SPOILER ALERT: Guam. Guam wins. This last week I had the opportunity to take a break from vacation, which is actually just work with less people around, and take a real vacation and go visit the nearby island Guam. I had made these plans in the hopes of getting some good Mexican food as there is none on Saipan. I never thought I would like it so much! The food! The People. The food, the views, the food, the shopping, the food! Did I mention food? Seriously after being in Saipan for 6 months, I felt like I was eating like Royalty. I decided to do a points system to really compare the two islands just so I am being completely fair to Saipan. Because in truth Saipan has a lot going for it.
Food I'm sure you could guess the winner here, Its Guam. I mean it has Mexican food. and really great service. And prices that I don't hate. The quality is much higher. The whole experience is much better in Guam. It really spoiled me. I'm sitting on my couch so hungry writing this instead of eating because after the good life nothing seems good anymore... Anyway even though Guam lost points for Taco Bell being closed on Christmas Day, I will still give them the win.
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Empty and Closed[/caption]
Swimming Now I didn't do any swimming while I was in Guam, mostly because a lady I met at church told me that Saipan has vastly better snorkeling/ swimming, so I decided that I would focus on the things that Saipan didn't have while I was there. The beaches were beautiful but I think I would have to give both beaches and swimming and snorkeling to Saipan.
Site Seeing At first I thought that Guam was winning hands down, it had beautiful views of the ocean, amazing rolling hills and valleys, awesome jungles, and I was close to giving it a tie with a edge to Guam because it was all new. But then I went to a few places that were pay to see, and that just didn't right with me. So Point Saipan.
One of them was a waterfall that you have to get to by tram, which was pretty cool, and I guess justifies the entry fee. Still didn't care for the cost though, Although Saipan locals can get local discount so that was good to know.
[gallery ids="1261,1263,1260,1262" type="rectangular"]
The track in the picture leads to on old cave, in this cave a Japanese Soldier lived for 28 years after the war had ended not knowing what had happened. It was pretty cool to see, I climbed in to check it out but it was kinda flooded so I didn't go in much at all. Still was really cool to see.
The second place that really turned me off was Two Lovers Point. As the legend goes A wealthy Spanish man who had married a local woman was going to marry is daughter off to a Spanish Captain. As in all these stories she was upset and ran to the beach to think. It was there that she met a nice looking local man and fell in love with him, When the father heard about this he was angry and demanded she marry the captain. She ran off and me her man on the top of a cliff near the place they had first met. When everyone came to get them they braided their hair together and threw themselves off the cliff. I guess life was not worth living if they had to be apart...
The Legend Anyway they charge people to go to this place. It was very commercialized. There was a restaurant overlooking the cliff, and gift shops, vendors. It was like a theme park. and boy was it crowded. Below are pictures of the statue, and the views, and a fence where two people can show their love by buying a heart shaped lock and a foam heart, write their names on it, and lock it too the fence for all eternity, or until the fence fills up. Its no throwing yourself off a cliff, but I think the sentiment is the same...
[gallery ids="1259,1258,1257,1256,1255" type="slideshow"]
Stores Aside from the amazing cuisine on Guam, the stores were pretty good too. I mean in Saipan's "Mall" Its high end stores that sell $800 belts. Seriously... its a belt... But Guam had cheap places like Ross, where a fella could buy cheap good clothes you know if he wanted to stand in a line 3 miles long. Still though point Guam. They had K-mart, and food stores where the prices were similar but still cheaper than Saipan.
Home Depot, most of you will not understand at all but Home depot deserved its own paragraph. I had forgotten what a good hardware store was like. And the thing that really shocked me was the prices were the same as in the states! It was so nice to walk around the store, look at all the tools, and deals, (almost bought a saw, but turned out to have a defect so I left it) I really felt close to home.
[gallery ids="1249,1248" type="rectangular"]
Places to go I cant fault Saipan for this because its so small but there isn't a ton of stuff to do here. especially after dark. Guam is more like living in a city with all the benefits of living in the country. Lots to do but in just 5 minutes you can be away from it all. While there is still plenty for me to explore here, I think I will give the point to Guam because I feel I could keep busy for a lot longer.
Bed The bed I stayed in While in Guam was awesome, Much more comfortable than my bed here.
Church/ People I really enjoyed the church service I went to. And the people were very friendly, Not that the people in Saipan aren't but It was really nice to see that was the same.
Drivers As you might know from my other posts I am no fan of the drivers in Saipan. In fact I'm quite certain Saipan is home to the worst drivers on planet Earth, and even though my buddy was almost run over while in a crosswalk by a lady running a red light, I will still give the point of better drivers to Guam, by a lot. Actually lets give Guam 2 points, Those of you who don't live here wouldn't understand.
Spiders Neither win here. Both have crazy big spiders.
[gallery ids="1244,1246,1245" type="slideshow"]
As you can see Guam won the contest, sorry for the spoilers. All in all I had a great time in Guam, I got to visit the Adventist Academy and really liked it, maybe I will send in an application someday. I'd really like to live there. Got to meet up with some friends I havn't seen in a while, Had some good Christmas Eve dinner, and lots and lots of good food and sleep. As well as lots of exploring. I really needed this break, Now that I'm back home I guess its back to work, even though its Vacation. Below are some more pictures from my trip.
Food I'm sure you could guess the winner here, Its Guam. I mean it has Mexican food. and really great service. And prices that I don't hate. The quality is much higher. The whole experience is much better in Guam. It really spoiled me. I'm sitting on my couch so hungry writing this instead of eating because after the good life nothing seems good anymore... Anyway even though Guam lost points for Taco Bell being closed on Christmas Day, I will still give them the win.
[caption id="attachment_1247" align="alignnone" width="720"]
Empty and Closed[/caption]Swimming Now I didn't do any swimming while I was in Guam, mostly because a lady I met at church told me that Saipan has vastly better snorkeling/ swimming, so I decided that I would focus on the things that Saipan didn't have while I was there. The beaches were beautiful but I think I would have to give both beaches and swimming and snorkeling to Saipan.
Site Seeing At first I thought that Guam was winning hands down, it had beautiful views of the ocean, amazing rolling hills and valleys, awesome jungles, and I was close to giving it a tie with a edge to Guam because it was all new. But then I went to a few places that were pay to see, and that just didn't right with me. So Point Saipan.
One of them was a waterfall that you have to get to by tram, which was pretty cool, and I guess justifies the entry fee. Still didn't care for the cost though, Although Saipan locals can get local discount so that was good to know.
[gallery ids="1261,1263,1260,1262" type="rectangular"]
The track in the picture leads to on old cave, in this cave a Japanese Soldier lived for 28 years after the war had ended not knowing what had happened. It was pretty cool to see, I climbed in to check it out but it was kinda flooded so I didn't go in much at all. Still was really cool to see.
The second place that really turned me off was Two Lovers Point. As the legend goes A wealthy Spanish man who had married a local woman was going to marry is daughter off to a Spanish Captain. As in all these stories she was upset and ran to the beach to think. It was there that she met a nice looking local man and fell in love with him, When the father heard about this he was angry and demanded she marry the captain. She ran off and me her man on the top of a cliff near the place they had first met. When everyone came to get them they braided their hair together and threw themselves off the cliff. I guess life was not worth living if they had to be apart...
The Legend Anyway they charge people to go to this place. It was very commercialized. There was a restaurant overlooking the cliff, and gift shops, vendors. It was like a theme park. and boy was it crowded. Below are pictures of the statue, and the views, and a fence where two people can show their love by buying a heart shaped lock and a foam heart, write their names on it, and lock it too the fence for all eternity, or until the fence fills up. Its no throwing yourself off a cliff, but I think the sentiment is the same...
[gallery ids="1259,1258,1257,1256,1255" type="slideshow"]
Stores Aside from the amazing cuisine on Guam, the stores were pretty good too. I mean in Saipan's "Mall" Its high end stores that sell $800 belts. Seriously... its a belt... But Guam had cheap places like Ross, where a fella could buy cheap good clothes you know if he wanted to stand in a line 3 miles long. Still though point Guam. They had K-mart, and food stores where the prices were similar but still cheaper than Saipan.
Home Depot, most of you will not understand at all but Home depot deserved its own paragraph. I had forgotten what a good hardware store was like. And the thing that really shocked me was the prices were the same as in the states! It was so nice to walk around the store, look at all the tools, and deals, (almost bought a saw, but turned out to have a defect so I left it) I really felt close to home.
[gallery ids="1249,1248" type="rectangular"]
Places to go I cant fault Saipan for this because its so small but there isn't a ton of stuff to do here. especially after dark. Guam is more like living in a city with all the benefits of living in the country. Lots to do but in just 5 minutes you can be away from it all. While there is still plenty for me to explore here, I think I will give the point to Guam because I feel I could keep busy for a lot longer.
Bed The bed I stayed in While in Guam was awesome, Much more comfortable than my bed here.
Church/ People I really enjoyed the church service I went to. And the people were very friendly, Not that the people in Saipan aren't but It was really nice to see that was the same.
Drivers As you might know from my other posts I am no fan of the drivers in Saipan. In fact I'm quite certain Saipan is home to the worst drivers on planet Earth, and even though my buddy was almost run over while in a crosswalk by a lady running a red light, I will still give the point of better drivers to Guam, by a lot. Actually lets give Guam 2 points, Those of you who don't live here wouldn't understand.
Spiders Neither win here. Both have crazy big spiders.
[gallery ids="1244,1246,1245" type="slideshow"]
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