food and culture

Let's start with the culture shock stuff because most were kind of gross. Whenever you go to the toilet, you will see these signs and a large trash can in the stall. I guess most toilets do not have good flushing or maybe it is to cut down the amount of waste that needs to be treated.

Another sign you will see is "no spitting or chewing of betelnut". The green nuts from the Areca palm are split and sprinkled with tobacco then wrapped in Betel vine leaves. When chewed it becomes a mild stimulant, and with continued chewing turns your gums and teeth red. Also, the liquid that is spit out stains, so you see red splats all over the place.

Most of the television programs are in English, though I think they are a week behind. I was just happy to be able to watch episodes of "Kitchen Nightmares", "Law and Order" and "The Starter Wife".

The phone book doesn't give any addresses just the area and phone number.

You will see many progressive poker places as well as hostess bars (many dress scantily and stand at the entrances of their establishments) and prostitutes approaching men walking on the sidewalks. There are also people who will call out to you to lure you into their shops for a massage or cheap dinner...Just use your judgement, if it looks sketchy it probably is.

Many business, restaurants and shops are 24 hours.

You will see this character all around Saipan. He is called Saipanda. Apparently he was created by a Japanese. His name is a play on words. Saipan-da means "this is Saipan". Sai also means rhino in Japanese and Panda is well, panda in Japanese, if you notice he is a cross between the two animals.

You will also see these two coconut like dolls entwined with each other. These are called "bo-jo-bo" dolls. I couldn't find much info on them but depending how they are entwined (e.g. holding hands, hugging, holding both hands and facing each other) they bring good luck for things like love, money and other things. You can find these all over the island it is just a matter of how much you want to pay for one!

One funny thing that constantly happened was that I would speak English wherever we went and people would automatically say, "Hey, your English is awesome, are you Korean?...Chinese?...where are you from?" Somehow I think we got a little better service speaking English rather than Japanese. Though I think if I knew Chamorro, Carolinian or Filipino we may have gotten even better service at various places.

Okay, let's move onto food....
In Nagoya before we left, while I was waiting to meet Satoshi at the airport, I had some delicious gelato at Babbi--biscokrok (crunchy biscuits in rich dark chocolate gelato) & stracciatella (dark chocolate bits in vanilla gelato). They only sell their gelato in twos so I HAD to get two flavors (682 yen about US$6.82).

While waiting to check-in, we had miso katsu sandwiches for dinner from Yabaton (840 yen each about US$8.40). Miso katsu is a famous food in Nagoya. The miso that they use is a red miso. It was kind of dry to me but still something different to try.

We also had some curry flavored okara (soy lees) chips from Muji (157 yen (about US$1.57) (according to my cousin, they have a store in NYC)....delicious.At Moby Dick's, we had creamy clam chowder in a bowl, a seafood salad, seafood pasta and fried calamari, with and iced tea and coffee....Total with tip: $29.00...portions way too large.

I don't think Saipan has sales tax because all of our bills were exactly as the menus or price tags stated.
The cocktails on the Club floor included champagne, wines and lots of great pupus (appetizers). We also had a great teppanyaki dinner at the Hyatt...price too high to mention. And delicious donuts (apple fritter and chocolate donut) from Winchell's. The donuts were only $.99 each...so cheap and good!
Dinner at Bobby Cadillac's one night was delicious. It was my first time trying a reuben (I loved it!) (UPDATE: Actually, I surfed my blog and it was my 2nd time trying a reuben), Satoshi trying their seafood pizza...with sodas (total:$25.90). Lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe located in the Duty Free shop. Satoshi had their humongous nachos and I had the pulled pork sandwich (how I miss bbq sauce!!)--(total with tip: $34.96).
Shopping at the ABC store, we saw (but didn't buy) spam musubi. And at the Joeten Hafa Adai shopping center, we found a supermarket with all kinds of US candies and chips as well as local chicharon (pork rinds)--if you want reasonably priced "omiyage" (souvenirs) shop here. At the Guam airport, we found a Burger King and Satoshi got his fix for portuguese sausage, eggs and rice ($6.25) and I had french toast sticks with tater tots ($4.30).

We I had LOTS of comfort foods on this trip. The portions were huge...and I think we I gained LOTS of weight and our my cholesterol must be high too. While the Japanese travel to Guam as a substitute to Hawaii, Saipan is a different place. Relaxing, laid back, don't expect to do much. Just go to relax, have a good time and eat plenty. I hope you enjoyed our trip to Saipan.

Moby Dick's
Garapan
Phone: 233.1910

Bobby Cadillac's
Garapan
Phone: 233.1180

Winchell's
Garapan
Phone: 234.5566

Hard Rock Cafe
2nd Floor Duty Free
Garapan
Phone: 233.7625

p.s. as I was re-capping this trip, the weather in Osaka has dropped into the single Celsius digits over the past couple of days...brr (though I still look forward to snow...)

historical tour

One thing we did, was go on a historical tour. This tour takes you to various spots on the island. Many of these spots were involved in WWII.

Banzai cliff was where 10,000 Japanese jumped to their deaths in fear of being captured by the U.S. According to the guide, they shouted their mother's name, threw their children into the ocean then jumped.

Right above this spot is the last outpost of the Japanese army.

They let you crawl inside to see the post then walk down to view the many graves of those who jumped to their deaths from 248 meters above. Many jumping backward so as not to see the rocks below.

From the north end of the Island, we headed back to Garapan where there is the American Memorial Park. This national park shows the battles in Saipan and gives tribute to the people of Saipan, showing their recovery after the war.

We also went to Sugar Cane King Park. Haruji Matsue was responsible for starting the sugar industry and building a railroad in Saipan. Though the sugar industry and rail in Saipan are no longer existent, the idle engine for the sugar cane train still is.

There are many reminders around the Island that wars are evil and everyone hopes for peace, hopefully that will come true for the whole world one day.

garapan street market

Saipan is a dominion of the United States. It is 71.4 square miles or 185 square kilometers with a population of about 58,000. (Osaka is 85 square miles or 220 square kilometers and a population of 2 million population...ack!!) 60% of the people in Saipan are Chamorro or Carolinian. The rest are Filipino, Japanese, Chinese and Korean--most of these people are in Saipan as contract workers.

The main language is English, but most speak Chamorro or Carolinian. Since tourism is Saipan's main industry, most people also speak Japanese.

Here is a story about the Chamorro. It was said that when Spaniards took over the Islands, they changed the peaceful islands. A certain Spanish commander fell in love with a beautiful Island girl, but she was already promised to a local boy. The commander was determined to be with her, but her family was against this. The only way for them to be together was to jump off a cliff together entangled within each other's hair. This tragic story was passed down through generations of these island people who became known as "Chamorro".

The Garapan area is where most of the hotels in Saipan are located. There is a great foodie fiesta called the Garapan Street Market. It is held every Thursday from 17:00-21:00. Located on the road right outside of our hotel.

There is live entertainment and lots of food to choose from. A lot of places were giving 5 choices for US$5....so cheap. There were also stands selling fresh veggies.

The hotel arranged a dinner for us on Thursday, so it would have been rude to change or cancel, we hope that the next time we go to Saipan (hopefully soon), we'll be there on a Thursday to try all this food!

I'll just let you enjoy all the photos, hopefully some of the excitement will come through.

managaha island

From Garapan, it is a 15 minute boatride to Managaha Island (pronounced Ma-nya-ga-ha). This island is part of Saipan but a local tour company, Tasi Tours has the exclusive concession rights to operate marine sports and other beach activities here.

While we were there we had covered beach chairs, which helped to block the sun.

Most tourists in Saipan are from Japan, Korea, China and some from Russia because they don't need visas to visit and it is rather close to their countries. A lot of the signs are written in all the languages. The sand on most of the beaches were powdery and fine.

Many go to Managaha to snorkel.

Or just relax. When I saw these guys, I instantly thought of beached seals or turtles....

There are remnants of the war on the island too.

They also try to protect the wildlife here too, there were many signs indicating areas not to be entered due to baby birds hatching.

I couldn't get over these Japanese tourists wearing sweaters over their pareo and no-sleeve.

Lunch was a barbeque plate. Reminded me of local food in Hawaii and barbeques at the beach.

There was coco papaya (which I realized was green papaya soaked in a spicy sauce similar to the one they use to make takuan)--koko is the local Japanese word for tsukemono. There was also "Saipan rice" a red rice colored with achiote or lipstick plant. I think you can find achiote in Filipino & Spanish cuisine.

I also had Aloha Maid iced tea, something that I hadn't had in years!

It was a great day--lots of sun and relaxation.

Tasi Tours
website in Japanese only

In my previous post, I forgot to mention that we received a fruit platter and wine from the Hyatt. Thank you!!

nagoya-guam-saipan

Satoshi has some mileage on Continental airlines. I didn't realize it, but I do too. He got word from a newsletter that there was a special campaign on Continental travelling from Nagoya to Guam or Nagoya to Saipan going through Guam. The outrageous oil surcharge would also be waived AND you could go using half the needed mileage. (I think a regular flight would have been 30,000 miles for one person but we went for 15,000 each instead). So, Satoshi seeing this, just couldn't pass it up.

We took the 20:30 flight from Nagoya to Guam. It is only 3 hours to Guam. (A lot of Japanese choose Guam as a place to vacation, because it is like going to Hawaii without having to travel for 8 hours to get there.) We arrived there at about 0:40. (The time difference is about an hour ahead of Japan)

At that time of night, no one is around--well, just the immigrations/customs and security. (Satoshi loves travelling with me especially when we can go through the U.S. Citizens line and he doesn't have to stand in the long Foreigners line.) After going through Immigrations, we had to be escorted back around to the Security line to check-in for our flight to Saipan.

Our flight to Saipan was at 2:40 (yes, in the morning). There were 2 people waiting at the gate, which turned out to be the only other passengers besides us on our flight. As soon as the staff realized we were all accounted for, they boarded us and we took off about 15 minutes earlier.

It was kind of funny because they passed out water and cookies just before we boarded. The plane was a 30 or 40 seater with propellers--too small to have a cart running down the aisleway, plus there were only 4 of us. What was also funny was that the stewardess ran through the speech about sitting by the exit and how you would need to help in case of an emergency--it was funny because none of us were sitting there.

The ride was noisy and kind of bumpy. This was my second time riding this type of plane. The other 2 passengers wanted to sit other than where they were assigned, but the stewardess said they have the weight thing all figured out so they should sit where they were assigned.

Landing in Saipan reminded me of the outer island airports in Hawaii. After going through Immigrations and Customs, a taxi was waiting to take us to our hotel, Hyatt Regency Saipan. From the airport, it is about a 10 minute ride to a town called Garapan, where the Hyatt Regency is located.

The property is well kept and is is near the ocean. They have several restaurants, a spa, fitness room and pool. The staff is also friendly and knowledgeable--many speak more than one language.

We stayed on the Regency Club floor. Staying on this floor gave us priviledges to use the Club lounge.

The lounge serves a continental breakfast every morning, ice tea and cookies during the daytime and cocktails every evening.

I was quite impressed with their continental breakfast. My idea of a continental breakfast was just some pastries, juice and coffee, but their service in the lounge included salads, different sausages, cheeses, fruit, as well as pastries, breads, cereals and coffee/tea--this kind of life is something one could really get used to.


Hyatt Regency Saipan
Garapan
Phone: +1.670.234.1234

hafa adai

"Hafa Adai"--sorry for the long pause we were in Saipan for a couple of days.

"Hafa adai" (which sounds like "half-a-day" to me) is the local greeting, kind of like Hawaii's "aloha" and Japan's "doomo".

The weather was predicted as rain on the weather channel website but we were really lucky to have beautiful weather.

Lots of photos to sort through and posts to write.

Check back often, have a great week!