Our town is a tiny paradise where beaches stretch along the coast and mountains tower into the atmosphere. I learned how this place has more gems than we natives know, and I am grateful to have seen some of them already with my buddy. But there was a particular time in the year 2022 that I remember with amazement when I saw a hidden gem outside my homeland—and the poignant thing is, I visited it with my best friend, whom I haven’t seen until now after that time. It was in Remedios, Danao, Bohol, Philippines.
Summer, glory, and sweet—this is how I could describe the experience if my memory serves me well. Writing this travel blog is poignant as I recall the good days with my best friend, whom I haven’t seen for almost four years now. But remembering it with him is humane and grounds me to the years I have experienced.
Remedios is a barangay in Danao, Bohol, Philippines—a provincial, farm-like place ideally known for its serene, rural, warm, calm, and above all, nostalgic landscapes and attractions. Danao is known for liguanons and springs that invite wanderers of adventure to dive into a world of cool and refreshing bodies of water surrounded by green and relaxing landscapes. "Danao" in fact means lake, lagoons, or field. In the internet, many travelers have already defined this place by its landscape’s beauty, and for my definition, I say this place is the home of kind souls and humanistic Boholanons. It is one of the things I could remember about the place—the kindness of the people I met during the walk around my best friend’s place.
Our stay in his homeland was not luxurious nor expensive. It was just a simple trip with a discounted fare and a vacation at their house, which he hadn’t visited for a long time. We spent three days in Remedios, Danao, but to be honest, we only stayed at their house located on an elevated hill perfect for the iconic sea of clouds. So, why didn’t we descend from that area to discover other attractions? The answer lies below.
At the back of my best friend’s house is a panoramic view of the crowded Bohol hills—but not the iconic Chocolate Hills. The initial plan was to visit another area once we got some rest at his house, but the morning I woke up there, I decided to stay because the place and the view already felt right to me—as if it were a calling.
The sea of clouds is free at my friend’s house. It is observable at 4–6 o’clock in the morning. We just had to walk two minutes to have a perfect spot for viewing the majestic landscape of Remedios. The grasses outside the house are perfectly grown and nourished by the natural sun and humidity; when touched by my feet, they calmed my mind in a way no other could replicate.
There were also healthy trees standing beside the house that cover the fog in your viewpoint, and the fog covers them eventually when it gets foggier. One thing I enjoyed viewing in the fog was how passionately the hills at the back peeked through—it was as if they stretched their peaks so we could still see them even through the mist.
In every angle and level of height, different scenarios could be seen. For instance, when we ascended a little bit on the hill at the back of the house, this is another view I saw: a landscape full of banana trees as foreground and sublime clouds as background. At the center, the fog looked like a sea waiting for swimmers to pass by—but in a way that was majestic and glorious.
When viewing the landscapes, I loved how trees bordered the views—just like in the photos. They stand beside each other and your spot between them, like they honor you and you honor them and the place.
I remember I descended a little bit from their house when I saw a cow in the field. I was amazed and grateful to have found a perfect spot that looked like Amsterdam, in a way that it imitated the ambiance and landscape. In this part, I could see a little bit of rice terraces and the rest of the mountain ranges that stretched to infinity. The greenery, perfection, and gradient play of the landscape in this area soothed my eyes and mind as I watched it endlessly. Note that these narrations happened on different days of our stay, so don’t be confused.
This is how the sunrise looks on the top. Sometimes it would color pink and blue tones, but mostly the light is softer, cooler, and clearer, with a bit of mist still visible over the valleys—a wonderful sign of early morning.
If sunrise is majestic in this place, sunset is perfect here. The clouds shift to golden-orange and warm, with longer shadows and glow. It hits you right in the face, caresses you like a vivid memory, and leaves a tingling warmth on your skin. It has the most beautiful type of ray—a light that is not painful to the eyes, just right in heat to give you another version of sunset viewing.
Perhaps this definition I have written is because of the idea that my best friend was with me as I watched the day end, and the warmth of our friendship made this phenomenon sublime.
On our last day, we traveled down the road of Remedios to head to Sagbayan Peak—a private resort in Bohol known for its view of the Chocolate Hills, but I will make a separate blog for this resort soon.
Four years have passed since that one summer in Remedios, Danao, but the memories remain as vivid as the sunrise I once watched together with my best friend. I may have left the place a long time ago, but a part of me still stands on that very hill, barefoot on the grass, waiting for the fog to lift in our faces and the day to begin again—with my best friend by my side.