My wife and I visited Saipan and Guam (3 days in
Saipan, 4 in Guam) in June 1997. Continental
Micronesia from Taiwan to Saipan, and especially
between Saipan and Guam, is friendly (though the
flight attendants may not always be completely
compentent). We stayed at the Hyatt on Saipan;
right next to Micro Beach and American Memorial
Park (beautiful beach, and you can stroll through
"little Okinawa" at night and see the working girls
angle for customers on the porch of the Maytenth
Building), but we paid around $200/night. (In
Texas, it'd be half that.) In Guam, we also stayed
at the Hyatt, which is in only slightly less scenic
Tumon Bay (which is also basically devoted to
Japanese tour groups), but it was $200 -
$240/night. The rack rate is even higher in each
case. Before going to the Marianas (Guam, Saipan,
or the other islands), check into getting a hotel
package. There are other hotels in Tumon Bay, some
of which, like the new Westin, are even more
expensive than the Hyatt. (Although the Hilton is
less expensive, at around $150/night, the rooms
are worse, looking about like those at a
well-kept-up Motel 6 stateside.) And it might be
important to remember that you are not, despite the
fact that this is a US territory, stateside. The
people talk with a somewhat-hard-to-understand
accent, and Japanese tourists seem to be preferred
to mainlanders. Guam, though, definitely feels
more "American" than Saipan, where only Chamorros
can buy land (against the US Constitution)? The
Chamorro (native Mariana Islander) food is good,
particularly the chicken kelaguen (shredded chicken
with coconut, and some other spices), and anything
with finadene, a sort of hot barbecue sauce made
from fiery red peppers, soy sauce, lemon juice and
chopped onions. I never could find any of this
wonderful substance for sale, or I would have
bought some. I really think they should make room
at the many duty-free shops in the area for finadene, instead of all the "Hawaiian" stuff they
sell. You can get Chamorro food at Chamorro
Village, a public market on the downtown Agana
waterfront, but I liked the Chamorro food at the
Chamorro House (Saipan, in the Micro Beach area of
Garapan), and at the Saipan Hyatt (on whatever
night they have barbecue at the buffet; don't go to
the Chamorro Beach Party, which seems overpriced,
you can hear the music out your hotel window
anyway). The Saipan Hyatt has excellent buffets the
other night of the week, as well. You can't get as
good a rate on car rental in Guam as you can in
Saipan, we paid $44/day at Budget in Guam, compared
with $38/day at Budget in Saipan. On the "main
street" of Tumon Bay, there is a Japanese
restaurant with "rotary" in its name; it's the one
with the Japanese loudspeaker recording of what
sounds like a rambunctious little girl. The same
message is repeated continuously, and it's loud
enough to deafen. You can't hear it inside the
restaurant, though, and getting your little dishes
one by one off a conveyor belt is kind of
interesting. As far as touring Guam goes, just
take the road that goes around the island
(especially the southern half), you might be able
to get around the island in one day, if you don't
stop at too many beaches. Inarajan, in particular,
has an interesting village atmosphere in its older
section. The Chamorro Cultural Village there is
supposed to be nice, but since the people there
seem to be English- (or direction-) impaired, and
there are no signs to points of interest anywhere in
either in Guam or Saipan, we never could find it.
I hear it's especially nice, though, on Wednesday
mornings between 10 AM and noon, when local
students perform traditional dances. It is, also,
free. Talofofo Beach, with its brown sand, is not
really beautiful, but it is interesting, and the
coast road between Inarajan and Santa Rita is
stunningly beautiful at times (goes through
mountains and little towns with mountain backdrops,
and by beautiful beaches). If, on the other hand,
you happen to be at Two Lovers Point (just north of
Tumon Bay), check out the giggly Japanese girl
tourists ringing the bell and having their picture
taken (there's a similar bell in Japan). Also,
catch the Jon Anderson show on KUAM (AM radio) on
weekday mornings, great coverage of local issues
including Guam's junk car problem. Guam also has a
National Public Radio station for your listening
pleasure. Having said all this, it's not worth it
to go to Guam without going to other destinations as
well, unless perhaps you're a scuba diver, which
I'm not. We were stuck in Taiwan during monsoon season, and wanted to get away for a taste of the US; that's why we went.