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Monday, Dec 19th, 2005 at 10:42 pm
Traditional Yapese art, Trader’s Ridge Hotel (photo: Simon Sellars).
Yap is the most traditional island in Micronesia. Some men still get around in loincloth; women often walk around topless. And everyone chews betel nut, a centuries-old tradition that is stronger than ever.
When my plane landed at Yap ‘airport’ (such as it is; the terminal is about […]
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Monday, Dec 19th, 2005 at 9:19 pm
Arakabesang island, Koror state, Palau (photo: Simon Sellars).
I haven’t updated this Micronesia blog for some time and there are a few reasons for that. Partly it’s because the business of being a guidebook writer can be so bloody exhausting at times. I was in Koror, in Palau, the other week, driving around in an unroadworthy […]
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Thursday, Dec 8th, 2005 at 6:21 pm
Atomic Bomb Pits, Tinian (photo: Simon Sellars).
Tinian is a somnambulant one-village island, about as lovely as Rota; I did it as a day-trip from Saipan – ferry there, plane back. As expected, Tinian’s beaches were superb and the history eye-wincingly poignant – it was captured by the US in 1944 and turned into the world’s […]
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Saturday, Dec 3rd, 2005 at 10:55 am
At the end of a long, hot day contemplating war and the New World Order, sometimes all you need is one of these sticking out the end of a Singapore Sling (Sunset Bar and Grill, Pacific Gardenia, Saipan) (photo: Simon Sellars).
Saipan and has been and gone (I’m now in Yap), and because I fell for […]
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Monday, Nov 28th, 2005 at 6:48 am
House in the hills, Rota (photo: Simon Sellars).
I’ve been in Saipan for the last few days, where I experienced my first downer of the trip. I feel violently ill thinking about it. But first I need to espouse the charms of the tiny, one-village island of Rota, between Guam and Saipan.
On Rota the people are […]
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Wednesday, Nov 23rd, 2005 at 3:58 pm
Gun Beach, Tumon Bay (photo: Simon Sellars).
Hafa adai. I’ve been in Guam for five days. And get this: I attracted a tan by the close of the first day. I’ve even bought sunglasses and a sun hat, hitherto unnecessary items for a Melbourne boy like me. And I’ve received an education, perhaps not so surprising […]
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Friday, Nov 18th, 2005 at 8:30 pm
I’m currently on the road updating the Micronesia portion of Lonely Planet’s South Pacific and Micronesia guidebook. To get to Guam, though, the first leg, I had to fly from Melbourne to Cairns. That was great, thanks to five heavyset Maori dudes on board, wearing gangsta gear and huge smiles. They were clearly out […]
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