Exploring Saipan in March 2019

Exiting the terminal there were not many people oustide, but a couple of guys holding home-made signs saying Taxi. I looked around a little bit, and saw no other taxi signs, so I decided to go with one of the guys, who quoted me a fixed price (I think 10 dollars) to my hotel, The GrandVrio in Garapan. The fare was fair, so I decided it was a good option.

• Introduction – 48 hours in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands
• Quick Review – Hong Kong Express – Hong Kong – Saipan – Hong Kong
• Review – Hotel GrandVrio resort, Saipan
• Exploring Saipan

As my driver dropped me off, he offered me to book him for a half-day trip around the island, and gave me his number. I said I would think about it, as for now I just needed a nap. Check-in at the hotel was quick and easy, and I soon found a bed for my early morning nap (I think it was around 6 am now.)

Waking up a few hours later, it was time to go exploring, and to find somewhere for lunch. Turning left as I left the hotel, I headed into what would be downtown Garapan (it is the biggest city in Saipan, but still quite small), and kept walking north to the memorial park, which also had a nice cove and beaches.

I then thought about heading further up north, but it was hot and humid, so rather headed back towards the town centre via the beach, which had nice views of a small, nearby island and someones little toy…

Back in town it turned out to be a very quiet little city, seemed all places were having a mid-day siesta, and I was struggeling to find anywhere serving food, so ended up at Subway in the end (I was in America after all.) It was also interesting that there were a lot of rental car dealers, all offering pink or yellow convertible Mustangs and Camaros. Must be catering for their Korean and Japanese tourists I would guess.

The heat was now getting annoying (must have been close to 40 degrees), so headed back to my hotel for a quick dip in the pool, and then up to my room to enjoy my Kindle a little bit, before heading out for sunset drinks and dinner.

I was convinced there had to be some good beach bars somwhere to enjoy the sunset, so I set off along the beach (which was great for walking – white, firm sand), and after a little while I took a seat at the Hyatt beach bar and enjoyed a couple of cold beers and an incredible sunset.

And then thankfully, my cold beer arrived. A Sirena Blonde from Saipan brewing company, a beer I had never tasted before.

Dinner this first night was at Hard Rock Cafe – I used to collect Hard Rock Cafe coffee mugs before, so I went here to add to my collection. The restaurant was nice, but almost deserted.

For dinner, I went for the culinary experience of a burger (again, I was in America after all, and that is their national dish, isn’t it?)

Now it was time to explore a little again, and there was this very out of place looking, huge building lit up, so I headed that way to see what it was. Apparently, it was a hotel and casino complex, still under construction, but the casino part was open, so I went there to loose some money.

Having lost most of my budget for the holiday, I headed out for another beer. I had seen a small bar earlier when I was walking, and decided to head there, where they had ice-cold Coors Light (I’m a big fan of Deadliest Catch on Discoery Channel), so had a couple of those before heading back to bed. Before sleeping I did text my driver form earlier and booked him for a half-day tour of the island for the next morning, with a departure time of 9 am I think. Agreed on a fixed price of 50 dollars, which was a great deal.

The next morning my driver arrived on time, and he asked if I wanted to see something in particular, but I said he could make any itinerary, as I was not very familiar with Saipan and didn’t know what was worth visiting. He then set off to the closest bottle store, and insisted that I have a beer (it was 9 in the morning, and not really my thing, but you never say no to free beer.)

We then headed up north, first stop was the Bonzai Cliff and famous suicide cliffs, which holds a very dark backstory from the US invasion of the island during WW2 in 1944. The view was beautiful though.

We then drove up to the top of the suicide cliffs to see the view from there.

The next stop was the Grotto, a natural wonder in Saipan – it’s a collapsed limestone cavern that connects to the Pacific Ocean through three underwater tunnels. There were about 100 steps below ground level before I arrived at the Pacific ocean. There were quite a few people diving and snorkeling there, but I decided to just watch :d

The current looked quite strong, so I decided to stay on dry land for my visit here.

The coastline was still very rugged in this area.

Next we headed off to Kalabera Cave, which was not very interestig or impressive. Unless you are into cave exploring I guess, but the cave was closed after a few meters. However, you could make out some of the old wall paintings made by the Chamorro people made thousands of years ago.

Then we stopped by at the “Last Command Post”, another WW2 historical and important sites. Reading the history of it makes me wonder how many WW2 stories I have never learned about – coming from Norway I learned mostly about the war in Europe, and very little about what happened in the Pacific.

My gude felt that this was enough sighteeing for now, and we headed off to the Kensington Hotel for lunch. We were constantly chatting during the drive, the man was a very kind and gentle Bangladeshi national, who had been living in Saipan for more than 20 years, working as a taxi driver. We discussed a lot about the island, and also his home country and food there, and he was very happy to hear that I was a curry lover, in particular chicken tikka masala or butter chicken. He also said that where his accomodation was, they had still not gotten their electricity back, although it had been months since last year typhon had made a direct his on Saipan. There was still evidence of the strong winds everywhere on the island though.

We then headed up to the top of Mount Tapochao, which also had a very interesting story, and offered great views of the island. It also had an interesting sign which I had never seen anywhere else before….

After this I was dropped off at my hotel, and I spent a couple of hours exploring the city a bit more, and had another dip in the pool. The afternoon heat was again very strong.

That evening I decided to head to the nightmarket, and see if I can find something there to eat, but as I was about to leave the hotel, my driver called me and asked where I was. I said I was just heading out, but he asked if I could wait 10 minutes, as he had a surprise for me. Being intrigued, I said sure, and sat down in the reception to wait. A few minutes later he arrived, and gave me a white plastic bag with some food inside. I asked him what this was, and he said his wife was so happy to hear that I liked curry, so she had cooked me her own recipie for Chicken Tikka Masala, with both steamed rice and Paratha. I thanked him so much, and headed back to my room for my dinner 🙂

There was not much happening at the night market, so I headed back to the Godfather bar where I had been the night before for a couple of more Coors Light, before heading to bed as I had a 2 am pick-up for my transport to the airport.

Overall i was very surprised by Saipan. It was not what I expected, it felt much more Mediterranean than American (might have something to do with it being Spanish for 333 years. Might actually have been more Mexican than American, but I’ve not been to Mexico, so who knows. So this was yet another destination that I could tick of my “travel to” list (and put on the “go back to” list).