Bridge Over Calm Water

Angelita H. Cuevas

Bohol, Lubok River hanging bridge... I was really scared, It was raining and the bridge was really slippery. I imagined myself falling and crocodiles were waiting for me...hehehehe just afraid of heights

February 2007. I went to Bohol with my friend Judith together with her boyfriend Cecil (short for Cecilio). We left Cebu about 6:00 AM and hoping we could catch the first ferry going to Bohol Island. Then, when we arrived at the port we found out that that all 3 ferries going to Bohol were fully booked. We chose supercat since they had 7:00 am trip, but we were chance passenger. Oh no, hundreds of people were waiting at the waiting area. I was really surprised with the people around us. It seemed that there were only few Filipinos around, more than 90% of the people there were foreigners. Most of them were Koreans. I was a bit sleepy since I just came from work on Friday night. We waited for another hour but we were not lucky enough we didnt get a chance to board on Supercat. So we decided to transfer to another ferry boat station. We went to Weezam express and then lined up for the ticket. We got a round trip ticket from Cebu to Bohol then we forgot to ask what time would their trip be, so i went back and asked the man on the ticketing booth. He just snobbed me and said that i had to fall in line again... again? stupidity? We already did for almost an hour and then just for a quick answer about the time he couldn't give me? Was it because they have lots of passengers so they won't entertain us nicely? They were nice and very accommodating with foreigners and even called them ma'am and sir? Wow! is that the way that money can do? just because they appear to be rich they deserve better treatment than us? I was really disappointment with Weezam express staff that I wasn't able to control myself and went directly to the man behind the booth and told asked him if I really needed to fall back in line and waited for another hour just to get an answer about the time... I told him and I didn't to do that and I just want a his answer right there and then. People were looking at me and Judith tried to pull me away. But then before I left the ticket man answered anyway.. and I told that next time, say things right and treat everyone right.
After waiting for another hour, at last we were able to board on Weezam ferry. Wow, it was very cold inside and it was good that my seat was at the side. My eyes felt heavy and no matter how I tried to stay I wake I just couldn't. Judith just woke me up when we were already at Tagbilaran port. Wow! Everything was new. I remember the first time when I visited Bohol last 2005, we just had to walk directly from the boat and there were no buildings. Looking at the place I felt that I was a complete strangers. The port was really busy with lots of tourists. I tried to shake my head and thought that perhaps I was still asleep, but I was fully awake. I heard people speaking English, French, British English, Ame.English, Japanese, Koreans and of course Filipinos. We arrived there about 12noon and since we didn't have our breakfast we were sooooooo hungry. We hired a car and told the driver to drive us to the nearest restaurant. He suggested that we should take the floating restaurant. Okay, that was a good suggestion. Then the floating restaurant was still about 30 minutes away, and it was raining hard. I just thought about the food and didn't have time to see the place we were passing by. Then, when we arrived at the restaurant we were just late for a few minutes and the boat was already full so we had to wait for another boat to come back. Well, we wanted Cecil to have fun so we waited for the boat, but it was already 30 minutes and there was single boat that appeared. So we decided to order some food. The waiter gave the menu and I ordered roasted chicken......hmmmmm delicious...in the waiter came back and said, "no more roasted chicken we only have grilled fish and pork" oh oh and Cecil doesn't like fish. So, again we were not so lucky in that particular restaurant. We moved to another restaurant that offered an "eat all you can" or a buffet style. There we satisfied our hunger and the driver also invited himself. One thing I noticed, everywhere we went to there were always lots of Koreans around... "anio, wae, uma, upa, nanun, kamsamhamnida, ubta.e and their expression ahhhhhhhhh..."etc.... I was just wondering, "Are Koreans slowly invading the Philippines through education?" hmmm what do you think? It seems that almost all of them wanted to study here in the Philippines. Is it study alone or a silent conquer?
Then, we arrived at Chocolate hills and there we spent like 30 minutes just looking at the wonder of nature. There are hundreds of hills beautifully form that they look like cones, it was really an amazing site.
Then on the way back, we passed by on a hanging bridge. It was a long bridge made of bamboo and tied with rusted iron rope. I tried to walk just few meters away just to take a picture, but my knees were already trembling. I was really scared to look down. The water seems so calm. I was thinking that silent water hides something and it was deep so if I would fall then crocodiles would have a meal!
I love the trip and we had fun! thanks to my friend Judith, for inviting me to accompany them. Also to Cecil, wherever he is now I hope that he'll still remember my friend and will do his promise.