Flying to the Hard Rock Café
Trip Start
Mar 17, 2007
1
289
435
Trip End
Ongoing
Saipan, Northern Mariana Isl.
Friday, May 23, 2008
23/05: We land in Guam at 6h tomorrow morning, local time, leaving us an hour for our connection to Saipan, which we make. When we land in Saipan, 40 minutes later, the time here is 08h40. We are at the Century hotel, shortly after 9. An American style hotel with the big advantage: 2 blocks away of the HRC!
http://www.hardrock.com/locations/cafes3/cafe.aspx?LocationID=77&MIBEnumID=3
Saipan is the largest island of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a chain of 15 tropical islands belonging to the Marianas archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean with a total area of 115.39 km², population 62 392. It is about 200 km north of Guam, about 20 km long and 9 km wide.
The western side of the island is lined with sandy beaches and an offshore coral reef which creates a large lagoon. The eastern shore is composed primarily of rugged rocky cliffs and a reef. Its highest point is a limestone covered mountain called Mount Tapochau at 474 m.
I did not sleep at all on the plane, so I need a couple of hours rest. We walk to the HRC for lunch. It is amazing: it looks like we are in suburb of an American city! Unusual for me: I have a steak. The veggies of the day: broccoli: YUK! Dr T finds with his hamburger. Pins are bought and we walk back home. Free wireless, so we spend some time on the laptop.
In the evening, we walk through a real American Diner and through a dark corridor, full of slot machines to the bar. We play cards. My bad luck does not change: how is that possible: I lose game after game! Of course, the Tomcat learned a lot and there is NOTHING I can do against his great hands of cards. I eat pig ears and knuckles.
24/05: We did not plan a lot for today: have to be at the airport at 13h30. Luckily, we did not plan: we wake up at 11h! The only thing we saw in Saipan was the HRC. But, hey, that is why we came here. We fly from Saipan to Guam, where the whole security circus starts again... . We eat at the airport: I am NOT eating that crap anymore, they serve on Continental Airlines! 1,5h to Yap, where we arrive at ...
