Bird Island - Hike Begins

After finding the spot and parking on the roadside, the hike began. It was an easy pathway through a thick jungle to start, with little pink flags leading the way (plastic strips tied on branches). After a ways we connected with a muddy road that led us to the signs notifying us we were entering the bird island nature preserve area. And that's when the trail started to get harder!

Burned Business

We saw some commotion this morning as we were heading out of town for our hike. Sadly, a business was burning and the fire department was responding. On the way back home the commotion had died down and it was extinguished, so I grabbed a photo. I hope the business has good insurance and the neighboring units weren't damaged.

Crazy Car...

Apparently it's not illegal here and is some sort of trend to make your license plate all crooked or off to one side, or something weird. Here's a prime example. The sticker says Spam Island which I'm not sure if it refers to here or a Hawaiian island or if there's a secret heap of Spam cans piled in the ocean somewhere forming a haven for mixed meat junkies.

Crab Portraits

I just love these guys. Can you tell? This is a fraction of the photos I took of them and more today... :) No crabs were harmed in the making of this blog! Though many were held against their will for several minutes and thoroughly traumatized, I'm sure :P

Crab Tracks!

I saw these odd little tracks all over the beach and thought nothing of it... until I finally spotted a little hermit crab cruising along, making a track himself! They look like stitches in the sand, as their little pointy legs poke down into the sand to drag their heavy shell homes behind them. This makes a distinct look like a seam has been stitched together. I tried to take some good photos but of course they don't show how they are all over the entire beach!!

Tiny Sea Snail

I spotted this tiny shell that turned out to be a snail, stuck onto this rock. I picked him up for a photo before putting him back.

Looking Back at Land...

These are some shots of the island I took after wading out many many yards in the shallow ocean. It was a very beautiful day around 4 to 5pm and the sun was getting low over the ocean, creating very dramatic lighting. I loved it!

The Sun, Sky, Clouds...

I couldn't barely narrow down which photos to post. They were all so beautiful!!! I waded out in the shallow water soooo far, and then I took photos in every direction. This half of the island is protected by a reef and it's just shallow and peaceful as far as you can see.

Hermit Crab!

This is my first time uploading a video... hope it works out! I had way way way too much fun playing with crabs on the beach today. I'll be posting up plenty photos soon too :) There are two sorts of crabs I've seen on the beach, the hermit crabs who live in shells they stole from snails and other sorts of creatures, and the plain crabs who dig holes in the sand where they surprise their prey. I watched both go in and out of their shelters today as the sun started to set, it was very entertaining and beautiful!

Health Screenings

Twice weekly we test blood pressure and blood sugar of folks who come into PHI. We've been pretty busy lately, 40 to 50 folks during the three hours we do it! These are a couple snapshots of where we do it. Come on by if you're in town, Tues/Thurs 9-noon :)

Street Fair - Foods

I snapped some photos of interesting foods offered at the street fair tonight :)

Street Fair - Dancers

We caught a few minutes of this traditional dance group having a great time out there on the dance floor! They had cool costumes and seemed to be enjoying themselves, glad we got to watch.

Elephani and Favorite

Wow... who names something "Favorite"... I still thought the bag was cute ;)

Chalan Kanoa

This is the village we live in! There are no big cities or even towns here, the centers of activities are called villages. This stop sign has seen a bit too much sun, it's completely white, having lost all of its former red color.

Sunset - Wednesday

This was the sunset from our balcony tonight. There weren't many clouds but still there were these colorful rays of pink on the blue background which were gorgeous. I tried one with flash and one without to try and capture it, but it still didn't do justice I think. Beautiful sunsets here!!!!!!!!

World Cafe Free Lunch!

Our boss is awesome, we weren't invited to the meeting to discuss converting Saipan to electronic medical records, but somehow he got us invited to the lunch buffet at Fiesta Resort!! It was at World Cafe, and it was great. They kept refilling the amazing fresh sushi and sashimi, and there were tiny quail eggs hardboiled on the salad bar, and delicious unlimited iced tea. The dessert bar was also good, with cheesecake, pineapple upside down cake, flan, fresh fruit, and great ice cream!! It was a wonderful time, thank you Boss for pulling the strings :)

Korean Drinks

We bought these Korean Mountain Dew and Pepsi because the logos are awesome, they take the Korean names and mix them with the company logos! The cans are the size of "Red Bull" Energy drink and they taste about the same as american versions, but maybe a little bit less carbonated. Tasty and interesting :)

Mantis Bouncer

There was a mantis guarding our door from unsavory visitors today. We harassed him a bit and he finally let us inside.

New (rental) Car!

We finally got rid of the Lancer we didn't want in the first place and traded it for an Echo. Though we only have about two weeks left! Time flies when you're busy!

Spicy Thai - Tuesday Evening

Stan had some pork fried rice while I had the fish (a couple posts dedicated to my meal elsewhere ;) It was good overall, though the pork was a bit chewy for my tastes. I enjoyed eating my fish for sure. There was a special, fresh dipping sauce for the fish too, made of lime juice, garlic, chilies, green onion, and other stuff. We sat in the other room this time where they have low tables with cushions to sit on instead of chairs, though we opted for the chairs due to habit :)