After WWII

On July 1, 1946 the gates of the refugee camps were opened. Several Chammoran  families returned to Tinian. 

In 1948,  600 more Chammoran descendants, who lived on Yap, we're relocated to Tinian and Saipan. Each family was allowed to homestead.  

By 1950, Tinian had returned to the standard of living enjoyed prior to World War I.

When the Korean War began in June of 1950, the US government established a naval Technical Training unit on Saipan & Tinian. 

This caused Tinian and Saipan to be cut off from the outside world, because the CIA was training Chinese Nationalists, in guerrilla warfare.

The Islands were not open to outside travel and investment until 1965.

In 1972, a $300 million multiservice airbase was purposed to be located on Tinian. Many families were opposed, but in 1974, after lengthy negotiations, the US paid $17,500,000.00 to the CNMI government to lease approximately 17,799 acres of the island. This is a 50 year lease, with the option to renew for an additional 50 years without additional fees.

                   A base was never built on Tinian.
*upper photo was taken at the American Memorial Park in Saipan, the second photo is a screen shot taken from Wikipedia. Other information was compiled from "Tinian A Brief History" by Don A. Ferrell

Food

I had a request for a blog post about food. There is a very strong Asian influence on the food here in the CNMI. Here at the Tinian Dynasty there are 5 restaurants. The Japanese restaurant is Sagano. There is a Chinese restaurant, Dynasty Court. Another is, The Broadway,  which is a BBQ/buffet style .A pizza place called Monster Pizza and then there is a cafe style restaurant called the Roulette Bar.

This is pandan bread, it has raisins in it. It is a Filipino bread. And yes it is green, because it is made with a leaf.

This is the roasted turkey for Thanksgiving dinner which we had in the Broadway. Carrying the turkey is the head chef, Ramon.

Before leaving for Tinian, we tried to do a little research about the island. One thing that came up about the island was coconut crabs. We have not eaten coconut crab yet, this one came to visit us during our hot pots dinner. That is a chop stick in his claw to give you an idea of how big he was.

At the Chinese restaurant,  my first week here we had "hot pots" dinner. This has been one of my favorite meals so far. If you have been to The Melting Pot for dinner it is much like that. 2 people share a hot pot, you select things from the middle, and basically boil them in a broth. There is a sauce you mix up to dip the boiled item in and eat! This was really yummy.

At the grocery store there are 3 shelves with a great variety of Spam. I knew Hawaiians ate a lot of Spam but I guess people here really love it too.

We could not believe how huge theses carrots were. That would make a lot of carrot sticks!

A beautiful presentation of fruit at the Japanese restaurant. 

Every night is "Special Dinner" at the Chinese restaurant. 

This is my favorite dessert,  it is a caramel custard.  It is really only 2 bites, which is good or I could really go over board on this one. Most the the desserts seem like they have less sugar than in the states. 

In Saipan while shopping, I saw these Spam flavored macadamia nuts. I did not try them, I am not a real big fan of spam.

While in Guam we went to a restaurant called "Eggs and things". It is based out of Hawaii.  This was the French Toast of the day coconut and Pineapple, they have coconut syrup.  This was so yummy! 

Chris had this giant omelet, which was also very good!

The next morning, while in Guam, we went to "the Cracked Egg", I had the eggs Benedict.  Another great choice.

One evening while still in Guam we went to  a BBQ and show. The show featured dances from the Pacific Islands.

They bring a plate of meat which you BBQ, as you like. It is all you can eat, so they keep checking in with you to find out what other meats you would like.

They start the dinner at 6 and the show starts at 7. It was so beautiful, right up to the beach.

This is a curry pork, it is served at the cafe. 

Noodles! You can get noodles almost everywhere!

This is Mahi-mahi served at the cafe. We have enjoyed trying new foods but find ourselves falling back to foods we are familiar with. We have salads and fruit often.