Friday 6 February Port Tagbilaran, Bohol

We've come to Bohol island to see the tiny tarsier monkeys and the Chocolate Hills.

Instead of trying to do this by local buses we've opted to hire a scooter for the day; better flexibility and you decide when to go and when to leave. We also enjoy being able to stop off if there's something to see along the way. The roads are good, traffics light and there's plenty of signage and people to ask the way.

Our first stop was just 20 minutes from Tagbilaran, the Tarsier Sanctuary run by a doctor from Singapore to research and protect these critically endangered creatures. Small enough to fit into the palm of your hand with big eyes and cut ears they are sought by humans as pets and a tourist attraction. Sadly they don't like being in cages and commit suicide either by hitting their heads on the bars or by holding their breath and self suffocating. At the sanctuary we could walk through a forested enclosure with a guide to show us where they were. Of the ten animals in the enclosure, there were four visible today, one in a fern next to the path. The others were glimpses of fur on a branch. We did spend half an hour talking with the sanctuary's founder firing more questions about the animals we'd seen today, the breeding programme and the tarsiers found in Borneo. We like to acquire knowledge.

An hour's drive from the tarsiers took us inland and uphill through paddy fields to the phenomenon known as the chocolate hills; 1200 conical hills of rocks which turn brown in the dry summer period, hence their name chocolate hills. The local legend is they are the solidified tear drops of the gods. The geological explanation is an ancient landscape shaped by rain and erosion.

on top of choc hills

paddy fields

And it was the same rain which shaped the hills which drenched us on the return ride.

Through the paddy fields and around the hairpin bends in the woods the rain fell heavily, steadily. First we took shelter in a roadside garage with other bikers until there was a break and we rode on until David was a cold and soggy mess to a bus shelter where we waited for another half an hour. I was the lucky one riding pillion in the rain shadow of my big brave man, only my lower legs got wet. Fortunately we had dressed for safe riding with full length trousers and our walking boots.

Once we were back on the lowland coastal road we ran out of rain and a third break, at the coffee shop in the mall in town for David to dry off and warm up, was a nice reward at the end of a fun day.