Dili man seguro halos tanan nga mga langyaw ang may negatibo nga ikasulti bahin sa Chocolate hills. Kasagaran ming dayeg man sila sa Chocolate hills kay talagsaon raman na siya og anha lang nimo makita sa Bohol. Sa akoang pagsabot nga ang dili lang nila ganahan didto sa complex kay ang building nga wala pa gyod mahuman pag-ayo(Dili man god unique tan-awon ang building nga makadayeg ang mga langyaw nga motan-aw) og ang ka gubot sa lugar gumikan sa ka daghang turista nga mi bisita sa atoang ma anindot nga lugar, ang Chocolate hills.---Lyn

Firstly there is a fine line between skepticism and cynicism, and I fall within the former. Also if science is more than just logic (which I of course agree upon) then why have these seemingly superior tools not discovered the hills origin? And responding to the statement I made about religion(s) whitewash of ancient history, well then you only need to read a few books my friend. The library at Alexandria: destroyed, Mayan's text: 90% destroyed or hidden, Catholicism has swept the ancient world and kept much at bay within the Vatican, and the suppression of pagan rituals and rites have continued to this day. The only reason that I mentioned the Abrahamic faiths is that they are the most powerful, and have the most to lose, so if I am wrong about the Abrahamic faiths namely Christianity then I will concede. However, my initial statement about how these hills cannot be man-made simply because their construction would be grander than the Great Pyramids is still, in my opinion, bullocks. If that is the reasoning of great scientists and scholars, then what can we expect from the ignorant masses?

Post Script: Just pointing out the obvious flaw in your assessment of the hills. That just because their construction would rival that of the Great Pyramids, does not mean that they cannot be man-made. My point of view is not cynicism, it is skepticism, for I have some suggestions that would inevitably serve as answers; namely excavation. But, I suppose I am just a simpleton in your superior viewpoint! Cheers, happy Hanukkah.

You are right that just because the task appears to be difficult, is no reason it cannot be done. However, if you visit the pyramids, and look carefully, you will find many traces of human activity. You will see villages of workers, old quarries, with some stones still partly chopped out, etc. None of this can be found near the Chocolate Hills.

One of the strengths of science is that it knows its limitations, and do admit where they do not have the answer, so holding it against science they haven't reached a conclusion yet is unjustified. Given time and research, we will surely learn to understand the Chocolate Hills better.

I think holding religion responsible for the destruction of ancient cultures is an exaggeration. It is true many traditions have disappeared as a result of conversion. If you have ever been to the Vatican museum, like we have, you will find one of the biggest collections of ancient art and cultural artifacts in existence, which have been carefully preserved for centuries. We owe it to Muslim translators and researchers that many works from the Greek antiquity have been preserved while Europe was going through its Dark Ages. The Jewish religion never had the drive to proselytize or build empires. I think the true culprit is plain and simple greed, I admit greed often operating under the guise of religion, but greed none the less.

José Rizal tried to show, by republishing De Morga's history, that Filipino culture had actually declined and not improved under three centuries of Spanish rule, and also exposed the highly corrupt and greedy nature of the "frailocracy."

As final remarks, my article was not intended to be scientific, and I do not assume my audience to be simpletons. Merry Christmas, and the best for 2007!--Jeroen.

Cynics have all of the questions, but none of the answers. There is more to science than logic, and the primary source of scientific knowledge is observation; logic is merely a bunch of rules to put some order in our reasoning about things. Since I am not a follower of any of the Abrahamic faiths, I won't feel offended, but I believe the conclusion that these faiths have whitewashed much of ancient history without any supporting evidence is just as rash as concluding that the Chocolate Hills are man-made, as the evidence to the contrary is overwhelming, and that is basically what this article claims in response to fanciful pseudo-scientific suggestions.--Jeroen.

From Cebu (Mactan) airport you'll have to take a ride to the pier, then a boat to Tubigon or Tagbilaran, and then a Bus or V-Hire to the Chocolate Hills complex. This will take you several hours at least. If you're coming from Manila, it is probably easier to fly directly to Tagbilaran and take a V-Hire from there, which will take only one hour.--Jeroen.

Depending on your driving style, between 45 minutes and 1.5 hours; All concrete roads.--Jeroen

If you come from Ubay, it will take several hours to go to Chocolate hills. The chocolate hills complex is located in Carmen, while the Sagbayan Peak in Sagbayan. You can see on the map how far it would be for you to travel. You can take a bus to Trinidad and from there you can take a bus going to Carmen. It might be possible that there is a bus from Ubay going directly to or passing through Carmen. If you want to visit the famous tourist spots in Bohol, I suggested you to stay in Panglao or Tagbilaran. From there it would be easy for you to travel to different places or to organize your trip. I think Ubay and its neighborhood also have beautiful places to offer; especially mangroves particularly in Jetafe and it might have some magnificent places that are not yet discovered or promoted for tourism. Besides Panglao, Anda has its long white beaches as well. During low tide, the long white beach will impress you. Unlike Boracay, it is still not yet well developed for tourism. But there are some resorts already, in which you can enjoy and relax. You can still pick up shells on the beach.---Rodelyn

The only helicopter service I could find is in Manila. See Cebu Pacific. The price is about PHP 42.000 per hour, plus landing fees. Five can fly, which brings the cost down to about 8500 per hour per head. Some of the areal photographs on this website where taken from a government helicopter, but the pictures on this page were simply taken from the top of one of the hills.--Jeroen.

One objective of this website is to promote domestic tourism to Bohol, and show Filipinos, that is, those who can afford holiday trips, but never leave Manila, except to go to Thailand or Taiwan, the beauty of their own country. The website even wants to show those who can't afford a trip easily the beauty of Bohol.--Jeroen.

Thanks! We're doing our best to keep it running and promote Bohol--Jeroen.

Greetings from Mindanao

Just ask for the Chocolate Hills, and everybody in Bohol will know where to go. No address needed.--Jeroen.

Hi Yasmin, The reason I not yet mention some of these places is that I haven't been able to visit them and/or write a story about them. All visitors to this website are welcome to write a small story about any of these places, or whatever nice experience they've had on Bohol, and I will be happy to publish it on-line. So, if you find anything missing on this site, and you have valuable information or interesting stories for our visitors, please don't hesitate to go ahead and share them with us! This website is still mostly a one-man operation, but really intended to be a collaberative work for the promotion of Bohol.--Jeroen.

I haven't seen the proclamation, so don't know what will be its impact, but I do know that the Chocolate Hills are a unique landscape, truly worth preserving...--Jeroen.

The current state of affairs at the Chocolate Hills complex is really sad. The old rooms are run down, and desperately need some upgrading; the new construction is unfinished, and even when finished, it will not be an attractive building. It will probably be best to pull down the new construction, and renovate the existing low-rise buildings, using the available space efficiently, but with respect for the unique environment it is located in. Building ugly concrete buildings is not what we should want here.

Commercially spoken, I also have my doubts with the location. The Chocolate Hills are unique, and absolutely worth a visit, but for most tourists a stay of a couple of hours will be enough, and a basic restaurant, a clean CR, a small exposition, and a small souvenir shop all they require. I have stayed at the complex, and can attest that seeing the sun-rise and the early morning fog over the hills is a fantastic view, but even then you don't have a reason to stay for more than one night. That is, unless somebody would be willing to organise this as a kind of 'base-camp' for a number of activities that can take place in the inland of Bohol, such as for example mountain biking, trekking, bird-watching in the Raja Sikatuna National Park, spelunking, etc., but this will require a rather pro-active attitude from the management. If such a management can be found, and the scale of the complex can be kept within limits, it can still become something nice. -- Jeroen.

Money earmarked for a project disappearing is a common problem in the Philippines, leaving behind partly finished constructions to be eyesores for years. In Bohol we also have a number of examples of this, such as the Agora Market in Tagbilaran, the Loboc bridge next to Loboc church, and the Chocolate Hills Complex. And if we could also count the number of roads NOT concreted, even though budget has been approved for that purpose several times...

Exposure doesn't seem to help much: huge signs with each of the unfinished project often tell you exactly who were responsible for starting it. But then they lost the next elections, funds were suddenly missing, and their successors seem have other priorities... Still I have hope that, by constantly reminding the people who are responsible for such things that in the long term this state of affairs will hurt everybody, one day things will improve. It is the very reason that I started this website: improve knowledge and awareness of Bohol with potential tourists (including Boholano's living elsewhere), such that tourists will come in, and some money can be earned for improving things. -- Jeroen.

Some statistics are available in the "Doing Business in Bohol" article, which shows that the number of foreign visitors to the place have reduced dramatically during the last few years: from 33.000 in 1999 to a mere 8.000 in 2001. -- Jeroen.