Plane Spotting At ROR...

Over the last few days here, I got this opportunity to do some Plane Spotting at the Roman Tmetuchl International Airport at Airai...

What a beautiful bird that we saw when we landed in Palau...

Spotting the beautiful bird again as we get ready to taxi for our sightseeing flight on our first day in Palau...

What a shot of the Palau Pacific Airways Boeing 737!

The Palau Mission Aviation Cessna 206 and Stefan, our captain who flew us on the sightseeing flight...

Spotting the beautiful Boeing 737 again as we head towards northern Babeldaob...

That looks like a Boeing 727!

There she is again...

Playing hide & seek!

Up, close and personal with the Asia Pacific Airlines Boeing 727 from Guam...

It almost impossible to see a Boeing 727 nowadays...

This freighter does its milk-run, hopping from island to island on the Pacific...

And she has winglets too!

The only other Boeing 727 with winglets that I had seen was Vijay Mallaya's private jet, in those amazing Kingfisher colours...

As we taxi towards the runway, there is a Delta Boeing 757 parked there waiting to head out to Tokyo's Narita airport...

The Boeing 757 is sadly the only Boeing I haven't yet flown on...

Sulang, Belau!

Sulang, Ak Morolung, Belau...

Now is the moment when I feel lucky and sad at the same time, that too with good reason.

After three incredible fun-filled days we are headed back to Incheon from thus lovely paradise called Palau. I am happy that we got a chance to visit Palau, which had been on my bucket-list for a long time now. But I was sad that I could be here only for 3 days - I wished it was a bit more - something like a week, with Peleliu also thrown in into the itinerary.

But there is always a next time.

As we cleared immigration and security, I noted that the immigration stamps told a story of Palau - the stamp was shaped like a jellyfish, the kinds we had seen at the Jellyfish Lake, the lake we had visited day before yesterday!

The staff here at the airport were amazingly friendly - the immigration officer wore colourful Hawaiian shirt, which seemed to be the immigration uniform around here! Wow! This is called living life king-size, island-style! And he wished that we visit again! That is indeed great!

There is a certain degree of simplicity and genuineness that is associated with geographical isolation. And that comes out in the friendliness and humility of not only Palauans like Leiner but also immigrants like Robert Scaria of the Taj or the Filipino hotel staff at Airai!  

It won't be long before we are back here! Till then, Sulang, Ak Morolung, Belau or Tank You and Goodbye, Palau...

A Fiery Palauan Sunset...

After an exciting three days in Palau, we are on our final evening in this amazingly beautiful island state.

And there we are watching the sun set...

And the clouds turn fiery, reflecting orange glow of the sun...

There is so much in Nature that we fail to notice as we get on with our daily grind...

And it is moments like these that force you to pause for a while, soak in and appreciate the beauty of Nature and say "Wow! Thank you, God, for such a beautiful world!"

Back To Koror...

With almost all of Palau's sights covered, with the exception of Peleliu, we drove down from the Capitol at Ngerulmud to Koror for lunch, as we had fallen head over heels in love with the Taj!

It was bright and sunny as we passed by the airport at Airai on our way to Koror...

And I am pleased to get views of the Palau Pacific Airways Boeing 737 from interesting angles...

Another great catch - a Asia Pacific Airlines Boeing 727 freighter from Guam - this pretty bird has winglets...

The airport terminal is shaped like a traditional bai...

The airport has its peak operating hours in the evenings, the day has freighters coming in...

Manta rays grace the facade of the airport terminal...

Alii - the signboard welcomes guests to Palau...

Interesting to see solar panels powering the lights at the Airai State Government office...

Back at the Taj, we had an another interesting meal...

And it was time to say goodbye to the Taj...

Back at our hotel, the Palauan national flag flies high...

...alongwith flags of Canada, Japan, South Korea, the United States and Taiwan!

And it is time to pack our bags, before we depart for Incheon around midnight...

Off The Beaten Track, In Babeldaob...

From the grandeur of the Capitol of Palau, we drove towards Airai, quite literally off the beaten track...

We drove towards the hamlets of Ulubosan and Ngeruling, intending to drive along the coastal road before heading to the highway that circles Babeldaob...

Dark clouds were all over the sky now. My predictions of a storm were indeed coming true...

There lies the Ngerdiluches Reef...

And here comes the storm, with strong winds...

A mansion by the sea...

And we realised that we crossed over from Melekeok State into Ngchesar State...

In what is inconceivable for us, given that we belong to a large country, Palau is divided into 16 states, the most populous being Koror with nearly and the smallest have barely a hundred people. The biggest island, Babeldaob, which is barely 60 kilometres long and 15 kilometres, wide has an incredible 10 states!

(Source: Wikipedia)

And each of these states have their own flags, some of which are quite colourful. I hope to pick up a souvenir mug, with flags of all these states from Koror, later in the day...

(Source: http://www.hubert-herald.nl/Palau.htm)

A primary school in Ngshesar...

Off the beaten track...

On a dirt road...

Finally on the highway, the storm had passed by!