#  >  > Non Asia Travel Forums >  >  > Pacific Islands Travel Forum >  >  Wayne Kerrs Micronesia Milk Run

## Wayne Kerr

*Wayne Kerrs Micronesia Milk Run*

Well here it is. The travel thread I've had the most fun making. Three weeks in Micronesia, mostly on Pohnpei Island, Majuro Atoll (think Bikini Island and nuclear bombs), and Palau. I travelled on Continentals Island Hopper service aka The Milk Run. I lost count of the number of flights, around 30 I think. Two planes broke down along the way and with the waiting around for rescue flights from Guam the travelling was hard work but well worth it.

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## Wayne Kerr

*Continental's "Milk Run"*

Getting into Micronesia is tough going from my base in Fiji. To get there I had to go through Australia (Sydney then Cairns) and onto Guam where I started Continental Micronesias island hopper service, which stops all islands onto Hawaii. I went as far out as Majuro Atoll via Pohnpei, then turned around back along the same route to Palau. Guam is still on a high level terrorism alert so security is tight at every island stop along the way. Passengers have to get off the plane on each landing and some serious looking security dudes check the plane and baggage.


^ The Milk Run is the bit from Guam out to Hawaii  would be a piece of piss to access from Bangkok or Manila

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## Wayne Kerr

A few shots of the small islands and airports along the way


^ Chuuk Island group  a significant military base for the Japs during WWII  hundreds of wrecked ships and planes off the coast and a wreck divers paradise  more on Chuuk here Chuuk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


^ Chuuk International Airport  spent a day sitting on the grass waiting for a rescue flight from Guam when our plane broke down


^ A small dot on the Pacific Ocean




^ Quite sure the air hostess was giving me the eye when we flew over this one


^ The stone alter at the entrance of Pohnpei harbour

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## Wayne Kerr

*Pohnpei  Federated States of Micronesia*

^ Anyway first stop was Pohnpei for a week  click here to have a gander on Google Earth 




^ This sign at the Pohnpei Visitors Bureau got me thinking how bloody far from everywhere I was  some good background can be found here Pohnpei - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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## Wayne Kerr

*Pohnpei's Forests*

Anyway first up on the agenda was a bit of work out in the forests. I had a few local guides lined up who trekked me through Pohnpeis dense rainforest for a few days doing surveys. Pohnpei is one of the rainiest places on earth and it would piss down for 30 minutes then nearly as fast the sun would be out to push the humidity levels through the roof. The camera was safely stashed in my backpack for most of the trip.


^ Yours truly hiking in the lowland forests of Pohnpei Island


^ They dont have any dangerous critters out there and my only injury was a bit from a big arse centipede


^ The joint is covered with small streams like this which make up the islands water supply


^ Where theres water theres waterfalls  one of what must have been hundreds we stumbled across


^ Took a swim at this small pool and a good back massage from the waterfall below



The joint is covered with flowers and here are two of my favourite shots of the local flora (fauna shots to come later  :Smile: )

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## Wayne Kerr

*Ponhpei Sakau (or Kava)
*
The local drink "Sakau" is made from the Piper methysticum plant which is most commonly known as kava. This stuff knocks ya socks off. It is a mild narcotic but good sessions on it with the lads left we me slumped in my chair with a big foff smile on my face for hours and no desire to move or talk much. The Pohnpeians mix it with hibiscus juice to increase the potency. Growing the plant is the number one income earner on the island as just about everyone is hooked on it.

Problem in the forest is that the locals are progressively moving higher and higher upland to find places to grow the stuff. The plant requires a lot of sun so they typically clear a circular area of about 100 metres diameter and throw in about 30 plants. After about 3 years they get about $500 a plant or $15,000 for the 3 years patch. Doesnt seem too much of a drama except I found about 420 of these clearings on my trek. Of course there are concerns about them buggering up the forest habitat etc but the real issue is that since it rains so much a shit load of topsoil from the cleared areas ends up in the streams and is causing big headaches with the quality of the drinking water on the island. The corals in the nearshore areas are also getting smothered with mud and dying off quick. 


^ An upland sakau plantation on Pohnpei  sakau or kava is the leafy plant on the left


^ This pic shows the area of the clearing for the plantations  the undisturbed rain forest has dense canopy and it is not possible to see the sky like this in most areas


^ The sakau plant  I never tried heroin but they say this is the next best thing

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## blackgang

Thanks Wayne..

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## The Fresh Prince

Good Stuff! :Smile:

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## Wayne Kerr

back to the road ...

*The Ocean View Hotel, Pohnpei*

After a few days out bush I needed some cold beer and grub. The best I found in Pohnpei was Budweiser Light (which went down way too easily I might add) and the local mangrove crab. Id say the best spot to indulge is the bar at the Ocean View Hotel which as the name suggests looks north over Pohnpei harbour and out onto the north Pacific Ocean.


^ Bar at the Ocean View Hotel, Pohnpei early Saturday afternoon


^ A few hours later  the aches and pains of trekking were long gone by this stage


^ The local grub  mud crab at about 200 baht a kilo cooked  the absolute delish with cold beer


^ Mud crab claws the size of beer cans  :Smile:

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## Wayne Kerr

*Downtown Pohnpei
*
Downtown Pohnpei is bloody small and mostly made up of small sakau bars and a Walmart that smells of rats piss. A few shots of around town.


^ The main drag

A couple of Spanish style churches around town






^ One of the government offices, this one houses the Attorney General


^ Im informed this is the local short time hotel

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## Wayne Kerr

*Tuna and Pohnpei*

The view over the main harbour of Pohnpei is superb. The harbour is home to one of the worlds biggest tuna landing places from the Western and Central Pacific Tuna Fishery. Theyre pulling about a million tonnes of skipjack tuna out of the surrounding waters each year and most is frozen and dispatched to Thailand for canning which then ends up all around the world.

Of course most of the boats are owned offshore and the owners pay an access fee to the government, but like all these places corruption abounds and it is a real mess when one trys to work out where the access fees end up. In the case of Pohnpei or the Federated States of Micronesia it most likely goes into senior government officials property developments in Hawaii with bugger all ending up in the hands of locals. All the average Pohnpeian sees of their tuna is when they pay big bucks to buy "re-imported" tinned tuna from Thailand. Result is a far less nutritious product and lots of tin waste for Pohnpei to deal with  agghhh dont get me started.


^ Pohnpei harbour and some tuna boats on the right


^ Some big tuna boats at port


^ A blurry zoom shot of a big Chinese tuna boat out at sea  fair bit dredging going on at the entrance of the harbour to keep things running  of course the access fees should be paying for this but they aint at great expense to the nation


^ Another Chinese boat  you might be able to make out the helicopter sitting up front that they use to spot the tuna schools  the skiff on the back is used to run the net around the tuna schools and is about 50 foot long I guess.

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## astasinim

Those views are stunning Wayne. What is it you do for a living? Your one lucky bugger.

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## tjyflhol

Yep, the places Wayne gets sent for work are amazing.

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## Rural Surin

Nice Wayne. Remember the region well!! Good to see that Continental didn't cut back *Air Mike* routes. Very practical service, indeed. Unfortunately, 3 weeks doesn't even touch the time that you could really explore. Every major island {political} group has it's own inner-island regularly scheduled shipping service. The only way one can get to many backwater places. One could easily spend several years exploring the broad Micronesia region.....didn't have a chance to get to Yap, huh? :Smile:

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## Mr Brown

Any one else slightly jealous  :Sad:

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## Wayne Kerr

> What is it you do for a living?


Mate has always been a tough one for me to answer ... in a nutshell I help developing countries with development planning. In most of the countries I work big chunks of their GDP comes from seafood. So mostly seafood and a few other things thrown in. These days I work for myself so I usually factor in a day or two on each side of the work to see some sites.

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## Wayne Kerr

> didn't have a chance to get to Yap, huh?


You are right mate, there are so many places to see out there. Visited Yap airport and hear lots of good things about the place. Nearest I got to there was Palau. Mate I fell in love with Micronesia and will probably get back in August/September. I never realised how easy it would be to access from SE Asia and I'm surprised it is relatively undeveloped tourism wise.

Anyway Mrs Kerr is on my system with the photos so the rest might have to wait until tomorrow.

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## astasinim

> Any one else slightly jealous


Only ever so slightly.  :Smile: 




> Originally Posted by astasinim
> 
> What is it you do for a living?
> 
> 
> Mate has always been a tough one for me to answer ... in a nutshell I help developing countries with development planning. In most of the countries I work big chunks of their GDP comes from seafood. So mostly seafood and a few other things thrown in. These days I work for myself so I usually factor in a day or two on each side of the work to see some sites.


Sounds like an interesting job. I would love to hear more about it, if you have the time and in inclination.

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## Rural Surin

> Originally Posted by Rural Surin
> 
> didn't have a chance to get to Yap, huh?
> 
> 
> You are right mate, there are so many places to see out there. Visited Yap airport and hear lots of good things about the place. Nearest I got to there was Palau. Mate I fell in love with Micronesia and will probably get back in August/September. I never realised how easy it would be to access from SE Asia and I'm surprised it is relatively undeveloped tourism wise.
> 
> Anyway Mrs Kerr is on my system with the photos so the rest might have to wait until tomorrow.


Undeveloped tourism. Quite frankly, that can only be beneficial for these folks.

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## Wayne Kerr

Agree there mate ... just surprised it hasn't taken off

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## Rural Surin

> Agree there mate ... just surprised it hasn't taken off


Fortunately for the region, {even today} most of the travellers you'll find are of the yachty-types and people looking to escape. Outside of Guam, Palau probably has the most developed of what passes as a tourism trade. I believe some time back, such consortiums of American-Japanese interests for development didn't take hold. Too out of the way for most......

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## Wayne Kerr

^ indeed mate  Palau is booming  one of the sites I visited there receives about 500 tourists a day and at $35 a pop someone is doing very nicely indeed. I suspect however that much the money ends up mostly in the hands of Japanese tour operators.  The night life out there is also racy to say the least  might put a few pics of that up when I get to the Palau bit  :Smile: .

Anyway back to the road 

*Nan Madol - Pohnpei*

Pohnpei is home to "Nan Madol" which is an ancient city which some say could be 2000+ years old. Lonely Planet rates it a must see of Micronesia. The site covers more than 18 km² and is made of up large megalithic structures built on coral reef flats and mangrove lagoons. Some call it the Venice of the Pacific as it contains hundreds of small canals between all the city buildings. How they ever got all huge stone logs into place screws me and many others if the info on Wikipedia is correct - Nan Madol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. There is some good imagery of the site on Google Earth which can be accessed by clicking here  


^ The track into Nan Madol is thick tropical coastal forest ... bladdy beautiful


^ The first sign of the ancient city as you walk in


^ Yours truly navigating a shallow canal to get onto the main artificial island of Nan Madol

Some assorted shots of Nan Madol  it is times like these I wish I had the photography skills of Bustak or Bob

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## Wayne Kerr

*Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands*

Next stop was Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Heres a pic knocked off the net of the atoll and inner lagoon as well as snapshot from Google Earth. The imagery for Majuro is quite good on GE and can be accessed by clicking here  




^ Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands

As you can see there aint much to do on Majuro unless youre a diver or fisherman. The atoll is narrow as hell and in some spots it really is possible to throw a stone from one side to the other. Anyway to cut a long story short I got sick out there with an ear infection and spent a few hours in line at the hospital to get some antibiotics. Wasnt long before I gave up on that as loads of seriously ill people were waiting around in agony for 1 or 2 doctors and I figured my ear infection could wait until I got to the next island.

They have really high rates of serious health problems out there  of course most of the locals reckon it's due to nuclear fall out on nearby Bikini Atoll. Reality is they dont eat any local natural foods (fish, fruits etc) anymore and gorge themselves with massive serves imported white rice, spam, and other tinned shit. That combined with no space to exercise or play sports has resulted in one of the highest rates of diabetes anywhere on earth. The hospital is doing at least 4 major limb amputations a month due to diabetes complications (from a population of 25,000 people that is heavy going). The TB rate is something like 300 times that of mainland US. This is all exacerbated by them having next to no freshwater except for one small water lens in the widest bit of the Atoll which is currently supplying all freshwater  although they only turn the water on one day a week. Sewage treatment  forget it.

All a bit of mess and depressing to say the least  spent most of my spare time on the hotel balcony looking over Bikini Atoll and thinking how fed up it was to blow the crap out of the joint.


^ Looking out over Bikini Atoll  site of the 1940s atom bomb tests

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## Wayne Kerr

*Palau
*
Next stop was Palau. This required a return trip along Continentals island hopper service to Guam and a few flights down to Palau 7 seven flights in total. Palau is probably best known for its Rock Islands and diving and I managed to find a day to visit the reefs, Rock Islands, and an amazing place called Jellyfish Lake. I loved the place and hope you enjoy some of the pics 


^ Palaus Rock Islands


^ A traditional mens meeting hut  this is where all valuable lessons are handed down. The mural on the front was explained to me as a life-cycle triangle for men. The six sections from top to bottom: 1  learn about small reef fish; 2  learn how to fish; 3 - once you fish the girls will sit with their legs open for you; 4  after that you will have children and need to learn to catch the larger reef fish; 5  as your family grows you will need to learn to catch sharks; and 6  if you screw anything up along the way it is likely it will end in war and you should avoid that.


^ First up was a visit to a nice lagoon for a swim


^ My launch for the day  my local assistant had to smother herself in the limestone mud from the bottom of the lagoon  good for the skin apparently


^ A lovely place to float around for an hour or two  :Smile:

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## Wayne Kerr

*Palau's Coral Reefs*

Next up was a gander at Palaus coral reefs. Very impressive indeed. A few test shots with my little Olympus underwater number.




^ Two of the many hundred Rock Islands








^ Plenty of naturally occurring giant clams about the place


^ The first Napoleon Wrasse I've seen for 10 years


^ Lots of reef sharks around the sandy areas  :Smile:

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## Wayne Kerr

*Palaus Jellyfish Lake*

The second best part of my stay in Palau was a visit to the Jellyfish Lake. The sign and pics say it all. Bit about the joint on Wikipedia here - Jellyfish Lake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




^ My shadow amongst a shedload of jellyfish


^ Getting closer to the suckers


^ Bloody amazing critters

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## MeMock

Wayne Kerr. Sums it up quite nicely don't ya think?  :Smile:

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## BugginOut

Thanks for sharing once again. It's as close as many of us will ever come to experiencing these places. Alas, there's always hope.

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## Wayne Kerr

*Palau's Nightlife*

After 3 weeks on the road my favourite part of Palau was it's lively nightlife. I was shocked that most of the bars were full of ladies in rather revealing frocks. Those of you that know me know that I don't visit such establishments often but found these quite refreshing. One of my favourites is the "Blindfold Bar" where you are blindfolded on entry and asked to feel who you want to share a drink with (an interesting concept indeed). Another good one was the "No Spitting Bar" but I was off my face by the time I went there and it is all a bit of a blur. 


^ Yours truly in the Blindfold Bar


^ Yours truly looking a little worse for wear in the No Spitting Bar

Anyway over and out from Micronesia  :Smile:

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## jizzybloke

I'll take the the one far left in the blue! :Smile: 


Another stunner of a thread, cheers Wayne!

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## astasinim

The lady next to you in green is very pleasing on the eye, as is the one in blue on the far left.

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## Propagator

Bloody brilliant Wayne 




> I'll take the the one far left in the blue!


I thought you were married  :mid:

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## Cujo

Brilliant, thanks for the effort.

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## Chairman Mao

> The lady next to you in green is very pleasing on the eye, as is the one in blue on the far left.


Yes, my thoughts exactly. those 2 forming a babyoil sandwich would be quite passable.

Great thread ya jammy bastard.

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## Tao

Great thread and pics.

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## Rural Surin

Continued brilliance, Wayne! :Smile:

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## Rural Surin

> I'll take the the one far left in the blue!
> 
> 
> Another stunner of a thread, cheers Wayne!


....or the one in green next to Wayne!

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## Wayne Kerr

^ Thanks RS and I agree, the one in green with the black jeans was the pick of the bunch  :Smile:

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## losername

Stunning!!  With scenery like that, who could choose favourites?  Many thanks.

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## Jock Itch

Great stuff Wayne - can only guess at the fishing possibilities along some of those reefs ! Hmmmmmm

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## peterpan

> I was off my face by the time I went there


Your right about that mate, your face has really fallen off.
Great trip and photos Wayne, for an Old git sitting with his cheap beer in Issarn it provokes some jealousy.
I console my self with the thought, 
"he probably doesn't do well with the women"  :mid:

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## sunsetter

spot on mate, more !!

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## Johnny Longprong

Nice thread Wayne. Are you sure those sheilas are LB's?

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## El Gibbon

Wayne. Seeing the giant clams reminds me of a dish that was usually served at buffets in Fiji.  Raw chopped clams? in coconut milk with diced tomatoes and other spices..  absolutely one of the great dishes of the world but for the life of me cannot remember the name or how to make it. T'was a long time ago for sure, 1970. It was typically served in one of those giant clam shells.

Any idea?

E. G

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## Wayne Kerr

^ Yep know it mate, seems most of the islands have their own style using all sorts of seafood. I think in Fiji it is known as Kokoda. Does this look about right less the clam - Fijian Kokoda (raw Fish Salad) Recipe - Taste.com.au ?

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## sabang

Took me the better part of 2 hours to download those pics on this slow bladdy dial-up where i'm staying now. Worth every second.  :Smile: 

Great stuff Wayne.

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## Jet Gorgon

Thanks kindly, Wayne. Did Saipan twice from Tokyo, but never got a chance to see the real stuff. Love the hibiscus and (is that a type of bird of paradise?) in post 5. Hmmm, mebbe I can escape there. What is the internet and communication tech like?

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## El Gibbon

> ^ Yep know it mate, seems most of the islands have their own style using all sorts of seafood. I think in Fiji it is known as Kokoda. Does this look about right less the clam - Fijian Kokoda (raw Fish Salad) Recipe - Taste.com.au ?


Yep that's the one.. Many thanks for the link. Really appreciate your efforts on these threads on your "WORK" habitats... lol  very well done.

Next time your in Bangers, beers on me!

E. G.

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## Rural Surin

> ^ Yep know it mate, seems most of the islands have their own style using all sorts of seafood. I think in Fiji it is known as Kokoda. Does this look about right less the clam - Fijian Kokoda (raw Fish Salad) Recipe - Taste.com.au ?


This technique can be common throughout the Pacific communities. Substitute yellow fin or Pacific red snapper marinated in fermenting coconut cream, lime juice, and assorted vegetable matter.

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## sabang

^ Also in the Caribbean/ Sth America. Ceviche'. Lovely.  :Smile:

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## Dick Farang

Nice pics, mate.

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## Wayne Kerr

> What is the internet and communication tech like?


At the moment its shite, but we're all waiting for this new cable running from US-Guam-PI-East Asia ... things will take off thereafter I'm sure.

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## bsnub

I love wayne's pics but am scared by the spinned face. What are you worried about mate?

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## klongmaster

Appreciate you taking the time to post all of this...
surprised that there are girlie bars in the midst of all this natural beauty...

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## Wayne Kerr

> Scared by the spinned face. What are you worried about mate?


Internet fruitloops ... guess you missed the Drivingforce saga and the many others over the years  :Confused:

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## hillbilly

Just had a gander through this thread. What else can I say but simply breath taking!

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## Wayne Kerr

^ Thanks HB.

Palau | Obscure islands set to become luxury tourist hotspot




> Palau, a nation of sparsely populated Pacific islands surrounded by turquoise waters teeming with fish and giant clams, is so obscure most people must scour a map to find it. But with a crop of high-end resorts coming up, the islands may soon become a luxury tourist hotspot.
> 
> Tropical Palau lies east of the Philippines and north of Indonesia, and there are only 21,000 inhabitants.
> 
> It recently relaxed laws to allow new resorts to be set up, and Palau's legislature, based in a grandiose Roman-style building that is surrounded by nothing but rolling countryside and sea views, is also pushing a bill that would allow casinos and investment from some of the big names in Las Vegas.
> 
> Once the scene of a bloody World War Two siege, and a US territory blocked from developing at its own pace, the nation is now aiming for 250,000 tourists per year and it needs 4000 hotel rooms, up from 1100 today, to get there, said Jackson Henry, Palau's ambassador to Taiwan.
> 
> "The goal of tourism in Palau is quality, not quantity," Henry said. "Because of our fragile marine eco-system, Palau does not aim at mass tourism. Instead, Palau targets the selective high-end visitors."
> ...

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## Stinky

Some really good photos, reminds me of the Philippines. How we foreigners received by the girls ?

Just looked back, Oooh nice.

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## kingwilly

> "The goal of tourism in Palau is quality, not quantity," Henry said. "Because of our fragile marine eco-system, Palau does not aim at mass tourism. Instead, Palau targets the selective high-end visitors."


which is, in theory a good thing. 

I just hope they do it correctly.

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## smeden

wery nice pics         ::chitown::  :Smile:  :Smile:  :Smile:

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## ItsRobsLife

Excellent thread thanks for sharing. Wonderful pictures and a great travel guide. 



This ancient city was in Von Danikens Chariots Of The Gods which I read as a kid, although discredited now he was at least an early explorer of these kind of ancient ruins, and it gave me, and I'm sure many others, the wanderlust to explore for myself. An enviable occupation you have.  :Very Happy:

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## shunpike

Awesome thread Wayne, thanks!

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## StrontiumDog

Yep, just amazing. Wonderful pictures. Thank you so much for posting this. Inspires me to go and have a look. 

You really do have an amazing job. 

Now all I need to know is how to get there...and how much it costs...

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## StrontiumDog

Crap, 2,000 Dollars minimum to fly from Bangkok to Koror, Palau. In January....

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## StrontiumDog

WK, where did you stay in Palau? Any recommendations for accommodation?

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## Wayne Kerr

Firstly mate, I 'd day US$2,000 is way over the top from Bangkok! Recently flew 2 colleagues from Palau to Bangkok at around $700 return. Need to look at Koror-Manila and Manila-Bangkok. It really aint that far from PI. 

Filipinas flood (and are sought after by) the service industry, so avoid travelling around the times that the overseas flipper workers time their home visits, i.e., Christmas and Easter. December-January, March-April flights will be booked up well in advance. 

Accommodation, plenty ranging from backpaper digs to toipe resorts. I stayed in a nice place in town for around $50 a night. Nights out there no more expensive than Thailand.

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## StrontiumDog

Ok, thanks for the further info. 

I just have to go there. It looks amazing. 

Appreciate all your time and effort in getting these threads done. A great insight into places I've yet to visit...and hope to.

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## Wayne Kerr

^ I haven't spoken to anyone with a bad word to say about Palau, nice mix of the east Asian and Island ways of life ... did I mention the chinese and jap girls yet?

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## StrontiumDog

Ummm, nope, but I'm hopeful that you might... :Smile:

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## runker

Funny, none of those girls were from Palau.   Nice to see some things have not changed that much.  I used to work for a magazine on Guam and we had a wonderful collection medium format slides of the ruins.

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## IceSpike

Any James Coburn Sightings?

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## IceSpike

Wanker is loose in PacSW?

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