of areas of the world where a person with epilepsy having a seizure is still considered to be possessed by demons. I don’t fault them for thinking that, they simply don’t know of any other option. “It MUST be a demon.”, what else could it be? But, such is life.
Speaking of night vision… I’ve heard of some faster methods supposedly used by soldiers and ninjas. They say if one shuts and squeezes the eyelids hard (and takes a bit of sugar before it) and waits about 30 second, and then opens the eyes, the adaptation should be much faster. And then it also helps to look for the shapes instead of colors. Also there is more visibility when one squats down, to catch more refracted light of the objects. .. I tried the 30 sec. thing and squatting…. seems to work for me 🙂 But yeah.. a rechargable light is better…. as for that spooky guy which stands there in the forest.. (and the Elaine Bennes clone) I suggest the FLIR night vision hahaha 🙂
Seemed like a nice walk 🙂
A tip from an amateur astronomer: It takes your eyes about 20 minutes to fully adjust to night vision. (chemical process) After the eyes have adjusted you do not want to show a flashlight in to your eyes 🙂
Or you could do like the pirates, aarghhh, use a patch over one eye to keep it permanently adjusted for darkness.
Enjoying your tribulations.
Good to know. I noticed about halfway home with no flashlight it was easier to make out the road from the darkness.
Correctamundo!
On a night with a full moon it is better to put the flashlight away and wait for your eyes to adjust. You will see just fine.
An other trick if there is no moon and you are on a road between trees (jungle in your case) is to not look at the road but look up. At the stars. To the sides, no stars, where the road is, stars. A road of stars 🙂