14 KATHERINE TIMES, WEDNESDAY APRIL 17, 2013 www.katherinetimes.com.au

HOT DEALSWHEREVER THE WIND BLOWSSea Cloud Cruises has waivedthe single supplement on theSea Cloud windjammer's eight-day Mediterranean sailing onMay 1- 8. The windjammer willcruise with no fixed route fromMalta to Piraeus, relying on thewinds to determine its stops.The ship is small enough to callinto ports such as Koroni,Monemvasia, Milos, Hydra andLavrion. Rates for an outsidecabin start at $3678 a person(double or single occupancy).Sea Cloud Cruises fares includeall meals, including four- coursedinners and wines and beers,plus a bottle of champagne ineach cabin.❑ www.seacloud.com

SEE THE LIONS GET MAULEDTravelscene American Expresshas a package deal for the sold-out final Test between theBritish and Irish Lions andAustralia at ANZ Stadium,Sydney. It includes one “goldmatch ticket” to the July 6game and three nights'accommodation at theTravelodge Wynyard in a guestroom. It is priced from $916 aperson, twin share, and is validfor sale until May 4 unless soldout before. Valid for travel onJuly 5- 8.❑ www.travelscene.net.au

GET ACTIVE IN ALASKAG Adventures has discounted itssmall- group Alaska ActiveEscape six- day tour by $374, asaving of 15 per cent. The tourdeparts Anchorage on June 23(and returns there) and includesnational and state park entrancefees, hiking, kayaking and raftingexcursions, a visit to an Alaskansea life centre and a cruise inKachemak Bay State Park, fivebreakfasts, six lunches, twodinners and transport in aprivate van. It is now priced at$2125 a person.❑ www.gadventures.com

ONE FOR THE GIRLSKarma Kandara resort in Balihas a Girls' Island Spa Escapepackage that features a swag ofpampering options. The package,priced from $790 a night for twopeople in a two- bedroom villa,includes return transfers, dailybreakfast, daily access to theresort's saunas and Himalayansalt pool, a daily 75- minute full-body massage, one rejuvenateoxygen facial, “Martini andmanicure night” and yoga orPilates class. There is also freeuse of the gym, internet access,entry to the nearby NammosBeach Club and use of kayaking,snorkelling and bodyboardingfacilities. Minimum stay is threenights. Not available in the highseason.❑ www.karmakandara.com

Leisure a national pursuitGlenn A. Baker shifts down a fewgears to join Guam's commitment tothe pursuit of leisure.

It comes as no surprise that Guam can feellike Hawaii, but it's a definite surprisethat it can also remind you of Malibu. The T-shirts and souvenirs declare Guam

U.S.A., while the shopping malls, theWalmarts, the cars and even the kerbing andguttering have a decided Stateside shade.

Perhaps it is because this was the landfallbombed just after Pearl Harbour, hammeredso harshly the Americans threw a protectivearm around it that was never lifted.

Plainly, the funds flow.Had it not been for the 1944 American

offensive against the occupying Japanese -described as “the most brilliantly plannedand precisely executed campaign of theentire World War II chronology” - Guammight still be the well-kept secret it was forcenturies.

Off-limits to the casual tourist for manyyears, it now lays out the welcome mat. OnlyHawaii attracts a greater number of Pacifictourists.

Guam is the gateway to Micronesia, a“fairy bread mosaic” of more than 2100small islands and coral specks fanned aboutthe Pacific Ocean in three majorarchipelagoes stretching across an area aswide as the US.

As the major port of the MarianaArchipelago, equidistant from Tokyo andManila and on a direct path between Hawaiiand south-east Asia, it occupies a pivotalposition in the Pacific, albeit a languidlypaced one.

Leisure is passionately pursued. Allaround the coastline, by bays and inlandwaterways, in parks, sometimes just by theside of the road, families and extendedfamilies tote out the picnic hampers fromthe station wagons and four-wheel-drives,then feast heartily while tossing around ballsand chinwagging.

And not just on weekends but any day ofthe week, from morning to evening.

It's the Guam motif, and that may bebecause the island grows nothing,manufactures nothing and keeps its citizensoccupied largely with tourist-servicingoccupations.

And there is no shortage of tourists. Board a flight in Tokyo and you can be in

Guam in 3½ hours. At the glittering Tumon Bay and

Tamuning area near the airport, where themajor international hotels rise, is thedesigner shopping along with the nightlife.

But slip from this glitzy precinct of flashemporiums and towering palaces and headsouth, and the polish gradually disappearsand a sort of entertaining Dukes of Hazzardtone appears, complete with absurdlyexaggerated recreational vehicles sittingatop massive wheels.

Some of these have been put to use intourism initiatives such as inland safaridrives that have you lurching throughvalleys and riverbeds with amiable guides(mine was in his late 20s and the father of11) who can plunge their hands into the soilpretty much anywhere and bring up a fistful

of spent shells - rifle, mortar and larger -from WWII.

You'd be welcome to take them home ifan airport security incident didn't await you.

This is a wilder, earthier Guam. It may be the biggest island in Micronesia

but it can still be covered in a day or so withvisits to what Lonely Planet calls a“kaleidoscope of sleepy historical villages”.

The denser parts of the jungle bring tomind the extraordinary story of SergeantShoichi Yokoi, the Imperial Japanese Armystraggler who managed to live undetectedfor 28 years after the end of the WWII, hidingin a cave in a tight bamboo grove.

When he was finally unearthed byhunters near the Talofofo River, clad inprimitive garments made from the fibres ofhibiscus plants, he told his captors - orliberators - of living on papayas, breadfruits,coconuts, eels, snails and rats.

Stoic Shoichi made headlines around theworld in 1972, pointing out that death wasconsidered preferable to being capturedalive for a Japanese soldier.

He lived to 82, always prepared to relatetales of his lonely existence in the midst of abusy populous island.

The indigenous Chamorros have beenhere for something like 4000 years, and for acouple of centuries were accommodatingenough for Guam to become an essentialstopover for Spanish galleons making theirway from Acapulco to Manila.

The arrival of Jesuit missionariescommenced three centuries of Spanish

culture, religion and language. AlthoughGuam was ceded to the US in 1898,following the Spanish-American War, thatLatin influence remains not just in thetourist-oriented package revue shows inhotels and by beachside restaurants, butalso in unexpected pleasures such ascontemporary singer-songwriters bestowingtheir evocative wares in unlikely locations.

The safety net of being a territory of theUS (they can vote for everything but thepresident, so their favour is sought) gives lifea certain casualness.

They do like to live well - you're not onthe island for an hour before you're rushedinto a barbecue ribs joint to partake of alarge stack of what is the national dish.

That is where you could become aware ofthe fact that Guam has the highest percapita consumption of Tabasco sauce in theworld (two bottles a person a year), or itcould be wherever you are able to tuck intored rice with achiote, kelaguen (a dish inwhich meat is cooked, in whole or part, bycitric acid rather than heat), tinaktak (meatcooked in coconut milk) and ka'du fanihi(flying fox or fruit bat soup).

If you're lucky it could be as a guest ofone of those gregarious groups soaking upthe rays with a packed hamper in a parksomewhere.

Wander by and there's a good chancethey'll make you welcome.

❑ Glenn A. Baker was a guest of the Guam VisitorsBureau and Philippine Airlines.

Someone's gotto do it:(Clockwise fromabove) avolleyball gameat Tumon Bay;Talofofo Falls ina wilder, earthierGuam; and anindigenousdancer.

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