Digging into anything and everything that makes the CNMI tick beyond politics...

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Hotel intern wins hotdog eating competition

A 23-YEAR-OLD intern of Palms Resort Saipan received $50 for the hotdog eating competition at Taste of the Marianas on Saturday evening.

Joshua Cho bested 14 opponents, eating three hotdogs in less than the 15-minute time allotment.

Kai Shiano, 12, and a Chacha Oceanview Junior High School student, came in second and won a $30 prize.

Tommy Baek, a senior student of Marianas High School, placed third and received $20. Cho said he was “still hungry” after the contest.His “secret” was to drink as much water so he could swallow the hotdogs faster. Siano said that he was hungry before the start of the contest.

The competition was limited to 15 individual participants and all the contestants, majority of which were minors, had to sign a waiver from the Marianas Visitors Authority. The hotdog eating competition is a side event of the annual Taste of the Marianas event which runs for all Saturdays of May each year.

competition snaps

ewww, catsup dripping like blood

wolfing the hotdogs down

can i really finish this? uhh two more after this...

gwaaaark!

drowning the hotdog buns with water

alaehhh..the hotdog went straight to your nape?

i can do this...

This article was published HERE

Friday, May 1, 2009

Taste of the Forbidden Island

The name ForbiddePhoto by Raquel C. Bagnoln Island alone is more than enough to trigger anyone’s curiosity, just like anything else that is forbidden. I became intrigued by the place even before I set foot on Saipan 14 months ago, but I have yet to find the origin of why this beautiful island located at the end of the southeastern part of Kagman village is named so.

Awe struck me the first time I stepped on the lookout of Forbidden Island during a search and rescue drill with the Department of Public Safety last year.
For individuals who suffer from acrophobia or fear of heights, standing at the edge of the lookout while viewing the Forbidden Island way down is a stomach-wrenching ordeal.
But for the adventurous, the exhilaration you get even as you are driving on the rough road amid thick foliage and finally as you gaze at the endless stretch of ocean extending from Tank Beach on the north side the Laolao Bay Golf Resort on the south side is boundless.
The designation of the Forbidden Island as a sanctuary for the conservation of wildlife in April 2001 through Public Law 12-46 helps maintain and conserve the beauty of the place.
I have been at the lookout site of the Forbidden Island twice but alas, those two times were just a taste of what the place has to offer. It is just like licking your lips from a distance while looking at a plate of your favorite food sizzling and emitting mouth-watering aromas.
I have yet to go hiking and sweat myself in that 45-minute grueling downhill and uphill hike and transform all the tales and colorful accounts of the beauty of the place from those who have huffed and puffed along its rocky downward trail into first hand experience.
I still have to find a chance to go down the Forbidden Island and I know I will be singing a different tune in describing one of the most beautiful places on earth and dip my feet in the clear waters of something that’s forbidden—the Forbidden Island.

This article was first published HERE

More photos HERE