Homeward Bound

I've just arrived in Saipan. Elan is probably home by now. The Typhoon, Nanmadol, now hitting the Phillipines has now reached Super Typhoon levels if you've been following the news.

I must admit that the excitment of experiencing a typhoon was very quickly overcome by the reality of actually being in one: It was no Universal Studios ride. The Typhoon at the last moment veered to the North and the eye missed Yap by 20 miles. However coming from the north it blew right into our hotel room. The sound was like a thousand banshees screaming and the water coursed off the windows like a firehose. Water came through every seem it could find, and we evacuated across the hall. As the wind was coming from the island side, it actually was blowing the sea off shore. It was like watching the surf in reverse as it blew off the beach. About half an hour into it, the power went out and we retreated to the dining room and waited
for the generator to kick in.



I spent the time listening to a debate between the Europeans and Americans. It was a spirited debate, and when it lagged a bit, being a true Canadian I stirred the pot up as best I could. About 2 hours later it was over.

The next morning Elan and I went on a cultural tour - just the two of us. It was very interesting. The people on Yap are the closest to actually following their customary way of life. On the surface they have a US type government, financial and justice system, but it is merely a sham.
Yap is the home of stone money. These are huge stone disks with a hole in the centre and have a great deal of value to them. The first stone money was there when the Portugese came in the 1500's and the last ones were quarried around 1900. You can see them everywhere. The smallest is about 3 feet and the largest we saw were over 8 feet in diameter. For many things, like buying property, dowery, fines, etc. only the stone money will do - not American dollars


It is a very male dominated society where the men hang out at the men's house and the women do most of the work. Everything is in a caste system, and villages are very territorial. If for instance, they find another village member fishing in their territory, they will confiscate the catch, the boat, and gear. (So far sounds very Canadian). Then they will beat him up (Just a
little bit, my guide told me), and tie him to the centre pole of their village Men's House and send runners to the offenders village and ransom him (for stone money). Our guide thinks they've come a long way from the old time when they simply killed him.

Our guide took us to the old airport where we walked through the jungle and saw the remains of two Japanese Zeros and a Betty Bomber from WWII. We also saw the wreckage of a Continental Airline 727 that ran off the runway about 10 years ago. That caused the Yap Government to build a new airport with a real fire department.

The New Yap airport takes itself very seriously. The same few guys do it all they ask for your passport and the check you in. Then they move over to immigration and ask for your passport again. Finally when the same guys check your hand luggage they ask for it again! When they are checking my luggage I generally keep a running commentary of what they're handling. This causes Elan to disavow any relationship with me and sit as far away from me as I can. The fact that I didn't hand in the correct form almost caused a Yap lock down. They were fascinated with my MP3 player. Evidentally they hadn't seen one before. They have a unique boarding system. They jsut open the gate and everyone runs for the plane at the same time.

Our trip to Guam was uneventful, other than me taking the wrong bag off the baggage area.

SO now I begin the long trip home. Hopefully be home sometime Friday. So this may be the last letter - unless I do a wrap up.

It's been a slice, hope you all weren't too bored. Maybe do it again, next
year.

Jeff