? May 30, 7:00 pm, the City Association of Photographers 30 people Saipan Island picnic group gathered in Shanghai Pudong Airport, completed all the preparations before boarding. The group took off at 10:35 p.m. and flew 3,284 kilometers in the air, arriving at Saipan International Airport after 4 hours and 10 minutes. After completing the immigration and customs clearance formalities and coming to the airport parking lot, it was already more than 6:00 a.m. in Saipan time, and the morning sunlight soaked through the clouds in the azure blue sky, presenting the romantic and colorful atmosphere. At this moment, almost all the street trees on both sides of the airport road were in full bloom with bright red and yellow flowers swaying under the caress of the sea breeze, seemingly welcoming the tourists who came from afar. As the group raised their cell phones to take photos, a few obviously UV-rays-soaked compatriots dressed in the uniforms of a local tour company came to greet us. The tour guide was undoubtedly Chinese, speaking in northeastern dialect. The driver was a local, and his short, chubby, dark appearance needed no introduction.
? A bus pulling us traveling half an hour, we arrived at the booking hotel - "Gold Coast". The owner is a compatriot who bought the building a few years ago for $4 million from the Koreans, who reportedly spent just over $800,000 to build it. There are more than 10,000 Chinese working in the island's tourism industry, and less than 50,000 local residents, so you can imagine how powerful the Chinese penetration is. The hotel is adjacent to the Philippine Sea, across the less than 30 meters wide highway around the island is the beach, the view is the vastness of the sea under the blue sky and white clouds, the beach road is not very coherent street trees also have blooming red flowers. In front of the hotel, there is a blossoming tree that is especially conspicuous, and it is very tall and lush. Through the cell phone APP "a shot to recognize the flower" to find, that is to say: this flower for the phoenix tree, the leaves like the feathers of the phoenix, flowers like the crown of the phoenix. Full of beautiful scenery in the three dark gray ship bizarre quietly floating sea, common sense tells me that must be the U.S. warships, its existence is in the world to show what.
After a short rest and adjustment, the team ****ed for lunch. At 1:00pm local time we took a bus tour to Banzaiya, Japanese Last Command, Bird Island, and Blue Hole.
The tour guide introduced that Hurray Cliff is located at the northernmost tip of Saipan. After the defeat of the Japanese army, the Japanese army on the island was not willing to live on, and even more unwilling to surrender and be humiliated along with their families and civilians, so they tricked them into gathering at the beach. Then forced people to face the direction of Japan, jumped into the sea to show allegiance to the emperor, jumping off the cliff shouting "long live the emperor", so the name of the end of the long live, also known as the end of the suicide. Rumor has it that nearly 10,000 people jumped into the sea back then. Nowadays, a large number of Japanese people come to Saipan every year to travel and think of the deceased, so many stone monuments have been erected here to pray for peace. Being there, I did feel the cruelty of the war, the soldiers died in the mission, the people died in the wrong, yes, no.
Here and a group of young people from Tianjin met, it is estimated that most of the ninety after, divided into a few local colorful sports car driving tour. They are intoxicated in the free days, taking pictures, racing to find fun, in this particular scene really hope that they can thump out a trace of national sentiment. On the other hand, another group of tourists came and went in silence, and although I couldn't understand their gibberish, it made me respect them. Obviously, there is some connection with their ancestors here.The car took us around a small hill, the site of the last Japanese headquarters. The Japanese headquarters is a building built into a rock face, nearly intact after more than 70 years. The commander here was Chunichi Nagumo, the Japanese general who planned and commanded the attack on Pearl Harbor. When the Japanese army was defeated, he issued an order to all Japanese troops on the island to "pledge allegiance to the Emperor," and he himself committed hara-kiri. The Japanese troops all chose to jump off the cliff of the command headquarters when they finally ran out of ammunition, and there were no survivors. In the square in front of the headquarters, there are still Japanese cannons, tanks, heavy machine guns, etc. left.
The car traveled less than 20 minutes, Bird Island is in front of you. Bird Island is a natural formation of limestone, named after the many birds that inhabit it. The island is estimated to be only the size of a soccer field, but it provides ample space for birds to live, with hundreds of species of birds inhabiting the island. At high tide, Bird Island looks like an isolated island in the sea, and at low tide it is connected to the main island, and the whole island shines under the sunlight. Our group stood on the observation deck to take pictures of each other, the sea breeze is strong and small, the sunlight is strong and weak, fully demonstrating the subtropical oceanic climate characteristics. This intuitive landscape, no World War II relics, more fun, less distraction.
After another short drive, we arrived at the Blue Hole attraction. The Blue Hole is located in the northeast corner of Saipan and is the most famous and difficult dive site in Saipan. The geology here is limestone formed by coral reefs, and the most amazing thing about the Blue Hole is that the limestone has been eroded and collapsed by seawater for a long time, forming a deep hole with a water depth of 17 meters and the deepest part of the hole is 47 meters. There are 3 connecting channels between the Blue Hole and the outer sea, and the light can penetrate into the hole through the channels, and the Blue Hole can reveal a light blue luster, which is very gorgeous. This is an excellent place to practice scuba diving, but we came here purely for the sake of curiosity, and none of us dared to go into the water, because of the lack of time, and lack of adventurous spirit. After 20 minutes or so, we finished our first day's program.
Dinner was served buffet style at a Chinese restaurant in Saipan City. Our group split up into two groups. The duty-free stores, which are popular with female travelers, attracted many of them; and the like-minded ones chased the light to the beach. The setting sun spread on the sea surface with a golden backlight, the sea breeze without rhythm to shake the coconut trees, palm trees, the few warships brilliantly lit, constituting a peculiar landscape.
Because of the time difference of two hours, this time Beijing time just 5 o'clock, this side of the sky is already dark. The hotel is back on foot, the TV is not understandable, the network speed is slow, and the best choice is to get some energy.
The next day, I intended to shoot the sunrise, woke up at less than 3:00 in the morning, only to see the wind and rain outside, waiting for the rain to stop. The first time I saw this, I was able to see the whole world, and I was able to see the whole world, and I was able to see the whole world. We all posed for a photo in front of a better shaped phoenix tree, and the models were uninvited, all of them were fellow travelers.
After breakfast, we headed out for a tour of Battleship Island. The island is located off the central west side of Saipan. Looking north from the 500-meter-high Taboga Peak, the highest point on Saipan, the island looks like a green castle on a glazed sea, surrounded by soft white sandy beaches, and gently embraced by clean and clear sea water, like a green pearl jumping out of the sea. It is said that in World War II, the U.S. military bombing in the air, the perimeter of the island of only 1.5 kilometers mistaken for a warship, so a burst of heavy bombing, but the strange thing is how to bomb can not be sunk, continuous bombing will be the island area shrunk to nearly half, and then close observation, only to find that it was a small island, warship island thus named. Now still in the sea water to see so many shells wreckage, the remains of war can be seen everywhere.
If you don't go to Battleship Island, it is the same as going to Saipan in vain. It is only 3 kilometers away from the island, and it takes more than 10 minutes to reach the other side of the island by ferry, and 20 minutes to go around the island. The island is surrounded by white sandy beaches, which are formed after the corals are washed away and refined, and the island is full of green tropical plants, making it a bit of a paradise when you enter the center of the island. This is why Battleship Island is also known as Lover's Island. Nearby waters are coral reefs, through the clear water you can see the colorful tropical fish swimming among them. All over the coral reefs through the sun refraction, the sea water changes the fantasy color. Our counterparts in the beauty of the busy, walking and shooting, selfie, group photo, a person a scene can not be missing. There is no lack of pro-water people, willing to let the hot sun and seawater in the bare skin to leave a little what mark. I was busy taking pictures of beautiful women and beautiful scenery.
? After lunch, we embarked on our first self-pay program, the sightseeing submarine underwater tour. Per capita 75 U.S. dollars, by submarine dive about 15 meters dive 45 minutes, watch coral reefs, tropical fish, the U.S. Army was sunk in World War II zero hour fighter, the Japanese sunk battleships. The seabed scattered warplanes, warships wreckage has long become a parasitic place of marine life, the year with these weapons buried at the bottom of the sea of the soul also do not know where to go. What is left behind is only people's reflection on the war. Battle of Saipan is the first aircraft carrier war in human history, the United States and Japan killed countless naval and air force officers and men. This laid the foundation for the U.S. military to dominate the world.
After returning to the hotel and resting for a while, it was followed by the second self-pay program, the Sunset Cruise Dinner, which was $65 per person. The boat takes a large group of tourists around the Pacific Ocean, with a resident singer in the cabin and tourists outside looking for an angle to photograph the sunset. Dinner is a buffet of local food and drinks are free, so you don't care about the flavor, just the novelty of the experience. The climax is a local man hosted the sunset evening singing, a few beautiful tourists accompanied by the male host of the beat on the roof of the cruise ship singing and dancing, the enthusiasm of tourists was lit by the atmosphere of the scene, the interaction of singing, laughter, applause ripples in the Pacific Ocean. At that moment I thought, with the sunset corroborated, with the sea water corroborated, peaceful coexistence is the ideal of mankind **** the same.
In another restaurant, our friends are enjoying a buffet-style seafood dinner of 37 U.S. dollars per person, some of the seafood products that are rarely found in third-tier cities in China are available here, and a few young people are considered to be experiencing the luxury of a.
The dinner was served at the end of the day, and the food was served at the end of the night.
At the end of the dinner, there is a choice to continue shopping, continue to beach photography, there are also early back to the hotel to rest.
On the morning of the third day, I still woke up early and rushed to the Phoenix tree to wait for the people who love to be beautiful. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to get a good look at this, but I'm sure you're going to be able to get a good look at this. One after another, a beautiful woman came, the scene is the same, the camera is the same, the action is the same, people have stood, I consciously and diligently to provide services. I'm not looking for a utility, only for the word of mouth.
This morning we took five SUVs and went to the crocodile mouth beach to complete the all-terrain cross-country program. A clear Toyota SUV, a clear northeastern man as a driver, in close proximity to the crocodile beak beach, have to drive a distance in the potholes on the jungle road, there is no danger, after a section of the ridge, down to the beach side, you can see the waves lapping at the shore of the reef situation. The crocodile's mouth, or reef, is shaped like the mouth of a crocodile, which appears and disappears when the waves come in. This attraction makes people feel a little far-fetched.
? Another fleet of vehicles traveling, we came to Saipan - the foot broke the tide of the mountain elevation of only 473 meters, but the tour guide said it is the world's highest mountain. It sounds a bit like a fantasy, but when you think about it, it really does make sense. Standing on the top of the mountain, visitors can see a 360-degree panoramic view of the island. Not only can you see the whole island of Saipan from the mountain, but you can also see the big cross made of wood erected on the mountain and the huge statue of Jesus overlooking the island of Saipan. Standing at the top of Tidewater Hill, you can see the whole Saipan in the distance. To the north, Suicide Cliff, Banzai Cliff, and Bird Island are clearly identifiable; to the west, Battleship Island, Garapan Commercial Center, and even the Hyatt Regency Hotel are clearly visible; to the south, Saipan International Airport, Deadwater Lake, and the 3 islands that make up Saipan - Saipan, Tennyson, and Rota - are not missing at all. And that lake to the south, that's the only freshwater lake on Saipan, but its water is not drinkable. During World War II, the Japanese army, realizing that their defeat was certain, put a lot of dead animals and poison into the lake, and the lake was seriously polluted, and since then, Saipanites have called the lake "Dead Lake" or "Dead Water Lake.
Descending from the high point, we came to Our Lady's Hill (Well), where there is a fresh water well, which is said to be where a Christian found fresh water according to Our Lady's will, thus educating the local natives to abandon the barbaric and bloody way of seeking rain.Standing here, carefully belly-reading Saipan's past life and present life, a few key words of the Battle of Saipan came to mind: time June to July 1944 (more than 20 days); the warring parties, the United States, Japan; result: the U.S. Army won; the warring parties' strength: the United States 67,000 people, 43,000 people of Japan; casualties: the Japanese army more than 41,000, the U.S. army more than 16,000; the battle's significance: for the bombing of Japanese The battle provided a forward base for the bombing of the Japanese mainland. This battle declared the defeat of the Japanese army. This information made me feel the tragedy of war, not the hatred of the two sides of the war, and the fragility of life, not the preaching of the victors. There is no doubt that Saipan is the graveyard of imperial soldiers, whether American imperialism or Japanese militarism.
On the return flight, Tagore's poem always echoed in my mind: life is like the splendor of summer flowers, death is like the quiet beauty of autumn leaves. The sympathy of the military transcends the distinction between enemy and self, because blood is the character of the military, the blood of the men can serve the country.
The short trip to Saipan ended the moment flight 3U8648 landed at Shanghai Pudong Airport. Although the group was reluctant to part with their friends, they had to move on according to their own established life trajectories.