DAY 26-28 (5-7 May 2023): SAIPAN - Garapan

Welcome to Saipan, a “commonwealth” of the United States and not a UN Country. This is my 5th overseas territory for both Visit and Run.

 

Saipan (Pop 49,551) is only 1.7% the size of Tasmania and is officially part of the CNMI or “Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands” which comprises a 523km long archipelago of 14 islands, the principal inhabited islands being Saipan, Guguan, Rota. Saipan is not a territory of the US like Guam but a commonwealth. What the heck is a US commonwealth ? Glad you aksed ! Let m explain it by saying that a US territory is what comes before a US state but in the case of CNMI, they were offered independence (like Palau) but did not choose it so the USA gave them special status above a territory but not quite a US state. CNMI has its own multi-party elections and runs itself with a US appointed Governor overseeing what they do. A little like Australia, the Head of State of CNMI is the US President but he has no right of veto over CNMI laws but can sack the government like our own English Monarch.

 

As a result of being a commonwealth, the island has no US military presence and is instead a giant memorial to the fierce and bloody battles fought between the USA and Japan when the US landed here in June 1944. More on this soon.

 

Traces of human settlements on Saipan have been found by archaeologists over 4,000 years ago, including petroglyphs, ancient Latte Stones – no not coffee but pillars that look like mushroom stools that hold up the meeting places of the village chief and his key ministers.

 

The indigenous of Saipan are the Chamorros – the same as Guam with their own language and distinct from Micronesians and Palauans.

 

The Spanish formally occupied the island in 1668. After 1670, it became a port of call for Spanish and occasional English, Dutch and French ships as a supply station for food and water.

 

After the Spanish–American War of 1898, Saipan was occupied by the United States. However, it was then sold by Spain to the German Empire in 1899.

 

In 1914, during World War I, the island was captured by the Empire of Japan. Immigration began in the 1920s by ethnic Japanese, Taiwanese and Okinawans, who developed large-scale sugar plantations. Japan considered Saipan to be part of the last line of defences for the Japanese homeland, and thus had strongly committed to defending it. The Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy garrisoned Saipan heavily from the late 1930s, building numerous coastal artillery batteries, shore defences, underground fortifications and an airstrip. In mid-1944, nearly 30,000 troops were based on the island.

 

The Battle of Saipan, from 15 June to 9 July 1944, was one of the major campaigns of World War II. The United States Marine Corps and United States Army landed on the beaches of the southwestern side of the island and after 28 days of heavy fighting, captured the island from the Japanese. The battle killed 3,426 American soldiers, 23,242 Japanese soldiers and uncounted thousands of Japanese, Korean and indigenous civilians.

 

There are many memorials and wrecks to attest to the mayhem that occurred here in WWII. I saw many of these, which you will too in the photos below.

 

Saipan is nothing like Guam – heaps smaller, nicer, quieter and friendlier. Like Guam it is surrounded by a coral shelf with pristine crystal waters.

 

Garapan (Pop 14,122) is the main city and undergoing a lot of reconstruction and upgrading. It has a brand-new up-market mall and a massive gold-encrusted Casino that was opened in 2014 by a very wealthy Chinese widow and her son but now lies dormant given COVID19 !!!

 

In the four days and three nights I was here I hired a car and drove a total of 197km around the entire island absorbing its history and locals like one giant outdoor museum. The strangest custom I encountered was cars putting on their hazards and stopping to let me take photos and film of downtown scenery – it seems that pedestrians have the right of way here.

 

I visited the following places. In the northern half of the island: Tanapag Beach, Pau Pau Beach, Wing Beach, Korean Peace Memorial, Last Japanese Command Post (Has Wrecks), Japanese Peace Memorial, Banzai Cliff (Northmost), Suicide Cliff, The Grotto, Bird Island Lookout, Abandoned Pacific Barrier Radar III, Semi-Submerged US Tank (off Saipan World Resort). In the southern half of the island: Saipan World Resort Beach (2.1km Swim), Mount Carmel Cathedral, WWII Japanese Air Raid Shelters (Wrecks), Japanese Air Base Memorial, Ladder Beach, Obyan Beach, Laulau Beach, Forbidden Island Lookout, Tank Beach, Santa Lourdes Shrine, Lake Susupe, Capital Hill, Banzai Cliff (Fly Drone), American Memorial Park (Fly Drone).

 

In Garapan I visited: Old Japanese Jail, CNMI Museum of History and Culture, Saipan Katori Shrine, Micro Beach, Paseo De Marianas Mall, American Memorial Park, Court of Honor and Flag Circle. The American Memorial Park is the stand-out with terrific exhibits and a 10min film that describes everything that happened here to end WWII. The strangest wreck I saw was an abandoned WWII communications radar dish !!!

Another unexpected feature was the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in the middle of the island which has been rumored to be a miracle statue of the Virgin Mary.

 

The highlight of my stay was definitely the half-submerged USA made Sherman 4 Tank, which for me is the iconic image of Guam and Saipan and the battles of WWII. The most incredible stroke of luck is that as I walked out to the tank a family of local people approached it and helped film me and also told their story from their boat – wait to you see the film !!!

Saipan made a big impression on me and I hope it does the same to you with these images…

DAY 24-25 (3-4 May 2023): GUAM (North) – Tamuning – Hagatna

Welcome to Guam, an “overseas territory” of the United States and not a UN Country. This is my 4th overseas territory for both Visit and Run.

 

Guam (Pop 171,774) is a peace of California but only 8% the size of Tasmania, covered in lush, thick low-height vegetation and surrounded by coral and clear turquoise waters. I say California because the main city Tamuning looks like any city in California, which I explain later. Guam is a territory and not a state of the USA even though it has a “Governor” and completely controlled and governed by the US Government. Most of the island is covered in military installations, the biggest of which is the Andersen Air Force Base which ran many sorties against the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII including the very last air mission to bomb Japanese Fuel Depots, 5 days after the Hiroshima Nagasaki Nuclear Bomb to ensure the Japanese did not have the fuel to retaliate.

 

People born on Guam are American citizens but are politically disenfranchised, having no vote in the United States presidential elections while residing on Guam. Indigenous Guamanians are the Chamoru, who are related to the Austronesian peoples of Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Polynesia. The Chamorro language is its own language like Palauan and not classified as a Micronesian or Polynesian language. Rather, like Palauan, it possibly constitutes an independent branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language. Chamorros are the largest ethnic group, but a minority on the multi-ethnic island. The Chamorro people settled the island approximately 3,500 years ago.

 

Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, while in the service of Spain, was the first European to visit the island on 6 March 1521. Guam was colonized by Spain in 1668 with obvious remnants of forts and Catholic Churches to prove it !!! Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Guam was an important stopover for the Spanish Manila Galleons. During the Spanish–American War, the United States captured Guam on 21 June 1898. Under the 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded Guam to the US effective 11 April 1899.

 

Before World War II, Guam was one of five American jurisdictions in the Pacific Ocean, along with Wake Island in Micronesia, American Samoa and Hawaii in Polynesia, and the Philippines. On 8 December 1941, hours after the attack on Pearl Harbour, Guam was captured by the Japanese, who occupied the island for two and a half years. During the occupation, Guamanians were subjected to forced labour, incarceration, torture and execution. American forces recaptured the island on 21 July 1944. Since the 1960s, Guam's economy has been supported primarily by tourism and the US military, for which Guam is a major strategic asset.

 

An unofficial but frequently used territorial motto is "Where America's Day Begins", which refers to the island's proximity to the International Date Line. Guam is among the 17 non-self-governing territories listed by the United Nations, and has been a member of the Pacific Community since 1983.

 

Now back to why I called Guam – California. The main city of Tamuning (Pop 19,285) is like a beachside suburb of Los Angeles or San Francisco – big wide roads full of traffic, open-plan shopping malls with big car parks around them, all the Californian fast food outlets, ugly industrial areas and hotels and malls that look like they were built in the 1980’s and 1990’s. This city is run-down, tired and old looking. What is not like California is the wonderful, clear, turquoise water with coral that surrounds the entire island. This makes Guam very sensitive to tides – you cannot distance swim here at low tide since the coral shield surrounding the island is too shallow and you cannot go out to sea without ripping yourself on the coral and outlying rocks – I found this out the hard way !!!

 

During my first stay in Guam I hired a car for two days and drove a total of 163km visiting Tamuning, Hagatna (The Capital for the US and Indigenous) and the entire northern section of the island. I then scooted off to Saipan for 3 days and returned for a second visit to drive the southern section of Guam. The capital is a much more pleasant place with obvious Spanish architecture and colourful buildings as you will see in the photos. In Tamuning I visited: Archbishop Felixberto Flores Memorial Circle,  Sagan Kotturan Chamoru Cultural Center Guam (Viewpoint), Hilton Hotel Chapel and Lookout, Ypao Beach, Chinese Park, Puntan Dos Amantes (Two Lover’s Point), Micronesia Mall. In Hagatna, I visited Libugon Vista Point, Mount Alifan Unit War, Fort Santa Agueda, Governor's House, Japanese Fortification, Dulce Nombre De Basilica (our Lady of Purification Cathedral), Almacen Arches, Azotea, Guam Congress Building, Guam National Musuem, Guam National Post Office, Skinner Plaza, Fallen Memorial, General Macarthur Bust, San Antonia Bridge, Agana Bay, Agana Statue of Liberty.

 

My drive around northern Guam was nowhere near as scenic as Palau due to the many military installations and associated commercial business that service the military chewing up forest and littering the landscape with solar farms, concrete pits, electrical poles and wires and radar domes that look like giant golf balls !!! Beaches are beautiful especially Riridian on the northern tip. I visited the following places in the north: Pagat Cave Lookout, South Pacific Memorial Park, Riridian Point & Beach, Ritidian Viewpoint, WWII Memorial "The Last Mission", Tanguisson Beach, Puntan Dos Amantes (Two Lovers Leap), Tamon Beach, Onward Beach, Oka Point.

 

Just like the rest of the Western Pacific, Guam has also picked up “pigeon English” and the popular word for HELLO is HAFA ADAI or “Have A Good Day”…

 

During my stay in Guam and Saipan I watched the movies “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima” since both are based on the 1944 US-Japan battles that led to the end of WWII. Iwo Jima is an island 1,309km north of Guam where these movies are based.

Please enjoy the sites of Northern Guam…