Palau Day 5 - Exploring Babeldaob

5/17/2022 - The covid protocols on Palau were setup such that on the morning of our 4th day we were required to be tested by the public health authority. This gave us a nice break in days of diving, our ears were getting tired from the pressure, as well as a chance to go see more of what this great island has to offer. 

Post breakfast we headed straight to the Palau hospital for covid testing. The first image is going over a bridge from one island to the next to get to the hospital on Meyungs. Testing was outside of the main building, a long white tent was put up to protect the line of people from that strong direct sunlight. We are closer to the equator even from Guam. The line was close to 100 people long as we got there close to the end of the testing shift, very interesting mixing of cultures in such a small area. There were local Palauans helping with the service, tourists from the US, and missionary groups from the Philippines. We listened to the young man about our age that was a US citizen on some assignment in Palau that was able to translate from a very specific dialect spoken in the Philippines. It was quite the coincidence and the group of 40 or so were really excited to talk to this man, while the testing staff were also eager to talk to him for information on this group. The encounter was very fun to watch, and I was wowed by the skills to translate, something that until this moment I didn't realize was just so valuable and rare. The testing line slowly shrank down, and we were soon next in line to get our tests. The communication of the results was an interesting thing to work through, our cell phones had no service so the hotel was our main point of contact, once again an eyeopening experience, we are so used to just having the technology at our finger tips. Testing was smooth, but still another 24 hours until we would know our status. Green wristbands stayed on until then. Oh, and as we left I saw this cool van that had the flags of Palau and Taiwan. Taiwan, Japan, and the US each give large grants to Palau for development, this was common to see grouped symbols like this. 

The four of us then got into our rental car and headed out to see the island of Babeldaob. The northern island was quite large, easily 25 miles tall, and the speed limit was low so it took some time to get north. We went through the main city of Korror where most of the main development is on the island. At most a couple of grocery stores, 10 hotels, and 15 to 20 restaurants. The majority of the Palauan population lives in Korror, but as you head north there are another 20 states of the island, each having one major city state center. The highway north was smooth, and later we found out why, again Japan, Taiwan, and the US had donated large grants for development, the whole loop of highway of 50 miles was donated in piecemeal. Some of these donations were made out of peace offerings after the war, the main bridge from Japan for this purpose, and the US as well as Palau was a territory up until 1994. We also sensed that Palau being so close to china, there was quite a bit of new development projects underway with an intention of keeping good faith between nations. There wasn't much off of this main highway, almost all the towns had side roads with signage coming off the highway to get into where the houses were. You got a sense that there just wasn't much here, more like living off the grid and off the land. Partly why many of these town centers were labeled near the edge of the island where fishing was plentiful. 

Our main stop on this tour was the government buildings about halfway up the island. The government in the early 2000s had made it a point to be more centrally located to all the people of Palau, rather than putting the capital in Korror. With this said, it sounded like there were buildings in Korror as well with many of the staff working back and forth based on the need of the work. Very pretty area looking over the east side of the island of Babeldaob. It was fun to capture all three of these lawyers next to the Judicial building. I got to rep my Iowa State shirt next to the seal of the Palau at the executive building. We were told the architecture was meant to reflect some of the US capital and White House, the building used to be white. Yet central to all of these government buildings sits a symbolic Bai, or meeting house. These are common all over the island, still in their true native Palauan style. Lots of symbolism here at play. I enjoyed the conversations with Joan about the government aspects and background. 

My camera ran out on the back half of the island, but there really wasn't much more to see other than a long highway, lots of roads that we could have taken more time if we had it. We spent most of the rest of the day enjoying the pool and time together the four of us. Fun to be with Winifred and Wilbur during this trip.