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MAGNIF ICENTMICRONES IAWhere America's Day BeginsT ex t & P hc u qrs p 5 Lynette Hinings-Marshall

"The re it is ," sa id m y hu sband po in ting a t the sm al l isl an d below .'That's Tinian, where the at om ic bom b was la unch ed in W orld War 11."The deta ils o f the En ol a Gay flig ht from Tin ia n to H iroshim a a re wellknow n and I r em ember some o f this histo ry, but fro m the a ir Ti nianto da y is a tin y ato ll restin g peacefully in the sparkling water s of thePa cific.

W ith w in ter loom ing we craved a week in the sun so choseM i cr on e si a b e cau se it guara n teed warm weather, snorke ling, d iv ing ,hik ing , and even hi sto ry w ith im por tan t s ites from World W ar II. Oh yes ,th e ro ws of des igner store s were at trac tive too . Our it inera ry inc lud edGuam -with it s s lo g an 'W here America 's day beg ins" bec aus e it's thew este rn mo st te rrito ry o f the Unite d States-Sa ipa n, an d a day trip toTin ian .

W ith frequent flights and no need for visa s Guam ca n be a m in i-vacatio n d estin atio n or, as it was for us, a jumping of f po int fo r so meisl an d hoppin g. An ad ded a ttra ction was that just a few hours fromS eoul w e could step on Amer ica n so il w ith a ll the fam ilia rity that thisbri ngs . A l though American history o f M icro nes ia i s recent, Guam's ric hlin ea ge s tr etches back to primitive tim es . We saw a litt le o f t his pas twhen we stood at the spo t whe re Ferd inand Magellan la nd ed so mef i v e centuries ago. H is crew nam ed Guam Is las dela s ve la s Latin as orthe Is land o f L ateen S ails b ecause o f the triangu la r-shaped sa ils onthe proa [ca noes] manned by the local inhabi ta nts, the Cham orro.Th eir socie ty was Neolith ic an d the peo ple were sea far ers who _~ai ledto M icronesia m ore than 3 ,5 0 0 y ears ago and esta b lished a sH"on gmatriarcha l society tha t has su rv ived centur ies of foreig n occupation.

A fte r M agel lan , th e S pa nish ruled for alm os t 250 years. Heav ilyla de n w ith gold an d silver m ined in the New W orld , Sp anish ga lleo nsfrom Me xic o a n d th e Ph ilip pin es s to pped at G uam fo r pro visio n ing. Th eships then sa iled to China where they traded the pr ecious metal s forsi lks an d spice s. Th is l iv el y trad ing perio d came to an end w ith th eMexican Revolution when the isl and was ceded to the Un ited S ta tes in1 8 9 8 . A y ea r la te r, the U nite d S ta te s fo rm a lly purch ased G uam , a lo ngw ith other ter rito rie s, from the Spanish for $20 m illion and use d theisl and as a US nava l base.

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Japanese bunker, Saipan

Like mos t tou rists we were keen to vi sit the w ar sites so on oursecond day we headed for N im itz H ill. Som e w ill remember Hen ryFo nda playing the role of Admira l Chester N im itz wh o won bac kMicronesia for the United S tat es a t the end o f the S econd W orld W ar.W e first stop ped at the Pacific W ar M useum . Built by form er USMarine John Gerb er a nd v ol un te ers, it has an expansive col lect ion ofa rtifacts m ostly co llected by Gerbe r. He was not on ha nd during ourvisit but on most days he is happy to perform thero le o f doc ent. W e drove on to the v illag e of A sa nwh ere the two- storied houses are nes tled into thehills. The huge Camel Rock at A san is thece n terp ie ce o f one of Guam 's m any legends and thesto ryline is that the Chamorro people were sostrong, eve n a small ch ild ad the streng th o fseveral m en . W hen the Span ish were sa iling toHag atn a [just a sho rt dr ive north todayl , two boyswere chosen to retrieve a large rock and block theharbo r. It w as heav ie r than expe cted a nd w hen da rkcam e, because chi ld ren w ere t old not to b e o uts ideafter dark , the ch ild ren dropped the rock where theywere , in A san , then ran home.

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The drive up to N im itz H ill puts Asan Bay on magnificen t d isplaybelow . As we stoo d a t the o verlook we were ab le to imagine theen trenched Japanese so ld iers watching waves of Amer ican so ldi ersswarm in g the beach b elo w. The so litude on the hi ll was fitt in g re sp ec tfor the m emorial wall which features the nam es of Am ericans whodie d d uring the confli ct a long w ith n am es of al l the Cham orro who diedor suffe red d urin g th e J apa nes e o cc up atio n. V isi to rs who are fit can

hike through the jun g le at N im itz H il l to S igua Fa llswhe re the popu lar pa stim e is to jump 100 feet tothe po ol be low . In the sam e reg ion are the ap tlynamed Tarza n Falls whe re sever al fa lls empty intode ep po ols. An ad ded a ttraction at Tarza n Fa lls isthe fresh w ater shrim p in this br anch of the Y ligR iver. W e chos e to drive south fo r lunch a tLeopalac e Resort and C oun try C lub . Th is ma ssi veresort has never rea che d its po tentia l but theowne rs kee p try in g. L un ch was pleasan t an d it waswor th the trip to stand on the lake and enjoy thetranqu ility am id m iles of beautifu l la nd sc aping .Heading fa rther south we watch ed the lan ds capech ange to lusher out loo ks unti l ou r guideChamorro farmer

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exc la imed, "I f you look to your left you w ill se e Mount La m La m , thetal les t moun tain in the world ." A ll I could see was a rather sm all hi lland wondered what I w as m issing when the guide continu ed . "O fco urse most of the mountain is subm erged in the Maria nas Trench,which is the dee pes t loca tio n on Ear th . M ou n t Lam Lam is dee per thanMount Everest is high ." The hill was unspe ctac ula r but there was anexc item ent ab ou t bein g in such a un ique place.

A t our nex t stop we wa lk ed a roun d the mottledstone walls o f Fort Nuestra Senora de la Soledadwhich overlooks Umatac where the Chamorropeople first met M ag ella n in 15 21. Then it was on toTa lofo fo Bay on the eastern side of Guam whichho sts a popula r su rfing beac h, and we spen t therest of the after noo n sw imm ing and watching Paragliders. W ater activi ties in Guam are a defin ite d rawbecau se o f its lo cat ion at the edg e of the Mar ianasTrench. For hal f the ye ar visib il ity is as fa r do wn as150 feet w ith warm waters yea r round. R iv erb oats,outrig ge r ca noe s, submarines or sem i-submersib le boa ts can tak e you out to view the richan d diverse co ral reefs and sp on ges. Jus t o ff the

Japanese submarine, Saipan

co ast you can see sharks , pilot whales, sa ilfi sh , and man ta rays but it isthe shipw recks that m ake di v ing in Guam unique. Th ere is the WW ISMS Co rmoran and three WW II ships to explore-a ll still in tac t enoughto be photogenic.

W e were settling int o the rhy thm of is lan d life when it was tim e tohead for Sa ipa n, so we celeb ra ted our last n igh t in Guam at theCh amorro V illage night m ar ket. W e took our tim e cru ising row up on

row of food sta lls where fam ilies offered freshlyco ok ed Chamorro dishes. My fa vorit e was theKelaquin Ben adu which is ven iso n w ith peppers an dI qu ick ly acqu ired the loc al hab it of ad d ing E~eksaAga ga Ired rice ) to each dish I or dered. I d id pa ss ,however, on the pagua [betel nu t) that is a popu laraf ter d inner tra ditio n . It w as a ba lm y evening andaroun d 7 pm the so und of Kan tan Chamorrosin gin g bro ught us to the centra l dance area . Musicis integrat ed in to dai ly life in Guam and it wasimpossib le to stand st ill on the sidelin es as thelo cal s line da nced to the so und of trad itiona linstruments. Jus t a fter we joi ned in the musiccha nge d to the so ul ful belemba otuyan , which is aMagellan monument, Umatac

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Leopalace Resort, Guam

one -s tr ing instrument made from a hollow gourd and strung w ith tautw ire. W e found ourselves sw ay ing to what sounded like a musica llegend and I c ho se to be li ev e that it was the sto ry o f the do omed lov ersleap ing to their deaths o ff Pun tan Dos Amantes (Two Lov ers Po int !. orpe rha ps it was ab out S irena , the bea ut ifu l yo ung girl from legend whobe came a merma id. S irena lo ved to sw im and exasperated her motherbe cau se she would neglec t her chores in or der to spend tim esw imm ing. One day her mother was so upset w ith S irena when sh efound her sw imm ing ins tea d of worki ng tha t she shouted "S irena!That's itl I'v e had it w ith you ' I w ish you'd become a fish ' Do you hearme? You 're better o ff a fish! " A t that m oment, S irena 's godm other wason he r way to the rive r and heard the curse . 'Nol S irena is ha lf m ine IHer upper half w ill rem ain hum an I She w ill no t comple tely turn in to afish!" W ith that, S irena fe lt her legs turn to fins as she sw ifily swamde eper and deeper into the ocean.

Next m orning , befo re we headed to the ai rport for our half-hou rfl igh t to Sa ipan we co uldn 't res ist a typi ca l Chamor ro breakfas t ofdeboned m ilk fish an d red rice . W e add ed Finadeni, the peppery sauceo f crus hed red pe pp ers, soy, lemon juice an d green on ions an d fe lt wehad now as sim ilated. There ar e se vera l flig hts a day to Saipan for abo utUS .$60 and we stayed at the Mariana Resort and Spa . It was a litt le

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tired look in g but our com forta bl e room was abou t th ree times th e s iz eof an average hotel room wi th a huge bath roo m and a la rge balco nythat fa ce d the dramatic su nse ts. W ith a golf co urse, wate r sports, ala rge spa and horse ridi ng ava ilab le , it offered ev erythin g we needed torela x fo r a couple of day s. W e saw only two o ther gu es ts at the re so rtw ho w ere not Asian and m ost signs were in Japanese. W e arrange d totak e a light plane for the 3-m ile trip ac ross to Tin ian which w as a v eryreasonab le US .$25 per pe rso n rou nd trip and the n m y husban d wentto the large ocea n fron t poo l while I he aded fo r the spa .

W ith a list o f memoria l sites to v isit we sta rted a t the site o f theBattle of S aipan , d rar nat ized by John Woo in his film W in d talker s . ltto ldhow on Ju ly 7, 1944 the Japanese had now here to retreat so theircommand er, Sa ito , made plans fo r a final suici da l banza i char ge. Sa itofam ously s aid : 'T here is no lo nge r any di stinction between civi lian s andtroops. It w o uld be bet ter to jo in in the at tack w ith bamboo sp ears thanbe captured ." A t daw n, ab out 3 ,0 00 men charged fo rward in the fin alattack. Beh ind them came the wound ed, w ith band aged hea ds,crutches , and ba rely armed . F in a lly , on Ju ly 9 the Americansann oun ce d that Saipan was o ffi ci a lly secured and Saito a long w ithcomman ders H irakushi and Igeta, comm itted suic ide in a cave. M anyhund reds of Japanese civ ilia ns comm itte d suicide in the la st days of

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Umatac Bridge

the batt le , som e jum ping from "Suic id e C liff" and 'B anza i C liff. " Theybe lieved tha t if they lived the US. so ld iers would ea t their child ren.Sadly, a U .S . M arine re trieved ju st one liv ing baby from a cave full o fcorpses. On the day we stood a t the top of Suicide C liff su rrounded byJapanese tourists w e contempla ted the fr ighten ing despair and fea rand ul tima tely the coura ge it took to fi rst pu sh their childr en, thenfo llow to th eir ow n deaths.

Saipan is po ss ib ly bes t suite d to golfers an d those who want simplyto relax . Th ere are some good loca l restauran ts; our fa vo rite being thehome-sty le co oki ng of S hirley 's. It was an ea sy decision to drivedownt own to ea t lo ca lly when th e o ne-cho ice-on ly breakf as t at theresor t co st U ,5$28 a head ev en if yo u onl y wanted toast and co ffee .Another hin t: If y ou dec ide to s tay a t the Mar iana R esort, ro om c lea ningis "on requ est"; a quain t concept w e ha d n ever prev ious ly enco un tered.If you don't wan t to fly to T in ian , there is a dai ly fer ry serv ice bu t theshort di stance w ill ta ke a few hours an d the seas can be rough . Th etin y isl and interested us only as the si te where the Eno la Gay took o ff sowhe n the nex t day sta rted out clou dy w ith ra in threa tening ,

we opted fo r the com forts of the spa and a dr ive do wnt ow n fo r ale isurely lunch at the rev o lv ing resta ura nt. O f course , if you en joy

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ca sinos Tini an also hosts the po pula r Tini an Dynas ty Hotel and Casino.Our las tin g im pres sion of M icronesia is the genu ine fr ie ndlin es s

and ha ppy dispos ition o f the Chamorro pe ople. So o ften we weregreeted w ith Ha fa Adai [hello ] and seve ra l times when w e b eca me los tw hen search ing out a restauran t or site , w ith un fa iling ki ndness, wew ere show n the way. W hen we were hea ding home we rea lized howtho roug hly relaxed and re juvena ted we felt . M icrones ia is d efin itel y thede stina tion for yo u if y ou just wan t to get aw ay from the hustle andbustle of Seoul fo r a sh ort while and ret urn ref reshed. Adi os.

Lynette Hinings-Marsball has travelled abroad every year'since her 19th birthday and has lived for long periods inAustralia, Cyprus, Puerto Rico, Korea, the United States,Mexico and Malaysia. She has a Diploma in ProfessionalWriting and Editing and is currently writing a textbook for thetour guiding profession.