Strolling down Beach Road...

While looking for a apartment, Colleen and I stayed at the Century Hotel for over a week in Garapan, the downtown district of Saipan.  During that week, we frantically looked at apartments and homes, test drove cars, Colleen got ready to start school...it occasionally got a bit stressful.  For exercise, and a stress-reliever, I took a daily walk/jog down Beach Road by our hotel, which conveniently runs along the ocean on the west side of the island.

As a side note, there are 3 main roads on the entire island - Beach Road, Middle Road, and Back Island Road.  In keeping with the quirkiness and often illogical nature of Saipan, only Beach Road is actually named Beach Road.  The other two have different names but are still referred to as Middle and Back Island Roads.  This is because Saipan only got street signs within the past five years.  Even with street signs though, Saipan still has no addresses at all.  Instead, everyone uses a P.O. Box and describes where things are based on landmarks rather than addresses....quirky indeed.  "The cell phone store?  That's next to the Pizza Hut" (there's only one island), "The Hyatt?  Turn at the tennis courts on Middle Road." You get used to it quickly.

Anyway, the point of this post is to show the sites along Beach Road that I would see everyday on my stroll because its really a good representation of the entire island - a blatant, sometimes disheartening, oddly interesting, and often beautiful juxtaposition between the serenity and natural beauty of a tropical island alongside decrepit buildings, wealth, poverty, and Japanese tourists.  Its like nothing I've ever seen in my entire life.  Here are some of the highlights of Beach Road...



 



24-hour poker places, video poker to be exact.  There's at least 50 of these places on Saipan, and they are truly sad to see in light of all the economic plight here.

 
 

Three military boats are constantly looming in the lagoon.  Apparently they are the first line of defense from North Korea.

Some of the ugliness next to the ocean.

One of many reminders that you're still in the U.S.  Notice the price of gas.

We haven't tried it yet, but apparently its good.

A typical "strip mall" on Saipan.  If you can't see closely, this includes a pool hall, Chinese Restaurant, notary public, beauty salon, Karoake bar, and dance school.

Its hard to see, but there's a "Peace" sign at the top of this hill, much like the Hollywood sign.  One of my favorite things about Saipan is that there is just as much emphasis on peace as there is on WWII history.